Page 77 of My Last Fling

He nods, his smile knowing. “I do.”

“Right. So, she spent the night in my room. And keep in mind, she’s never slept in the same bed with me. Not once. So, this morning I woke up thinking this was it. She finally realized she wants me. We can be a real couple, right?”

I sigh as I remember the argument and the stupid way it started. Then I remember what I said to her as I walked out and there’s a sick feeling in my gut.

“What happened?” Wyatt asks.

I shrug. “I wimped out. Again. Instead, I yelled at her for not letting me help her. We argued. I stormed out. You found me.”

“Looking like a lost puppy on the sidewalk?” he supplies, smiling.

I glare at him and his smile fades.

“Right,” he says, leaning back in his chair and picking up his coffee. “You need to tell her how you feel.”

I sigh, my eyes rolling toward the ceiling. “If she wanted me, she would have said so. She had every chance to do it this morning.”

“Maybe she thinks the same thing about you.”

“Then why was she dating someone else?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, man. Women aren’t always easy to understand.” He leans forward over the table and points a finger at me. “But I’ll tell you one thing. If you love this girl, you can’t keep being a pussy about it. You need to tell her.”

I stare at my coffee cup without replying as Wyatt finishes off the rest of his pastry. I think back to two days ago when the King family arrived at the hotel. They’d been full of noisy laughter, inside jokes and big hugs. I think about the petite brunette I’d seen with Wyatt. She’d looked as different from him as someone could be. Her shoulder-length hair was lightly curled. She’d been wearing a sundress with a floral print. She’d also been standing serenely by his side while he and most of the other Kings had been loudly greeting Luke and Piper in the hotel lobby. I look over at the tattoos and long hair, the disreputable image Wyatt portrays.

“Can I ask you something?” I say.

He nods. “Shoot.”

“You and Hope,” I say.

Wyatt’s face changes completely at the mention of his wife’s name. His smile goes soft and almost dream-like and even his eyes seem different. He loses the carefree demeanor of before and for once, he looks serious.

“You want to know what she sees in a bum like me?” he asks.

I laugh. “I wasn’t going to say that.”

He waves away my words. “Nah, you’re good. Everyone wonders about us. From the outside, we seem like total opposites. Everyone says so. You should have seen her mom when she first met me.” He laughs before his expression turns serious again.

“I really don’t know what she sees in me,” he says. “But I knew as soon as I met her that she was something worth holding onto. She didn’t see it that way. She thought what everyone else thinks about me. But I was persistent. I eventually managed to convince her that I wasn’t a total shithead. We became friends. And then, more. She kept telling me it was temporary. A fling. But I knew I never wanted it to end.”

I smile. “How did you convince her?”

He laughs. “Well, she thought she caught me cheating and ran way to another state.” He lifts his coffee cup to his lips and downs the last of it. “I had to chase her down and convince her of the truth. It’s a long story.”

I open my mouth to ask for clarification, but then think better of it.

“So, what are you going to do about your lady?” he asks as we stand and head for the exit.

I think about Wyatt’s advice and everything he told me about him and Hope. It sounds like he and I have more in common than I originally thought. Maybe he’s right and I should just tell Layna I’m in love with her. I remember everything she said this morning about wanting someone safe and easy and my heart clenches in my chest. I don’t know if my heart can take hearing her say aloud that she doesn’t want me.

“I don’t know,” I say. “Hope she sees something in me worth sticking around for.”

He claps me on the shoulder as we leave walk. “If not, go after her. It worked for me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Chapter 33