He grinned as he took another sip of his wine. “Like the child of a minister embracing a life of sin?”

“Exactly. Some kids want to rebel against everything a parent stands for. I think that’s particularly true when the parent is a domineering ass, which my father definitely was. Is, actually. He’s never changed. For a brief while, his way and my way were poles apart.”

“So one of the girls dared you to steal clothing.”

“It wasn’t just one girl. All of them were in on it. In order to belong to their group, I had to go through an initiation and do something so bad I’d be in huge trouble if anyone ever found out. In my seventeen-year-old brain, it made perfect sense, a loyalty-among-thieves kind of thing. Everyone in the group had done something risky, and none of them would ever really trust me until they had something bad to hold over my head.”

“But you got caught.”

Ben arrived just then with a discreet black folder that concealed the bill for their meals and drinks. Erin almost offered to pay her half. She doubted Wyatt made more money than she did. But she’d glimpsed pride and stubbornness in his expression as he’d told her how he had perfected his speech. He wasn’t a man who’d offer to treat a woman to dinner and then worry about the drain on his bank account. He had invited her. She had accepted. She needed to leave it at that. Maybe the next time they met for dinner, she could pay. If there was ever a next time.

Erin finished off her wine, thinking that Wyatt would want to leave as soon as he’d signed the credit card receipt. Instead he took care of the bill, put his card back in his wallet, and rested his folded arms on the table’s edge. “You were saying?”

“It’s late. You need to get back to the ranch. Morning for you will come early.”

“I’ll decide when I stay and when I go. You got caught stealing. Now tell me the rest.”

She laughed. “It’s really not that exciting a story. I had to steal three outfits, and I couldn’t carry a bag or backpack to hide anything. I had to walk out wearing all three ensembles. That takes some thought.”

“I guess it would.”

“My plan was to do it by wearing clothes in three different sizes, the smallest next to my skin, the largest as the top layer.” She shook her head. “I probably looked like a polar bear as I tried to leave the store. Three layers of clothing bind up on one another. They also make you look a lot fatter. I’m sure I waddled out of the dressing room, and I was apprehended the instant I stepped outside the store. It took a while for the cops to come. I was handcuffed and escorted from the building by an officer. As he was putting me into the back of the car, I heard snickering.”