Page 20 of Her Loving Hero

“Knock yourself out,” Wyatt said.

Dex crawled under the desk and Wyatt smiled. It was great to actually show off what he had done to another geek. He leaned back against his desk and thought over his date with Emily, because it had been a date.

Her interest in him hadn’t felt intrusive, instead it felt like she was genuinely interested in him. He told her about the teacher in high school who had introduced him to Stephen R. Donaldson and the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and got him hooked on reading.

“What was your biggest take-away from the book?” she’d asked.

“Easy. There he was, plopped in a world of magic, convinced it couldn’t be real no matter what he was seeing, tasting, smelling and touching. He refused the truth. It taught me you can convince your mind of anything. What about you Emily? What book has most influenced you?”

It had been one of the few times he’d had to pull the information out of her. She’d finally told him it was The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

“Why didn’t you want to tell me? That was a good movie.”

“It’s a romance with a happily ever after.” She’d looked sad and embarrassed at the same time. She’d been twisting the straw wrapper into a tight ball. When she’d unconsciously reached for his, Wyatt had touched her hand.

“Don’t you believe in happily ever after’s anymore?”

Tormented blue eyes looked up at him, and her silky blonde hair flew around her head as she shook it. “No,” she whispered. “Maybe for some people, not for me.”

Wyatt had pulled her hand toward him and held it between both of his. Then he smoothed his thumb over her palm, caressing the silky soft skin. He heard her sharp intake of breath. “You deserve happy, Em.”

“Maybe I did once, but it’s out of my reach. I’m too scared. I’m too scarred.” Her laugh was raw. “That’s funny. It kind of rhymes. Scared and scarred.”

“Emily Lynn. You’re letting me hold your hand, that’s not the actions of a scared woman, you’re braver and stronger than most of the men I’ve ever worked with.”

She tugged at her hand, and he let her go. “Now you’re just yanking my chain. Do you realize how scared I was when I realized you were in my apartment? I almost burst into flames. Wyatt, you said you could be attracted to me earlier today, well don’t.”

“Emily, get it right, I said I could fall in love with you.”

“You’re setting yourself up for heartbreak, I’m a lost cause. Give it up. I’m a weak mess that has panic attacks. You can do better.”

He didn’t reply.

“You better be listening to me Buddy.”

Wyatt wanted to grin at the tartness in her tone. “Yep, you sure do sound weak,” he agreed solemnly.

“Wyatt. Fine, if not weak, let’s go back to scared and scarred.”

“That’s why you barreled into a fight between Brant and Randy last week?”

“I wasn’t thinking, and they were too close to Lisa and Kim, they’re only twelve. They could have been hurt.”

“You could have been hurt.” It had scared the piss out of him when he’d seen it across the room. Nope, Miss Hoag was not the same woman he’d met six months ago. Scared and scarred his ass. Well, maybe she did have physical scars, but who didn’t?

“If you’re thinking anything more than friends, then you could end up hurt. We’re just going to be friends, okay?” Her eyes pleaded with him.

“I promise to protect my heart. Does that satisfy you?”

He watched as she smiled in relief. She just didn’t understand that he planned to protect his heart by giving it over to her keeping.

“Wyatt are you listening to me?” Dex demanded. “I’ve been calling your name for three minutes.”

When had his friend climbed out from under the desk? “Huh?” Wyatt asked. “What did you say?”

“Let’s get on this. I want to see the chat room you were in, then follow the string to the private chat. Let’s see what the fuck is going on in Oman.”

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