“Nah.” The policeman waved him off. “I already pissed on the cocoplum bush around the corner.” A knowing look entered his eyes. “Didn’t want to come into the house and mess up the mojo you had going.”
Wolf snorted. “Ah, yes. The Bro-Code. Glad to see you received your copy of the handbook.”
Ryan nodded. “Right around the time I turned fourteen and discovered girls were something other than annoying creatures who told the teacher on me when I farted or stuck my gum under the desk.”
“Fourteen?” Wolf shook his head. “You got off easy. I got bitten by the hormone bug in sixth grade.” He sighed dramatically and let his eyes take on a dreamy look. “Dana Teague in her soccer shorts made me forget how to breathe.”
Ryan chuckled. “And once we’re bitten, there’s no going back is there?”
“Not a chance,” Wolf admitted woefully. Then he pinned a considering look on the policeman. “Since we’re on the subject, how long have you and the missus been married?”
“Eight years this July.”
“Congratulations,” Wolf told him sincerely, although he was jealous.
Eight years with a woman he loves. What must that be like?He’d dearly love to find out.
“Oh, it wasn’t easy.” Ryan shook his head. “Veronica was this ball-busting single mom who didn’t want, and I quote, ‘a man coming into her life and mucking things up.’ But I wore her down and eventually got her to go out with me.” He bobbed his eyebrows. “By the third date, she was falling in love. She didn’ttellme that at the time, of course. She made me think I needed to work my ass off to impress her. But after? Yeah. She admitted I won her over pretty early.”
Wolf’s tone was full of incredulity. “I’d surely like to know your secret forthat.”
Ryan scratched his chin. “To hear Veronica tell it, it was my sense of humor that did the trick. And specifically the line I used on her at the end of that third date when we were considering…um…consummating our mutual attraction.”
“What was the line?”
The police officer bit the inside of his cheek, and recited, “I’m not a weatherman, but you can look forward to about eight inches tonight if you can convince your babysitter to stay later.”
Wolf burst out laughing. “You ol’ sweet-talker, you.”
Ryan smiled ruefully. “Best sentence I ever uttered. ’Cause it got me Veronica and Dustin. I officially adopted him five years ago once his bio dad signed over his rights.”
“Sounds like a standup guy.” Wolf frowned.
Every time one of his sisters had given birth, and every time his niece’s or nephew’s sperm donor had quit the scene, he’d always shaken his head, unable to fathom what kind of man could abandon his own child.
“You have no idea.” Ryan spit over the porch railing as if he had a foul taste in his mouth. “The bastard did a number on them. It’s taken years of therapy and steady loving to soften the scars he left behind.”
Wolf eyed the lawman speculatively. “You have to respect a man who can heal a heart he didn’t break.”
A faint smile lifted the officer’s lips. “Speaking of hearts, this thing you got going with Miss Szarek…is it serious?”
“Serious as a heart attack for me,” Wolf admitted. “But I don’t have your way with words, apparently. Even though I’ve confessed how I feel, she seems bound and determined not to let herself feel the same way.”
“Mmm.” Ryan nodded. “She had a bad experience, did she?”
“More like a string of ’em. But not in the way you think. She watched her momma fall in love with one man after the next. Trouble was, instead of any of them bein’ a knight in shinin’ armor, they all turned out to be losers in aluminum foil. Chrissy’s convinced fallin’ in love is a sham, and she should choose a life partner based on her head and not her heart.”
The policeman eyed him. “And what does her head say about you?”
“That I’m not the settlin’ down sort.”
“Are you?”
“For her?” Wolf chuffed out a breath. “I’d live in a hole for the rest of my life. Under a rock. In a damn tree. I wouldn’t care as long as she’s there with me.”
“That’s a good answer.” Ryan nodded. “So how are you going to convince her?”
Wolf grinned. “Maybe I’ll try your line.”
