One Look: A grumpy, single dad small town romance(20)

I grunted in frustration. “Kind of dark for a walk.” I internally flinched at my own words, sounding like more of a prick than I’d meant to.

Lark’s startled scream rang through the night air, and she jumped back and clutched her chest.

“Whoa. Sorry.” I lifted my hand. “It’s me. Wyatt.”

Real smooth.

“Shit. Hey.” Lark was breathless, and I forced myself to stay focused on her face and not the way her shirt stretched across her chest with every breath.

“What are you doing out here?”

Lark exhaled an audible huff. “I could ask you the same thing. Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

My jaw ticced at her ribbing. “Just wanted to be alone.”

She looked at me but stayed silent. I hated that with her my default mode seemed to be permanently stuck on dickbag, and I couldn’t quite figure out why. Especially considering I was spending far too much time thinking about how the fading light turned her hazel eyes a rich shade of moss and cedar.

I cleared my throat and tried again. “I was enjoying a peaceful country night until Brooks & Dunn crashed the party.”

Even in the dim lighting I could see her shy smile as she brushed a piece of rich brown hair away from her face. I wanted to reach out and feel the softness of the strands through my fingertips. I flexed my fingers instead.

“Oh. Yeah.” She laughed. “I sort of misjudged the sunset and spent the last twenty minutes walking in the dark. To keep myself from totally freaking out, I cranked my headphones up as loud as they could go and sang at the top of my lungs. I thought it might scare away any creatures that might mess with me.”

“Well, what you’re doing is scaring away the neighbors.”

“We have neighbors?” Lark looked around as if she’d missed a house or something. We were coated in darkness.

I huffed a laugh and took the last swig of my beer. “Just you.”

The barn also loomed in the shadows, and Lark looked at the darkened stairs.

I need to change that light bulb too.

I was about to go back to my solitude when she surprised the hell out of me.

“Got any more of those?”

I gestured with my empty bottle. “A beer?”

“Yeah. It’s hot. I worked up a thirst.”

Her words hung in the air. I was sure she didn’t mean anything by them, but my body had all kinds of devious thoughts about how we might work up a thirst together. In my younger, wilder days, I could’ve had her in my lap in less than half a beer.

“I’ve got an extra.” I unfolded myself and went inside as Lark waited. I slipped through the front door and tossed my empty bottle in the recycling with a loud clank—Shit.

I went stiff as I listened for Penny. The house was silent, so I pulled open the refrigerator door. On our way back from getting the boys, we’d stopped at the small local grocery store and picked up a few supplies. The six-pack was an impulse buy, but now that Lark was waiting just outside my doorway, I was half-glad I’d snagged it.

Before heading back outside, I held both bottles in one hand and paused at the end of the hallway and listened again. No stirring from the back of the house. I ran a hand through my hair, hoping it wasn’t a total mess before scolding myself.

Who gives a shit what your hair looks like?

I reminded myself that Lark wasn’t a woman I was chasing. She was a friend of Tootie’s—no, not even that. An employee. She was also bold and unpredictable. Too cheerful. A nuisance.

Nodding at myself for thinking clearly and not making decisions with my dick, I headed toward the front door. The last thing I needed was drama with a woman when I was barely keeping this ship upright as it was.

Even if in the short time I’d known her, Lark had somehow come to occupy every waking thought—and that was a problem.

Even if she was the most gorgeous woman I’d ever laid eyes on and even considering the fact I knew firsthand she was just as gorgeous underneath her clothing, which nearly killed me.

The image of Lark rising up out of Wabash Lake, water running down her back, had made for an interesting shower when I’d jerked off to the thought of her and tried to finish as quickly—and quietly—as possible. Staying here with Penny and the boys made me feel like a teenager again.

When I stepped onto the porch, Lark was sitting on the top step, opposite of where I’d been posted up.

“Man, it is dark around here.”

“Yep.” I handed a bottle of beer to her, and when she used the hem of her shirt to pop open the top and take a healthy swig, I almost smiled.

“Mmm.” Her throaty moan wasn’t doing me any favors. “Thank you.” She turned the label around and laughed as she read it. “Beer Thirty—Any time is the right time.”

“It was all they had.”

“Is that a mountain with an arm sticking out of it . . . holding a beer?”

“Yep.”

Her laughter floated over me, and in the safety of near darkness, I let it soak into me. She looked out into the yard and then over the old front porch of the farmhouse with a small, satisfied smile. “Looks like you’re running a full house over here. I’m sure it’s a comfort to have family around all the time.”

I grunted in response. “You’d be surprised. I have no idea what I’m doing with these kids. This is the first quiet moment I’ve had all day.”