“There’s nothing to tell. It really hasn’t been that exciting.” I squirmed under Harper’s intense gaze. Harper may not have looked like it but she could be a ballbuster when she needed to be. The red hair and bright blue eyes gave her an intense look. That intensity didn’t come out very much but when it did… watch out. “Stop looking at me like that.”
Harper’s stare had the ability to make me uncomfortable since freshman year. With Harper’s dad being a police detective, she’d grown up trying to figure out what everyone was hiding. At least that’s what she’d told me. And Harper always got to the bottom of everything.
“So… who is he? Who is this man that you might trust your vagina to?” Harper leaned in like she was about to hear the biggest secret in the world.
I couldn’t help but laugh. Of course, she’d think it was about a guy, which, yeah, it was but still annoying that Harper was always right.
“I wouldn’t jump right to trust.”
“Hold on.” She sat up straighter and pulled her chair in even closer. “So, there’s a guy then? As your best friend, I am on a need to know basis and I need to know, Zoey. You like him? Love him? Want to use his body in sinful ways but don’t trust him?”
Now I snorted. While I wanted to avoid having to answer any one of those question but knew that was pointless. Harper had her ways and would get the information. Me and some other friends used to tell her she needed to work for the CIA.
“Come on…” Harper prodded.
“Fine. It’s my brother’s best friend, Wyatt.”
“The Marine?”
I nodded.
“The one you almost gave your V-card to?” she asked.
Again I nodded.
“Well, then.” She dropped back into her seat and cross her arms as if she was thinking something over.
Harper at a loss for words wasn’t something that happened very often so I wanted to sit back and enjoy it. Until I saw two large masses come through the door that was only about ten feet away from us. I didn’t need to see them clearly. Even with the backlight of the sun, I knew exactly who they were and hoped they wouldn’t see us sitting there. When the waitress came to deliver our order, effectively blocking the guys’ views, I relaxed a little but not enough that Harper didn’t notice my reaction.
“Why do you look like someone farted?” Harper spun in her chair to look in the same direction I had been. “Who are they?”
I took a deep breath but didn’t have a chance to answer before the guys approached our tables.
“Hey, Zoey,” Riley said with smile as soon as he got to our table.
I smiled back but didn’t feel the smile across my entire face. “Harper, this is my brother, Riley and his friend, Wyatt.”
Harper raised an eyebrow at me. Please don’t say anything. Please don’t say anything, I silently begged her.
“Wyatt?” A smirk broke across Harper’s face. “I’ve heard so much about you.” This time Wyatt looked to me and gave me a cocky grin. “Both of you actually,” she added.
“This is my ex-best friend, Harper,” I said to the guys.
“Yes,” Harper said with a laugh while shaking their hands. “Best friend. Keeper of secrets, holder of hair.”
“And how many times did you have to hold her hair for her?” Riley asked her but gave me a stern glance.
“Well, if I told you that, I wouldn’t be a very good keeper of secrets, would I?”
“Guess not,” he chuckled. It was even a genuine laugh which I hadn’t seen from him since I moved home. His usual serious nature remained dominant for the last year. He even ran his hand through his slightly darker blond hair in that way guys did when talking to a hot girl. And yeah, Harper was hot but again, he didn’t let the façade slip. Usually. “Well, we’re hungry. We’ll see you two later.”
After the guys walked away, Harper looked far too excited for me to feel comfortable with.
“That’s the Wyatt?” she asked with excitement. I sighed in answer. “He’s delicious. I can see the attraction. I know what you have to do.”
“And what is that?” My grabbed my drink to give me something to do.
“You need to make him yours,” she said with a shrug as if I should’ve already known.
The drink I’d just take slid down my throat the wrong way and I choked the sputtered. Not the answer I’d been expecting.
“You’re crazy,” I said once I got myself back under control. “I told you he walked away because I was a virgin. That makes him a douchebag. Plus things have been so hot and cold since he’s been back. I’ve done the dramatic relationship we all should avoid. I’m not about to try to force another.”
Harper absently pushed a few errant red strands back behind her ear. It was the most beautiful red I’d ever seen. It was all natural so it complimented her pale skin and bright blue eyes. The eyes were the only physical trait the two of us had in common. “I get that, Zo, but come on… that was a really long time ago. Look at the man. Or better yet, look at you looking at the man. It’s fate. Kismet. Clearly, you’re a match made in Heaven.”
“You mean a match made in the insane asylum. It’s not going to work out. I’m over it.”
“Riiiiiight.” Harper rolled her eyes. “Just think about it. And, you know, as your friend if you need me to distract your brother, I can make that happen. I’m sure it’d be worth the drive.”
The smile Harper broke out told me exactly how my brother would be distracted and several puns bounced around my head about the drive or driving. Then I wanted to gag. That was my brother after all.
“I think I just threw up in my mouth.”
Chapter Eight
Wyatt
I was pretty sure that Zoey started every day searching her closet for the outfit that would most drive me to distraction and give me an unforgiving hard-on. Given that I was sitting with her brother the hard-on issue was the biggest—pun intended. When we sat down and ordered, I had to fight the urge to look across the room at Zoey and get my raging, apparently teenage, hormones under control. Unfortunately for me, every so often her laughter rose up above everything else. Maybe the room was quiet enough to hear her or maybe I had the ability to zone in on her sound.
“Where the fuck is your head?” Riley sat back folding his arms across his chest giving me that hard look. He must’ve said something that I missed.
“I don’t know, man.”
“Is it that Harper chic?” Riley nodded his head toward the girls. “She’s pretty hot and seems…” he waved his hand in the air like he was trying to find the right word, “available.”
But I’d started shaking my head before he finished his sentence. “I’m not interested in Harper.”
“Then I can be.” Riley dove into the burger the waitress had set in front of him. “You coming to help set up the shop today.”
I sighed. “Yeah, for a while. I told your sister I’d help her move some furniture later.” Riley stopped chewing to give me his soul-searching look. “Fuck you.” The thing about knowing each other so long and serving in some very dangerous situations was that Riley didn’t need to vocalize his thoughts for me to know what they were.
Instead, Riley dropped the burger back in the basket then finished chewing before he spoke. “Listen. I’m not trying to be a dick here. The idea of you being interested in my sister thoroughly grosses me out.” I snorted. “Seriously. You’re a good guy and you wouldn’t treat her like shit or a one night stand because I’d fucking kill you and you know it. But she had a dickhead boyfriend in college so I just want the absolute best for her. She doesn’t need some guy messing with her head. Especially not an asshole that’s spent more of the last decade out of the country than in. You got me?”
Of course, I got him. He’d just said all things I’d told myself since seeing Zoey again. “Out of the country” was code for the shit we’d seen and done. Not about actually being overseas. Only I didn’t know about the asshole boyfriend.
No. I’d
focus on Riley and the garage. When my best friend said he was leaving the military after six years, it took me by surprise. Now I knew that whatever happened with Zoey and the asshole ex-boyfriend was probably part of it. Then once I saw that there was life on the outside, something no marine I knew ever admitted out loud, I’d wanted that.
I’d dreamed of Zoey many times over the last few years but that had nothing to with me not re-upping. I’d wanted the possibility of a life where I wouldn’t be shot at or shoot at others but Zoey had also been on my mind.
After lunch, we worked in the shop in practical silence the entire afternoon and even I had to admit it felt good to be near tools again/ The smell of oil and grease hung in the air even though the shop was sparkling fucking clean.
Chapter Nine
Zoey
Valentine’s Day was just around the corner. No matter where I turned there were little reminders of the day, of love, of the fact that I didn’t give a fuck about the day or love. It didn’t truly bother me that others were about to take part in the love holiday but more it bugged the shit out of me how it was packaged. The advertising, the commercials, and people asking about your “big V-day plans.” Made it seem like you were nothing if you didn’t have that special someone to make your day perfect.
Completely nauseating.
While others spent hours getting ready and spending obscene amount of money but I’d be perfectly happy at home in comfortable pajamas.
“Any big Valentine’s Day plans?” Wyatt asked just after we all sat down at my parent’s dinner table.
It’d been a few weeks since we’d seen each other and I told him to stay away me. But he’d been part of the family before and he was part of it now even if things had changed between the two of us. We started out as nothing with him being my brother’s friend only, then something sort of like a hookup, then back to less than nothing. No one needed to know what had transpired between us, that he’d touched me so intimately, the things we’d said.
I’d just have to swallow the words I’d really wanted to say to him and pretend that our relationship was the same as it had been before he ever even kissed her.
“Not you too,” I replied with a groan.
“Not me, too, what?”
“Everywhere I turn people are yammering on and on about Valentine’s Day. It’s not a real holiday, you know.” I stabbed my fork into the salad I’d helped Mom make.
“Aww, what’s the matter, Sis?” Riley jumped in. “All alone for the big day?”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t answer. It wasn’t worth it and he didn’t have someone special he would be spending the day with. Someone special—sure. Special for the day. Special for the night. But still someone who would disappear in the morning.
“It’s not a big deal. I’m thinking of doing an anti-Valentine’s Day thing anyway.”
“Is that a spinster thing?” Riley countered again.
This time I clearly heard Wyatt snort so he got a pointed look. It was partly his fault I was a “spinster”, as my brother put it. If he’d made good on any of his spoken or unspoken feelings the I’d have someone to spend the stupid holiday with but instead he had to be all “no touching my best friend’s little sister because she’s a virgin,” and “let’s just piss all over her feelings.”
The Jerk.
“Both of you can shut the hell up,” I finally said once I swallowed the food in my mouth.
“Zoey Goodrich, language,” Mom snapped. “We’re at the dinner table for crying out loud.”
I shrugged. Hell wasn’t even a real curse word anyway. “Again, you shouldn’t have let me hang around those two so much.”
To keep Mom happy, the three of us settled down and let Dad take the conversation over. He asked the guys a bunch of questions about the shop. How things were going, that sort of thing. Then he gave me all of his attention.
“Ready to start the new job, Zoey?” he asked.
At least he stuck to a safe topic. “I’m set. If only they could dump the sub early… ” I sighed. “I’m just ready to get started. Put all that money spent on college to use, ya know? But I am kind of nervous,” I admitted.
“Why?” Wyatt asked watching me intently as he waited for my answer,
I shifted in my seat. It took a lot of courage for me to admit I was nervous. Why should I be? This is what I wanted when I went away to college. To teach kids literature and grammar, though grammar was secondary in my heart.
“I just… I’ll be responsible for educating those kids. Making sure they can understand great literature and that’s a lot of pressure. It’s not being shot at, most of the time anyway, but I still feel like a kid when in there among them.” Student teaching had been rough that way. I hadn’t grown very tall so when I was in the schools, most of the time the other teachers thought I was a new student. One time, a teacher came into the classroom as I stood at the front table and told me I wasn’t supposed to be there. It was for teachers only.
When I’d told him that I was the teacher, he’d gotten super embarrassed and slinked out of the room.
“Enjoy the time,” Riley said before either of our parents could respond. “Once you start adult working, it never stops. Have some fun while you can.”
“Any boyfriends worth mentioning?” Mom asked.
Of course she did. It wasn’t that Mom wanted her spinster daughter to take a husband. She just understood that I sometimes had boyfriends that weren’t worth mentioning and she knew I hadn’t really started dating since the last guy. The guy I didn’t like to talk about.
“Nope. No one worth mentioning.” As I spoke I tried dot to look over at Wyatt and raise an eyebrow. Still, I could see him out of the corner of my eye and while I couldn’t be sure, it looked like his jaw tensed.
Served him right. He wasn’t worth mentioning.
Soon Dad turned his conversation to back to the guys and Mom popped in every once in a while. That meant I was able to eat in peace and not have to think about Wyatt or work or anything at all, including Valentine’s Day.
“So, what’s going on with you and Wyatt?” Mom asked in the kitchen after dinner as we put the leftovers into airtight, plastic containers.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “What? Why would you ask that?” The question threw me off center. Her asking me at dinner if there was anyone in my life worth mentioning was as far as she usually went.
My mom shrugged. “I don’t know. Things seem different. Are you two…” She let the innuendo hang in the air.
“Mom!”
“It’s a fair question.”
“It really isn’t.” I swallowed hard and lowered my voice before I said, “Wyatt is Riley’s friend. Nothing more.”
Her look fell on me so heavily that it made me squirm then said, “Mmm-hmmm.”
That was the last she mentioned of Wyatt as we went back to work cleaning up from dinner. But her question made me think about what kind of vibes he and I may have been putting out for even my mother to pick up on it.
Note to self: spend less time around Wyatt McCann.
Chapter Ten
Wyatt
So Zoey was against Valentine’s Day. Only surprising because she seemed like the kind of girl who would want flowers and candy and all of that shit. Maybe she only hated it because she didn’t have someone to share it with. Which truthfully, gave me some relief. I couldn’t stand the idea of her with someone else even though we weren’t together. Which was just selfish. Yet her without a V-day date and no boyfriend somehow felt like winning the jackpot.
I sat on the couch in my mother’s living room with a beer in hand thinking about the girl I really wanted. After our back and forth and the allusions to Zoey’s experience with last boyfriend, I’d have my work cut out for me if I decided to make a move now. Especially now that she knew I’d walked away all those years ago because she was so innocent. I’d expected she’d lost her virginity already and when she said she hadn’t—that surprised me. I couldn’t take tha
t from her then leave the country for who knew how long.
As the days went by without seeing her, while horrible, gave me time to think. First I’d had to admit that I wanted her. Easy. But deciding we could be together and everything would be normal was a lot harder. I just had to be sure that I’d be in it for the long haul before acting because if not Zoey needed to find the one she belonged to. Even if it wasn’t me.
However, I realized, it wasn’t even a real question. The thought of her with someone else burned jealousy through my veins. Imagining someone else touch her the way I had or see her the way I had—that would drive me insane for an eternity.
I was already in it for the long haul and figured I probably shouldn’t try to fight it anymore. But I had something else to do first. Something my best friend deserved, even if in the end Zoey decided she didn’t want to be with me. I needed to talk to Riley.
My tires ground to a halt right outside the open bay door of Riley’s garage. I took a deep breath but my feet felt heavy as I walked into the shop. Riley would be in there and he absolutely wouldn’t like what I had to say. Still had to say it, though.
“Goodrich,” I called out as soon as I got inside. Looking for him would’ve taken too much time.
“Problem, McCann?” Riley came around the back wall his face tight in confusion. He must’ve been in the storage room.
“I’m in love with your sister.”
That brought Riley to a resounding halt. “The fuck did you say?”
“I’m in love with your sister,” I said again. Probably not the best idea to spring it on him the way I had but it was out there now and I couldn’t deny even if I wanted to.
“What the fuck, Wyatt? I told you to help me take care of her. Not fall in love with her, motherfucker.” Riley closed the gap between us and perhaps a different kind of man might’ve been worried or taken a step back. But I stood my ground unfazed by the anger in my best friends face. I’d expected it. Almost welcomed it. We needed to get this part over so Riley could help me win Zoey over. Which would happen eventually and by then Riley would be totally on board. Once he got over his angry stage.
Making Her Mine (Finding Love Book 1) Page 4
