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I knew that was the truth.
I’d spent two weeks telling myself I had to take this slow, but the truth was, I wasn’t really making any progress at all. And when it came to what we needed to accomplish at Westwood’s, there wasn’t time available to waste.
“I don’t want to piss her off,” I told him.
“Is that because you want to be able to have a successful conversation about the land?” he retorted.
“Of course. What else would it be about?”
He lifted his shoulders to his ears, sending me a look that told me he believed I already knew what the answer was. Even if he thought that was the case, he said, “Maybe you don’t want to piss her off because you like her.”
Narrowing my eyes on him, I asked, “Have you listened to anything I’ve said? The woman has barely spoken to me at all. I don’t even know her to like her.”
“You don’t have to know everything about her to know you like her attitude and the way she looks,” he reasoned. “That’s all it takes to become interested and feel attraction.”
He had me there.
Because there was no question about it—I liked Rhea’s attitude and the way she looked more than I cared to admit. And if I said I wasn’t interested or attracted to it, I’d have been lying.
“Maybe,” I admitted. “But I still don’t know what to do. When I tell you this woman is tough, I’m not joking. She’s not going to be easily swayed.”
Tate grinned at me. “Did you hear what she said to you in her ice cream shop, Wyatt?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so it’s clear from those words that she believes you to be a certain type of guy. If the way you relayed it to me is the way she said it all to you, it leads me to believe she had at least one guy who thought money was more important than maybe her. Perhaps you need to take steps to prove to her that you’re different,” he advised.
This was precisely the reason why Tate was the guy I needed to talk to. While I seemed to only be able to focus on how sassy and confident Rhea was when it came to knowing what she wanted, Tate could see what I couldn’t.
Her attitude wasn’t about me necessarily.
It was about protecting herself from someone who had the power to hurt her.
For the first time in two weeks, I finally felt some clarity. Then I grinned back at my brother. “It blows my mind that you are still single. Knowing people the way you do, I’d expect you’d be able to have a woman eating right out the palm of your hand.”
Tate rolled his eyes. “Women want time and attention. There’s nothing wrong with that, but right now, I’m focused on work. It would be unfair of me to expect a woman to understand my commitment to my job.”
This was why Tate was perfect for the role he played at Westwood’s. My brother had this uncanny ability to make everyone around him believe the words coming out of his mouth. That wasn’t to say he was untruthful, but where I had confidence born from a desire not to fail, Tate’s seemed to be about knowing what he wanted and believing in his tried-and-true techniques to get it. If I thought I could be patient to get what I wanted, it didn’t come close to comparing to Tate.
The two of us sat together a little while longer, and I enjoyed having the time to get my brother’s advice.
Eventually, we decided it was time to head out. He took off right away, and I elected to take a detour to the bathroom first.
I’d done that, and now I was here—completely baffled by the sight in front of me.
I hadn’t expected I’d see Rhea before Monday morning, and yet, she was here. Twice now this had happened. I’d been going about my business as usual, and she just happened to be there.
If that wasn’t a sign meant to convince me to do something more than I’d been doing, I didn’t know what else would be.
The problem was that I couldn’t seem to get myself to move from the spot where I was standing, watching her.
Because the feelings that moved through me at the sight of her felt foreign. She was nothing like I’d grown accustomed to seeing. Not only was she wearing the most perfect dress for her body—one that hugged her curves and showed off her long, toned legs—but she was also dancing like she didn’t have a care in the world. The smile on her face held me captive; I didn’t know she had it in her to let loose.
I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.
I had to go to her, to talk to her.
The last thing I wanted was to ruin her night, but walking away from her wasn’t an option.
