Chapter Twelve

 

Wyatt

 

Telling Zoey Goodrich to dress comfortably would do nothing to tone down just how beautiful she was. I should’ve known that. Those jeans fit like a second skin covering her ass. The blue shirt made her blue eyes more vibrant and the things I wanted to do were so much more than I should ever want to do with my best friend’s sister. But Riley and I had covered all of that and now was the time to make good on my word. If Zoey let me, I’d take care of her forever. And do the dirty stuff.

“Ready?” I asked.

“Where are we going?” She stepped back inside the bottom door to grab her coat off the step and then pulled the door shut behind us. I did my very best not to stare at her ass when she bent over.

“It’s a surprise,” I said back.

“I swear Wyatt if this is some “I feel sorry for the single girl on Valentine’s day thing” I’m going to punch you in the balls.”

I chuckled. Not exactly what I’d want her to do with my balls.

“It’s not. I just thought we could do something fun. Since we’re both anti Valentine’s Day.”

“Ok,” she said back with a sarcastic tone that meant she didn’t really believe me. We didn’t say anything else until after we were situated in my car. Then she said, “For the record, I’ve never been much on Valentine’s Day even when I had a boyfriend.”

I knew that, of course. Riley had already warned me of that. “Maybe that was because of the asshole you were dating.”

“He’s not the only boyfriend I’ve ever had.”

My grip tightened on the steering wheel because the idea of her with any other guy was annoying but especially the asshole behind all the veiled references to how awful the last one had been.

“Whatever,” I said instead of probing further, “This isn’t a V-day thing.”

“Good.”

We drove for ten minutes before I pulled into a parking spot at our first stop. When I glanced over at Zoey as I shifted into park, her lips were pursed together tightly and shifted to the side and her eyebrows were slammed down. The expression of confusion creased her face which was the reaction I’d been hoping for.

We stepped out of the car and she looked from left to right, I assumed trying to figure out where I wanted to take her.

“Where are we?”

“This way.” I pointed behind me.

Zoey sighed then began walking in the direction I’d indicated. I lightly laid my hand on her back as we made our way to the pottery place I found online. I had no idea where the idea came from but somewhere I’d heard about places you can go, pick out a piece of ceramic and paint it yourself. Maybe Zoey would think it was corny. Maybe she’d love it. Either way it was cheesy enough to ensure she wouldn’t think I was trying to woo her all the while I’d try to woo her. The only downside would be that we’d have to wait to take out masterpieces behind for them to glaze and fire them.

“Let’s pick something out,” I said once we’d gotten through the door.

“Seriously?” She looked up at me with an arched brow. “This doesn’t seem like your kind of place.”

She was right. I’d never been in a paint it-take it place before but that was kind of the point. And with here there, it might become my new favorite place.

“I’ve never been here before in my life. And it’s definitely not someplace I’d take a girl on Valentine’s Day.”

She paused, looking me over like she’d be able to figure out if I was being truthful or not. Then finally she said, “No, it isn’t.”

We slowly wandered through the store until Zoey settled on what she wanted to paint. A large mug for coffee or hot chocolate. Wouldn’t matter what she put in it. I grabbed one just like it, let her pick out all the colors then we settled at a table.

At first, We worked on our mugs quietly. Sitting at the same table but without the interaction between us we may as well have been in different buildings. That didn’t sit well with me. The point of this entire thing was for me to woo her. Silence didn’t woo anyone.

“So tell me why you don’t like today,” I asked

Zoey shrugged but I could see her thinking about the question. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I guess you shouldn’t need a specific reason to treat your significant other to something special. Take her flowers on random days. Make his favorite meal just because you want to do something nice. It shouldn’t be held onto for one specific day. Oh I mean two days. Don’t get me started on Sweetest Day in October.” She began shaking her head. But Zoey was so focused on her cup that she didn’t notice me watching her. Her attention to the details on her mug turned him on.

I didn’t know why.

“Ok, but about this last guy. I’ve heard he wasn’t so nice?”

She sighed and set her brush down. “Listen, if I’m going to answer your questions then you have to answer mine.”

Fuck, I didn’t want to agree to that but still I nodded. If she’d answer some questions I’d have to suck it up and do the same.

“He was fine at first,” she said as if I should’ve known who she was talking about. I knew in theory because the guy had been mentioned several times but I didn’t actually know who he was. “But the longer we dated, the more controlling he became. It’s the same story you’ve heard a hundred times. He didn’t hit me or anything he just wanted to control me. When the fucker put a tracker on my car so he’d always know where I was I had to end it. Permanently.”

“He low jacked your car?”

She nodded.

“He still a problem?” I silently swore that if the ex was still a problem, he wouldn’t be for long.

“It took a while but I haven’t heard from him at all since before I graduated last year. I’m sure he’ll find his stepford wife eventually.”

“Poor girl.”

“What about you?” she asked. “Why did your last relationship end?”

Why did she always have to go straight for the kill? I swallowed hard and knew honesty was the only way to go.

“I graduated,” I said keeping my eyes glued to his mug.

Zoey cocked her head to the side and said, “Huh?”

When I glanced up, the cute, confused scrunching of her face was too much for me not to laugh quietly at.

“High school. I had a girlfriend in high school—

“I remember,” she groaned making him smile again. “Lacey Mitchell.”

“Well, we graduated. She went to college. I went into the service. We broke up.”

“Wait.” She sat up straighter and leaned toward me like this conversation just got more interesting. “You haven’t had one since then?”

“Haven’t had time. Think about it. How many girls has Riley mentioned while he was away? None right?” She nodded. “It’s really hard to sustain a relationship when one of you is constantly deployed. Especially a new relationship. And I didn’t want to leave anyone behind if I got killed.” It was the truth. Didn’t matter if it was the sexy answer or not.

“Really?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She dropped her gaze and reached across the table to lay her hand on mine. “That’s kind of sad, Wyatt. Not to mention you know damn well you would have left people behind even if it wasn’t a girlfriend.” She sat back up and went back to painting.

That had been a hard pill for me to swallow for years. Yeah, I knew Zoey would’ve been crushed if I didn’t come home but not to the same extent if we would’ve been together and in love. Being with her would’ve made me worry even more than I already had been.

The air around us had grown too tense and I had the sudden urge to lighten the mood. This wasn’t why I’d wanted to take Zoey out tonight. Turned out, he didn’t need to be the one to change the direction.

Zoey reached across the table, a thick paintbrush in her hand, and with the flick of her wrist, swiped a thick blue line diagonally across his cup. My mouth dropped open and I widened my eyes in horror. On the inside though, I was laughing my ass off. I couldn’t care less about the mug itself but I loved that she had gotten comfortable enough to do it.

“You’ve ruined it,” I said as of she’d just kicked a kitten.

Zoey giggled. “I made it beautiful.”

“You made it girly.”

“I’m a girl,” she countered.

“I’ve noticed,” I said back then smiled.

Once we went back to work, Zoey opened up a little more. She talked about college which sounded like a hell of a lot of work. Of course it was but since I’d never experienced it, listening to her talk about her experience made it more real.

After we finished our painting, we filled out the paperwork so they’d know who to contact once they were done. I already knew this would be my favorite cup for morning coffee. Then we got back into my car and headed for the next stop on our non-Valentine’s Day agenda.