Chapter Four

 

Wyatt

 

Why had I said I’d leave behind some girl? Zoey wasn’t just some girl. She was the girl. When she’d slammed the front door shut I resisted the urge to punch the car door only because I didn’t want to have to fix the dent later. Seemed like every time I talked to that woman things were left worse than before. Though, this time, I could’ve kicked my own ass for referring to her as if she hadn’t mattered.

That night I tossed and turned instead of sleeping. Between feeling unfamiliar in the apartment above my parent’s garage having spent the better part of a decade in a barracks somewhere, and being unable to stop picturing Zoey’s ass in that damn skirt, my chance of a decent night’s sleep was nil. I’d only been in town twenty-four hours and was already completely twisted up over her. Zoey was all woman now.

My only plan became to steer clear of Zoey Goodrich as much as possible but even I knew I couldn’t avoid her completely. When my phone rang a little after nine a knot formed in my stomach so heavily that I considered not answering it. It was a sixth sense intuition sort of feeling that said I’d regret answering the call. Being in a war, intuition and gut instinct became your best friends so I should have trusted them. And when I saw the caller ID, Riley, I really didn’t want to answer. I did anyway.

“Hey, could you do me a huge solid?” Riley sounded like he’d just woken up. Fuck, I hoped Riley had just woken up otherwise he’d been doing something else and that wasn’t something a guy wanted in his head about his best friend.

“I suppose.” As long as it doesn’t involve your sister.

“I need you to go with Zoey to look at some apartments.”

Of course.

This was going to be worse than being on the battlefield. On the battlefield, I didn’t want to give in. With Zoey, I fought every urge in my body that pushed me to touch her, taste her, run my tongue over every surface of her body. Fuck. I’d need a cold shower before getting near her.

“Why?” I asked instead to try to hide my awkward silence.

“I just want to make sure she gets someplace safe. And I need to go sign the final papers on the garage because the guy I’m buying it from has to leave town. I’ll owe you a beer.”

You’ll owe me a lot fucking more.

“I guess.”

Riley rattled off the details of where they were supposed to meet. I nodded absently and raked my fingers through my morning hair.

“Shit,” Riley interrupted himself, “you’ll have to pick her up because Mom’s driving her car home today. Remember she left it at the restaurant last night?”

“Fine.” I sighed.

Since Riley hadn’t given me much warning, I enlisted the old tried-and-true shower-in-less-than-three-minutes skill I’d learned and perfected in the service and was out the door within ten minutes of the phone call. Wouldn’t take long to get over to the Goodrich’s anyway.

It was pretty obvious that Zoey was less than pleased to see me waiting in the driveway when she came out of the house. Her steps faltered at the edge of the front door where she caught herself from falling and paused for fifteen seconds. Today she was dressed more like a college kid in worn jeans and a thin sweater. She was still carrying her jacket, which she’d need even though the weather was actually somewhat mild. It was Michigan after all. That shit could change in a heartbeat.

I wouldn’t have been able to handle it if she’d been wearing that skimpy shit with her ass hanging out. Not to mention she had on sensible shoes. Shoes you could walk in. She was so small without the help of the heels she’d been at the restaurant that I could’ve tucked her under my arm and her head would’ve laid perfectly at the dip in my shoulder. Those loose curls that hung down her back made me wonder what it would be like to sink my fingers inside. I needed to work on my self-control.

“What are you doing here?” Her words forced me to look away from her face. I glanced around us just so I wouldn’t look like a fucking creeper, staring at her.

“Riley got called away so I’m your big strong savior that’s going to take you to look at apartments. He stressed safety.” I shrugged to try to play it off as normal.

She rolled her eyes at me then slid into his car. Having her close gave me more of a sense of peace than I’d had since the first time I shipped out.

The first place we checked out was a dump. No way would I have even let her consider it. The second was ok but not the level of security that Riley seemed to want. The third was a possibility. Partly because the landlord had mistaken them for a young married couple and that assumption did shit inside me that I couldn’t yet acknowledge. Surprisingly, through it all, we’d both kept out tongues under control and went almost the entire day without sniping at each other.

I’d been worried one of us would draw blood before we got back to her parent’s house.

“So, thanks for going with me today,” she said meeting me in front of his car. “Riley kind of overreacts. I’m a big girl, I could have done this myself but I was glad to have the company.”

“Why is he being like that? He wasn’t when I was last home.”

Zoey shrugged. “Things change, Wyatt. Shit happens.”

She’s hiding something.

For whatever reason I didn’t yet understand, Zoey headed toward the garage instead of the house. It made me wonder if she didn’t want to be alone with me in the house. As if we couldn’t be trusted alone near her bedroom. I knew desire when I saw it and more than once it’d been in her eyes. Especially when that landlord referred to us as a couple.

“What kind of shit?” I asked right as she tugged the garage door open.

“You know it bothers the hell out of me that I couldn’t get those lug nuts loosened. Riley kept telling me to use my body weight but I think he tightened them extra tightly. But damn I wanted to prove to him that I can take care of myself.”

“Zoey,” I said quietly because I couldn’t wait another minute. Two fucking days in town was apparently the limit on my control. Moving in right behind her, I knew she’d feel the heat of my body without my having to touch her but still I didn’t stop until contact was made. By contact, my erection brushed against her back. If she’d put her winter coat on she wouldn’t have felt anything. “I’m sorry I called you ‘some girl’. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s fine.” She shrugged. “I’m sure there have been plenty since then to make you forget.” She swallowed hard and even with her back still to me, I could hear it. “But I remember because it was literally the best kiss I’ve had in my life.”

She shouldn’t have said that. All it did was make my body burn with a desire that I had no right to. The beginner hard-on turned into a full one. When she spun toward me her arm brushed my cock and it was like being zapped with a nine-volt battery. A feeling that hit every hidden depth of my heart.