One Look: A grumpy, single dad small town romance(77)

“Mmm. This is really good!”

Wyatt took his own sip and hummed in agreement. “I caved and paid a visit to Charles Attwater’s shop. Just don’t tell Lee. He’ll be pissed and paint me as a traitor.”

“Because Lee’s clearly in love with Annie, right?”

Wyatt shrugged. “I think Lee’s too stupid to see what’s right in front of him, but I’m not going to be the one to tell him that.”

We laughed and drank and listened to the sounds of cicadas filling the night air. Wyatt fed me small bites of salami and cheese, peppered with kisses in between our easy conversation. I recognized a glow in his eyes, and it wasn’t from the lanterns.

Gently I teased the top edge of my dress with my fingers. “Let’s go for a swim.”

Wyatt growled as his body covered mine, kissing me as he made quick work of removing my dress.

Stripped down, I stood at the edge of the water with one hand over my naked breasts. Wyatt stood, gloriously naked and unashamed.

We held hands as we toed closer to the edge of the lake.

“It might still be a little cold,” he warned.

I gripped his hand in mind. “Let’s do it.”

I ran forward, pulling Wyatt with me and splashing the cool water as we ran into the lake. I screamed and laughed. Wyatt lifted me as we got deeper into the water. His mouth found mine, and we tumbled forward, soaking us both. My legs wound around his waist as he supported my weight.

When we broke from our kiss, Wyatt rested his forehead on mine. “Lark.”

“Yes?” Our breaths were heavy pants as I clung to him.

He didn’t answer but instead moved me lower until he slipped inside me.

I let my desperate cries ring out into the night. Held by him, I had never felt safer or more cherished.

When we came down from the high of our lovemaking, we settled by the outcropping of rocks that I had once used as a hiding place. Wyatt was next to me, chest deep in water, and I rested the side of my face on the arm I had flung across the rock. I openly stared at him. I loved that I could do that now our feelings were out on the table.

Well, mostly.

Wyatt and I hadn’t exactly openly discussed our scary, deep-down feelings or what this relationship/arrangement really was, but I didn’t care. Things were too good to screw it up with messy talk about labels or the end of summer.

“I think we should talk about the end of summer.”

Well, fuck.

Wyatt wasn’t looking at me but rather out into the dark woods beyond the far edge of the lake.

His hand was warm on my hip, but a shiver still ran through me.

When I didn’t speak up, he continued. “Come August, kids will be returning to school. Practices will start up, and I’ll be in full-season football mode—practices, meetings, managing the staff and players. Addressing problems.”

I smiled to myself. I had caught only glimpses of Wyatt in coach mode, but I knew that on the field, he was in his element.

“Sounds busy.” I mentally started ticking off the tasks I knew I could help him with to make life easier. He’d need to keep his calendar tidy, and I would love the extra time I might have with Penny if her dad had an away game or late night.

“I think you should take the job.”

My tongue felt thick, and my heart dropped to my butt like a stone. All I could manage was a confused, “What?”

“The job. In LA. You should take it. There’s really no other choice.”

I straightened, bracing myself against the rocks and the chill that had settled over me.

This is it. The moment you hand your heart over and he laughs in your face and crushes it in his fist.

“I haven’t even submitted my callback. And there’s no guarantee that I’d even get the job.”

An all-too-familiar line formed on Wyatt’s forehead. “Then you should submit it. And of course you’ll get the job. I watched you convince an entire town that Bowlegs was having a torrid affair with a knockout like you. Jolly and Ant are still confident that you secretly married him for money.”

I laughed at the absurdity of the town rumor mill, but my stomach was tight.

Wyatt wanted me to leave, and this was his out.

“Oh, I . . . um. I guess I hadn’t really thought about LA in a while.”

Lie.

I had thought about it every single day and almost deleted the video more than once. I should have done it.

“Hey.” Wyatt edged closer and moved a wet piece of hair from my forehead before tipping my chin to look at him. “I don’t want you to go. But you need to see this thing through. Set a goal and go get it. It’s what I did with football, and I got to live my dream because of it. Now it’s your turn.”

Tears swam in my eyes as I fought back a sob. Instead, I buried myself into the warmth of his shoulder so he wouldn’t see me fall to pieces.

Could I believe his words? That he didn’t really want me to go but thought it was best in the long run? Or were those just nice words so I wouldn’t feel the sting of him leaving me once summer was over?

He’d salvaged the rest of the evening by showering me with attention and sweet, reassuring words. The conversation with my mother and her winds of change, along with the sinking feeling that, deep down, I might actually wonder how things would have turned out if I did submit my callback tape, nagged me.