Her boots-the ones Wyatt had sent over rang with each step she took on the tile. She had no idea what she was going to do if anyone stopped but no one did. She saw the placard that read Boots' Suite and opened the door.
The curtains were heavy blocking out all of the light. The room was cool and dark and the wedge of light from the hallway showed the bed was empty. And unslept in.
He wasn't here.
She heard a noise down the hall and quickly closed Wyatt's door behind her. Standing there in the dark she had no idea what to do next.
She always had a plan and now she knew why. People with plans didn't end up hiding in dark bedrooms.
The connecting door opened and Wyatt walked in wearing a towel wrapped around his hips and nothing else. She was frozen as he walked to his closet dropping the towel.
She cleared her throat.
He glanced over to where she stood.
"Juliette. I … are you really here?"
"Yes," she said.
"I had a lot of tequila last night," he said. "I wanted to make sure I hadn't dreamed you."
"Have you been dreaming about me?" she asked, trying to keep her eyes on chest and not let them drop any lower but it was hard.
Just like he was.
Stop it, she ordered herself.
"I do. I have been," he admitted. "For a long time I've been dreaming about you. And now you are here."
"I am," she said.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
But her gaze dropped lower and she noticed that he seemed pretty damn happy to see her.
"Uh, will you put some clothes on," she said.
"Am I distracting you?"
"Yes. You are. And I want nothing more than to walk over there and do something about it, but sex doesn't seem to make anything clearer between us. In fact it just muddles this up even more. And I'm … hell, I'm here because I'm tired of all that."
"Me too," he said. "I have a private patio through those doors. Want to wait for me out there?"
She nodded and toward the door. The patio was really only semi-private since a large wrought iron trellis covered in bougainvillea separated from another patio on the left and on the right there was a stucco archway with a fountain in the middle of it on the right.
A sitting area dominated the space and there were potted Italian Cyprus trees around the perimeter. She sat down on one of the large stuffed chairs and waited for Wyatt.
She heard the sound of the water in the fountain and birds in the distance but no one else seemed to be around. She tried to rehearse what she'd say in her head. But the words were hard to come up with.
She loved him.
She knew that, but telling him was harder than she imagined it would be. She had thought she could just blurt it out, but it seemed her self-preservation and her own fears were stronger than her desire to tell him.
She heard his footsteps and the looked up to see Wyatt walking toward her. He had on a button down dress shirt that he'd left open at the collar, his dress pants were obviously tailor made because they fit him perfectly. And on his feet were a pair of Kelly Boots.
He was clearly dressed for his day. Probably heading to work as soon as he was done with her.
Hell.
Why hadn't she stayed in her damned car and just driven back into Whiskey River?
But she knew why. This man mattered to her. She wasn't going to walk away from Lavender Dreams and the business she and Ariana had invested so much of themselves in. Leaving Wyatt was the same to her now.
She stood up as he came closer to her and put her hand out.
"Before you come any closer, there's something I have to say to you,' she said.
"And I have something to say to you," Wyatt said. "But ladies first."
Ladies first. Hell, she should have just waited. What did he want to tell her? She'd never know until she said what she came her to say.
Her heart was beating so heavily she heard it in her ears and she felt her hands start trembling.
"I wish I'd just jumped you in your bedroom now," she said, with a nervous laugh.
Hell, she was nervous and scared … and hopeful. She was hopeful that this time she was going to bat for the thing she'd always dreamed of. A man of her own to love.
Chapter Ten
‡
Wyatt was lucky that he never got hung-over. Not really. He was tired today and his knuckles hurt from where he'd punched Nicholas last night. Walking out of his shower and finding Juliette in his room … well, it made every thought that had been rattling around in his head since last night much clearer.
The sun was brightly shining in the courtyard and the scent of the flowers filled the air but he didn't care about any of that. He needed answers from Juliette and he had a feeling he was about to get them.
He wanted her. Not just for sex but in his life. He loved her. He'd known that since the day she'd walked out of his office. But he'd been afraid.
He had never been in a relationship before. What if he was just like Boots? Unable to make it work with one woman? He didn't want to hurry her. And last night while he'd been sitting and drinking with his brothers, he realized that he was acting like a damn fool. Everyone else had seen what he'd been pretending not to.
He loved Juliette, and he wanted her in his life and in his bed.
But if she'd come here to tell him she wanted things to be over … let's face it he wasn't sure what she was here for. He'd never walked into his bedroom and found a woman waiting for him before.
She stood a few feet from him, looking so damned beautiful in her wrap-around dress with her long blonde hair curling around her shoulders and he glanced down, saw her necklace the one with the lavender on it. The charm that always nestled at the top of her cleavage. His blood started to flow much heavier and he adjusted his stance as he skimmed his eyes down her body. His heart skipped a beat.
She was wearing his boots. The boots he'd sent over to her.
"You're wearing my boots," he said. This was the first time he'd seen them on her. He had thought she'd thrown them away after the way he'd left her in the barn. What kind of man did that? He wasn't sure he could walk away from her again. He would if he had to protect her, but he hoped there was a way he could keep her by his side and keep her safe.
"I am. Seemed important to not be wearing anyone else's when I came over her to tell you … that I shouldn't have been flirting with Nicholas or any other man last night."
"You flirted with someone other than Nicholas?" he asked. Nicholas's standards might have prevented him from poaching on his woman but the other men of Whiskey River weren't blind and Juliette was a damned beautiful woman. Hell, he better make her his, or he suspected he'd be getting into a lot of fist fights.
"No. Definitely not. There was only one man I wanted in the bar last night, Wyatt Anderson Kelly, you. But you looked through me. Made me feel like I wasn't even there," she said, "And after two glasses of wine, well I got mad. And instead of being smart and just telling you how I felt I thought … well, it doesn't' matter because it certainly didn't have the desired effect."
He closed the gap between them, fought to keep his hands by his sides instead of reaching out to touch her. He wanted to pull her into his arms. Reaffirm that she was his, but he knew he had to wait. As of this moment she wasn't his.
"What was the desired effect?" he asked.
She hesitated. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she looked down at the patio tiles. Her hair swung forward blocking his view of her face. He remembered the feel of her hair on his skin.
"Did you want me to realize that I'd been an idiot for letting you go? That I was a coward for not taking a chance on seeing you more than once? Because that surely happened, Juliette. As soon as I walked out of Booze's I knew that I was never going to have a minute's peace until you were by my side."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I acted like a jackass and took a swing at Nicholas when he got home but he said … well he said you were my woman and I realized that was true. No matter that I had pretended like one night was enough for me, it wasn't. A lifetime wouldn't' be enough for me, Juliette.
"I know I have no right after the way I acted but I love you. I want you in my life," he said. "Can you give me another chance?"
She swallowed hard and he saw a sheen of tears in her eyes. "Yes, Wyatt. I can. I love you. I have loved you probably from that first night when I was pretending I could be what you wanted. A one night stand for the one night man. But I think I knew even then that one night with you wasn't going to be enough."
He pulled her into his arms, hugged her tightly to him. He never wanted to let her go. He brought his mouth down on hers and kissed her hard and deep. Tried to convey in that embrace all the fears that were still roiling around inside of him. All of the hope that he was almost afraid to believe in that lit his soul.