I grit my teeth. I did say that. “I didn’t know it meant you’d be kissing other girls.”
He runs the back of his fingers across my cheek. “Does it help if I say I’ll be pretending they’re all you?”
“No!”
“You two okay?” Macie asks with a glint in her eyes.
Oh, these ladies are good. They’ve managed to orchestrate all this, and they did it with precision. I would bow to her if I weren’t too busy freaking out over whatever is going on in my heart. I know I have to play this cool.
“We’re fine, Mrs. Hennington.” I smile.
“Good. Wyatt, please go relieve your brother. Angie and I will hang here and girl talk.”
“Yes, Mama.”
I watch him walk off while I burn holes in the back of his head. I can do this. It’s fine. I’ll prove to myself after the first kiss that I’m not jealous. Wyatt and I might like each other, and I may think he’s all sorts of great, but we’re going to part ways at some point. This is just practice for the future.
Macie tries to make idle chitchat with me, but I keep missing what she says. Each time I look over toward the booth, she calls my name. So far it’s been two minutes and forty-three seconds, and no one has bought a kiss yet.
“I’m sorry. I’m exhausted.”
She nods. “I’m sure. It’s hard tryin’ to pay attention to me and wait and see who he has to kiss.”
“I’m not—” I start to say, but she puts her hand up.
“I give you a lot of credit. If it were Rhett, I would’ve marched his hide right out of this place. There would be no way he was kissin’ anyone else but me. I know you and Wyatt aren’t really serious, right? I know you’re biding your time and all.”
“I don’t know what we are,” I admit. “I also know you and Mrs. Kannan knew exactly what would happen.” My tone is soft and bordering on admiration.
Macie laughs and grabs my hands. “Don’t be upset. Sometimes us old ladies need to push you young people a little. I happen to know working beside a man can be very eye opening. I also know—” her eyes shoot to something over my shoulder and widen a bit.
I follow her gaze, and my stomach drops. There’s a throng of girls rushing toward the booth, and the front runner is none other than Charlotte.
No, no, no.
His lips are not touching hers. Over my dead fucking body.
My feet are on the ground and moving before I realize what’s happening. We have rules. Rules that included no other people. Rules that he agreed on. I’m not kissing anyone else while I’m here, neither should he, especially not her. I’m perfectly within my rights to fight this. That’s the point I plan to drive home.
“Angie,” Macie calls out when I’m halfway to the booth.
I don’t respond.
I’m on a mission.
I dig in my back pocket for the cash I put in there and head straight to the front of the line, moving Charlotte out of my way. My hand slams down on the counter as his brown eyes stare into mine. “Here’s two hundred dollars.” I thrust the cash toward him. “You’re not kissing anyone but me.”
Wyatt doesn’t waste a second. He’s on his feet, his hands grip my face, and he kisses me in front of everyone.
There are catcalls and hollers from various people. His lips are planted on mine, and I don’t care that he’s staking his claim. I don’t care if last night was supposed to be nothing. Right here, he’s mine.
Wyatt Hennington’s lips are not touching another woman’s lips while I’m around.
I turn around and see his mother, Mrs. Kannan, Mrs. Townsend, and Mrs. Rooney all standing there with huge grins and clasped hands. I’m surprised they’re not doing some sort of happy dance.
“I knew you liked me, Big City.”
I roll my eyes and release a deep breath. “Come on, Rhinestone Cowboy. I bought you for the day.”
“You bought me for much longer than that.”
“TWO DAYS IN A ROW you’ve woken me before the sun came up.” I grumble as I throw on some clothes. I have no idea where he’s taking me. He instructed me last night that we were going out for the day. Apparently, when I paid the money for the kissing booth, I got the day after too.
“Come on, darlin’. We’re going to be late.”
“Late for what?”
“Make sure you use the bathroom!” he calls out.
“Why won’t we have a bathroom?”
Wyatt refuses to say anything other than we’re going to spend the day together.
I grab my sweatshirt, since I have no idea if it’ll be freezing at this crazy time in the morning, throw on my sneakers, and make a note to buy a pair of cute cowboy boots. Since I’m here, I might as well. Plus, they’re kind of practical and stylish. Grace has a pair with teal on the side, I definitely need to find those.