Chapter 6

Chapter Six

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Wyatt

The words have me yanking my attention away from Callie and turning my full attention on Delilah, which pisses me off since I was thinking of how sexy it is that Callie is so tiny. She barely comes up to my elbow and all I can think about are all the positions I can put her in where her feet won’t even touch the ground. And then Delilah had to open her fucking mouth.

I spot Callie’s mouth open a little before she regains control and offers everyone a pleasant fake smile. But I’m not faking the anger that instantly hits me over the spoken words. “Watch your mouth, Delilah.”

Now it’s Delilah’s turn to gasp and seem all shocked that I would talk to her like I am. She turns all her attention to Callie and my protective instincts rush to the surface so swiftly I have to fight the urge to reach for Delilah and wrap my fingers around her neck until she takes her gaze from my woman.

“So…you’ve enamored our Wyatt, it would seem.” Callie opens her mouth to say something but Delilah just keeps going without giving her a chance to speak and giving me another reason to be pissed off. “Don’t get comfortable, little one. Wyatt isn’t the kind of man to stay and you don’t seem like the kind of woman who will be alright sharing.”

“You want him, take him.”

This shocks Delilah more than anything else Callie could have said. And pisses me off on a whole other level. “She can’t have me. Only you get me from now on, Peaches.”

Her eyes widen at the nickname even as I pull her into me.

Delilah laughs but the sound has no mirth in it. It’s as empty as she is. “Wyatt, you might as well stop lying to the poor girl. Everyone knows you don’t settle down and you don’t stick around. You don’t do…”

“She’s living with me, Delilah.”

Delilah goes pale and for just a few moments stops running her mouth. But then she recovers. “Of course she is…that’s where her job is after all.”

“You should stop talking, Delilah. It makes you look bad.” I nuzzle into the crook of Callie’s neck and drag her scent in deep. It helps me calm down. Some. “Things are different now. Now that I have Callie.”

“Smile guys!” One of the photographers shouts and squats in front of us in order to take the perfect picture. “Are you two double dating now?”

Delilah gives the man a big, beaming smile, putting her hand on my arm but I just keep my arms wrapped around Callie. “You know me and Wyatt have a long, complicated past. We always part as friends. And we always find our way back to one another.”

“I’m with Callie and she’s all I see. As long as she’s happy…I’m happy.”

Use that as a sound bite.

Delilah mumbles something but I don’t pay any attention to her and just stay focused on Callie who is stiff and her smile is brittle. After the photographer moves on, I’m turning her to find out what’s put that look on her face. And what she wanted to talk to me about.

“What’s going on, Peaches?”

“We should probably talk about this later. When there aren’t so many ears around.”

I narrow my eyes at her but concede. “We’ll definitely be talking about this later. You can be sure of that.”

I never would have left her if Delilah hadn’t grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards her date under the pretense that she wanted to introduce us. I felt better about wandering away since Bruce was next to Callie but when she finally started speaking to me it had nothing to do with introducing me to the poor chump standing by her side and everything to do with my new ‘love interest’.

And how the hell did she find out Callie worked for me? It’s a question I am definitely going to be bringing up to Eli when I see him again. By the time we make it home I can tell Callie is exhausted and needs to sleep so I rein in my need to straighten everything out and let her get some rest. As for me, I spend the entire night trying to figure out how things need to go, and how I want them to go.

My mind keeps going back to that kiss we shared in the limo and how Callie responded to it. It’s enough to have my dick hurting and my mind spinning. I get a late start because of all the tumultuous thoughts and when I go to find Callie I’m out of sorts and irritated. It doesn’t get any better when I pass by my living room and hear, of all people, Dalilah. In my home.

“Wow, you really are living with him.”

I can’t hear what Callie says in return but the hair on the back of my neck is already up. That woman has no right coming in here without being invited and speaking to my Callie like that. I step close to the door so I can spy on both women before I rush inside.

“I understand you think you might be in love with Wyatt,” Callie tries to speak but Delilah just keeps pushing forward. “And maybe you are but he’s not in love with you.”

I grind my teeth and hold my position letting Delilah give herself enough rope to hang herself with.

“He can’t possibly love you. You see, he’s never really gotten over me and even though we might go through our little split-ups and ‘breaks’ he’s always going to come back…to the woman he really loves. Me.”

There is a long pause as Callie sits and looks at the woman like she might have just escaped a lunatic asylum. Eventually, she starts to speak but it doesn’t do anything to make my anger die down.

“Thank you for telling me…but even though you very eloquently set me straight, I can assure you…be it Wyatt, or any other man for that matter, if they want to be with me that is a choice they can make for themselves. I’m not going to be responsible for forcing anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. Nor am I going to manipulate a man into staying with me if he doesn’t want to be with me." The hidden implication that Delilah would do both of those things hangs heavy in the room. "I do have control over that much and I refuse to play games, Ms. Williams.”

She doesn’t raise her voice or lose the cool cadence of her normal voice. She might as well be talking about the weather. But there’s a chill embedded in the words that whips a person across the face and stings worse than it would if she screamed.

“As for whether or not I am in love with Wyatt,” I step a little closer to catch all of what she is about to say, “is of no concern to anyone but me since ‘I love you’ is not a question but a statement that needs no answer to be valid and true. Do you want to stay until I can find Wyatt or leave a message for him?”

Delilah’s face is priceless but not enough for my liking. “I think it’s past time for her to leave, personally.” I step forward causing both women to gasp out in surprise.

I step into Callie and wrap my arms around her before lowering my head to capture her mouth with my own. I don’t rush the kiss and take my time exploring the inner treasures I’ve uncovered. I eventually pull back enough to take Callie’s expression in fully before turning back to Delilah.

“Which guard did you sleep with to get past the front gate this time, Delilah?”

The woman I’m accusing gasps in utter shock that someone would talk to her like this. She doesn’t seem as cool and in control now but rather flustered and upset. I wonder if it’s because she got caught speaking to Callie or because I called her out on fucking one of my men. I leave just long enough to shout for Eli and another guard that I already had on my payroll before the Phoenix company came on board.

The entire time we are sitting and waiting for them to come in, I hold Callie in my arms and stare Delilah down. As soon as they come in the room I am talking, “Please see that Ms. Williams finds her way out and go through the camera feed so we can find out which guard let her in. And fire him immediately.”

I wait until they’ve taken her out before I turn to look at Callie. My little Peaches. She looks everywhere around the room but at me. I take her by the chin so she has no other option but to look at me.

“You might be strong and sure enough to be alright with other women coming on to your man -and I have to admit that’s pretty hot- but I’m not. I know exactly what those other men want when they look at you and baby…I would kill to keep you.”