A sneaky grin stretched out across her face. I remembered all those times we’d snuck out, done the pranks she loved so much. They were juvenile, but they were us.
She was the one who’d egged our principal’s car. Not me. I was just the one who got the blame.
"Well, I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon. We should get together. Do some things. See the sights,” I suggested. I’d follow her to the end of Montana if it meant avoiding Wyatt Graves.
"Like that one right there?" she asked as she pointed out the window. It was Wyatt. Dammit.
Why did he have to look so damn sexy?
Shoot. He was coming right for me.
I wanted to sink into my chair and melt into the floor. Maybe then he would leave me alone. Dread filled me as he opened the door of the cafe and made a beeline right to me.
"Jess, I think it might be time for us to go," I said as I started to stand, but I wasn't going to be able to maneuver around him. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
"I don't think so," Wyatt said as he blocked my path. "You're coming with me. We need to talk."
"I'm busy, and I have to get back to work."
"You'll be fine, if you need some time," Jess said. “You told me you have an hour and we've only been here for twenty minutes." She winked at me. "But I better be going."
"Betrayed by you, too?" I asked. It seemed to be happening to me a lot.
"Think of it as payback, my dear pal. Not betrayal. You abandon me, I feed you to the wolf. And he looks very hungry." She smiled and patted me on the shoulder, then turned and walked away.
It didn't make me feel any better.
She looked damn pretty when she was angry. I wanted to wind her up even more just to watch the steam come out of her ears.
I tried not to stare in a stupor as she glared at me, her eyes narrow, her nostrils just a little flared.
Shit.
I was already too far gone. She walked into my life and into this town and there was nothing I could do to keep from hoping she'd walk all over me.
It was never this way with women. I was the one who had control. I was the one who made all the decisions, who used them.
I was good at it too.
But with Rose Shannon staring at me all of that went out the window. She was hellfire and a hurricane and I was just stuck in her path.
"Look, Rose, I-"
"I don't want to hear it, Wyatt. We did this. We gave it a try. I listened to you, followed your stupid little plan, and it left me completely embarrassed at the end of the night." She was flaming mad, and I couldn't help but smile.
I rubbed the back of my neck and gave her a once over. Damn.
I really should've ignored that text.
But my father was an asshole. An insistent one. He wouldn't have stopped at a damn text.
Hell, he would've come down to the park and drug me out by my ear if I'd ignored him.
Business was more important than play. At least that was what he always claimed.
Funny how he did whatever the hell he fancied.
"Let me take you out again," I said. "I'll make it up to you."
I thought she couldn't get any madder, but damn was I wrong.
"The deal was one only. Once. I'm not going to make a fool out of myself for you a second time." She crossed her arms.
"You sure about that?" I asked as I looked around the little cafe. Everyone was staring.
Yeah, that's right, food hanging out of their mouth staring.
Right at us.
"Let's take this outside," she said, her face turning a deep share of pink.
Even that was hot as hell. Especially as it crept up her cheeks.
I wanted her. I wanted whatever she would give me. I wasn't the kind of man who begged, but dammit, I would beg right there.
I needed to think of something, and fast.
I needed to sweeten the pot.
She marched outside and around the corner of the diner so that she wasn't in view of the window. She didn't banish me completely, so she had to want some part of this conversation.
This interaction.
She had to want some part of me. That was what I was holding on to. The idea that she wanted something to do with me. Above all else that was what I clung to. What I hoped for. I needed to know that she was still in this.
"Enough, Wyatt. Why do you think this is going to work? Why do you think you can just tell me you want to see me again and I'll just bend to your will." She wasn't angry anymore, she was hurt.
She was looking for a reason to trust me.
"I'll increase the offer," I said, as I gritted my teeth. I didn't want her to go out with me just because her mother needed the money, but dammit, I had no pride.
Not when it came to Rose.
"What?" she asked, as she stared in disbelief. She wasn't expecting that.
She was expecting excuses. I wouldn't give her any damn excuses.
I wanted her too bad to lose her before I even got a shot at winning her over.