Well that was one way to get her attention.
Juliette was steaming mad. Sleeping with Wyatt hadn't been the smartest choice, she knew that, doing it twice … well that had been her trying to prove something and she'd been proven wrong. But she'd expected … hell she'd really had no expectations but knowing they had to work together and see each other she'd sort of expected things would be a little awkward and then they'd go back to being friendly.
But the sex hadn't been in any way, shape or form, what she'd call normal. She felt branded to her soul by the intimacy that had been between them. It had hurt as the days went by and he hadn't contacted her but to send Ryder with an offer from them to buy the old factory for less than half it's value after he'd had it refitted for their lavender processing and lotion making business … well it felt like a slap in the face.
His office was well-appointed and if she weren't so pissed off she'd be tempted to sit down on one of the comfy looking leather guest chairs.
He looked good sitting there in his suit. The black jacket and grey dress shirt with the open collar complimented his coloring. Really? Seriously? This was what she was noticing.
Her head wasn't in the game.
The moment she'd walked into the room a flush of arousal had gone over her. She'd walked away from Wyatt once, what was it about Wyatt that kept her hot and hungry for more. It was as if each time they'd had sex it simply made her want him again.
"It's not a buy-off. Ariana and Trey are a couple now, we are friendly … I just wanted to do something nice for y'all. I had the means to get the factory refitted and I did it."
"Friendly? Are you kidding me?" she asked.
"No. Aren't we friends?"
She put her hands on his desk and leaned in close. She wanted to believe it was only anger coursing through her veins but later she knew she'd have to admit there was a bit of pain and hurt as well.
"No, we're not friends. Friends don't have sex that strips them bare all the way to their core and then walk away from each other like nothing happened. Friends don't change their entire routine to avoid each other. Friends don't make dumb business decisions to assuage their conscience."
He leaned back in his chair, pulling the fabric of his dress shirt taut against his muscled arms and chest. She hated that she noticed. But she did. Every thing inside of her seemed to quicken. She wanted to walk around the desk and push him back in that chair, take his tie and … lean down and kiss him.
Do something to prove that the one night he'd allotted for the two of them wasn't a fluke. That it hadn't been enough for either of them. Especially Wyatt who was so damned determined to ensure that was all she was to him.
"You know who I am. I'm a Kelly and we aren't long term men," Wyatt said.
"Silly me, I thought you were better than that, Wyatt. Everything changed for me when we were together. That wasn't my normal sexual encounter."
He said nothing and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Oh. My. God.
Was sex always that mind-blowing for him? Did he always have a connection with his partner? Or even worse, had he felt nothing?
He stood up and walked around the desk, she turned to face him and he put his hands on either side of her hips on his own desk and leaned in so close she could see the flecks in of goldish brown in his hazel eyes. His breath was minty and fresh as it brushed over her lips before he spoke.
"Nothing about that night was normal. You have been wrecking hell with me since the moment I saw you at the ball. And I haven't been able to get back on track since then. I'm sorry I offended you but as you said friends don't alter their patterns to avoid each other."
She bit her lower lip. Don't ask.
"Then why did you?"
"The truth is, Juliette, I've always been more like my dad than I wanted to be. I'm good at business, I'm damned good at wooing the ladies and I've seen what the kind of man can do to a good woman."
"And I'm a good woman?" she asked. Was he trying to say he left her to protect her? Did that mean he cared for her?
"Yes. You know that, don't make me say it."
"Maybe I don't know it. I've always been good at one thing, Wyatt and that was my job. I was a mess in high school, my relationships are pretty much non-existent but business is where I've exceeded. I don't know if that makes me a good woman."
"You are," he said, putting his forehead against hers. "Such a damn fine woman. You're the kind that makes a man think of things that require way more than one night to explore."
Her heart beat just a little bit faster. She hadn't been kidding when she said her relationships were non-existent but she wanted this.
Wanted Wyatt.
He was making her do things … she was doing them. He didn't make her. When she was around Wyatt she wanted to throw caution to the wind and be daring.
She put her hands on his jaw. Clean shaven. No stubble for Wyatt Kelly. And then closed her eyes and just breathed him in. The scent of him so close to her. She felt his lips move against hers and bit his lower lip.
She wasn't angry any more but that didn't mean she forgave him easily.
He laughed, startling her to open her eyes.
"Dammit, Juliette, that hurt."
"You hurt me, Wyatt. I know I said one night would be fine but I hadn't expected everything that went between us. You made me feel …
She couldn't say it out loud. She didn't want him to know how deeply his actions had affected her but she saw in his eyes that he did. She didn't have to say that she'd been rejected. That she'd felt small and unwanted.
"Damn. That's what I was trying to avoid," he said. "I just don't do relationships. You're the first woman I've wanted to make things work with and frankly, I have no idea if I can."
She didn't know either.
Lavender Dreams had a lot of orders coming in every day. Thanks to Wyatt filling them would be easier. She had people to hire but he'd done the heavy lifting. She had business to consumer her days but she wanted Wyatt for her nights. She wanted to have this for herself.
The business she'd done as much to prove to the Des Jardins family as to herself. That she would be successful and outshine them. But Wyatt.
He could be for her. She just didn't want to let herself get hurt.
But knew there was no protection from that. She was already falling for him. And as he said he was his father's son. A ladies man with a roving eye.
Damn.
She wished she were smarter about love but knew she wasn't.
"Are you sure about this?"
She looked at him, hoping … dreaming really that he'd say no and pull her back into his arms but he sighed.
"Fine."
She turned around and walked out of his office, brushing past Xander Blue who was waiting to go in to see Wyatt.
Juliette took a long walk through the Lavender fields a week after she'd confronted Wyatt in his office. It was almost dusk and March had faded into April. The weather was feeling warmer, something she always looked forward to in Paris. Spring had always been her favorite season.
She'd had an email from Britt Henderson-a local girl who had gone on to big things and become a lifestyle guru. Juliette remembered her from her summers in Whiskey River. They'd used to ride their bikes together back then. Juliette hadn't imagined that Britt would go on to be famous.
But then she hadn't predicted that she'd move to France. Life was seldom what she'd expected in her childhood. She heard the sound of a horse and rider and looked up hoping it would be Wyatt.
It wasn't.
It was his brother Nicholas. Half-brother, she corrected herself. He was riding hell-bent for leather as Violet used to say. Violet had been a character and Juliette realized she missed her older cousin.
Nicholas noticed her and stopped. He wore a pair of jeans, his cowboy boots looked well-used. He had on a t-shirt with the words SAVE A HORSE RIDE A COWBOY on it. She was willing to bet he had no problem finding women to take him up on that. But she wasn't the least bit interested in him. Seemed like the only one of Boots's sons she was interested wasn't a cowboy but a tycoon. She walked over to him.
"Nice night for a ride," she said.
"Especially since I don't have anything else to do," he said.
Seemed the terms of Boots' will were hardest on Nicholas since he was a PBR champion and wasn't able to compete for an entire year.
"That must really suck," she said.
"It does," he said, and then winked at her, "But the upside is meeting pretty ladies when I'm out riding."
"You say that to all the girls, don't you?"
"Guilty. You are pretty but there can't be anything between us," Nicholas said.
"Why not?"
"You're Wyatt's."
Wyatt's? She knew she wasn't. "I'm not. Did he say I was?"
"Hell, no. That old boy is running in the other direction, but my momma didn't raise a fool and I know when a guy is hung up on girl."