Tonight, she'd go back to Riverside Bar and play for the night's five-hundred-dollar win.
Shaking her hands, she picked up her glass and finished the rest of the water. Ever since Wyatt had shown up at her apartment last night, she couldn't get her body to calm down.
She thought for sure he'd recognize her if they came face to face. It wasn't until after his kids had left had she realized she looked nothing like the night of their one-night stand. She'd had no makeup on, and her hair hung naturally with no hairspray to get any volume. Wearing shorts and a football jersey was a far cry from dressing sexy in heels.
Dumping the ice cubes in the sink, she set the empty glass on the counter. It was probably for the best that Wyatt failed to remember their night at his apartment. Even though she admitted to herself, she was disappointed.
She warmed, thinking of his kids as they ate dinner with her. It wasn't something she'd planned. Travis had almost barreled into her as she'd packed the groceries into the apartment. Losing her grip on the paper bag filled with bread, Wyatt's son had stopped and helped her carry the food into the apartment.
He was such a nice boy and hung around, asking her questions while she'd put the noodles on to boil. She could tell by the way he kept looking at the stove that he was hungry. Then, Jess had shown up looking for her brother.
Afraid Wyatt wasn't home to feed the kids, she'd invited them to stay. She never expected Wyatt to show up.
Seeing him again, she'd almost orgasmed on the spot.
He was no less sexy. No less manly. No less intimidating seeing him again.
She should've known her crush wouldn't go away after what she'd done. Groaning, she blew the hair out of her eyes. Memories of being with him ran through her mind regularly for the last two weeks.
The doorbell rang. Rubbing her arms to get rid of the shivers consuming her, she walked to the front of the apartment.
She opened the door, expecting another renter to have a problem, needing her help, and found Wyatt standing in front of her.
Surprised to see him, her mouth opened in shock.
Wyatt stuck out his hand. She blinked several times before the material dangling from his finger made sense to her. Snatching her panties from him, she tossed them behind her.
"I thought you looked familiar last night." His low voice rolled through her.
Her neck warmed. She swallowed hard. A one-night stand with him seemed harmless at the time. She was single and had every right to have sex with whoever she wanted, but facing him, remembering the way he'd licked her like a sweet drop of candy, she tried to come up with a reason for her lapse of judgment that night, and came up blank.
"Cat got your tongue, tiger." He hooked her chin with his finger and raised her gaze. "I might've been drunk that night we got together, but I remember what that tongue can do..." He strummed her lower lip with his thumb. "And what your mouth felt like on me."
Her nipples peaked, and she shivered. She was too old to fall for a smooth-talker and yet she obviously forgot to tell her body not to listen to him, because she melted.
She opened her mouth and snapped her teeth down on his thumb. He grunted, and she let him go, stepping back. The extra distance failed to stop her from getting turned on.
"Thanks for bringing my, uh, panties back." She half-turned, hoping by not looking directly at him, her heart would stop pounding out of her chest. "I'll see you around."
"Hold up."
At his tone, she faced him from a safer distance. "What?"
"That night—"
"You were drunk. I...knew what I was doing." She shrugged. "There's nothing more to say."
His gaze intensified. She arched her brow. If he tried to excuse what happened between them, he'd disappoint her.
He shouldn't defend his reasons for taking her home two weeks ago and having sex or ask her why she easily had sex with a man she'd only admired from afar.
In her mind, he was a man who owned his attitude. She lowered her gaze, rocked by the force of his attention. By his silence, he was everything she'd imagined, and it was hard for her not to feel how attracted she was to him.
"If they never mentioned it, thanks for feeding my kids. It meant a lot to them, and because it did, it means a lot to me. You didn't have to do that, and you did." He paused. "If your reasons had to do with us having sex—"
"It didn't." Her body stiffened, and she faced him. "Your kids are sweet."
His gaze warmed. "I appreciate what you've done for them. They lost their mom last month, and like me, you sharing that softness and acceptance goes a long way when life has been turned upside down."
Her throat closed, and she nodded. Knocked speechless by his kindness, she held on to the gratitude he gave her.
He looked at the front of her shirt. "Playing pool tonight?"
She lowered her chin to her chest, reminding herself of what outfit she wore. The short dress with the zipper from neck to hem was undone to the middle of her breasts. To make sure she wouldn't fall out of the dress while she played, the outfit was tight, leaving nothing to the imagination.
"Yeah." She inhaled deeply, checking her fake Rolex. "I need to leave, or I'll be late to sign in.
"I won't keep you." He turned to go, stopped, and looked at her. "Did you win the night we were at the bar?"
She pressed her hand to her stomach, needing to lose the butterflies Wyatt had caused. "You were there."
He scratched his beard. "You were
