Wicked Grind (Stark World #1)(27)

"So you didn't tell them."

Her cheeks bloomed pink. "I don't usually sneak around," she admitted. "But I-you know." She met his eyes, then looked at her shoes. He thought her shyness was adorable. Hell, he thought she was adorable.

She drew a breath. "I guess I told myself it was like going to a movie. Only with live dancers. But seriously, Wyatt, if my dad-"

He held up a hand, then pressed his finger to her lips. "It's okay. Really. I get it." He flashed a grin. "I'll meet Griffin some other time. Once your dad approves of me," he teased.

"Yeah?" Her smile was like sunshine. "You don't mind?"

"I want to hang out with you," he said. "All the rest is no big deal."

With every day that passed, they managed to sneak in more and more time. He took photo after photo of her. By the pool, on the walking path, anywhere he could. Mostly, they talked incessantly, learning everything they could about each other. He learned she liked salted chocolate, but hated nuts. That she loved pink in her dance outfits, but hated it in her regular clothes. That her favorite author was Mark Twain, but that she had a weakness for Nancy Drew books, and that even though she stopped reading them years ago, she had her entire collection packed neatly in plastic boxes she kept stacked in her closet.



       
         
       
        

He confessed that he generally despised fast food but had a weakness for In-N-Out Burger. That he'd accidentally blown up the garden shed in middle school when he was trying to come up with a project for the science fair, and that he'd once played Pac-Man for twelve hours straight on the free-standing machine that his grandmother kept in the game room.

The last revelation led to an even bigger one, because he hadn't realized that she knew about his family until she asked him, point blank, if it was hard growing up around so many famous people.

"Wow," he said, thrown by the question. "I didn't think you knew about my family."

"I overheard Grace and Marsha talking that first day you came to the pool."

"Really?" He cocked his head as he looked at her, then realized he was grinning so wide he must look like a fool.

She laughed. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason." He was still grinning, but how could he not? He thought back on all the days he'd been pursuing her, and it gave him a nice, warm feeling in his gut to know that all that time she knew who he was.

"No reason?" she repeated, then laughed. "Come on. Tell me."

"Maybe I like you," he said, though the simple words did nothing to capture the euphoria he felt from just being around her. From knowing that she wanted to be around him, and not the Segel boy. He reached out and took her hand, then twined his fingers with hers.

She ducked her head, then gently hip-butted him. "Maybe I like you, too."

They walked, hands swinging, toward the little copse of trees between the eighth and ninth greens. Wyatt had discovered it when he was wandering the grounds taking landscape shots, and now they were heading that direction so that he could take photos of Kelsey sitting on the massive, low-lying limb.

"I felt a little sorry for you that day," she said softly. "That first day, I mean." She glanced up at him, then almost immediately back down at the grass.

"You did?" He couldn't remember the last time someone said they felt sorry for him. Oh, wait. Yes, he could. That would have been the fourth of absolutely never ever. "Why?"

"I guess because it must be hard, and a little lonely, too. Because you never really know why someone wants to be your friend, do you?"

They were still walking, but now he tugged her to a stop. He wanted to tell her she was right. That he didn't think anyone else understood that, at least not anyone who wasn't born into a celebrity family. Mostly, he wanted to just look at her. To feel the warmth inside him turn into a raging blaze of longing for this girl who got him. Who really and truly got him. 

"Wyatt?"

He blinked, realizing suddenly that he was staring. "Sorry. Sorry, it's just-well, it's just that you're right. It is hard."

She nodded, but frowned a bit, too.

"What?"

"I was thinking that your last name makes it even more hard. It's so well known. But then I was wondering why it's your name at all. Shouldn't you have your father's name?"

"You've obviously never met Anika Segel. My grandmother is the head of a wide and vast matriarchy. No way was my dad going to win that battle."