It was after one in the morning when Beth stepped away from her notes and stretched. After she had managed to recover from Wyatt's unexplainable and spontaneous kiss, it had turned into a very productive night, and she had some great information to take back to Mason. They were currently shooting exterior shots only, so her main goal had been to research the type of home goods that would have surrounded a wealthy family in the 19th century.

Beth turned off the light behind her and decided to see if there were any more sandwiches left. It wasn't an odd thing for her to get so caught up in her research that she forgot to eat.

As she wandered down the stairs, enjoying the way the cool wood of the banister felt under her hands, she noted a light on in the parlor. Deciding to take a detour, the stuck her head around the door frame and saw Wyatt sitting on the sofa in a pair of workout shorts and a loose t-shirt with his bare feet propped up on the coffee table in front of him. A lock of hair had fallen across his forehead as he frowned at the computer screen in front of him, and it gave him a roguish air. Beth had never seen him in a relaxed state before, and it drew her in like a moth to a flame. He seemed to be more approachable somehow.

Beth quietly entered the room and sat in an armchair across from him, but it took him a minute to realize she was there which gave her ample time to study him. When he did notice, he looked at the clock on the mantel and then back at her.

"I thought you would be in bed by now," he said, setting the computer aside and placing all of his attention on her.

"I thought the same about you. Aren't you worried about waking Katherine when you go to bed?" she asked, finally finding a way to ask the question.

Wyatt silently regarded her for a minute before a grin split his face. "You waited for just the right moment to ask that question, didn't you. It's been worrying you all day, hasn't it?"

His smile was like an extra light in the room, and Beth couldn't help smiling back at him. "Yes and Yes. Although I don't really think that there is a relationship between you since you kissed me.  You are a gentleman, after all."

"You keep saying that, but you don't know me well enough to make that assumption." Wyatt ran his hands through his hair, cupping the back of his head with his hands. "If you knew some of my thoughts, you definitely wouldn't think that."

"What kind of thoughts?" Beth asked, eagerly leaning forward.

Wyatt shook his head at her eagerness. "I can remember your mother teaching a class and using examples of her ten-year-old twins to make a point. I knew you were too young five years ago, and you're still too young."

"Is that what worries you, that my mother will object? If it is, you should know that Mave has already alerted the family about the fact that we are here together in Charleston, and they are very supportive of it. Mom even called to tell me they were."

"Excuse me?" Wyatt asked, looking stunned.

"Also, I'm not ten anymore," Beth concluded, ignoring his outburst.

"I thought I was a secret?" he asked, putting his feet on the floor and sitting up straighter and referring to their earlier conversation.

"Do you like being a secret, we can keep it that way." Beth smiled, liking where the conversation was going.

"No, I don't want us to be anything, but you said earlier that you never told anyone about the night we spent together," he insisted.

"I didn't, and what do you mean, no? If you don't want us to be anything, then why did you kiss me again?" Beth frowned, her confusion evident.

"Because of those ungentlemanly thoughts, I keep having." He sighed and pinched his nose. "Let's start over with the understanding that nothing more will happen between us because I won't let it."

"Total honesty?" Beth asked. She was disappointed at his words, but she remembered the way he kissed her, and if the simple memory of it could make her toes curl, then they were both fighting a losing battle.

"Total honesty," he agreed.

"Fine, you want to have sex with me, and I want to have sex with you, so why don't we just have sex?" Beth asked, watching his face turn red. "You're blushing," she pointed out as she settled back into her chair.

"I'm assuming that since you've only been kissed twice, that you have never had sex. Am I wrong?" He leaned forward as he started the debate, ignoring her comment about his blush.

"You are not wrong, but what does it matter if I haven't had sex before? Don't I have a right to chose who I want my first time to be with?" Beth mimicked his actions and leaned forward as well.

"You do, and I have a right to choose too, and I choose no."

Their eyes met in a deadlock, neither one of them willing to give an inch.

Beth sat back with a sigh. "Alright, then why? I'm guessing you're experienced and know what you're doing when it comes to sex, wouldn't that be better than ending up with someone who only wanted a trophy?"

Wyatt leaned back and considered her for a moment, and Beth grew uncomfortable under his watchful gaze. She suddenly understood why he was such a good trial lawyer. It was as if he was peeling away her defensive layers and seeing into her soul.

"Is that what happened?" he asked.

"No, I'm a virgin, remember." Beth looked away from him, examining a picture on the wall behind his head. She would be embarrassed to admit that she was a virgin with anyone else, but confiding in Wyatt seemed a natural thing to do.

"But something happened? Honesty, remember?"

With a dramatic sigh, Beth closed her eyes. "In high school, I went out with this guy a couple of times. He kept pushing me to have sex with him, but I wouldn't even kiss him. I eventually got fed up with fending him off, so I told him I didn't want to see him anymore. He got mad and told everyone that I was an easy lay. When word got out, I started to get asked out, and it was great for my ego until I realized what had happened." Beth shrugged. It was a memory that she hadn't thought of in a very long time.

"And that's why you don't date, why you haven't kissed a guy? Because of something some jerk did ten years ago?" Wyatt shook his head. "What makes you think I'm any different?"

"I don't know. When I'm with you, I feel different," Beth admitted. "It wasn't just him. I got asked out in college, but all I ever got were questions about my family, my Uncle Mason or Aunt Cassie, my father, or Aunt Laura, everyone wanted to meet them, or Mave, a lot of the boys I dated wanted to talk about Mave. It's like no one ever saw me. All they saw was my family or my sister."

Beth stood and walked to the hearth, needing to turn her back to Wyatt because the honesty thing hurt. "When you looked at me that day I took the tour, five years ago," Beth looked over her shoulder at him and noted he was watching her closely, "the first time you looked at me and smiled, I felt like you saw me. It was a nice feeling." Beth swallowed hard and tried to reel in her emotions. She didn't like to cry. After a moment, she cleared her throat. "When you approached me in the cabin to talk about Mary's photograph, it was the first time I felt like I was approached with honest interest."

Beth turned around to look at him, and their eyes met, but she was at a loss for what he was thinking. "Then you just turned that interest off, even though you were still nice to me. Why did you do that?"

"Because you were nineteen and I was thirty," his voice sounded rough. "You were so obviously innocent. I wasn't going to be the one to take advantage of that."

"A gentleman." Beth nodded.

"That doesn't mean I didn't want to, though. Not a gentleman," he disagreed.

"So, you thought I was too innocent, that I didn't know enough about the world, and I needed to be protected from the likes of you?" she clarified.

"Something like that," he agreed.

"The funny thing was that I've been protecting myself from big bad wolves long enough to know what they look like, and you aren't one." Beth reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. She hadn't even realized she had been crying. Then she moved back to her seat. "So tonight? Why did you kiss me again?"

"I was trying to prove something to myself." He rubbed his face.

"What was that?" Beth asked, watching his calm demeanor, wishing she could mimic it.

"That the kiss we shared five years ago hadn't been as special as I remembered it being." His voice was soft, and Beth's heart started to pound at his words.

"And what was the verdict?" Beth licked her lips, and Wyatt followed the movement with his eyes.

"That the chemistry between us is very real, and I want to have sex with you, and you want to have sex with me." He repeated her words back to her.

"So, what's the problem?" Beth asked, leaning forward, feeling that they were finally on the same page.

"I'm not going to be the big bad wolf and take your virginity before I disappear. I am going to strive to be the gentleman that you think I am." Beth's face turned bright red as he used her words against her. "Complete honesty, remember?"

Beth nodded and stood, ready for the conversation to be over. "For the record, my family doesn't know about the night we spent together, and I was sure to tell my mother that you brought your girlfriend, Katherine, along for this trip, so that should put an end to it. I don't promise that you won't have to fight Mave off, she might be legitimately interested in you. She's the same age, but probably not as innocent as I am." She headed towards the door, doing her best to keep the tears at bay.

"Beth," Wyatt called, and when she turned, it was to find him standing, but there was nothing to add, he had made his point. He wouldn't have sex with her because he wouldn't be in it for the long term.

"Goodnight, Wyatt," she softly said before she headed to her room to cry herself to sleep.