My anger lasted long enough for me to get to the garage and start loading my sample racks into Wes’ Suburban. By the time Wyatt got downstairs, I had finished packing the truck full of my stuff and was slouched down in the passenger seat.
Wyatt climbed in quietly and started the engine.
“Callie, listen, about the other day…”
“What other day?”
He reached up and scratched the back of his neck as he navigated down the steep drive to the road. “The morning after the full moon.”
“What about it?”
He blew out a deep breath and glanced my way, but my eyes were fixed straight ahead. “I think I need to apologize for the way I acted.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I kinda ran off.”
“Did you?”
He looked at me once more, but my stance hadn’t changed. Under no circumstances would I look him in the eyes again. I didn’t need those kinds of feelings clouding my thoughts when I was trying so hard to remain unbothered by him.
“Yeah, I did. I’m sorry, there’s just so much–”
“Wyatt,” I interrupted. “It’s fine. I haven’t even thought about it.”
At least not in the past thirty seconds.
“Really?” His voice squeaked a little on the last syllable, and if I wasn’t so mad at him, I might have thought it was cute. But I was, so I didn’t.
I shrugged and turned to look out my window. “Sure, Wyatt. Why would you even worry about that?”
He was quiet for a while as I threaded my fingers together in my lap and squeezed them tight.
“I dunno. I guess I thought we had a moment or something. I dunno,” he said again.
“A moment? What moment?”
The leather creaked beneath him as he shifted in his seat and a small grin tugged at the corners of my lips. I thought it was only fair that he squirm a little after leaving me hanging for so long. I’d spent almost a whole month, using up valuable real estate in my head worrying about Wyatt and his reaction that morning. Now it was time for a little payback.
“I… uh…” he trailed off before blowing out a loud breath. “The thing is, Callie, there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I just thought I was doing the right thing.”
“You thought the right thing was spending the night with me and then almost literally running away as soon as the sun was up?”
“See? You are mad!”
I sat up straight and whipped my head around to stare at him through narrowed eyes. “Of course I’m mad!”
“Then why didn’t you just say that?!”
I looked away again as we turned onto the street the lab was on. “Because I’m done with this whole situation.”
“So, I’m a situation now?”
“You were,” I snapped back.
He pulled into the lot behind the lab, and before he’d even brought the truck to a full stop, I’d jumped out. I stomped around to the trunk and whipped it open, the hinge groaning with my excessive force.
Wyatt appeared around the other side of the truck, but I did my best to ignore him. “So, what? I’m just nothing now?”
“Yep. Sounds about right.”
I yanked a towering pile of sample racks into my arms and spun around to leave.
“Callie, give me some of those.” He reached for the stack, but I pulled them closer to my chest.
“I got it.”
“I’m serious, just give me a few.” This time he got his giant hands around one side and tugged.
“I said I got it.”
“You’re going to look suspicious carrying that much. Just let me help you inside.”
I tried to pull the racks out of his hands, but he was too strong, which made me even more irritated. “Wyatt! Just… let… go,” I grunted as I wrenched the samples my way.
He finally released them just as I lost my grip and the whole pile went crashing to the ground. The clanging metal and shattering glass filled up the little parking lot, but when they were gone, it left an eerie silence. Wyatt’s heart thundered in his chest almost as fast and loud as my own as we both stood there looking at the mess at our feet.
Just when the silence had become unbearable, Wyatt spoke. “Well, I hope none of those samples were contaminated.”
I looked up to see his jeans and t-shirt splattered with water samples. With a glance at myself, I realized I was in similar shape. A small giggle escaped my lips as the absurdity of the situation really hit me.
When I looked back at Wyatt, our eyes met and that crazy thing happened again where the world went quiet, leaving only us. Despite my best efforts, I was still as affected by him as always. Problem was, I didn’t know what to do with that.
Just as the intensity between us reached atomic levels, Wyatt shook his head.
“Fuck it,” he grunted before wrapping a hand around the back of my neck and dragging my lips to his.
Where once there was silence and stillness, now there was a cacophony of sounds and a mayhem of colors. My blood sang in my veins as Wyatt’s soft, warm mouth explored mine. When his other hand wrapped around my waist, coming to rest on the small of my back, I lifted my arms to circle his neck.
He groaned softly and deepened the kiss between us. His tongue tasted the seam of my lips and nibbled their edges before I met him in the middle. He moaned again and my heart rate picked up to what had to be unsafe levels.
My fingernails dug into the back of his neck as I held on. His arms tightened around my waist, bringing my
