Wyatt didn’t hesitate. “No.” Cal waited as Wyatt exhaled through his nose before he spoke. “It’s not about him.”
“Then what is it?”
Wyatt hesitated.Don’t be like Dad and blurt before thinking.That had become one of his many mantras. “It’s about the life she could’ve picked.” Cal didn’t interrupt as Wyatt continued. “Academic circles, conferences… not… this.” He gestured toward the fuel yard. “Not stakeouts and arson.”
“You think you can’t give her a real life.” It wasn’t a question.
Wyatt’s jaw flexed. “My mother died when I was nine.”
Cal didn’t move.
“My father didn’t miss a rodeo. Didn’t miss a trophy ceremony. Didn’t miss a chance to tell me I wasn’t riding hard enough.” He swallowed once. “He didn’t miss my mom’s funeral either. Showed up late.” Silence thickened in the truck. “He wanted me to be what he never was,” Wyatt said. “Didn’t matter what I wanted.”
Cal’s voice stayed level. “You’re not him.”
Wyatt gave a short, humorless snort. “I don’t know what kind of man I am with someone like her.”
“That’s honest.”
“That’s sad.”
Cal’s gaze shifted toward the yard again. “You think she needs someone polished?”
“No.”
“You think she needs someone safe?”
He didn’t answer.
“She needs steady,” Cal said. “You’re steady.”
Wyatt’s grip tightened on the coin. “She could’ve had Will,” he muttered. “He’s polished and educated.”
“But she didn’t choose him.” Cal’s voice was steady. “She chose you.”
The words settled into his heart as Wyatt’s focus lasered in on Driscoll looking at his phone.
Both men went still at the same moment, every instinct honed from years of operations snapping their attention toward the slow approach of the sedan.
Wyatt leaned forward. “Hold.”
The sedan stopped as a figure stepped out. Tall, clean-cut, a man who didn’t belong anywhere near a place like this.Will Thomas.Wyatt let something colder than anger settle into place, the determination that came when a threat stepped out of the shadows.
Cal’s voice stayed even. “Now that’s interesting.”
Will approached Driscoll with casual familiarity. In a beat, a large envelope passed from Will to the other man.
“This isn’t about jealousy anymore.”
“No.” Wyatt lifted the binoculars again. “This is about intent.”
Will gestured sharply toward the marina as Driscoll nodded.
“Looks like your academic rival has hobbies,” Cal said.
Wyatt lowered the binoculars. “He’s not touching her again.”
“That wasn’t the concern,” Cal replied with no emotion.
