AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She followed him back to his place, Freya leading the way. Once they were in the kitchen, he encouraged Beth to take a seat on one of the stools tucked underneath the large marble island. “Here’s our options: I can do a fully cooked breakfast with eggs however you like them, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, and toast, or I can make pancakes or French toast with fruit. What would you like?”
She blinked rapidly a couple of times. “Would I sound greedy if I said all of the above?”
His laugh was genuine. “Not at all. You’re a girl after my own heart.”
“French toast sounds amazing.”
“French toast it is. I’ll do a side of bacon to go with it.”
“Can I help with anything?”
“Sure. Will you cut up the fruit while I prepare the batter for the toast?”
They worked in tandem while he made them both coffee. Beth cut up some fruit–strawberries, blueberries, and cantaloupe—while Wyatt fried up the toast and bacon. Once the food was ready, he plated the toast on one platter and the bacon on the other. Beth had already laid out the maple syrup, cutlery, and plates.
Breakfast was comfortable. She opened up to him a little, but still didn’t divulge much personal information. She told him her previous job had been that of an executive assistant for a law firm, which planted a small seed of an idea in his brain.
In return, he told her how he’d happened upon Silverbell Shore and fallen in love with it, and when he’d found out about the business and land being up for sale, he’d snapped it up.
Wyatt was a good judge of character, necessary in his former line of work, and he asked guided questions in an attempt to learn more about the man she was running from without alerting her to the fact. It was obvious he was an ex-partner, but lack of a tan line on her ring finger told Wyatt they hadn’t been married. From what little he’d been able to ascertain, the man had some sort of high-powered job.
Wyatt wondered if the asshole in question was in law enforcement. Is that why she was running from him? He’d also worked out she’d come from the west and was planning to head up near the Canadian border, as far away as she could get. What state had she run from? California? Arizona? Nevada? He knew it was a hot one, given her comment from the previous day about not liking the heat and humidity, even though she was used to it.
She was unfailingly polite and seemed genuinely interested in everything he said. She offered to help with everything, and seemed uncertain what to do with herself when he declined her offer.
He was angry on her behalf. Who had been so terrible to this lovely woman that she’d felt the need to flee her life and get as far away as possible? Had he been physically abusive, or just mentally and emotionally? The latter was just as bad as the former. This asshole, whomever he was, had better pray Wyatt never ran into him because he’d beat him to a pulp.
Beth was lovely in every sense of the word. He wondered if he could somehow persuade her to stay in Silverbell Shore once her car was fixed. He sensed a kindred spirit in her, one who unfortunately knew how painful life could truly be sometimes.
Maybe their broken hearts could heal each other.
ChapterFour
Beth agreed to a tour of Silverbell Shore several hours later while she waited for her car to be repaired. Freya sat on her lap several times to stick her head out the window but moved back into the middle of the truck when scolded gently by her father.
“I’m sorry. She seems to forget she’s not a small dog.” The corners of Wyatt’s mouth were curled up, his grin making him look boyishly handsome, and Beth wondered how old he was. She had him pegged to be in his early to mid-thirties.
“It’s okay.” Beth gave the pooch a pat. “Who doesn’t want to hang their head out the window, especially on a gorgeous day like this?”
It was early May, and indication of the impending summer was unmissable. Clear, blue skies sat over the town and the surrounding area. The air was warm but not unbearably hot just yet, although Wyatt did confess the temperatures in summer would get higher than Beth felt comfortable with.
She’d never been a fan of the hotter months. It wasn’t the sun that bothered her so much as the humidity, despite the fact she’d been living in Arizona for the past five years. But she’d left that state—and the man still living in it—behind and would never return.
“Are you hungry?”
Wyatt had parked his truck on Main Street and they’d wandered past a few stores, most noticeably a bookstore named The Book Cellar, which Beth wanted to explore in more detail at a later date.
She was about to say no when she realized she was, in fact, very hungry. “I am.”
“Let’s go to The Irish Giant, which is the only pub in town. They’ve got a great selection of food.”
He led the way, Freya trotting next to them and stopping to allow various passersby to pat her on the head. It seemed the entire population of the town knew Wyatt and Freya, and those who didn’t were obviously tourists.
Beth watched her companion carefully, having learned to be observant and careful of nonverbal cues. While Wyatt seemed friendly enough with everyone, greeting them by name and asking after them and their families, he never lingered. Never seemed interested in partaking in any sort of in-depth conversation.
She’d already worked out he was a bit of a loner, keeping parts of himself hidden from view. She saw it, every now and then, a look in his eye or expression on his face before he would put the mask back in place. It made her curious about the attractive man she walked next to. What was he so wary about? Had something happened in his past to make him put a shield up?
She had no business thinking of such things because it was none of hers. She wasn’t going to be in the charmingly named Silverbell Shore long enough to get any answers.
