Christmas in Magnolia Cove (7 page)

“What?” Madison said with her hand on her chest.

Wyatt chuckled at the memory he was about to share with Madison. “Kim and I were dating, but we were arguing a lot. One day, you walked through the cafeteria, and I noticed Kim looking at you. When I asked her why she was looking at you, she said you were creepy looking with that red hair and those scary blue eyes. I said I thought you were different-looking and pretty, and she blew a gasket. We broke up for two days over that comment…” he said laughing.

Madison sat there stunned for a moment before looking at him. She knew he was telling the truth.

“So how did you end up joining in the bullying then?” she asked.

“I didn’t think of it as bullying really. I wanted to get back with Kim, for a variety of American male reasons…”

“Yuck…” Madison said with a smirk.

“Hey, we males have a lot of testosterone as teens… Anyway, I groveled back to her and said that I didn’t want to date you and that I didn’t even know you. She apparently concocted some story about you turning her in for cheating, and my way of riding in like a knight in shining armor was to pretend I hated you, too,” he said looking down. “Jeez, Madison, I’m sorry.”

Madison stood there for a moment as she mulled over what he’d said. Could her bullying in high school have been caused by something so incredibly simple? All this time she had thought he thought she was ugly. Instead, the petty jealousies of some idiotic high school girl had started it all.

“I don’t know what to think…” she said. “I need to make a phone call,” Madison suddenly said as she pulled out her cell phone and walked onto the deck off the kitchen. She was only calling to check on things in Atlanta, but at least it got her out of the situation for a few moments.

Wyatt had never been good with women and their constantly changing emotions.
He always seemed to say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. He never understood what they were thinking, and “bull in a china shop” seemed to describe his ability to navigate female emotions.

As he watched Madison talking on her cell phone on the deck, he couldn’t place the emotions he was currently feeling. No woman had ever made him feel so comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. He continued messing with the kitchen sink while watching her through the window.

She was beautiful with her swept-up red hair, piercing blue eyes, and porcelain skin. He imagined that she would fit right in if she was dropped in the middle of Ireland. Her royal blue sweater clung to her curvaceous chest, and her skinny jeans were a perfect fit for her petite frame. Wearing a pair of high-heeled black boots that stretched up to just under her knee, he had a hard time looking away.

She sauntered back and forth on the deck talking on her phone. Her smile seemed to light up the outside, and he could hear her contagious giggle. Suddenly, he felt pained by what he had done to her. How had his actions as a stupid kid affected her life so much to warrant this much emotion from her all these years later?

Wyatt normally didn’t give a lot of thought to how women felt. He had been burned by a few himself, and he never allowed them to get very close to him anymore.

“Sorry about that,” she said as she returned to the kitchen. “I had to call my assistant about a couple of design jobs in Atlanta.”

“No problem. You must be a pretty big deal down there, huh?” he said with a hint of a smile. She noticed his dimples, which she hadn’t seen before. Wyatt had always been rough around the edges, even in high school. Standing there in a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and a pair of jeans, he looked like he could hop on a Harley Davidson at any moment and drive off into the sunset. Those bulging biceps of his were hard to ignore, so Madison looked away.

“I do alright,” she said with a shy smile.

“Well, I guess I’d better get back to this leak,” he said as a way of breaking the tension.

“Right. You get back to that, and I will get back to my stain samples,” she said looking down and grabbing her samples from the counter. She couldn’t deny that she was feeling some kind of heat when she was around Wyatt, but she didn’t want to feel it at all. She wanted the heat of anger but not the heat of passion.

In her mind, Wyatt should pay dearly for making her feel terrible about herself. He shouldn’t have let some girl make him act that way toward her when she had done nothing to warrant it. How could she ever forgive all of those years of torment in high school?

As she thought more about it, she bent over to put the samples on the floor. Wyatt looked up from his work and almost started to drool when he saw her bending over. His testosterone started shooting into overdrive as he watched her move up and down, testing each sample. Not paying attention, he dropped his wrench to the floor which startled Madison. She jumped back and ran into the paint can behind her, causing her to tumble to the floor.

“Ouch!” she screamed as she hit the floor.

“Oh, my God, are you okay?” Wyatt asked as he quickly crawled over to her.

“No… it hurts…” she said with tears started to well in her eyes. Seeing pain in her blue jewel-colored eyes made him hurt inside.

“What hurts exactly?” he asked, afraid to even touch this woman who hated him so bad.

“My ankle. I think I twisted it…” she said with a groan.

Wyatt carefully straightened her leg and placed it across his lap. He unzipped her high boot and tried to push the inappropriate thoughts away. He could smell the scent of strawberry mixed with vanilla emanating from her hair. He wanted to run his fingers through it, but her hair wasn’t the problem right now. Her ankle was, and he had to get the boot off.

“Ow, ow, ow…” she moaned as he carefully slipped the boot off her foot, followed by her sock. Her toes were perfectly manicured with a bright red polish on the nails. He’d never seen feet that looked so perfect.

“Where does it hurt?” he asked, trying to figure out if she had broken it or not.

“Right here, by this bone,” she said. She bit her bottom lip in pain and closed her eyes, but all Wyatt noticed was how sexy she looked when she bit her lip like that. What was going on with him? He decided he would never have made a good paramedic if he was lusting after patients who were in pain.

“It’s starting to swell, and we don’t have any ice here. I’ve got to take you to the clinic,” he said. There was a small urgent care center about a block from the house.

“No, I’ll be fine, I just need to…” she tried to put pressure on her foot to stand and the pain was unbearable. “Ow…” she yelped again as she sunk back down to the floor. She looked at Wyatt with those crystal clear blue eyes, and his stomach churned. What was this woman doing to him? The pleading in her eyes felt like agony to him. In his mind, he had failed her in high school, and right now he could make up for at least some of that.

“Where’s your purse?” he asked.

“On the counter behind you,” she said.

“Good. Grab it when we pass by,” he said as he scooped her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing. She had no choice but to trust him, so she put her arms around his neck. For a moment, she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. The smell of his cologne wafted past her nose, and suddenly her feelings of anger floated away.

Wyatt carefully carried her out the front door and down to his truck. He slid her in sideways and closed the door before jumping in the other side.

“We’ll be there in a few minutes. How’s it feeling?” he asked as he started the truck.

“Not great. It’s really throbbing now…” she said scrunching up her face in pain.

“Hang in there,” he said, instinctively reaching over and putting his hand over hers. Madison’s hand was dwarfed by his large grip.

“Um, I should call my Mom and let her know I’m going to the clinic,” she said moving her hand and digging for her cell phone.

“Why don’t you wait until we know what’s going on?” he asked.

“I guess you’re right. No need to upset her given her condition…” Madison was sorry she said that.

“Her condition? Is your Mom sick?”

“No one really knows, but she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease last year. I didn’t know until I came home for Thanksgiving,” Madison said looking out the window.

“I’m so sorry. No one told you?”

“Nope. My Mom didn’t want to upset my life, so she kept it from me.”

“That must have hurt you,” he said in a husky tone.

“Yep. I seem to get hurt a lot lately…”

“Who else hurt you, Madison?” he asked softly. “I mean other than me?”

“It’s not important right now. Let’s just say that my guard is activated, and no one is getting past it any time soon.”

“Well, I guess it was lucky I didn’t break my ankle and just cracked the bone, but this stinkin’ boot is really going to cramp my style,” Madison said with a laugh. “I guess that’s what I get for wearing those sexy high-heeled boots.”

“Well, it did contribute to your injury,” Wyatt said without thinking.

“Um, I don’t think so. Your inability to hold on to a wrench startled me, if you will remember,” she said with a smirk.

“I had good reason,” he mumbled as he picked her up and carried her back to the truck. After carefully setting her inside, he climbed into the driver’s seat and put the keys in the ignition.

“And what was your good reason, Mr. Reed?” she asked with an eyebrow arched.

“Nevermind,” he said trying to deflect her question as he put on his seatbelt. Before he could stop her, she reached over, grabbed his keys from the ignition and dropped them down her shirt.

“We aren’t leaving until you tell me how I caused you to drop your wrench!” she said giggling.

“Don’t think I won’t go in there after my keys,” he said raising one of his eyebrows.

“I will kick you with my other boot if I have to,” she said crossing her arms. “Now, how did I cause you to drop your wrench if my back was to you at the time?” Suddenly it dawned on Madison what happened. “Wait! Were you checking me out, Wyatt?” Her eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store at the thought of making Wyatt Reed uncomfortable.

“Of course not. You hate me, remember?”

“What does that have to do with it?” she asked smiling at his inability to get out of her trap.

“Why would I stare at a woman who hates me? I mean, even if she is one of the most stunning women I’ve ever seen? Even if she wore tight little jeans and boots that men dream of? What could possibly make me want to look at a woman like that?” he said staring her right in the eye. She froze in place. Was Wyatt Reed hitting on her? He caught the car keys in his left hand as Madison tossed them in the air.

“You’re quite the charmer, aren’t you?” she said softly.

“Not trying to be. Just being honest,” he said as he cranked the car and drove down the road toward the Granger Place. Madison looked out the window and tried not to let him see her smile.

***

As they pulled back up to the Granger house, Wyatt walked around to lift Madison from the car. Her perfume overwhelmed his senses, and he had a hard time not looking at her. Since he had admitted his attraction to her in the truck, things had been quiet. Like crickets chirping. Neither knew what to say.

“Listen, you can’t keep working today. That ankle needs to be inclined,” he said.

“I have to work. I don’t have time to sit around twiddling my thumbs,” she said as he carried her up the stairs.

“You are such a stubborn woman,” he mumbled as he carried her to the bench in the foyer.