This time the stupid tear falls. No. I brush it away. I will not cry.

His fingers grasp my arm, and I yank it back. “Do not touch me!”

“What the hell?”

“Don’t even act like you don’t have a clue why I’m upset.” I huff and step back.

He’s either the dumbest man alive or an asshole. Maybe a mix of both.

“Because of Charlotte?” He looks confused. “Nothing happened.”

“I know what I saw!” My tears fall freely now. It hurts. I’m so freaking confused right now. One minute I’m guarding myself against him, and the next I’m ready to fall head first over the cliff. My head is a mess. I want to cry and scream and kiss him all at the same time.

“Nothing happened, Angie!” Wyatt tries to convince me. “I swear! Why are you so quick to walk away?”

“I won’t be that girl! I won’t! I’m too old to deal with some guy who’s going to run around behind my back.”

“You’re being ridiculous. Absolutely nothing happened just now.”

“We have different versions of ‘nothing’. I saw it with my own eyes! You liar!” I start to turn, but then his arm is around my waist and he hoists me in the air. “Put me down you fucking asshole!” I yell, fighting tooth and nail against the way my body wants to melt against him.

His arm wraps around my legs, and he carries me like I’m a baby.

“Nope.” He trudges forward. “You’re clearly not going to listen. So I’m going to make sure you can’t run away.”

I continue to struggle in his arms, but he looks unfazed. I slap against his chest, but he pulls me closer. “Put me down!”

Wyatt stops walking but doesn’t release me. He lifts me a little closer so we’re nose to nose. “For the third time, nothing happened.” His eyes hold mine as he continues. “I wouldn’t let anything happen. I saw where she was going, and I pushed her away. When I turned around to walk away from her, I saw you and ran after you.”

My stupid, traitorous heart believes him. I can’t stop crying. It feels like someone is squeezing my insides. “I hate these hormones,” I mutter. Wyatt puts me on the ground but instead of letting me go, his arms snake around my back and he holds me tight. “I hate that I’m being ridiculous and crying right now! I hate that you affect me like this! Why do you make me weak? Why do the damn hormones make me a freaking lunatic?”

“Maybe it’s not the hormones.” My breath stops. I look in his gorgeous eyes that are swimming with some unnamed emotion, and I see red. Did he really just imply that I’m normally this nuts? Before I can start screaming again, Wyatt continues, “Maybe you like me. Maybe you see that I like you. Maybe it hurt to think that I would be with someone else?” Wyatt probes as his words sear through me, cooling my anger as fast as he ignited it.

He’s right. It is all that. He’s obliterating my defenses so effortlessly. I came here thinking we’d spend a few months together, and then I would be able to leave with no issues. It’s been almost a month and already I’m attached to him, which is freaking insane. It’s so soon.

Yet, when my mother tore me down, he was who I sought out. I wanted his arms to hold me. I need his touch to make me feel worth something. All I needed was to find the one person who would be there for me. Wyatt brings bold colors to a world where I was only seeing muted tones.

“You’re going to destroy me, Wyatt.”

He shakes his head. “I won’t.”

The war inside me is raging. If I give up the last ounce of reserve I have, I won’t be able to come back from him. He’s showing me day after day that I can rely on him, using his damn cannon to break down wall after wall that surrounds my heart. Seeing him with her hurt too much. I can’t be someone else’s second choice. I don’t want to love him and find out it isn’t really me he loves.

“Don’t break my heart,” I beseech. “Please, don’t make me fall in love with you if you’re going to break it.”

“What if I want your heart? What if I told you I had feelings for you months ago, before you were ever pregnant? What if I told you that after you left, I couldn’t see anyone but you? What if I told you that you and this baby are all I want? What if everything makes sense now, and I want you to fall in love with me?”

I close my eyes, letting each of his questions disintegrate another piece of my resolve.

I want him.

It’s clear now that I had no chance of keeping him out of my heart. It’s been weeks. Weeks. And he’s found a way in.

“There’s still so much we don’t know about each other.”

“We still have time to learn.” His eyes hold mine captive.

“I need to know things. I need to know it’s really me. Not Presley or the baby. Me. The real me.”

I don’t want to fall in love to find out that it’s all a lie.

Wyatt’s hands slide up and cup my face. “It is you, Angie.”

“I want to believe you.”

His face dips, and he rubs his nose against mine. “Believe it. I can’t explain it, but there’s something about you. You’re what I want.”

I close my eyes, tip up on my toes, and press my lips against his. This kiss isn’t about anyone else. This is about us.

Wyatt

MY BODY GOES STILL WHEN her lips touch mine. I’ll let her lead this one because of her stupid rules. But then her fingers hold the back of my head, and I take over. My lips fuse against hers as I seek entrance into her mouth. I need to kiss her. I need to possess her in the same way she possesses me. I want her to feel that. Feel every emotion that I am.

She’s everything I ever prayed for in my arms. I tried to explain to my brother, but he laughed. Zach said it’s when you know. The first time he laid eyes on Presley, he knew. With Angie, it’s as if my life didn’t really make sense until her.

Touching her, holding her, talking to her, just being around her makes my entire day. She’s got some kind of hold on me. And it’s fucking scary.

I thought I loved Presley.

I thought I knew what it was like to want someone so much that I’d go insane without them. This is completely different.

Not that I don’t think I loved Presley, because I did. Now I see it for what it was, though. I loved the idea of what she and Zach had. Presley is my best friend, but Angie . . . she’s the girl I breathe for.

I hold her in my arms as my mouth stays secured to her. I want to love her the way I should’ve when we conceived our baby. I want to show her what it’s like to be worshiped, because that’s what she deserves. This isn’t like the night at the bakery. This isn’t a cease fire like she called it . . . this is the final fight.

Her fingers hold my head to hers, and I pull her into my arms, and she wraps her legs around my waist. We kiss as I walk with her until I have her back pressed between my body and the rough bark of the tree. I need the leverage and she doesn’t seem to care. It’s as if we’ve both finally given in and neither of us want to waste a second.

I need to stop this. I need to take her home. “Angel.” I finally break away.

“Don’t stop,” she begs as she presses her lips back on mine.