Waiting for Wyatt (Red Dirt #1) (35 page)

“Yes. It’s awesome. And um, intense, but it’s different than the book. And I don’t think you will like it. Let’s do a different one.”

“You pick.” Reaching into my bucket of popcorn, I took a handful and munched on the puffy kernels. The butter melted on my tongue. Wyatt’s eyes trailed up my legs and over my dress and stopped on my lips as I pushed in another bite of popcorn. I poked his leg with the toe of my boot to get his attention back to the movies.

“Okay. Okay.” He let out a deep breath. “Well, I have also seen
Carrie
. But not
The Mist
. And I don’t know about watching
The Godfather
out here.”

“So it’s a toss-up.
Jurassic Park
versus
The Mist.
I have an idea.” I gave a flirty grin. Leaning over, I took a giant piece of popcorn from
his
bucket—the one he seemed conflicted to eat. “I’m going to throw this in your mouth. If I miss, then it’s
The Mist
. If I can make it inside your mouth, then it’s
Jurassic Park
.”

I scooted back a couple of feet, but Wyatt rolled his eyes like I was crazy. “Either you participate, or we watch
Twilight
because I have that movie on there too.”

Wyatt’s jaw immediately dropped open. Our eyes held on to each other as I took aim. The soft piece of popcorn traveled between us and my eyes became huge as it landed on his tongue. I fell over laughing. “I really can’t believe I made it.”

Rolling over on my side, I saw his face relax into some euphoric haze as he chewed on the buttery popcorn. Wyatt looked so incredibly sexy in his black sweatshirt and the black wool hat, which covered most of his head. It made his dark eyebrows and soft lips stand out. As I watched him lick the salt off of those sexy lips with his tongue, the warmth in my chest expanded through my whole body. I loved him. I wanted him. I craved him.

His gaze drifted down to where I was lying on the blanket. And I smiled, not bothering to hide a single thought in my head. “How does it taste?”

“Incredible.” He dipped a hand inside the bucket, shoveling a whole fistful into his mouth.

“Good.” I grinned at him, feeling my own euphoric rush. I wanted nothing more than to just stay in this very spot, watching the happiness as it radiated across his cheeks. But I knew we should get the movie started or it would end late.

I crawled off the blanket and went to the laptop. After a few clicks, the projector broadcasted on the back of the white metal building—the only wall without pens or doors attached to the sides. I adjusted the picture as the sound boomed out of the speaker. It remained slightly crooked. Fiddling with the lens, I just seemed to make it worse until I finally gave up.

I glanced down to where Wyatt sat with Charlie. His face was no longer alive with excitement but veiled in sadness and wrapped in guilt. His self-punishment had surfaced, keeping a strong hold on his thoughts, tainting my surprise with his demons.

I just wanted Wyatt to have a good night. And I didn’t think there was anything wrong with a good night. He was confined to living at the kennel. Wasn’t that enough? None of his self-inflicted restrictions would change the past. I wish he could just see it that way.

I made my way back to the blanket, stopping next to his feet. Wyatt reached a hand up to pull me down to the blanket. I clasped my fingers around his, giving him a teasing grin to lighten his mood. Settling between his thighs, I pulled the extra blanket up over our legs before leaning back into his chest. His arms circled around my body, holding me tightly, squeezing me with the intensity of his thoughts.

“Thank you for all of this,” he whispered. “I don’t deserve—”

“Shh.” I turned my neck enough to press my lips over his. “Just enjoy tonight for me, okay?”

“Okay,” he whispered, and I heard the surrender in his gruff voice.

Wyatt seemed to relax, letting his hands wander over my skin until his fingers intertwined with mine. We leaned back into the mound of pillows he had propped up against the coffee table. His chin rested next to my cheek. I felt his warm breath on my skin as the opening credits spilled across the side of the building, just slightly crooked and just a little blurry, but very peaceful and sweet and wonderful—and just as I’d imagined as I’d sat daydreaming at the bookstore today.

We finished off one of the buckets of popcorn as the sounds of the movie filled the quiet air of the open country. It wasn’t loud enough to shake our seats, but the speaker worked pretty well when the dinosaurs crashed across the screen. I learned that Wyatt liked Spielberg even though he thought the movie wasn’t very close to the book. But neither of us cared. We loved it anyway. I stayed curled up in his arms even after the end credits disappeared and the screen went black.

“You want to watch another one?” I looked up at him. He pushed a curl off my face, letting his hand cup the side of my cheek. I kissed the tip of his thumb as he touched my lips.

“Don’t you have to work early at the nursing home?”

I let out a sigh. “I do. I have a five-a.m. shift tomorrow.”

“We should get this packed up then so you can go home.”

“I don’t want to leave,” I muttered.

Wyatt clutched me to his chest. “I don’t want you to leave either.”

So we didn’t move. My eyes closed, listening to the quiet sounds around us—the bugs and the chilly breeze moving the grass. And I drifted away into the feel of his body. The way his chest moved as he breathed. The way his fingers stayed curled around my breast. The way his left hand rested on my thigh. The way his nose stayed buried down in the scarf around my neck.

It wasn’t wild and breathtaking. Instead it was the stillness that made this moment weave around my heart as Wyatt held me in a comfortable and sleepy embrace.

“I liked movie night,” I mumbled. “But I know it wasn’t as good as a real theater.”

“It was better,” he whispered. “Because you did this for me. I don’t think a real theater will ever compare. Even when I take you to a real one, I will still think about this night with you.”

I couldn’t find the words to say back to Wyatt. He was making plans and promises again. He made me feel like I was falling right through the sky as he held me tight, while on a simple blanket spread out across the ground.

So I didn’t say anything and snuggled as close as I could to his body. I wanted to stay like this forever. I wanted the future he was gradually promising. My thoughts got sleepy, and then I drifted slowly away.

“Emma.” He shook me a little. “Wake up. It’s really late.”

“Okay.” But I didn’t move.

“Come on.” He shifted me off his lap, disturbing Charlie in the process. “Why don’t you take him back to the kennel? I’ll put all of this back in your car.”

“Okay.” I didn’t have the energy to argue.

Lifting up Charlie, he gave me a half lick before closing his eyes again. We stumbled back around to the side door. I carried him down the aisle. A few dogs woke up enough to come to the gates. Placing Charlie inside, he walked slowly over to his bed and fell against the soft padding.

I shut the pen and I dragged my sleepy body through the building. If I didn’t have to be at work so early, I would just stay the night. But I didn’t bring my scrubs and I would have to leave at 4:15, which was in about three hours.

Something caught my attention and I stopped walking, realizing my feet were next to Cye’s pen—or rather, the home of Betty and Cye. Bending down, I saw his single brown eye, watching from the other side of the fence. I swear, every time I looked at him, he broke my heart just a little bit more until there was nothing but dust in my chest.

I stuck my fingers inside the pen and waited. He slowly came over, lying down against the wire. And he let me touch him, very softy, very lightly, behind the ears. And then he rolled over, giving me his fuzzy belly.

Tears threatened to pour down my cheeks. This was a new one, something he had never done for me or Wyatt.

“That’s a good boy,” I whispered. I loved this dog. Plain and simple. I loved him and his courage to trust again. If Cye could make this kind of progress, he might just get himself adopted.

I heard the door open at the front of the building. Giving Cye one last rub on the stomach, I got up from the cement and made my way over to where Wyatt stood by the office.

“Cye rolled over for me,” I whispered. “He let me pet his belly.”

“His belly?”

“Yeah. His big ol’ fuzzy belly.”

“Huh,” he muttered, giving me a grin. “Well, he always liked you better.”

“He likes us the same.”

Wyatt put an arm around my waist as we walked out to my car. “Everything’s packed up in the backseat.”

“Thank you.”

He rested his hands on my shoulders, fiddling with my scarf. I knew he was sad that I was leaving and he was worried about me driving in the middle of the night. I wished that I could say,
I’ll text you when I get home
. But that’s not how things worked between us.

“I’ll be okay,” I whispered.

“I know. I just . . . I know.” He let out a deep breath, pulling me to his chest. His mouth found my lips, tugging possessively until they were slightly sore from his kiss. And then he abruptly released me. Backing away a few steps, Wyatt let his eyes wander over me as he slipped away into some hazy stare in the moonlit shadows.

“What?”

“I’m just trying to remember you like this.” His low voice hung on each word. “With your hair falling down around your shoulders and that sleepy look in your eyes. And your lips all red from me kissing you. That’s what I want to remember. When I’m out here alone and I feel like I’m losing my mind. I want to picture you like this.”

I stared back at him, feeling my heart beat wildly in my chest. After a few moments, I climbed inside my car and drove away as my insides turned into complete mush. That might be the sweetest and most heart-wrenching thing Wyatt had ever said to me.

T
HE LAST SEVERAL DAYS HAD
been a whirlwind of class and work. Sitting at a stoplight, I rubbed the back of my neck. A knot was forming right under the base of my skull. My eyes drifted closed as the fatigue sat into my body. I had studied almost all night for my chemistry test. I didn’t know how the full-time students handled the pressure. I only had two classes.

I knew it took me longer than some people to understand things. School had never been easy for me. And Blaire had more time to invest in being some award-winning student. She gave a few music lessons on the side, but her scholarship pretty much paid for everything else while I worked two jobs. Not that I saw it as an excuse. Lots of people worked while in school, and I didn’t need a first-in-class medal. I just needed to make a B. That would get me into the nursing program.

A horn blared from behind, making me sit straight up in the driver’s seat. I put my foot on the pedal and shot forward from the light. I just prayed I did well on my test even though my head wasn’t quite together today.

The blood was still pumping fast through my body as I pulled into my apartment complex. My neck spasm had grown into a full-fledged migraine. I wanted to rest my head against the steering wheel instead of taking the effort of going upstairs, but I peeled myself out of the seat anyway.