EMILY
For the drive back to Conception Ridge, Wyatt joins me in my car, while Heath drives his truck just ahead.
He’s comically too big for the passenger seat of my hatchback, but they wouldn’t take my gentle suggestion that he could just go home the way he came up—in the man-size vehicle.
“Is this what it’s going to be like now?”
Wyatt gives me an innocent look. “Like what?”
“One of you being over-protective and ever-present.”
He pretends to think about it for a long second. “Yeah.”
I laugh out loud.
We spend that night at Heath’s house, and when they go to work in the morning, I head to campus.
I have a meeting with a faculty advisor in the morning, then in the afternoon I spend a couple of hours in the lab.
The annoying guy isn’t there, but when I push out the back doors of the science building, he’s waiting against the wall.
“Emily!”
I keep walking.
“You were gone all weekend.”
No comment.
“Whose bed did you sleep in last night?”
I whirl around. “I was out of town.”
He leers at me. “Not last night. I saw your car—”
“Is this guy bothering you, miss?”
I gasp in relief at the sound of Wyatt’s voice and turn toward him. He looks fierce and rugged. I want to nuzzle my face into the toolbelt slung around his waist. My hero.
But I don’t want him to get arrested for smashing a student in the face.
Also, I’m not sure why he’s on campus with his work gear, because I know for a fact he spent the morning putting a new roof on a house. Very much off-campus. He texted me a few shirtless selfies to brighten my day.
“He is,” I say carefully. “I’ve asked him to leave me alone in the past, and he isn’t getting the message. Could you escort me to my dorm?”
Wyatt steps between us. “With pleasure. But is there something I can do to reinforce that message? Drag this shit-for-brains to the Dean’s office and report him for harassment, maybe?”
I swallow hard. I should do that, really. I just don’t want to go through the long, drawn-out process only to be told that he always stayed just on the right side of the line.
And I only have two credits left to complete this summer, and then I’m graduating. The end is in sight.
I smooth my hand over Wyatt’s bulging biceps. “Maybe you could stay with me in my dorm room tonight? Keep me safe, all night long?”
Annoying Guy narrows his eyes at me.
Fuck him.
“Just like you did last night,” I purr.