Truthfully, I wasn’t quite ready to be separated from him right now, either.

I shrugged and wrapped my arms loosely around his neck. “Sex takes a certain amount of trust for me, and after what happened in Montana, it was really hard for me to trust anyone again. I’ve been focused on my blog, my catering gigs, and putting together my comfort food cookbook. I’ve stayed busy without dating. I wasn’t ready. What about you? I don’t see you dating anyone.”

“No woman would have me,” he answered gruffly. “I’m a surly guy with no sense of humor. I work a ridiculous amount of hours, and I think it’s already been established that I’m not boyfriend or husband material. I don’t have a heart to give to anyone.”

I whacked him on the shoulder. “None of that is true, and you know it. You love your family. And you’ve had a relationship before. I’m assuming you were faithful, even if she wasn’t.”

Wyatt certainly wasn’t heartless, and he was far from cold.

“Cheating on a woman I was committed to never even crossed my mind,” he said nonchalantly. “I don’t think the Durands are made that way. My father loved my mother until the day he died. He was never interested in another woman. And you’ve seen how ridiculous Tori is over Cooper and how Chase is with Savannah. I think we’re either all-in or we don’t commit. I’m the latter. Simone made me realize that I wasn’t cut out for committed relationships. I prefer peace and solitude to that kind of craziness.”

Okay, that kind of sounds like a warning.

It was also bullshit, and I knew it.

Maybe Wyatt didn’t feel like sticking his neck out again, but he was the type of guy who would make an amazing, incredibly devoted partner. He couldn’t see that in himself, but it was perfectly clear to me.

He’d just picked the wrong partner to trust, and that was something Idefinitelyunderstood.

Something told me that he’d convinced himself that he wasn’t equipped to handle a romantic relationship because he’d been let down by someone he’d cared about enough to marry.

I could relate to that better than most people.

It was also possible that he’d never really gotten over Simone and just wasn’t able to love someone else.

The more that I thought about that, it made sense.

Hadn’t he said that he didn’t have a heart to give away?

Maybe that’s what he’s trying to warn me about without really saying it.

It made my heart ache that he was still pining over a woman who had never deserved him in the first place.

“I think I should probably go to bed,” I said as I slid off his lap.

For some reason, it really bothered me to feel this attracted to a guy who was still hung up on someone else.

Wyatt might be physically attracted to me, but it was obvious that he’d left his heart with the woman who had ripped it from his body years ago.

We could be friends.

I already considered him a friend.

How could I not after everything he’d done for me?

But it couldn’t and never would be anything more.

If I had sex with him, I’d definitely get emotionally attached, and it would hurt. A guy like him would wreck me, and I was wiser than I had been a few years ago.

“Shelby?” he rumbled as he reluctantly released me so I could stand up. “What in the hell just happened?”

“Nothing. I-I just don’t think this is a good idea,” I stammered nervously. “I consider you a friend, and I’d rather not lose that friendship over a temporary attraction to each other. Goodnight, Wyatt.”

I felt emotionally drained and confused.

I had to get out of this room and away from him so I could think straight again.

“Wait,” he demanded before I could flee. “You said you had a hard time trusting anyone. You let your guard down tonight, at least for a little while. Does that mean that you trust me?”