Page 29 of Tempting Wyatt (Triple Creek Ranch #1)
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 pickup truck 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, he appears 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.”
Sutton’s lower lip trembles, and her voice is faint. “I’m sorry.”
My heart breaks for her, then races when his disappointed gaze falls on me.
“Wyatt,” I begin softly.
“Get in the truck.” He turns his back to me as Sutton walks to the passenger side.
“Hey.” I reach out and place a hand on his arm. He freezes where he stands. “It’s my fault. I wrecked it. I’ll pay to have it fixed.”
His eyes shimmer with anger when he whips his head around to glare at me. “We don’t need your money.” His jaw tics. “What are you doing out here, joyriding around in the middle of the night, with my sister anyway? This is what came up tonight? Really?”
His accusatory tone makes it sound like I lured her out here for a drug deal.
I drop my hand and back up a step. “Okay, first of all, take a breath and calm yourself. I’ll wait.”
I stare up at him, but he just shakes his head.
“Get in the goddamn truck, Ivy. I’m exhausted and not in the mood for this shit tonight.”
This man. Why does every step forward have to lead to ten steps backward?
“I understand you’re upset. And I’m sorry we woke you.
But the rudeness is excessive.” I stay put, folding my arms over my chest, because as sorry as I am for what happened and for putting him out in the middle of the night, it was an accident, and I’m not going to get in a vehicle with someone speaking to me this way.
“I’ll show you excessive rudeness, Hollywood.”
He bends so abruptly that the movement causes me to stumble backward. But I don’t fall because his arms wrap around the back of my legs, and he tosses me over his shoulder like I’m a sack of potatoes.
“Wyatt Logan! Put me down right now,” I sneer through clenched teeth. Not that he cares and not that my demands carry much weight while I’m upside down. “Are you insane?”
Sutton left the passenger door open when she got in the truck, so he tosses me inside beside her. Her wide eyes meet mine.
“Feels like I’m pretty fucking close to insane, yeah,” he snaps, then adds, “Funny, my psychosis started right around the time you arrived,” before slamming the door in my outraged face.
Sutton and I both flinch at the sound.
I inhale deeply as Wyatt slides into the driver’s seat.
God, he smells good.
The ass.
“In the future, do not get into a vehicle with a man being an asshole to you,” I tell Sutton, glaring around her at her brother. “And if they manhandle you like that, kick them in the junk.”
He turns in my direction with an arched brow. “In the future, do not go gallivanting around in the middle of the night with lunatics that—” He stops mid-sentence and inhales deeply, then glares at me again. “Have you two been drinking?”
Sutton chooses this inopportune moment to hiccup at the same time I mumble, “Who says gallivanting?”
His eyes narrow even further, burning me with the fire of a thousand suns. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You know she’s underage, right?”
I glare right back at him with the force of all the frustration he causes me. “Yes, Officer, I’m aware. I haven’t been drinking, and I didn’t supply the alcohol, you presumptuous ass.”
“Using your big words tonight, I see.”
“Well, someone had to top gallivanting,” I mutter.
Sutton sighs sleepily, hiccups once more, and rests her head on my shoulder. “I hate when Mom and Dad fight. You two should kiss and make up.”
With that, she promptly dozes off, leaving Wyatt and me alone in awkward silence for the rest of the ride.
When we arrive at my cabin, Wyatt leaves the truck running. Surprisingly, he still jogs around to open the truck door for me.
Eyeing him warily as I slide off the seat, I nod back at a passed-out Sutton. “I told her she could crash here. She’s had a rough night.”
He takes a few breaths, then looks down at me with kinder eyes than before. “I’ve got her. She can sleep it off at my place. She has to muck stalls until she pukes tomorrow.”
When I gape at him, he laughs lightly.
“It’s a Logan family tradition if you get caught drinking underage.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Sounds awful.”
He nods. “It really is. First time I got caught, I was sixteen, and it was the dead of summer. Probably why none of us are alcoholics. Though Caleb got caught half a dozen times and I don’t know if it slowed him down much.”
We make our way to the front door. Feeling bad for Sutton and guilty about the trouble I caused Wyatt, I turn to face him before going inside. The anger radiating from him earlier seems to have dissipated in the darkness.
“I really am sorry about the side-by-side. Please let me pay for the repairs.”
He shrugs it off. “Didn’t look that bad. Nothing mechanical. Front bar is just bent. Probably fix it myself. Don’t worry about it.”
I jerk my chin toward the truck. “Maybe take it easy on her tomorrow. She learned a hard life lesson about what it feels like when people you love betray you. Publicly.”
His forehead wrinkles, and he groans softly. “The douche of a boyfriend, I’m guessing.”
“Ex-boyfriend,” I correct. “With the now ex–best friend.”
“Damn.” His eyes meet mine. His handsome face contorts into a mask of confusion. “She called you to pick her up?”
I try not to be hurt by the surprise in his voice. “I think she planned to call Isaac first. He was otherwise occupied from the sounds of it.”
He frowns. “She didn’t call me.”
I make a mock, wide-eyed, surprised face. “No? But you’re so patient and understanding.”
He smirks. “Okay, smart-ass. I can be patient and understanding.”
I nod emphatically. “I noticed. From the way you remained so calm and collected out there.”
I’m teasing him and enjoying it much more than I should considering the circumstances.
“Could’ve been worse. I could’ve introduced that barely covered ass of yours to my friends, Patience and Understanding,” he says, eyes heating visibly as he holds up each of his hands.
I still, imagining vividly what it would have been like for him to spank me in the woods. The clenching sensation between my thighs is less surprising than it should be.
“That would have been super rude,” I say breathlessly while struggling to hold air in my lungs.
He arches a brow at the tremor in my voice. I pray he doesn’t see my nipples growing hard beneath my thin shirt.
He sighs heavily, as if carrying the weight of the universe on his shoulders. His expression makes him look ten years older than he is. “You’re right. Sorry that I lost my cool out there. It was a hell of a day.”
My heart aches for him. “It’s okay. I never thought you had any cool to begin with.”
I nudge his shoulder with mine, and I’m ridiculously pleased when he smiles down at me.
“I shouldn’t have manhandled you like that.”
I grin at him as I open the door. “It’s okay. Between you and me, I kind of liked it.”
He’s silent for a beat, a stunned expression on his gorgeous face as I step inside.
Without moving, his eyes meet mine. “Kind of?”
“Good night, rancher,” I say before softly closing the door between us.
Once I hear him leave the porch and return to his truck, I lean against the door behind me and try to breathe normally. Feels like I held my breath during the entire interaction.