Unexpectedly Hers(27)
Emma’s heart tightened seeing the panic arrest his features, as if he were still buried in the snow. “Does it give you pause?”
“What do you think?” He then seemed to regret revealing his vulnerability and yanked himself back behind a less penetrable shield. “But it won’t stop me. I’m not a coward. I’ve set a goal, and I’ve never quit anything in my life—except the time-out I took after Ryder’s accident.”
She heard a little bluster in his tone, but she wouldn’t push it. He needed to rest. He needed comfort. He needed someone to supply optimism.
“May I sit?” She nodded toward the edge of the bed.
When he agreed, she sat facing him. The proximity and heat of his body made her skin tingle. For all appearances, though, she didn’t inspire any similar reaction in him. Of course not. He preferred girls like Alexa.
Alexa had given Wyatt one kind of bliss, but Emma could offer something he probably valued and needed more tonight: hope.
“I have two friends who operate a backcountry expedition company. They’re certified in everything—know how to read the conditions and evaluate avalanche danger.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “They aren’t coaches, but they’d help minimize the risks. Would you consider hiring one—Trip Lexington—to work with you this month? I think it’d be best for your safety and for your brother’s peace of mind.”
“Guess I proved I can’t handle it on my own, didn’t I?” Wyatt picked at the quilt, studying its patchwork pattern as if it mattered. “Now Mari’s armed with that footage, which I’m sure will make its way onto YouTube by tomorrow, at the latest, to “drum up interest” in the film. Give people something to talk about. Make people doubt that I can pull this off.”
The hollowness in his voice carved a hole in her heart. She touched his leg but then withdrew her hand, embarrassed to have shown such familiarity. Yet despite the danger to herself, she longed to do it again. He snapped his gaze to hers. For a moment, neither said anything, but her own breath fell shallow as tension-filled air pumped into her lungs.
“They say any publicity is good publicity.” She smiled, hoping her teasing would break the trance. The side-eye he shot her implied he wasn’t ready to joke. “Seriously, Wyatt. Please hire Trip to show you the ropes. I don’t want to see something terrible happen to you.”
He arched one brow. “I’d have guessed you’d come in here to tell me to pack it in and give up.”
“Why would you think that?” She straightened her spine.
“Aside from the fact that you’ve spent the past twenty-four hours avoiding me at all costs, you pretty much agreed with my brother this morning. I know you don’t respect what I’m doing.”
“That’s not true.” Emma’s cheeks grew hot. She supposed she had given him that impression, but she couldn’t tell him why. “I respect your talent, Wyatt. I respect that you want to make something of your life. And I’m not avoiding you . . . I’m busy doing my job.”
“Whatever.” He waved one hand and stared out the window. “So this Trip guy, you trust him?”
“He’s been big-mountain skiing for more than a decade, all over North America.”
“Guess it can’t hurt to talk to him.”
“I’ll see if he’ll come over here tonight.” She stood to go, but Wyatt grasped her wrist.
She stifled the gasp that arose from recalling that other time he’d held her wrists in his vise-like grip. Emma imagined him yanking her onto the bed and into his arms. The thought shot heat and yearning through her heart and between her legs, and she knew she wouldn’t have resisted . . . at least, not right away.
“Thanks for giving a shit.” His thumb brushed against the inside of her wrist and he stared at her for a few quiet seconds before he glanced at the tray. “Leave that, too, please. I’m a little hungry now that I’m more settled.”
“Salmon tacos and avocado slaw for dinner in two hours.” She eased out of his hold, although she could’ve just as easily slunk back down beside him. “Get some rest.”
Hurrying out of the room before she said or did something truly stupid, she inhaled slowly through her nose and held the breath before releasing it.
How pathetic. Each time he came near, recollections of their night together overpowered her. He, however, remained blissfully unaffected. Unaware of their past. While that fact suited her present needs, it hurt to know she’d been so completely unmemorable. That nothing about the real her had stuck with him.