Chapter Fourteen

 

Wyatt

 

Watching Zoey Goodrich walk away confused might’ve become my new favorite view of her. Hell, confused, happy, something with a little angry pop to it would work just as well for me. But I had to control those thoughts so things didn’t become obvious south of the border. A raging hard on wasn’t exactly what I needed… yet.

Inside the theater, she climbed all the way to the top which brought a smile to my face. I shook my head but the smile wouldn’t leave my face as I made the trek up the stairs to plop my ass into the seat beside her.

“You’re not even out of breath,” she said.

“Sweetheart, do you know what I’ve been doing for the last ten years. This climb is nothing.”

She rolled those beautiful blues at me. Sure, it sounded a little cocky but it was the truth none the less.

“Do humanity a favor and take it down a notch,” she said. “Get a dad body or beer gut or something.”

“Dad body?” I asked with a chuckle.

“When dad’s let their body go and they get the spare tire.”

Yeah, I knew what it was. “Not gonna happen.”

The preview music had already started when I realized I’d let the sweetheart slip. Either she didn’t hear it, didn’t notice it, or decided to just let it drop. Which, I had no idea. At least we weren’t going to address it right then.

The movie turned out as expected. An action adventure that most girls would hate but Zoey seemed into it. Still not a date movie in my book. But feeling her move beside me when she jumped at the little scares they put into the movie… that alone was was worth the price of admission alone.

“So, is that it?” she asked on the way back to the car.

“Yep. Need to turn in early so I can work on keeping that dad bod at bay.”

She snorted. It wasn’t a loud sound actually. More like she made it under her breath but I knew when I heard it, I always wanted to hear it again.

I drove her home more quickly than I would’ve liked but I also didn’t want to tip her off that this was anything more than me driving her home. However, she surprised me by hopping out of the car before I had it in park in front of my house.

“Well, thanks for hanging out with your friend’s loser sister tonight. It was fun.” She dipped her head in an appreciative nod then pushed the door closed.

Ok, maybe I played it off too well.

I quickly turned the car off and hopped out to catch up with her. When she looked back with a confused face, I said, “Making sure you get inside ok.”

“Oooo… kaaayyy… ” She dragged the word out and got the security door unlocked then flipped the light switch inside the door so they could see our way up the stairs. I followed her as she made the climb then unlocked the upstairs door. “All set.”

But the moment I’d been waiting for all night finally happened when Zoey turned into the apartment. The moment when hopefully everything would come together.