Page 64 of Ridin' Solo
His eyes heated, the usual deep blue turning positively vibrant. I wanted to run my palm across his five o’clock shadow and smooth the dark lines beneath his eyes. He’d suffered the last two weeks as well.
And then we were moving, Wyatt tugging me toward the front door again. This time, his black truck was parked outside on the driveway with the doors open and the engine running. At my questioning look, he smiled and I could see the playboy he used to be.
“We have a valet,” he said simply, leaning down to sweep me off my feet. At my yelp, I felt the growl in his chest pressed against me. “You shouldn’t be walking on that leg. Not on my watch, Captain.”
My heart sung and I couldn’t even feel the constant ache in my leg. Turns out I liked Wyatt Dolby. And I liked Wyatt Smith. I loved Wyatt, plain and simple.
He deposited me on the passenger seat of his truck and came around to climb in behind the wheel. He smiled at me and the sun came out again. “Ready to see where I did drugs the first time?”
Our day went like a reverse scavenger hunt, where each stop turned out sadder than the last. I saw where he’d been offered drugs for the first time behind his private high school his freshman year. Where he’d gotten so drunk, he blacked out junior year and woke with a concussion. Then it was off to the cemetery to hear all about the effect his father had had on him growing up. There was a bench right next to his gravesite, and when Wyatt teared up talking about him, I couldn’t help but sit on his lap and hold him tight.
“I didn’t want that to be me one day, so obsessed with the money that I didn’t spend my time with the people who were important to me before I took my last breath. I had to pull the ripcord and launch myself into a new life. I cut off all contact with my so-called friends, officially changed my name, and joined the sheriff’s academy. I cut up the bank card tied to my trust fund and told myself that any penny I spent going forward had to be from money I made myself.”
Wyatt stood up and swung me back into the truck, his gaze sliding over to his father’s grave one last time. There was such sadness there that his joking had covered up when I first met him.
“We don’t have to keep going, Wyatt. I understand now. I really do.” I reached for him, but he backed away like he’d decided already.
“Make sure you put your seat belt on. We have one more stop.”
We didn’t talk the entire drive, just held hands with Wyatt’s thumb sweeping back and forth across my skin. It was enough. Just being with him was enough while I processed all he’d told me. The sun started to set when we reached Auburn Hill. If he was taking me home, I needed him to understand one thing first.
“Wyatt, I’m sorry for making you feel like you couldn’t be honest with me. I know I see things as either right or wrong, but someone important to me recently said I need to bend the rules a bit more. I can see now how you’ve changed and want to leave the past behind.”
Here he was trying to apologize to me in a big way and yet I’d been the asshole who made him feel bad for who he’d been. He couldn’t change the past. None of us could. Regret bloomed in my chest.
The truck bounced as we turned into the parking lot of the sheriff’s station. I frowned. This wasn’t where I expected we’d go next.
“Hold that thought, beautiful.” Wyatt put the truck in park and hopped out. Once again he opened my door and carried me.
I smacked his shoulder. “Put me down!” I couldn’t be seen walking into the station in Wyatt’s arms like this.
Wyatt only squeezed me tighter. “Will you give me one more chance to earn your trust?”
I looked deep into his eyes and dropped all the walls I’d built over the years to bolster a big, bad lady cop reputation and nodded. “I trust you.”
He swung open the door with a big grin on his face, the place mostly empty at this time in the evening. The old janitor poked his head out of the back office, a broom in hand, and nodded hello to us before going back to his work. Wyatt didn’t put me down, just held me there in the middle of the station.
“I wanted to bring you here because this is where I first laid eyes on you. You didn’t see me when I came in to interview with Sheriff Locke, but I certainly saw you. When I was hired and assigned as your partner, I figured it was fate stepping in. Then you barked at me in that voice of yours and I nearly swallowed my tongue. I’ve wanted you ever since that first day, but now it’s so much more than that. Seeing you on the ground, covered in blood, stopped my heart. Just like my dad dying was a wake-up call for me, seeing you hurt was another one. I love you, Oakley.”
My eyes burned as my heart swelled in my chest. “I love you too, Wyatt. Doesn’t even matter what your last name is. I seeyou.”
I put my hand on his cheek, wishing he’d hurry up and kiss me, but Wyatt had other ideas. “I came clean to the sheriff. Next Monday is my last day here before I transfer to the San Mateo office.”
I gasped. “What?”
“Sheriff already knew about my prior last name. He said he’ll put in a good word for me. They won’t hold my millions against me as long as the paparazzi thing dies down, which I’m sure it will. I’m kinda boring now.”
I barked out a laugh, speechless that he’d done all the things I’d asked of him before. He was leading with honesty and I would too.
“All that honesty is sexy as hell, Lieutenant.” I lifted my head and grazed my lips across his. I needed him kissing me in the next half a second or I might just have to put him in a headlock.
Music came on suddenly, startling the hell out of me. Wyatt chuckled as my head spun around, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. It was an upbeat song I’d always loved,Someone To Youby BANNERS.
“Hold that thought, sweetheart,” he mumbled, putting me down.
The lights flipped on and people jumped out from behind every surface, shouting “surprise!” Betty, in her usual sweater set, pulled a ribbon and a banner unfolded from the ceiling over her desk.
Get Well, Oakley
