Page 65 of Billionaire Unreachable: Wyatt

Me:For making me feel like I’m attractive again. I haven’t felt that way in a long time.

Wyatt:You’re beautiful. I even thought so when you thought I was an asshole. Now take your gorgeous ass to bed before I come over there so I can convince you in person.

My body shivered in anticipation, and I wanted to beg him to come over here, but I didn’t.

I felt closer to Wyatt than I ever had before, and for now, that was enough.

Wyatt

“That was so much fun,” Shelby said with a happy laugh as we lingered over our drinks after a good Italian dinner the next evening. “But it was hardly fair that you had our puzzles and clues figured out before I ever got close. How did you do it? How did you work out the puzzles without even asking for hints?”

The escape room afternoon had been highly entertaining. It was something I’d excelled at because I’d developed a lot of critical thinking and problem-solving abilities with time limits in the military.

“How do you know I had it all figured out? Maybe I didn’t. Maybe I was waiting for you to solve everything because I couldn’t do it,” I told her before I downed the last of my drink.

She shot me an exasperated look. “Maybe because you moved on the second I said I had one figured out. I didn’t even tell you what the solution was before you were working on the next item. You were just going through the motions to help me get there both times.”

“You were quick,” I protested. “From what I understand, there are a lot of people who don’t solve them the first time.”

She was brilliant, and I’d been thoroughly impressed by how quickly her mind worked to resolve a puzzle. Not that I’d ever doubted her skills. She was a problem solver who could roll with whatever was happening and make it look easy. I’d never once suspected that she was working with a short staff at Chase’s reception, and I had a feeling that wasn’t the first time she’d had to figure things out quickly.

She’d dealt with a high pressure career for years in a field where failure wasn’t an option if she wanted to keep her job.

“How did you discover this restaurant?” she asked curiously before she took another sip of wine.

I shrugged. “Chase says it’s some of the best Italian food he could find outside of Italy. He brought Savannah here recently. I have to admit that he was right.”

It wasn’t a fancy place, but I wasn’t going to impress Shelby with a fancy restaurant unless the food was really exceptional, so I’d opted for the good food.

She sighed. “I’ve never been to Italy, but this was delicious, and the service was excellent. I like that we got patio seating. It’s so nice outside tonight.”

My gut was satisfied with the food, and Shelby was happy, so I’d done what I’d set out to do today.

I hadn’t expected to have that much fun at the escape room, but I had.

Watching Shelby, being with her when she was happy and laughing until that adorable dimple showed often was probably the most satisfying thing I’d done in a long time.

There probably weren’t many women in my circle who would have found an escape room to be that entertaining, but I liked that Shelby could find happiness in such a small thing.

Hell, I’d been willing to fly her anywhere for this date, but she’d insisted that she’d rather do something fun here in San Diego.

She wasn’t impressed with my money.

All she wanted was to be in my company doing something fun, and it didn’t really matter to her that it was a very cheap date for me.

It was humbling that she actually just wanted to be with me, and that she didn’t give a shit what we were doing.

“Tell me more about Chase and Savannah,” Shelby requested. “How did they meet? I’ve gotten to know her pretty well, but I don’t know much about their relationship history. Were they together long before they got married?”

Hell, it was an innocent enough question, and I knew Shelby was asking because she was genuinely curious. But since she didn’t know about Last Hope yet, I had to be careful. She probably knew that Savannah had been kidnapped, but she didn’t know the details about how Chase and I were involved in her rescue. “Chase and I have known Savannah for most of our lives. She’s been Tori’s best friend since childhood. Did she tell you that she was kidnapped near the Darien Gap in Panama when she was on assignment there doing a story?”

Shelby nodded. “She did. It’s so crazy that all of my female friends have gone through similar experiences. Vanna told me about getting attacked by one of Chase’s corporate enemies, too.”

Not so weird, really, since all of them had been Last Hope rescues or had gotten involved with the organization in some way, but since Shelby was in the dark about Last Hope, it was impossible for her to connect the dots.

“Chase stepped up to take care of her once she came back to the States after the kidnapping in Panama. I guess it took them that long to realize that they were meant to be together. My brother flipped out after that second attack on Savannah by someone who saw us as the enemy. They almost separated because he was being an idiot about putting her in danger by being with him. Once he got his head on straight, he couldn’t wait to marry her. That wedding got planned in record time, as you probably already know.” I hesitated before I added, “Chase and I both have enemies, Shelby. You can’t be a major player in our business without pissing people off. You should probably know that once the public realizes that you’re an important person in my life, it could put you at risk. I don’t put myself out there as much as Chase does, and my face is probably less recognizable. He’s always been the spokesperson for Durand because he’s a lot more personable when he’s speaking to the media. But I’m still the co-CEO for the company, and I’ve made a lot of decisions that made me enemies.”

She shook her head slowly. “Do you really think I’m going to let something that’s unlikely to happen decide whether or not I’m with you, Wyatt? I was probably the most despised woman in Montana for a while after what Justin did.”

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