“No, you won’t,” she argued adamantly with a frown. “You prepared most of this dinner. You’re not leaving early, and I want you to stay. I didn’t even realize you two knew each other.”
“We don’t,” I rushed to confirm. “Not really. I’ve only seen him in person once. After Vanna and Chase’s wedding reception.”
She folded her arms across her chest as she sent me a probing look. “Well, I can see that Wyatt didn’t make a great first impression on you. Spill it. What happened?”
I shrugged. “Nothing earthshattering. Honestly. The entire exchange lasted all of five minutes or so. Your brother isn’t exactly talky, and I was really tired from working all day. It wasn’t a big deal, Tori.”
“I’m still not buying it,” Tori said patiently. “He said something that pissed you off, which isn’t unusual for Wyatt. You’re not the kind of woman who would dislike someone for no reason.”
I let out an exasperated breath. “He’s your brother, Tori.”
She nodded. “Which means I know just how much of an ass he can be sometimes. What did he say?”
“He thought I was intruding on his privacy because I was in his kitchen eating my dinner after everyone had left,” I said honestly. “Normally, I probably wouldn’t have been bitchy to him, but he just rubbed me the wrong way that night. I should have just dropped my food and left. It was his house, and he was indirectly my client. The reception venue was his home.”
“Wyatt rubs almost everyone the wrong way at first,” Tori answered. “He never opens his home to anyone, much less a crowd of people for a wedding reception. I’m sure he was probably a jerk. Did he say something horrible?”
I shook my head. “I just…overreacted. I was probably even ruder than he was that night. His arrogance set me off. He can be a little abrasive.”
I’d thought about that brief interaction many times since it had happened four or five weeks ago.
Wyatt hadn’t said anything horrible or unforgivable.
He was just a man with a really…bad attitude.
It wasn’t like I didn’t know how to handle that. I’d been working in the service industry for a long time.
Tori snorted. “Abrasive is a nice way of saying he comes off as extremely rude sometimes. I know Wyatt. I know he’s not the guy who most people see on the surface. But I’d be hard-pressed to convince anyone else who doesn’t know him well that he isn’t a major jerk. I’m glad you stood up to him. Please don’t let his attitude scare you away. I know you’re not that easily intimidated.”
I wasn’t.
Not usually.
“It’s not just his attitude,” I confessed reluctantly, knowing I needed to tell Tori the whole story. It was apparent that Wyatt had never said a word about it to his family, but she was bound to find out eventually, and I’d rather she heard it from me. “You know my cousin and Wyatt have been friends for a long time, right?”
“Kaleb? Yes, I know,” Tori confirmed. “They’ve been close since college.”
I took a slug of my wine before I continued, “When I first moved to San Diego over a year ago, Kaleb tried to set me up on a blind date with Wyatt a month or two after I arrived because I didn’t know anyone here. Your brother adamantly refused. Maybe that shouldn’t have hurt my feelings—”
“Of course it hurt your feelings,” Tori interrupted.
“I wasn’t eager to do the blind date thing, either,” I rushed to explain, not wanting Tori to misinterpret the reasons I’d gone along with the whole idea of a blind date in the first place. “I wasn’t looking for a romantic relationship with anyone, but I thought maybe I could make a friend here in San Diego who was close to Kaleb. I would have refused myself if Kaleb and Wyatt weren’t so close, but I was really missing my family in Montana. I wasn’t expecting a gorgeous billionaire to be attracted to me romantically, but I agreed to meet Wyatt to see if we could be friends. Kaleb trusted Wyatt, so I had no reason not to trust him, too. Your brother…didn’t agree to meet up with me. I never got the chance to tell him that all I was interested in was a possible friendship.”
Finding myself a man in San Diego hadn’t even been on my radar at the time.
It still wasn’t.
The last thing I wanted was to date anyone.
All I’d wanted was to see a friendly smile from a person that Kaleb liked and trusted.
“I don’t think that refusal had anything to do with you,” Tori said thoughtfully. “I have a feeling he was reluctant because you were related to a good friend. Wyatt doesn’t really…. date. He hasn’t had anything that I’d call a serious relationship since he got out of the military years ago. My brother is a workaholic. He should have met up with you though. He trusts Kaleb and he should have trusted his judgment. Wyatt’s reaction to the offer was pretty thoughtless, but I honestly don’t think he ever thought that your feelings would be hurt. Underneath that cool and aloof exterior of his, he really does have a heart. Give him a chance, Shelby. If you do, he’ll eventually grow on you.”
I highly doubted that, but Tori was my friend, and I didn’t want this kind of awkwardness with one of her brothers. “It’s fine. It happened a year ago, and he never really said anything personally hurtful after the reception.”
I might not like Wyatt Durand, but he was Tori’s brother, and I did like everyone else coming to this dinner.
How difficult could it be to tolerate the annoying man for one evening?
Wyatt
My stomach growled as I pulled into the driveway of my sister’s home.
I’d skipped lunch on my flight back from Paris, and I was starving.
I’d also been in nonstop meetings for the last two weeks, and maybe I wanted to see some friendly faces of people who wanted nothing from me but my presence at a casual meal.
Okay, so maybe I had invited myself to this get-together, but a guy had to eat, and it was a lot better for my digestion to do it while I was talking to people who didn’t want a piece of me for business reasons.
I wouldn’t stay long.
I never did.
When I could actually make the time for my sister’s casual dinners with family and friends, I usually had other obligations to handle later that evening.
I could only hang out long enough to eat dinner and touch base with my family and friends.
I was also curious to hear about the mission that Last Hope had done in my absence, and since every person at the dinner tonight knew about or was a fellow volunteer for the hostage rescue organization, we could speak openly.