Page 68 of Tempting Wyatt

Feels like we slammed into something solid, like a brick wall. My mind blanks, and I forget how to operate this thing.

If we hadn’t been buckled in the harnesses, we’d have been thrown several yards.

“Holy shit,” Sutton calls out. “What did we hit?”

“I don’t know. I can’t see anything.” The headlight is busted and aimed at the ground, casting the woods in eerie shadows. “Are you okay?” I check over her for injuries until she assures me she’s fine.

Shaking the shock from my system and trying to settle despite the adrenaline overload, I shut the engine off to climb out and check the vehicle. Using the flashlight on my phone, I inspect what caused our accident.

A large tree trunk lies across a wide valley in the trail. The front of the vehicle is smashed into it and not in great shape.

“Wyatt is going to kill us,” Sutton groans. “Isaac was heading to the Wild Coyote with the Mitchell brothers when I left earlier. He’ll be out late since tomorrow is his day off. I’m fairly certain I saw his truck at The Sapphire Club when we passed by.”

I frown in confusion.

“It’s a gentlemen’s club—a strip club,” Sutton clarifies for me. “We’re going to have to call Wyatt.”

My mind rejects that suggestion immediately and I contemplate walking in the dark—even if I have to carry Sutton. Technically, I bailed on Wyatt tonight.

After Sutton’s call, I texted and asked for a rain check, told him something came up. He said it was fine, that he was working later than expected anyway. I hated knowing that I might have made him feel rejected when all I wanted to do was pick up where we’d left off the night before, but I didn’t want to rat Sutton out.

It’s the middle of the night, and he has to be up in a few hours. I’m pretty sure Wyatt doesn’t take days off. Plus, I’m half dressed, and his baby sister smells like a distillery.

He will not be pleased.

I use my phone flashlight to try and determine where we are. All I see are trees. “Maybe we could walk.”

Sutton looks at me like I’m crazy. “I can barely stand. Plus, I already texted him.”

Great.

After the rodeo encounter with Caleb, Wyatt pretty much told me to mind my own business when it came to his family.

Pretty sure driving his drunk, underage sister around before wrecking one of the ranch’s utility vehicles is the opposite of what he meant.

While we wait for him, I can’t help but contemplate if this will make him change his mind about whatever is happening between us. Not that I’d have done anything differently. I am certain neither of us would have wanted Sutton driving in her condition.

A few minutes later, when the headlights of a pickuptruck bounce in our direction, I contemplate hiding in the woods.

Sutton seems completely unconcerned as she scrolls through social media apps on her phone.

When the truck stops and Wyatt climbs out, my stomach tightens like I just did the most difficult ab workout of my life.

“Hey,” I say quietly when he approaches. “Sorry for waking you. We weren’t sure what to?—”

“Are you both okay?” He clips as his eyes scan us quickly, presumably for injuries.

“We’re fine,” I assure him. “But–”

“Sutton,” he barks gruffly, startling her and ignoring my existence completely. “What in the world are you thinking, being out here this late?”

She casts a guilty glance my way. “Um, I just wanted to?—”

“You know how dangerous it is to be wandering around these woods in the dark. I know you do because I’ve told you. Many times.”

At this particular moment, with his throbbing neck vein visible above his snug black T-shirt and flannel jacket,heappears to be the most dangerous thing in these woods.

He pauses his lecture to look at the wrecked vehicle. Rakes a hand roughly through his hair. “Great. That’s just great. One more fucking thing I don’t have the time to deal with.”