Melanie’s knees did that wobbly thing that only happened when her world tilted. Wyatt was doing a great job of tilting her world. Her eyes drifted to her feet.

“Melanie?”

She met his gaze again.

“I’m a patient man.”

Instead of the kiss he spoke of, he eased back, letting the moment pass.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

A look of confusion marred his brow. Suddenly, apologizing felt like the wrong thing to do.

“Don’t be.”

“I’m sorry . . . damn it.” She hadn’t meant to say it again. “It’s just. I’m in a weird place right now. I want to.” She placed a hand on his arm. “You need to know I want to.”

“Melanie?” He placed a finger over her lips. “I get it.”

“You do?” she asked through his finger. How did he get it when she didn’t? It had been a long time since she so much as seriously flirted with the opposite sex.

“I do.” His hand dropped.

“So I can have a rain check?”

He was grinning again.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Wyatt had no real need to go to the reunion. It wasn’t his graduating class and he hadn’t been coaching when the alumni had frequented the halls of River Bend High. Still, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that he was going to miss it.

That surprised him.

Flustering Melanie Bartlett and getting close enough to smell her innocence intrigued him more than he wanted. After walking away from the track the day before, he had cautioned himself. His original intentions were flighty. A little dalliance with a woman who was only visiting home. Yet when Miss Gina had told him she was going to stay on, he found himself slowing his pursuit down. No reason to rush if she wasn’t going anywhere. Since when had he wanted to hook up with someone local? One with a kid, no less.

Melanie blew off like a hesitant volcano sputtering smoke before the top exploded. She came with a suitcase full of baggage that included a kid. A cute kid, but a kid nonetheless. At least there wasn’t an ex in the picture.

Wyatt liked her.

His usual pursuits were attractive and available. Call him shallow, but he wasn’t one for romance. Truth was, he hadn’t dated in the real sense since he’d moved to River Bend. He’d flirted, and a few of the single women had that look in their eye that told him they were interested, but he wasn’t. He was building a life in River Bend, and screwing around with the half a dozen single, attractive, and age appropriate women wasn’t a part of that life. Not when the fallout could mean never-ending drama. Breaking up with the daughter of the bingo night emcee could remove job opportunities for months, if not years.

So why was Melanie different? And why was he breaking his own code? Was it a code, or just smart?

Didn’t matter, he told himself. He fastened the last button on his dress shirt and skipped the tie. Unlike his father, Wyatt wasn’t a tie kind of guy. He owned one, but it was probably holding a bundle of PVC pipes together on his truck.

The high school gym bumped with the sound of the DJ’s music from a decade past. The lights were dimmed, much like a high school dance. The difference was the temporary bar set up in the corner and the lack of grinding moves that the teens of today called dancing. People gathered in clusters. From the outside, it was easy to pick out who were alumni of the school and who were the bystanding significant others obligated to escort the River Bend graduates.

A tap on his shoulder brought his attention to Luke. “I was wondering if you’d show up,” Luke said over the music.

Wyatt shrugged. “Not a lot of nightlife in this town.”

“Nightlife? I don’t think that’s the reason you’re here.”

“Oh?”

Luke glanced around the growing crowd before returning his attention to Wyatt. “How about a beer?”

Wyatt followed him to the bar.

Principal Mason leaned on the wall next to the bar. “Hello, Richard,” Wyatt greeted him with a handshake.

“Evening, boys.”

“Standing guard over the bar?” Luke asked.

Richard ran a hand over his bald head with a cocky grin. “Making sure a few of these good ol’ boys buy me a drink. Some of them put me through hell. You included, Miller. You ditched school more than you showed up.”

“I passed my classes.”

“By a hair.” Richard winked and nodded toward the bartender. “Jack and Coke, Miller. Make it a double.”

Luke narrowed his eyes and bought the principal a drink.

The three of them watched the crowd for a few minutes. “Does this get old for you?” Wyatt asked Richard.

“Not at all. It’s like watching a good game you have money on.”

“How so?”

Richard scanned the room. “A handful of the teachers and I lay bets at the end of every year gauging who will leave town, who will stay. Then after the reunion, we wager on who is coming back.”

The principal glanced between the two of them and said, “Don’t judge. Vegas is a long ways from here. Take you, Luke. None of us pegged you for leaving.”

Wyatt laughed at the expression on Luke’s face.

“I’m not sure how to take that.”

“You worked with your dad. Loved cars . . . you didn’t have to leave to find yourself.” Richard nodded toward the mass in the gym. “Lots of them did. Some are still searching. Some have been gone long enough to know they want what they had when they lived here, and some know a small town simply isn’t big enough for them.”