Pursued by Him (Wanted Series #4) Page 9

But what I wanted was for him to say he could see it, that I wasn’t imagining the chemistry, that she was obviously the woman for me, and that it was written all over her face.

  But I knew better.

  Her cards were too close to her chest for him to say any of those things.

  And the tighter she held them, the more I wanted to know what she was hiding, what she was thinking, and whether what she ultimately wanted was even something I could give her.

  Chapter 18: Addison

  It was obvious that they were brothers as they stood drinking their beers beside one another, but I didn’t feel the same attraction to Austin that I felt to Wyatt.

  Still, just because I wanted him physically with every aching fiber of my being didn’t mean I had any business being there.

  I mean, Karen and I were getting along like a house on fire, but that didn’t change the fact that I still felt like I was faking it outside the realm of our sexual chemistry.

  After all, what the hell was I doing? Playing house? Borrowing his family like I’d borrowed so many others? And I knew what came next. Sooner or later I would disappear from their lives so thoroughly that I would scarcely be able to remember their faces.

  Even this week it had happened again. I was trying to picture the little boy in my third foster family, trying to remember whether he was a year older or younger than me, but I couldn’t remember.

  Cause the concept of family was transient for me. It didn’t mean what it meant to Wyatt.

  And it was so obvious to see that in this setting that I couldn’t ignore it.

  Not that I blamed myself. Maybe if I’d had a real chance to connect with a family for any significant length of time, it might’ve happened. But it never did. Even when I got along with the other kids and my “parents” were being paid to keep me happy, our relationships still dissolved. Every. Single. Time.

  So I couldn’t help it. The closer I felt to his family, the more comfortable they made me feel, and the more I felt like I really fit in, the more skeptical I became that it could last.

  And the most upsetting part of all was that I wasn’t more disturbed by that. On the contrary, I almost felt relieved knowing that I wouldn’t have to adopt the laundry list of worries that came with having a family. But every time I had that thought, I felt like I was betraying Wyatt in some way.

  Because on some level, I knew I wasn’t there because he thought we had no future. And it scared me to think he might be humoring completely different thoughts about where the chemistry between us might lead.

  And I didn’t want to hurt him.

  Which surely counted for something since I normally didn’t care about anyone but myself.

  Karen lowered her voice and leaned in. “You know, I can’t remember the last time Wyatt let us meet a woman he was interested in.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Oh?” Was that because there were too many? In the first twenty four hours of knowing him, he’d given me the impression that he’d put so many notches on his bed post the whole thing had been sawed off long ago.

  But there was obviously this other side of him, this family man side. And I think the only reason it hadn’t scared me off instantly was because the way I found out about it caught me so off guard. But there was no denying it now as I watched him flinch every time Sophie took a hand off the swing.

  “He must really be smitten with you,” Karen said matter-of-factly.

  “You think?” I asked, not knowing what the appropriate response was. I supposed it would be to say that I was smitten, too, though part of me wanted to tell her the truth since she was the only other outsider.

  I wondered how she would react if I said that I’d lied to him about everything, that he didn’t even know me, that the only reason I was there was because the earth shattering sex I was having with him had killed so many brain cells I didn’t even know what to do anymore. Instead, I sipped my beer and kept my mouth shut.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked. “I mean, he introduced you to his daughter.”

  “Does he not normally do that?”

  “Are you kidding?” She fingered the pearls around her neck while she kept an eye on Gigi swinging through the air. “He’s overprotective to a fault.”

  I pursed my lips.

  “Especially where Sophie is concerned.”

  “I can see why,” I said. “She’s absolutely charming.”

  “And smart, too,” she said. “Really clever.”

  I smiled, pretending it was because of what she’d said, but really I was just excited that Wyatt was heading back in our direction.

  “Austin said you guys might take off soon,” he said to Karen as he stopped in front of us.

  Karen checked her watch. “Probably. It’s been a long week for everyone.”

  “No shit,” he said. “Would you mind if I borrowed Addison so I could show her my studio?”

  “Go right ahead,” Karen said, turning to me. “I’d join you, but I’ve already seen it, and I’m all out of ways to pretend I’m impressed.”

  Wyatt rolled his eyes. “Karen isn’t the most musically inclined.”

  “That’s being polite,” she said. “I can’t even hum happy birthday in tune. Apparently, I’m in the top percentile for tone deaf people.”

  I smiled. “Wow.”

  “I know, right?” She pushed her hair over her shoulders. “And to think I used to believe being on top was always a good thing.”

  “So you aren’t leaving right away?” I asked.

  “We’ll stick around a bit longer,” she said, swirling her glass. “The least I can do is help clean up the white wine.”

  Wyatt nodded at her. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.” Then he turned to me. “Right this way.”

  “It was nice talking to you,” I said to Karen.

  Her sharp eyes formed little crescents. “You, too,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll have a chance to do it again.”

  I turned to follow Wyatt who was already heading off towards the building at the back of the yard. He was just far enough ahead of me that I could safely steal glances at his ass without feeling obvious.

  He turned to look back at me, his eyes smiling before his mouth. “I don’t actually care if you even want to see my studio,” he said. “I mostly stole you away for selfish reasons.”

  “Selfish reasons?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’ll share you because I have to, but in a perfect world Sophie would still be at camp, and we’d still be having a grand old time in the Poconos.”

  “We did have fun,” I said.

  His eyes flashed at me. “Fun is one word for it.”

  “I suppose if that were the case, I still wouldn’t know about any of this,” I said. “About your daughter and your mansion and your studio.”

  He walked along some cobblestones and went around the corner of the building so the backyard and the people in it disappeared from view. “I wish I could say I didn’t intentionally keep all that stuff from you.”

  I leaned against the siding and crossed my arms. “But you did.”

  “It’s not personal,” he said. “Maybe I’m overly cautious, but I don’t let just anyone in.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if it’s because of Sophie or because after all those years in the band, I got used to being someone else where women were concerned, but I’m sorry-”

  “You don’t have to apologize,” I said, envying the fact that he was no longer burdened by secrets and watching his every word around me. Like I was with him.

  “Thanks,” he said. “I guess it just wasn’t a priority to tell you about the other things that were important to me until I knew if you were one of them.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “You think I might be important to you?”

  “I know you are,” he said, pulling some keys out of his pocket.

  “We’ve only known each other for a week, Wyatt.”

  “And I’m already better for it.”

  I swallowed. “Seriously, thoug
h. How can you be so sure?”

  He unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping to the side to hold it for me. “Because there are only two other things in my whole life that I’ve ever liked as instantly as I liked you.”

  “And what are those things?” I asked, stepping into the dark room.

  “One is Sophie,” he said, flicking on the light. “And the other is music.”

  The space was large and immaculately finished with several clear sound booths and an abundance of sleek panels covered in black switches and dials.

  “Wow,” I said. “Pretty impressive.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “Even if you don’t mean it, that’s nice of you to say.”

  “I do mean it,” I said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  “Me neither,” he said.

  I turned around to see what he was talking about.

  But he was staring right at me.

  I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and cast my eyes down.

  Maybe I was overcomplicating things. Maybe I should be thrilled that a nice guy from a kind family was interested in me, a guy with money and values and abs.

  What was I so afraid of?

  And then it hit me.

  It wasn’t personal.

  I was afraid of caring about anybody. Because I’d lost everyone I ever cared about without knowing what it was like to have those feelings returned. Therefore, the only way to keep from losing him was to not care about him.

  Except it wasn’t that simple.

  And it certainly wasn’t that easy.

  And when he locked the door behind us, something told me it wasn’t about to get any easier.

  Thanks

  Thank you for taking the time to read this story.

  If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review and tell your friends!

  To find out what’s next for Wyatt and Addison, check out the next book in the Wanted Series,

  Desired by Him

  Coming Soon!!

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  Thanks again for your support and until next time,

  Happy Reading,

  Xo Hazel

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