Page 17 of The Best Friend's Billionaire Brother
Pulling the blanket from the back of the couch, Gabby shook her head. “This will work.”
“You think it’s big enough for two? My feet are freezing.”
Sharing a blanket with him? Life was just being unreasonably unfair since she’d returned home. “Uh…” Her brain wasn’t fast enough.
He crossed the room, sat beside her, and pulled part of the blanket over him. “Yeah, this blanket’s plenty big enough.”
It could be as large as Texas and not be big enough, but she was now trapped. “Guess it is.”
“So, what’s on your mind, keeping you up at night?”
“Oh, just stuff.” Then she made the mistake of looking at him.
“What stuff? I mean, I know we weren’t as tight as thieves like you and Carrie Anne were, but you can trust me.” He smiled, and her gaze dipped to his lips.
With one little lift, her lips could touch his and her dreams of kissing him would be reality. Shortly followed by unfathomable embarrassment. How horrible would that be? It would take years to get over the awkwardness.
Wyatt bumped her shoulder with his. “Come on, spill.”
“I’m thinking about moving back to Caprock Canyon.” The words tumbled out before she could stop them. “I mean, of course, just thinking. Probably won’t. It just…coming back home has me all nostalgic. That’s all.”
“I get it. I’ve been back a few times, and I’ve felt that way. It’s hard to be away from home.”
She nodded, and they sat in companionable silence a second before her mouth began running again. “I think I might see if the old town newspaper is still up and running. If not, maybe I could see about starting it up again. Of course, I’d have to do some research. It may not be viable.”
Taking a deep breath, Wyatt seemed to weigh what she’d said. “It couldn’t hurt to try, that’s for sure.” He paused a second. “Hey, you want to go check out that pecan orchard later today to see if we want to get it going? After we’ve gotten some sleep? It could be fun. We’ll just have to dress warmly. When I peeked outside, it hadn’t snowed yet, but the weather app on my phone said to be expecting more. Maybe we can finally have an orchard like we talked about that summer.”
“That might be tough. It’s Thanksgiving Day. I don’t know if we’ll get the chance to do that.” More importantly, she didn’t want to be alone with him. She needed more time to get her head and heart on the same page: Wyatt was unavailable.
“We can’t eat all day long.”
“No, but you know we’ll be playing cards at some point.”
“I know. I was…how about the day after? We could go Friday.”
Gabby shook her head. “I’m going with Carrie Anne, my sister, and our moms to Amarillo to go Black Friday shopping.”
His shoulders sagged. “Shopping?”
“You know, to get presents and stuff.”
“How about after?”
“We’ll probably be gone all day.” Thank goodness, and she was genuinely thrilled until his lips turned down. Man, she hated how her insides melted when he looked sad. “Maybe we could go Saturday. Unless Carrie Anne has something planned.”
His smile returned, and butterflies danced in her stomach. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t.”
“O-o-okay,” Bandit said as he walked into the living room. “They’re d-d-done. Taste pretty g-g-good if I do say so myself.” He handed Gabby and Wyatt a cup.
She wrapped her hands around it, letting the warmth seep through her fingers, and then brought it to her nose. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. “It smells heavenly.”
“Tt-th-thank you. It’s my momma’s recipe, b-b-bless her soul. The best c-c-cook ever.”
Wyatt took a sip of his and winced. “I should’ve waited. This stuff is napalm.”
Bandit laughed and sat in a chair adjacent to the couch. “It’s just chocolate if it’s n-n-not hot.”
“Well, you’ve got the hot part down.” Wyatt bent forward and set his cup on the coffee table. “I’ll give it a second.”
