Page 40 of What I Should Have Known

I let out a shaky breath, ensnared by the sparkling moss of his irises. Tingling beneath every pore of my skin, electricity rippled with a current of magnetism. As still as a lake at midnight, not a wave of anything other than his gaze pulsed around me. Deep within my stomach, flames licked at the edges of my body.

“Who invited the asshole?” Wyatt grumbled, snapping me out of the hold I was locked into. He marched on by with a couple of the other hands as my father rested a palm against my shoulder.

“So, what’s going on with you?” he gently asked.

I glanced his way, catching his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been distant since the rodeo. Even Wyatt’s been giving you space, so what’s going on?”

A heavy sigh left my lips as I turned my gaze to the sky.Bernie. That’s what was going on.“Just a lot on my mind.”

His hand slipped from my shoulder, and he walked around me, facing me directly. “You know I only want what’s best for you, so I really appreciate you taking the time to finally consider Wyatt.”

“Oh, um—”

“I know he seems rough around the edges, but he’s loyal, and he’ll take good care of you,” my father continued, his gaze slipping behind me.

“Loyal?” I questioned, taking the opportunity to scan my surroundings. “What gives you the idea that he’s loyal?”

There Bernie was, his handsome smile directed at Sawyer, casually chatting with him as the two of them swung Beau back and forth between them by the little man’s hands. For everything that seemed so rough about him, Bernie certainly had a soft side to him. Including how attached Muffin seemed to be with him, still casually lying around his shoulders as he held the rifle in his other hand. A side I’d never seen in Wyatt.

“Wyatt’s been with us, working for me, for nearly four years now,” my dad said, pulling my thoughts and attention back to him.

“So, you think staying with a company or job for a few years shows loyalty? I asked.

My dad sighed. “Baby, I know you aren’t particularly fond of him, but he won’t cheat—”

“Like what happened with Mom?”

“Katalina Fisher,” he sharply said, and I sighed.

“Sorry, Dad. I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly. But that was one man, why do you feel like every man in the military would cheat too?” I asked, locking onto his eyes.

“I just want to make sure you’re taken care of so when I’m no longer around, you’ll be okay.”

“And you believe that is what Wyatt will provide?”

“Yes. Because he’ll provide security, and routine, and…and loyalty.”

“Back to the loyalty thing,” I grumbled. “You realize that if he hadn’t cheated on Mom, I wouldn’t be here. Nobody but Colton would be. You wouldn’t be with Mom either, ’cause she’d still be with that asshole.”

“That doesn’t excuse his behavior.”

“But it shouldn’t condemn everyone else’s too, Dad.”

His eyes narrowed as he tipped his head. “Why are you suddenly so defensive about it? We butt heads all the time because of how stubborn you are, but you’ve never been this…this snippy with me.”

“Stubborn like you?” I questioned, skirting around the answer with a lighthearted jab.

He chuckled, lifting his cowboy hat, and ran his fingers through his hair that was graying at the tips. “Yes, just like me.”

I heard my father’s concern, something that had been voiced to me since I was old enough to understand what had happened to my mom. I was aware of the stigma, but I also knew that there was never a guarantee when it came to love, to any relationship really. And I more than anything wanted something real and raw.

“People grow to love someone all the time,” my father continued.

But there was no chance to respond.

“Hey, you two!” My mom’s voice rose above our solitary conversation. “Come get dinner!”

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