Page 18 of Searching for Sunshine (Crestbrook Cove #1)

WYATT

I make it to the cottage and push open the door, looking forward to drinking a beer and relaxing on the couch until Stella comes home.

“Hey, Duke,” I call out, looking around the room for him. “Come here, bud,” I yell, trying not to panic.

I swear to god, if this dog managed to get out… I think just as Duke runs out of my bedroom.

“Oh thank fuck, Duke, I’ve been calling for you,” I say in relief as I bend down to pet him. “Wait, why the hell are you wet?”

He looks at me, then turns and walks back toward my bathroom slowly, like he’s waiting for me to follow him.

“What the hell is going—” I start, but pause when I see the sight of my bedroom.

Water is pouring out of the wall and there are at least several inches of water soaking into the carpet and trickling out into the hallway.

“Holy shit,” I murmur. “Where the fuck is the shut-off valve in this damn place?”

Duke looks at me for a second before running over to play in the water shooting out of the wall.

“Damn it.” I sigh, running back outside and looking for the valve to turn the water off, but it’s so dark, it’s almost impossible to find. After a few minutes of searching, I finally find it, twisting it as fast as I can to make sure the water is completely off.

“God, this damn cottage is going to be the death of me,” I murmur, pulling out my phone.

Before I text Stella, I text the local plumber, Bobby, and ask him to put us at the top of his schedule to fix the leak.

After that’s done, I also look up the number for a local restoration business and leave them a message asking them to call me back in the morning.

Deciding I can’t put it off any longer, I open Stella’s contact and type out a quick text. I would prefer not to bother her since I know how important this weekend is, but I know if she comes in and finds out I didn’t tell her, she’ll be super pissed at me.

Wyatt: Hey, so…I know you’re still working, but I just wanted to let you know there was a minor incident at the cottage.

Wyatt: Don’t panic.

Wyatt: I have everything under control.

Stella: The fact that you told me not to panic means I’m definitely VERY panicked.

Stella: What happened?

Wyatt: I promise it’ll be fine.

Wyatt: The pipe in the bathroom burst. And it kinda flooded my bedroom.

Wyatt: And we won’t have water for at least the next few hours.

Stella: …

Stella: Wyatt, I don’t think you know the definition of MINOR!

Stella: Oh my god, what the hell are we going to do?

Wyatt: It’ll be fine. I’ve already texted Bobby and I left a message with a restoration company to come help us get the water cleaned up.

Stella: Who the hell is Bobby?

Stella: New rule: when we’re in the middle of a major incident, let’s normalize using full names and titles please.

I laugh, remembering the similar conversation we had about Mr. Marshall a few weeks ago.

Wyatt: My bad. Bobby’s the plumber in town. He was one of your grandfather’s close friends, so I feel like he’ll do everything he can to get us taken care of as soon as possible.

Stella: God, okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes, but start moving your stuff that isn’t soaked into my room. We’ll figure out what to do with it when I get there.

Wyatt: I don’t have to crash your room. I can stay on the couch until they’re able to get everything fixed.

Stella: I’m not arguing over this, Wyatt. That couch is tiny. There’s no way I’m letting you sleep on that thing when the only reason you’re even in this situation is because of me. Plus, it’s a king sized bed, so there’s more than enough room.

Stella: As long as you don’t mind sleeping in the same bed as me and my seventy-pound lap dog.

Wyatt: Wow, you’re really selling this whole thing aren’t you?

Wyatt: Just kidding. I don’t mind at all as long as you’re sure you’re okay with it.

Stella: I’m sure.

Blowing out a breath, I walk back into the house and look for an old towel to start drying off Duke.

Once I find one, I walk back into my flooded bedroom and find the dog exactly where I left him.

He’s staring at the wall like he’s waiting for the water to start pouring out of the wall again any moment now, and I shake my head at his antics.

“Come here, buddy. Let’s get you dried off before your momma shows up,” I tell him, just as Stella walks into the room.

“Too late,” she teases, before turning her attention to the room in front of us. “Oh my god, Wyatt, this is way more than a minor incident! This is going to take forever to get fixed.”

“It’ll be fine. Look on the bright side—at least it happened out here and not to some of the guests at the hotel right?”

Her eyes widen in alarm. “Holy shit, what if this does happen in the hotel?”

“I’m sure it won’t, Stels. I know your grandparents had the pipes redone in the hotel pretty recently, and I’m sure the ones out here are just old. And if you’re sure you don’t mind having a roomie, then it really doesn’t have to be a big deal.”

I hear the words coming out of my mouth, but internally I know that’s a lie.

It feels like a major deal to put myself in this position when I can already feel my self-control slipping every time I’m around this girl.

I promised her we’d spend the year as friends, and we’re barely a month in, and I’m ready to throw all that to hell.

But despite how badly I want to push for more, I know I’ll never forgive myself if she feels like I’ve taken advantage of her. I’m just going to have to suck it up and ignore whatever I’m feeling for her.

“No, I'm sure I don’t mind. Honestly, can we just go to bed and deal with this tomorrow? I’m absolutely exhausted and I’m pretty certain the mess will still be here after a few hours of sleep.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I’ll let you get changed, and I’ll work on getting Duke dry.”

“Thanks, Wyatt. Give me ten, and then you’re welcome to come in whenever.”.

“Sure, no problem. Now, come here, Duke,” I say, shifting my attention to her lab at our feet. He’s on his back rolling around in the water, and Stella lets out a chuckle.

“Yeah, you boys have fun with that. I’m officially at my limit of chaos with this place for today.”

With that she leaves, and I look down at the lab still splashing at my feet and squat down so that I’m closer to his eye level.

“Okay, Duke, this is how this is gonna go. You’re gonna stand up, and I’m gonna dry you off so we can get this shit over with. And then we’re going to go to bed, and you’re gonna stay between Stella and me all night to keep me from doing something really fucking stupid, okay?”

The dog blinks at me before running to the door and bringing back his ball, splashing my legs as he runs by.

“Great, good fucking talk, dude. We’re not playing right now, but maybe when you’re dry,” I tell him, grabbing his collar to lead him gently into the hallway and closing the bedroom door behind us. “Okay, just be still. There you go. Give me your paw.”

After a few minutes, I pause and make sure he’s relatively dry and decide he’s probably as good as he’s going to get. “All right, you can go play now.”

Duke immediately runs off to Stella’s room, and I spend the next few minutes getting ready for bed. After I’ve procrastinated and reminded myself how bad of an idea this all is at least ten times, I blow out a breath and knock on the wall beside Stella’s open door.

“Come on in,” she calls.

“Hey, I think I managed to get Duke—” I cut myself off when I catch sight of her sitting on top of her covers in a tiny pair of shorts and tank top.

Her brown hair is piled on the top of her head and I have the sudden urge to run my fingers through it.

She looks so fucking sexy, and I focus on ignoring how turned on it makes me to see her like this.

God, what the fuck is wrong with me? It’s not like I haven’t spent the night with a woman before.

Sure, it’s been a few years since the dating pool in Crestbrook Cove isn’t exactly overflowing with options.

I’ve even been on a couple of casual dates that turned into more for a night or two in the past. But none of them have ever affected me the way that Stella is right now.

“Uh, yeah, I see that,” she says, interrupting my thoughts, and I don’t miss the shy smile on her face when I realize I never finished my previous statement.

She gestures to where Duke is lying at her feet, but I was so wrapped up in the way she looked, I didn’t even notice the seventy-pound dog lying in the bed. Damn, I’m a hot fucking mess.

“Oh, right. Well, are you sure you’re okay with sharing a bed? I can walk up to the hotel and find a room if I need to,” I offer and she shakes her head quickly.

“No, no. I’m sure. This bed is plenty big enough for the both of us, and I think I might be too much of a scaredy cat to stay in the cottage by myself.

Plus, it’s late, and there’s no reason you should have to make the walk in the dark.

Unless you’d feel more comfortable in the Hideaway?

” She hesitates, fidgeting nervously with the blanket she’s sitting on.

“Nope, I’m perfectly happy here,” I promise her, making my way over to the other side of the bed and pulling back the covers.

As soon as I sit in the bed and pull the covers over my lap, I’m flooded with Stella’s scent, and I take a deep breath to remind myself one more time that we’re just friends.

Shit, I’m so fucking gone for this girl, I realize, looking over at her as she rubs Duke’s stomach.

Shaking my head to remind myself to behave, I ask her, “Did everything else go okay with the party tonight? It looked like they were having a great time.”

“It went really well. I think they had fun, and they’re really looking forward to going out on the boat tomorrow. I know it’s our first group, but is it crazy for me to think that this could really work? If we can just get our name out there, we could really get the Hideaway on the map.”