Page 44 of Wild Bliss

Wyatt sat back, turning toward Sawyer. “Yes. Bella is yours.Uhm, should I not tell her she’s a good girl?”

Bella’s head came up like she understood the question andwas deeply offended at the thought of not being told the truth.

Because she was a good girl.

“No.” Sawyer kept his eyes on the road. Up ahead he couldsee the taillights of the tow truck as it rounded the corner. “Just wanted tomake sure it was clear.”

Wyatt huffed. “You want to make sure I don’t run off withyour dog when I inevitably leave you.”

“Not what I said.”

“No, but you felt it,” Wyatt countered.

This. This was why he didn’t talk. Talking always got a manin trouble. When one kept one’s mouth shut, no one asked questions. Oh, surehe’d get the “is anything wrong” question in the beginning, but after a fewtaciturn nos, people usually stopped asking.

“You think I’m running off with Sabrina and now I’ll stealyour dog and you’ll be all alone.” Wyatt somehow managed to make the wordssound like an accusation.

“I absolutely did not say anything of the kind.” He hit onthe one thing he could hang on to. There had been one disagreement they’d hadall weekend long. “I want it known Bella shouldn’t be fed scraps. I don’t wantyou taking up Sabrina’s bad habits. It’s not good for her belly.”

Bella whined. Like the damn dog knew he was talking aboutall the treats Sabrina had been sneaking her and they would never come again.

Or she was reacting to his harsh tone.

“Sure,” Wyatt agreed.

They were silent for a moment. A nice moment. A peacefulmoment.

“You know I’m not abandoning you, right?” Wyatt asked, histone soothing.

Why was Roger taking so fucking long? Sure it was adangerous road and he was in a large, unwieldy vehicle towing another vehicle,but he could pick up the pace. “You seem to be ready to stay forever. You wereonly supposed to be around a couple of nights, you know.”

If he’d offended Wyatt, he couldn’t tell. Wyatt merelyadjusted his seatbelt and relaxed back. “Well, I wouldn’t have stayed if yourplace wasn’t so nice. I think you might be lonely if I left. It’s almost likeyou fixed the cabin up for a family.”

Where the hell was that coming from? “I did not. The onlything I renovated was the bathroom. I wanted a proper shower.”

He’d explained his reasons. Childhood trauma. The secondbathroom he’d added was also from the childhood trauma of sharing one bathroomwith five people at times. Humans weren’t meant to live that way.

“And you redid the kitchen,” Wyatt pointed out.

He forgot so many things. “Because you whined so much.”

“And built the dining room table,” Wyatt continued.

“I like to build things.” He wasn’t sure what the man wasgoing on about. It was a hobby. It wasn’t like longing or shit.

Wyatt wasn’t through. “And the coffee table, and I would besurprised if it was your grandad who bought the plates and glasses.”

“I got a deal at the Restaurant Depot in Colorado Springs.”Why was Wyatt poking at him? Even assholes needed plates. Matching ones. Prettyones.

Wyatt’s shoulders shrugged. “Well, all I’m saying is theplace is nice. Way nicer than anyone would think.”

It had been so much better when they barely talked. Heshould let this go. Let it go, and Wyatt would stop talking if Sawyer shut hisyap. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“All I’m saying is people would be surprised how nice theplace is since you seem determined to make them think you’re some kind ofhermit with no care for anything except…” Wyatt seemed to think for a moment.“I actually don’t know what they think you care about. The bar. The businesses.Money. They think you only care about money. Holy shit. You’re modelingyourself after Scrooge.”

And they’d ventured into the ridiculous. “I am not.”

“Is it from the one with the Muppets or McDuck?” Wyattasked, proving he’d skipped high school English.

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