“No, I mean safe. I already know you’re good.”
“Oh, really?” he asked, his expression one of amusement. “How so?”
“You funded Arianna’s show.”
He frowned. “Who told you that?”
“No one. I overheard her talking to her mother about it in the bathroom. So, the fact you don’t want anyone to know that you’re a patron of the arts proves you’re a multi-layered person. And that particular layer is good. It’s very, very good.”
He sighed. “Well, don’t saint me too soon, baby. That was all Morgan.”
“Which is more proof,” I said. “You are carrying on the wishes of your deceased wife. Another layer of good.”
“So, why are you talking yourself out of exploring this with me?”
“Because you scare me.”
“You just told me all the ways you like me, how could I possibly scare you?”
I swallowed trying to decide if I should tell him the truth. “Because I could fall in love with you and that would break me.” I pulled open the door and made my escape, rushing to where Teddy was still playing pinball, Orion and Raquel urging him on.
* * *
Sundance
Fuck me.
Sassy and strong Wyatt I could handle. Vulnerable Wyatt was a whole other animal that almost brought me to my knees.
Jesus, she was beautiful.
And she might have resolve, but I had grit and determination, the likes of which beat cancer, so if this woman thought she had a snowball’s chance in hell of warding me off, she was gravely mistaken.
Pun intended.
Wyatt
TWO WEEKS LATER, I sat at my desk and pretended to stare at the company stats on my screen. I was supposed to be doing due diligence for the new business that wanted to sign with us, but I kept drifting off into a trance instead. I’d gone out to dinner with Dr. Hilliard the Friday before and the evening spent with Justin, as I had been ordered to call him, had been nice. But that was all it was. Nice.
Easy conversation that often lapsed into talking about Teddy, and a familiarity born of seeing the man every week for several years. He bored me. Don’t get me wrong, he was a very nice man. Gorgeous, even, but he didn’t have salt in his dark hair, or a beard, or muscles with veins for days, and he certainly didn’t make my body thrum the way one kiss from Sundance did.
No one did anything for my body like Sundance did. I mean, that I knew of anyway. The kiss at the compound had been the only one we’d shared, but I’d gotten a lot of mileage out of it. As had my vibrator. I’d had to replace the batteries twice on that sucker, and that had never happened before.
“Wyatt,” Ripley called as she knocked on my door.
“Come on in,” I said, breaking out of my trance and focusing on her.
“Your two o’clock is here.”
I frowned. “I have a two o’clock?”
“Have you not checked your calendar today?”
I sighed. “I did, but my mind doesn’t work when Calvin’s not here.”
My assistant, really my right arm, was out sick today, and I tried really hard not to fall apart when he wasn’t in the office, but most of the time, I failed miserably.
Ripley smiled. “I’ll grab him for you.”
