The Best Thing (Stevens Book 8)

Chapter 18

It was late, after one in the morning when Beth gave up on trying to sleep. She and Wyatt and been politely stepping around each other all night, neither one knowing where to start. If Beth was honest, she had given him a bit of her cold shoulder as she prepared him dinner, and they talked about the differences in Charleston and Savannah.

It wasn't that Beth hadn't enjoyed the heated debate about which was the better city, but she had been too much on edge to let her guard down and allow Wyatt to broach the subject of what had gone wrong between them.

They had spent the evening talking about this and that, and then Beth, needing relief, had gone to bed early as an escape. She was still trying to wrap her head around the idea that Wyatt had tracked her down, and she was doing her best not to let her hopes grow. She had taken a hard fall when he had looked through her, and if it happened again... Beth couldn't even finish the thought.

Beth turned on the light over the stove in the kitchen as she prepared herself a mug of tea. The storm was still raging outside, and she was glad. It suited her mood.

"Can I have some too?" Wyatt's voice said from behind her, and she jumped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Beth looked him over. He was wearing loose pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, the same as Beth.

"Sure," she said, starting on his mug. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I couldn't sleep." Wyatt leaned against the counter, watching her every movement.

Beth nodded. She knew the feeling. He was making her nervous, and her jerky movements caused her to splash some boiling water on her hand. She said a curse word then ran her hand under the cold water for a minute as she tried to get control of her emotions.

Eventually, the tea was made, and she had no reason to keep her back to him.

"I was going to take mine into the living room and watch the storm from there," she said to his expansive chest.

"May I join you?" he asked as his hand brushed hers when she took the mug.

Beth nodded and then led the way to the living room, where she turned two chairs around to face the large French windows. The lightning was a magnificent sight as it lit the sky for brief moments, creating shadows between the houses on the street.

"Beth, why do you feel that I'm out of your league. What changed to make you feel that way?" Wyatt's voice was soft in the silence in between the rattling thunder. "I know it was something that I did."

"You looked through me as if I wasn't there." Beth couldn't think of a reason not to be honest.

Wyatt thought for a moment, sipping his tea. "I'm sorry if it appeared that way, but I wasn't looking through you. I was shocked to see you. I was doing my best to control that feeling while in the middle of a work discussion. You draw my attention like a magnet. I am always aware of your every move when you're near and it can be very distracting."

"You are?" Beth couldn't keep the disbelief from her voice. If Wyatt felt this way, she had been unaware of it. He hid it well, but then again, maybe he didn't. On her so-called date with Mark, he had walked her into the bar and made sure she had a drink before he moved away, and even after he had walked away, she could still feel his eyes on her. Then as soon as she had left, he had been there, offering to walk her home.

"Yes, ever since I held while you slept in that cabin, I have wanted to keep you safe. It's like a driving force inside of me that I don't know how to handle. It almost borders on the need to possess, and that is something that I couldn't stomach. Your spirit is so free and honest, and I'm afraid I will crush that." Wyatt sat his mug on the floor next to his chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he rubbed his hands together.