“Try me. I don’t have a college ed, but I’m sure I’ll follow.”
An image of Billy sprang into her mind. Handsome, blond, as quick to smile as he was to lie. She pushed it aside. The nights of crying into her pillow for him were over, but that didn’t mean her heart didn’t squeeze when she thought of the betrayal.
“Belle.” Wyatt stepped closer.
His body heat radiated onto her cooling, damp skin.
“What is it?” he asked.
She looked into his intense dark eyes, so different from Billy’s pale blue ones. “Some bastard took me for a ride. He made me believe he loved me then took off with some slut.” She clamped her lips together, holding in the rant she’d had enough times about her ex. He wasn’t worth the breath.
Wyatt cupped her face, his hands big and warm. “He was an idiot, ’cause from where I’m standing, you’re one fine woman. Only a jerk would run out on you.”
Her heart stopped squeezing quite so tightly, and the constriction in her throat lessened. “You don’t have to sweet-talk me. We fucked already.”
The right side of his mouth twitched. “And I ain’t gonna forget it in a hurry. No damn way.” He leaned closer still, until she could see the stubble over his top lip and a small scar beside his left nostril. “But truth is, I’m just saying it as I see it. You’re pretty special, Belle, that much is clear.”
She swallowed, the noise seemingly loud in the quiet room.
“Perhaps you just need to see that for yourself,” he said. “Lift your head out of those books and look at the real world around you. The people around you.”
“People like you?”
“Yeah, that would be a start.” He lowered his head and touched his lips to hers.
She fluttered her eyes closed. There was an exciting contrast to Wyatt, tough, hard, sexy, yet also tender and calm. It was enough to make her wonder if she’d open her heart again, one day, to someone like him.
Stop it, you’re running way ahead.
“I have to go,” he murmured.
She nodded, though the truth was she wouldn’t have objected if he’d said he was staying. How fickle she was when she allowed her heart to rule her head.
Which is exactly how Billy did such a number on me.
“But be ready at midday tomorrow,” he said.
“What? Why?”
“We’re going out.”
She raised her eyebrows, acutely aware of her nipples tightening and rubbing against the towel. “Where?”
“To the beach. That’s what you told your brother you wanted to do, right? I’ll take you.”
“He won’t like that.”
“Like I said.” He pulled back, reached for a tattered black sweater from the drawer, and pulled it on. “I couldn’t give a fuck what he thinks. It’s what you think that’s important to me.” He paused. “Wanna go to the beach, Belle?”
She pulled in a breath. It had been so long since she’d heard waves, smelled salt in the air, and sunk her toes into sand. “Yeah.” She nodded. “I do.”
“So, we’ll go.”
He stepped around her to the door and pulled it open. “And don’t worry. I’ll handle your bodyguards. Heck, I’ll be your new bodyguard.” He let his attention slide down her body as he swiped his tongue over his bottom lip. “Yep, I can guard all of that body with every damn inch of mine, that’s for sure.”
She held in a laugh. “Get outta here, and don’t get seen.”
With a chuckle, he slipped out the door, pulling it closed behind him.