Chapter Eighty-Five

Sadie

I could hear the sound of Wyatt humming from the bathroom as I opened my eyes. My cheeks were pink and flush as I remembered what had happened the night before. I couldn’t believe that Wyatt had gone down on me. It had felt amazing and I had orgasmed in a way that I didn’t think was possible. In fact, the way he’d made me feel had made me want to sleep with him. I’d wanted to give myself to him. I’d wanted to taste him. I’d wanted to see his face erupting in pleasure as I took him in my mouth, but he’d stop me.

I’d been slightly annoyed when he’d pushed me away, but I’d understood what he was trying to convey. He didn’t want me to feel used. He didn’t want me to feel like this was only about the sex or the oral sex or whatever it was that was going on between us. I frankly, was still nonplussed about the fact that he’d given me a lap dance and moved around the room like he was Channing Tatum. In fact, he was even sexier than Channing Tatum, but I wouldn’t tell him that.

I stretched slightly as I sat up. I wasn’t sure what to say. It felt weird to be waking up after a night of pleasure between the two of us. I mean, yes, we’d kissed a couple of times, but it had not been anything like this. I sat in the bed trying to think about what to do or say next when he walked out of the bathroom.

“Hey, morning, Sadie,” he said, a cheerful smile on his face as he ran his hands through his still-wet hair.

I stared at his naked chest and swallowed hard. He was so fine.

“Morning, Wyatt,” I said, wondering if he was going to bring up the night before. Would he try to go and down on me again? Not that I would say no. It had been amazing, and I would be an absolute fool to ever reject him.

“Hurry up and shower,” he said. “We got to get going.”

“Oh?” I looked at him blinking. What was he talking about?

“The auction starts in an hour, and I’m sure you want to have breakfast and get a coffee like you always do. So get moving!”

“Oh yeah, the auction, that’s today?”

“Yeah, goofy,” he laughed.

He walked past the bed and grabbed a shirt. “What do you think about this?” He held it up against him. It was a crisp white shirt and I stared at him smiling.

“It looks very plain. Not like you at all.”

“Well, it’s not like I can wear my cowboy t-shirt,” he said laughing.

“Sure you can. We’re going to a horse auction. I’m sure it’s going to be full of cowboys.”

“It’s going to be full of businessmen. I want them to see a businessman. I don’t want them to see a cowboy.”

“Can’t you be a cowboy businessman?” I asked.

“Well, I can and I am, but I want them to see the professional side of me.”

“Okay,” I said as I got out of the bed.

He walked over to me and grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. He gave me a long, deep kiss and then pulled away.

“Whoa, what was that for?” I said blinking at him in surprise.

“I wanted to make sure you were fully awake,” he grinned, and then he slapped me on the ass. “Now go and shower and hurry.”

“Yes, sir,” I giggled as I ran into the bathroom.

I was so happy that we had something to do this morning so that I couldn’t just focus on the night before, and this way I didn’t make things awkward. I hurried into the shower and got dressed quickly. He wasn’t even in the room when I came out of the bathroom. I sat on the edge of the bed waiting, wondering where he was. The door opened about five minutes later and he had a coffee in his hands.

“Here you go, my dear,” he said, handing it to me. “One mocha with extra whipped cream.”

“You got me a mocha?” I asked surprised.

“Yeah. You love mochas, right? Or did that change when you went to Idaho?”

“No, it didn’t change when I went to Idaho, but I thought we were going to go and get breakfast and coffee now.”

“We are,” he said, “but I called the restaurant downstairs and they don’t do mochas. They only have regular coffee, and I know that you don’t love regular coffee, so I went out to get you a mocha.”

“Wow. Thank you.” I was really touched by how thoughtful he’d been.

“Hey, don’t let it go to your head. I just want to make sure that your head is in the game today. I’ll want your opinion when we look at these horses.”

“Okay. I mean, I’m really happy. I’m excited,” I said as I sipped on the mocha. “Mmm, this tastes delicious.”

“I know,” he said, “I had to sip myself.”

“You took a sip of my mocha, Wyatt?”

“Of course. I had to make sure it wasn’t bad.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Plus, as a prince, I have to sip the princess’ mocha to make sure it’s not poisoned.”

“I’m not a princess and you’re not a prince.”

“What are you saying?” He laughed. “You don’t consider me your Prince Charming?”

I laughed as I shook my head, but the words stayed in my mind. Did he consider himself my Prince Charming? Did he want to be my Prince Charming? And what did that mean? Did it mean he wanted to be with me? Did he want to be in a relationship with me? Did he one day see himself marrying me?

Of course, I wasn’t going to ask those questions right now. We’d had a couple of kisses and one night of fun. We hadn’t even had sex yet. I definitely didn’t want to be that girl that was asking the hard questions when our situation didn’t really call for it.

“Come on.” He grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.”

“Okay. I’m coming.”

He held up a stack of papers and showed them to me.

“So I have my eye on four different horses. We’re going to go and have a look at them before the auction starts. Everyone has a chance to inspect the horses, and I want your feedback and opinion.”

“Sure, but I don’t really know what makes a good yearling better than another.”

“Temperament,” he said, “plus their pedigree. We can see who in their family has actually won races.”

“But won’t those be the most expensive horses?”

“Yes,” he nodded, “but here’s my thought. We see the traits that they have and we look for those same traits in other horses that aren’t as expensive and we bid on them.”

“Ooh, smart thinking, Wyatt Hamilton.” I looked at him with respect to my eyes. “You’ve really given this a lot of thought.”

“Of course I have,” he said, seriously. “I have $150,000 and that’s a lot of money. My whole family has gone to bat for me and they trust me, and I really want to make sure that I do them proud.”

I squeezed his hand. “You will, I promise.”

“You’re so sweet. Now come on, let’s go and see.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, that breakfast was absolutely delicious,” I said rubbing my stomach as we left the hotel.

“Thank you for sharing those Dutch apple pancakes with me. I shouldn’t have eaten them, though,” he groaned. “I feel absolutely stuffed.”

“But that’s good. At least you won’t get hungry later on.”

“That is true,” he nodded. “Okay, are you up for walking, or should I get us a cab?”

“How far is the walk?” I asked him suspiciously. I didn’t really feel like walking, but I should walk off the breakfast. I’d probably eaten about 2000 calories.

“Let me check.” He pulled up his phone. “It says that it will be a 15-minute walk. Is that okay?”

“15 minutes walking fast or 15 minutes walking slow?”

“It’s just over a mile.”

He looked at me and I looked at him with wide eyes.

“Sadie, a mile is nothing. You were on the cross-country team in high school.”

“Yeah, but I just ate a whole …” I paused, “well, a half Dutch apple pancake, and an omelet with hash browns and white toast, and I had that mocha and orange juice.”

“So you’re telling me you don’t want to walk it off?”

“I’m telling you I don’t think I can walk it off. I’m stuffed.”

“Okay, let’s get a cab.”

He looked around, but there were no cabs to be seen.

“Um, so?”

He stared at me for a few seconds and I shrugged.

“Fine, we can walk, but if I collapse, you have to carry me.”

“Anytime you want me to carry you, Sadie, I will,” he said.

He gave me such a meaningful look that my heart flooded. It was weird being here with him like this. We’d been in so many situations together, but this was the first time we’d been together on a business trip, and the first time we’d ever been intimate in this way.

“I hope that you had a nice night last night,” he said as we walked down the street.

“I had a really nice night,” I said smiling at him.

“Yeah, I had a good night too,” he grinned. “You know when you moan you make the most gorgeous, silly face.”

“Wyatt,” I wrinkled my nose, “I do not want to hear about when I moan.”

“Why not? Didn’t you enjoy moaning?”

“Wyatt!”

“What? Now your face is turning red. Am I embarrassing you?”

“Yes, you are.”

“Am I embarrassing you so much that you don’t want to do it again?”

“Well, I didn’t say that.” My lips twitched. “You’re so bad. You know that, right?”

“What?” he said.

“I mean you were nervous that we were messing things up by kissing and now we’re doing more than kissing.”

“Well, I was using my tongue and my lips, so technically I was kissing you. I just wasn’t kissing your lips,” he chuckled. “Well, actually I just wasn’t kissing the lips on your face.”

“Wyatt Hamilton.” I hit him in the shoulder. “Really?”

“What? You are going to go down on me as well.”

“Yeah, but you stopped me.”

“I won’t stop you the next time,” he said with a wink.

“Wyatt.”

“What? We’re best friends. Can’t we talk about this?”

“Yeah, we can, but it’s just weird.”

“It’s weird, why?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because this is really new for us, and maybe because I’ve never done this before, and maybe because I’m worried that our friendship won’t be the same again.”

“Our friendship will never change, Sadie. If anything, it will only get better.”

“Okay. Well, if you say so.”

“I do say so,” he said.

“Okay, look, we are nearly here.” He held up his phone and showed me the map. “Only about five more minutes to go until we get to the stables.”

“Wow. I am really excited. It’s not even me buying the horses, but I’m super excited.”

“So am I,” he said. “I feel like I’m finally starting my life you know? I feel like I finally found my purpose …” He looked ahead. “It’s exciting, and it’s momentous, and I just want to do the Hamilton family proud. I want Hamilton Stables to become world-renowned. I want kings and queens and princesses and dukes and duchesses and sheiks and barons and tech tycoons to come to Hamilton Ranch and ask me to find them a horse and to train a horse that they could run in the Kentucky Derby and at Ascot, and …” he let out a deep breath. “Well, you know.”

“I know,” I said, “and they will. I promise, one day they will.”

“Well, I just got to find the right couple of horses to start with, and then maybe one day.”

We stopped as we reached the stables. He grabbed my hand and was silent for a few moments.

“Thank you for coming with me, Sadie. There’s no one I would’ve wanted here with me more than you.”

“Thank you for inviting me, Wyatt. I’m happy to share this with you.”

He picked me up and swung me around and around and then stopped as I giggled.

“Let’s do this. Let’s do it,” I said with a nod.

I followed him inside. And as he started observing and touching the first horse on his list, I just stared at him. This was a Wyatt I’d never seen before. This was a Wyatt that was professional and focused and deep. He had a goal and a plan, and it made me even more passionate about my own ideas and plans. I was proud to be his best friend and I was proud to be with him on this journey to the next step in his life.

And I realized more than ever that I also needed to take that next step.

As much as I wanted to daydream about Wyatt and me being together and Wyatt and I falling in love and Wyatt and I making love, I knew that wasn’t the be-all and end-all of my life. I had to focus on more than just sex and romance because, at the end of the day, I wanted to be proud of my own business goals as well. I wanted him to support me, not just as his best friend and the woman that he might date, but as a professional as well.