Fierce-Wyatt

by Ann, Natalie

  He could tell by the look in her eyes that he wasn’t going to win this. Since he was here with her right now, he’d take that and not fight her over movie tickets. “Fine. Just don’t tell anyone I let you buy.”

  Once they got a bucket of popcorn to split and two drinks, she asked, “Does it hurt your pride to have a woman buy? What world are you living in?”

  “A world where I was raised to pay.”

  “If we were dating,” she said. “Maybe. But we are just friends.”

  “What’s wrong with your nose?” he asked. She started to scratch it fast.

  “Nothing. I swear I’ve got a bite on the bridge of it. It itches.”

  He looked closer, but it was dim in the theater and he couldn’t see anything. “Looks fine to me.”

  The lights went out and the movie started. The two of them ate their popcorn, their hands touching more than once. It became a game to him after that to do it once it occurred to him she was going to try to yank her hand away and the motion spilled the popcorn.

  “Grow up,” she whispered. “Half of this is going to be on the floor if you keep doing that.”

  “Do I have germs that you’ve got to pull your hand away every time our fingers touch?”

  He could see the narrowing of her eyes by the glow of the movie and wanted to laugh but knew enough to hold it back.

  “You’ve had your fingers in your mouth though. It’s like double dipping.”

  “You have too,” he said back. He was trying not to be insulted.

  She laughed at him. “Fine. Just keep your fingers on your side of the bucket.”

  He rolled his eyes and decided he had enough fun with her for now. No use angering her.

  When the movie was done, they decided to get dinner. Munching on popcorn just held them over, nothing more.

  They went to a restaurant in the mall, which was fine with him. Sunday at five wasn’t that busy, but if they left it wouldn’t be anywhere else. He wouldn’t be able to draw this night out if he wanted to.

  They’d been seated for about five minutes when he heard a high-pitched laugh out in the hallway of the mall and turned his head. Shit. There was Ryder with one of his bimbos.

  And as rotten luck would have it, Ryder turned and saw him, grinned and pulled his date toward the restaurant. This was the last thing he wanted to happen.

  Because he knew exactly what was running through his cousin’s mind and he wasn’t buying.

  He was trying to figure out how to get out of this when Ryder walked over and said, “Wyatt, didn’t know you’d be at the mall today. You never come out to the mall. And who is this?”

  “Adriana, this is my cousin Ryder. This is Sam’s youngest brother.”

  “Hi,” Ryder said, reaching his hand over and then pulling out a seat. “I’m pretty hungry. How about you, Candi? Could you eat dinner?”

  Candi was snapping her gum, then sat down next to Ryder. Her cleavage was hanging out, typical of the type of women Ryder spent time with.

  “No,” Wyatt said. “Don’t do it. It’s not what you think.”

  “Sure, it is,” Ryder said. “I can see it.” There wasn’t anything he could say right now without getting into an argument and looking like a fool in front of the woman he was trying to win over. He’d just have to deal with it when the check came.

  “What are you doing here?” Wyatt asked. “You’re not one to come to the mall either.”

  “I wanted some new thongs and bras,” Candi said. “Ryder was helpful picking them out with me.”

  “I bet he was,” Adriana said, covering her mouth with her hand and grinning. Wyatt wanted to laugh but knew better.

  “How did you two meet?” Ryder asked. “Oh, let me guess. You work at the hospital.”

  Just great. That was the worst thing Ryder could have said. Especially when Adriana ground her teeth. “I do. We are just friends.”

  That firm final sound was like losing the few steps he’d gained this weekend. He was going to kick his cousin’s ass when he got him alone.

  And as he expected Ryder and Candi ordered more food than normal, and the most expensive items on the menu. After they ate, when Candi excused herself to go to the bathroom, Ryder waited a few minutes and then picked up her bag that had been placed by their feet and said, “I’ll go find her.”

  “He won’t be back,” he said to Adriana.

  “What?”

  “He is ditching us after running up the bill.”

  “That is horrible. Does he do that a lot? Is he the family freeloader?”

  Wyatt laughed. As pissed off as he was with his cousin, he’d never let anyone think that. “No. Ryder is an architect at the family firm. What he did... well, it’s kind of a family ritual of sorts. We all do it. We see a cousin or brother out with a woman, interrupt their date, and run their tab up and then leave them with it.”

  “That is horrible. Who started it? It was you, wasn’t it? I bet you did it first?”

  He had to stop and think about it. “It might have been. I think Drake and I were out one day and saw Noah and decided to crash his date. Drake pulled his wallet out to pay and I leaned over and told him to leave it with Noah. Drake thought it was funny so we did. And from that point on, we kind of all do it to each other.”

  “I want to think it’s funny.” And the waitress came over and brought the bill. “In this case it kind of isn’t.”

  He snatched it away quickly. “Which is why I’m paying. I tried to tell him not to.”

  “That’s what you meant by saying ‘it’s not what you think’? That he thought we were on a date?”

  “Yeah. He thought it. And I’m paying. I’d never let you do it. There is no way. You can buy the next one. I won’t fight you unless a family member does this again. The chances of it happening twice are thin though. It will make the rounds in the family that it happened and then won’t again.”

  “You mean it won’t with me?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said but wished it wasn’t true.

  19

  His Family Knew

  Adriana hadn’t talked to Wyatt in a couple of days. They texted a few times, but that was about it.

  She needed a bit of space after the weekend.

  For some reason she was getting too used to seeing Wyatt and had to tell herself to stop.

  Sunday was a prime example.

  There they were, the two of them enjoying dinner and his cousin comes over and lumps her into the same group as the women Wyatt normally dates.

  No, thank you. She didn’t need that.

  To make matters worse, her mother called her on Tuesday night. She hadn’t wanted to answer but knew if she didn’t her mother would keep up.

  “Yes, Mother,” she’d said after the third ring.

  “Am I interrupting you?” her mother asked.

  “I was in the kitchen and my phone was in the living room. I don’t carry it on me around the house. What’s going on?”

  “Spencer is looking for you.”

  “What? Why? No, I don’t want to know.”

  She’d told him what he could do with himself when she found out he was married.

  It was bad enough she’d been played a fool and he was married, but she hated cheaters with a passion and here she was... the other woman.

  Whether she was aware of it or not didn’t change anything in her eyes.

  And when Spencer tried to tell her his marriage was in name only and that they were getting ready to separate it didn’t mean shit to her.

  They lived together. His wife moved to San Diego with him to start his new job. If they were going to separate then why move in together?

  No, she didn’t believe a word he said.

  “He said he couldn’t find you. He called here to see if I’d give him your number.”

  “You better not have,” she said to her mother.

  “Of course not. He hurt you. The least he could have done was stand by you and instead he went back to his wife
.”

  “No,” she said. “Even if he left his wife for me, it wouldn’t have made me stay. He was married. He lived with her. He cheated. You know how I feel about players, Mom.”

  “You need to understand the other side of it,” her mother said. “There are reasons people stray. They are legitimate reasons.”

  “No, there aren’t. And if you called to lecture me on this again then this conversation is over with. There is no excuse to cheat on anyone. Period. End of story.”

  She’d done what Wyatt said he’d done to his brother Drake on Sunday. She’d hung up on her mother.

  And what that call had done was set her off and push her back a few steps.

  It wasn’t Wyatt’s fault that he dated a lot.

  Well, it was. But it wasn’t his fault that she didn’t want to be involved with someone like that.

  Was he like Spencer though? No, he wasn’t.

  There was nothing about Wyatt that was like Spencer in the least other than they were both doctors and cocky and good looking.

  When her coworkers back home found out she’d been seeing Spencer they called her a homewrecker.

  No one wanted to hear her side of it. It didn’t matter that she argued she had no idea he was married. Many said the signs were all there.

  They were right. The signs were, but she was too busy looking away because she didn’t want to be lumped into the category of other nurses who were after doctors. She’d been totally fine keeping their relationship private back then, almost allowing him to get away with it.

  So that was why, here she was four days later and she hadn’t really talked much to Wyatt other than a few texts.

  Truthfully they didn’t talk much during the week anyway. They didn’t see each other either unless they were in the OR together.

  And they hadn’t been until today.

  It wasn’t just Wyatt but his cousin Sam too.

  This should be interesting.

  Once the patient was set up and ready to go under, Wyatt and Sam started talking like they normally did. “I hear Ryder got you on Sunday.”

  Wyatt looked at his cousin, narrowed his eyes, then shifted up to her. She looked away, knowing her face was red. Could this really be happening where other people could see them?

  “Yeah. Your brother is an ass sometimes.”

  “He is. He didn’t say much other than his date got up to use the bathroom and he followed,” Sam said.

  That was something at least, Adriana thought. Maybe Sam didn’t know who the woman was. Except he turned his head and looked at her and winked.

  Yep, his family knew.

  “You going to my parents’ this Saturday for the party?” Sam asked.

  “Of course,” Wyatt said. “My mom called me the other day to remind me. Everyone going to be there?” he asked.

  “Everyone in Durham. Aunt Jolene and Uncle Gavin decided to come up but none of the Five are,” Sam said.

  “They don’t normally come up for these things anyway. They’ve got their hands full,” Wyatt said.

  “Yeah. We just saw them all for the wedding anyway,” Sam said.

  She listened to the two of them go back and forth talking about their family for a few minutes and then Sam got to work and the conversation mellowed out.

  When the surgery was done and everyone was gone, she closed the OR and finished up with her notes.

  She was leaving the room when Wyatt caught her eye and nodded her out. She didn’t want to go, but if she didn’t would he call her name? She wasn’t sure she wanted to take the chance and then wondered why she cared.

  Because she’d already had one person approach her about her spending time with Wyatt. Thankfully no one saw them out this weekend so there wasn’t much going on. Well, no one but Ryder, who obviously told his brother Sam.

  “Sorry about that, “Wyatt said when they were in the staircase. He was just walking and she was following. She couldn’t go far as she was waiting to get into another OR.

  “Not your fault. I didn’t think Sam knew it was me, but he did, didn’t he?”

  “He knows. He was just poking a hot iron at me bringing it up in there. When we were walking out he’d said it’s payback.”

  “For what?” she asked. “All the times you played jokes on him?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “You got caught in the crossfire twice. It’s like everyone is conspiring against me.”

  “For what?” she asked.

  * * *

  “Really?” he asked her. “You can’t be that oblivious.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, putting her chin up.

  “Yes, you do.” But he wasn’t going to argue with her now. They’d passed people in the stairs, but anyone who saw them would think they were just walking up one behind the other.

  “Was there something else you needed to say?” she asked. “I need to get back.”

  “I’ll text you later.”

  “Fine,” she said and turned to go back. That didn’t go the way he wanted it to.

  He made his way to his office and then left to go see Sam and give him hell in private. “You’re an ass,” he said when he walked in Sam’s door.

  Sam started to laugh. “What? I was trying to help you.”

  “A lot of help that was. We are just friends in her eyes.”

  “And I’m trying to get her used to you and our family by talking about it in front of her.”

  Was his cousin actually trying to help him rather than cock block him? “Ryder put me back a few steps.”

  “I figured as much. How bad was the woman he was with? What’s her name? Sandy?”

  “Candi. How long has he been seeing her?” he asked.

  “Not sure. A few dates. I lose track. She won’t last long. You know how it is. He thought he was being cute.”

  “Whatever. I gave him hell when I got home.” He’d called Ryder the minute he walked in the door and didn’t care he could hear Candi giggling in the background. Ryder didn’t mind though and pointed out how they all did that to each other and always had and Wyatt had to get his panties out of the crack of his ass.

  Then he remembered that his brothers and cousins all got pissy when it happened to them when they were serious about their women too.

  Was he serious about Adriana though? He wasn’t sure about anything.

  “I know. He called to tell me. Then it got me thinking about when you did it to me. So you must be making progress if you went to dinner?”

  “Still friends in her eyes. But we’ve been doing things a lot. That was the fourth time.”

  “Dude. That’s dating. She’s playing with you.”

  “She isn’t,” he said. “She’s not that way.” At least he didn’t think so. It was more like she was skittish.

  “Only one way to find out,” Sam said.

  “How’s that?”

  “Invite her to the party this weekend. There will be lots going on. She likes to play sports. We’ll have horseshoes and basketball. See what she says.”

  “I doubt she’ll do it.”

  “Then put the guilt on her. Make something up. Or trick her.”

  “I won’t trick her.”

  “Oh man. Yeah, you’ve got it bad. You want to trick everyone.”

  20

  Afraid To Admit

  As if Ryder showing up during the dinner wasn’t bad enough, somehow Wyatt managed to talk Adriana into going to his aunt’s house for a Memorial Day party on Saturday.

  She had to be nuts to agree to this, but he talked it up like it was a big activity fest and they’d been spending their weekends doing stuff outdoors anyway.

  He’d told her they had pickup basketball games and horseshoes, volleyball. Lots of food and drink. He was going and that meant she would have been by herself on Saturday.

  She was getting used to his company and the thought of sitting around or doing something by herself on a beautiful day had no appeal.

  Was he wearing her d
own? Yeah, he kind of was, but she was afraid to admit it.

  She answered the door when Wyatt knocked. He was standing there in gray cargo shorts and a red fitted T-shirt. Nothing ever was loose on his body other than his shorts or scrubs.

  Did she like looking at him in those fitted shirts and seeing muscles that most men only dreamed of having? Yeah...the woman in her could admire that all day long and have some body gushing dreams about it at night too.

  “Ready to go?” he asked her.

  “Yeah. Am I dressed okay?” Normally she didn’t care one way or another. But she would be meeting some of his family yet she wanted to be comfortable enough to move and play games too.

  “You look perfect,” he said.

  She’d put on the shorts she wore hiking that day; they were stretchy and comfortable, allowing her to breathe. She had a purple T-shirt on with breathable material too. It didn’t look athletic but it was. One of those hybrid outfits where you could be active, not stink, and still look good. That was what she was going for.

  She grabbed the bag by the floor and put it over her shoulder. “I’ve got a change of clothes in here. I know it’s a party and in case I get too sweaty or something I can change. I don’t know. I’m not used to things like this.”

  “That’s good,” he said. “I always have a change of clothes too. But you know that already.”

  When they were in the car and on the way, she asked, “So how are you introducing me?”

  He turned to look at her. “As Adriana Lopez.”

  She shook her head. “You know what I mean.”

  “How do you want me to introduce you?” he asked. Damn, he was putting her on the spot.

  “We are friends,” she said but not as firmly as normal.

  He pulled over to the side of the road. “Let’s be real here. Do you want to keep lying to yourself or me? Or to my family.”

  Now was the challenge he was laying down. He knew her weak spot. She wouldn’t lie. “I don’t want to be compared to all the women you’ve dated in the past. I don’t want to be looked at like that. Your cousin Ryder already pointed it out and that almost made me not agree to come today.”