by Rose Verde
The vow taking passed in a blur but the man's word of wisdom stayed with Wyatt. When he married, he wanted it to last a lifetime. That's my desire, Lord.
They moved out to the reception area that was being held in a huge catering tent. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Her voice was a small whisper. He took her hand and squeezed it but didn't let go.
It was getting dark. The ceremony would end soon. As the DJ started the program inviting the couple to the dance floor, he whispered to her, “Wanna get away for a bit?”
“We could dance first.”
“Nah, I have two left feet when it comes to dancing. Bull riding is my thing.”
She covered her mouth and giggled. Wyatt pulled her hand. “Let's go.”
“To where?”
“Just out to the truck. We'll be back to eat. I'll definitely not miss that.”
“You love food, huh?”
“You bet.”
When they got to the truck, Wyatt opened the door and let her get in, then circled round and climbed in.
“Beautiful ceremony.”
“Yeah.” He was silent for a moment. “Everyone seems to be getting married these days.”
“You have a thing against weddings?”
“No. Just that it's crazy. I had four of my siblings marry in a little over a year.”
“Wow. How many siblings do you have?”
“Five.”
“That's cool. Growing up an only child was quite lonely.” She seemed to catch herself. “If you meet someone you're crazy about, why wait?”
“You haven't found that one yet?”
She blushed. “I'm not going to tell.”
“Hmm. I think your face says you have.”
She swatted him and he grabbed her hands and held them. Her smile froze and she held his gaze. Did he dare think that he was the one she found, because he’d been thinking in that line lately, that he might just have found the woman for him.
He let go of her right hand and stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “You're growing on me, Crissy.” His voice sounded husky, alien to his ears.
His gaze dropped to her lips as her tongue sneaked out to wet them. He cupped her neck, sending her Stetson flying. Wyatt stretched across the console, his heartbeat making it double time. Their lips were mere inches from each other when a sharp rap on the glass had them springing apart. Wyatt closed his eyes. This person better have a good reason.
He turned, pasting a smile on his face. It was the groom's younger brother and Wyatt's circuit partner.
“Hey, bud. I just got in and was told you were around.” He looked between them. “Was I interrupting anything?”
He definitely knew, but trust Owen to act all nice and innocent. Wyatt gave Crissy a we-have-business-to-finish look and climbed out of the truck.
Chapter Eight
By the time Wyatt had finally managed to ditch Owen, the wedding reception was over. He had come so close to kissing Crissy before being rudely interrupted that he could hardly concentrate on what the man was saying. It didn’t matter much, though. Owen always seemed to like the sound of his own voice.
In the meantime, Crissy hadn’t spoken a word to him since their almost-kiss. As he helped her into the truck, he hoped she wasn’t regretting it. Regretting what anyways? Nothing happened.
The drive home was longer than usual. He’d tried to engage her several times in conversation, but each time, she brushed him away with one-word answers, and finally he gave up and turned up the volume on the country music station.
Even his poor attempt to sing to her had only caused a little more than a grin. Something was wrong, but he wasn’t sure what it was.
Wyatt pulled into the drive of her cousin’s ranch and followed Crissy to the door.
“Wanna come in for a sec?” she asked, looking away.
“Nope. Just being a gentleman.” He lingered for a minute. Deciding against what he wanted to do, he stepped back. “Good night.”
She didn't answer. He turned to look at her. Crissy stood just at the door, Kitty cuddled in her arms.
He could see questions burning in her gaze. “What?”
“Who's Chelsea?”
He'd expected that long before now. He retraced his steps, his gaze holding hers captive. “My ex. Crissy, we had a great night out. Can we not talk about her right now?”
She shrugged. “Why not? Because you still love her?”
He scratched his stubble, his gaze holding hers. She stared at him, not backing down. “You're not going to let this go until I tell you, are you?
“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but I could tell she was something more than just a friend to you. You were visibly hurt hearing that she was getting married.”
Wyatt sighed. Of course he was hurt. Who wouldn’t be? When he didn’t speak, she continued. “You don’t have to tell me. I just thought that maybe you’d like to talk about it. You know, like I told you about my past. That wasn’t easy, you know.”
“Yeah. You’re right. Why don’t we have a seat?” He nodded to the wooden porch swing.
“Okay.” She sat hesitantly across from him, stroking Kitty's fur.
“Chelsea and I were high school sweethearts. We started dating in our junior year and after high school we planned to get married. In the beginning she was all for me riding the circuit. She was just as much caught up in the excitement as I was. In fact, she is part of the reason for my accident. I had just come off a long week of branding the new calves and I planned to skip the next rodeo. I was dead tired on my feet. But she wanted me to go. She all but begged me to ride.” He ran his fingers through his hair at how stupid he’d been. “I knew I shouldn’t have. I was dog-tired and I wasn’t anywhere near ready to get on the back of a bull, but I didn’t want to disappoint her. So I rode. That night, I suffered a major injury due to being so fatigued that the doctors told me I might never walk again."
Silence descended between them and only the cool wind blowing the trees was the sound around them. Wyatt continued. "I went through a long road of recovery and at first she was right there with me. But when I wasn’t healing as fast as she wanted, she started coming around less and less. The next thing I know, she’d left town.”
He stopped. The worst part had yet to be said. “She not only broke my heart, but she started running her mouth off to the media and well, I don’t have to tell you how bad things got after that."
She swallowed and nodded. Something flickered in her gaze and was soon gone. Guilt? Sympathy?
She rose. "I'm sorry I asked. Now, I understand your reaction."
Wyatt stood too. He stepped toward her and she moved back. For every inch he moved, she did the same.
“Crissy, I won’t deny that I loved her. She broke my heart. But I’m over her. I promise.”
“Good night.” Her voice came out in a soft squeak as she walked back to the door, seemingly in a hurry to escape. Opening it, she went inside. Wyatt followed.
“Not so fast.” He took Kitty from her arms and set her on her feet. He watched her walk to her box and climb in, then he turned his attention back to Crissy.
They continued their two step forward two steps backward dance until the back of her legs bumped against the sofa. He grabbed for her before she tumbled backwards and pulled her to himself.
“If it's because you want me to—”
“To what?” Wyatt’s heart pounded. Did she hear it?
She swallowed visibly, wetting her lip, something he'd come to associate with nervousness.
Wyatt took off her Stetson and dropped it carelessly at his feet. Then he reached out, pulled the band from the perpetual ponytail and watched her wild blond curls cascade down to her waist. “Where have you been all my life, Crissy?”
She reached out and pulled his head down. Wyatt found her lips, just as happy to oblige her.
From the moment his lips met hers, it was more than he could have ever expected. Fire lit in
his heart, and he yearned to hold her for the rest of his life. Crissy was beautiful, but it had been her sweet and sassy demeanor that had prompted him to yearn to feel her intimate touch. Placing a hand around her neck, he drew her closer, kissed her deeper.
When they came up for air, he smiled. “Better than I imagined.”
“Huh?” Her breathless voice showed she was just as affected.
“I've been thinking about doing this all day.”
“Wyatt?”
“Shhh.” He dropped a light kiss on her lips. “If you regret this, tell me tomorrow, next week, not today.” He kissed her again, this time long and slow. When he broke the kiss, he hugged her, allowing the cadence of their hearts to speak the things they couldn't put into words just yet.
Dropping a light peck on her head, he stepped back. Her eyes glowed. “I'll go feed the animals and be on my way. Good night.”
When he got to the door, she said, “Wait.”
Wyatt stopped and looked back. She came up to him and hugged him again.
“I had a great day today.”
“Me too.” He pressed her close for a moment and let her go. “How about dinner tomorrow? Seven?”
“That would be great.”
“It's a date. The first of many, I hope”
“What about today?” She blushed. “That wasn’t a date?”
“It hardly qualifies as a date with someone knocking on the truck window just as I’m about to kiss you.”
She blushed, giggling. “You looked like you wanted to strangle him.”
“For a moment I considered it.” He grinned. Wyatt kissed her on the cheek. “See you in the morning.”
He lingered a moment more, then opened the door and stepped out.
Maybe this was it.
How about your reaction to the news about Chelsea? A small voice taunted.
No. He wasn't thinking about her. Not now. Not ever.
WYATT’S TRUCK HAD BEEN long gone, and Crissy was still sitting on the couch, feeling like she was floating on a cloud of bubbles.
Things had gone so quickly from a flirty friendship to a make-out session and she still couldn’t seem to figure out her feelings for the man.
It didn’t take a brain surgeon to know that she was falling for Wyatt. Crissy stood and walked over to where her laptop sat on the kitchen island. How would she ever be able to write a story on Wyatt? After hearing what his high school sweetheart had done to him, she couldn’t think of using him for a story of any kind. But if she didn’t, she would have nothing to write. No story - no job. How had she gotten herself into this mess? And more importantly, how had she fallen in love with her article topic?
Crissy reached for her phone and called Pam. She needed a distraction from her current situation, and she hadn’t checked in to see how Fred was doing in a while.
Pam answered on the first ring. “Hey, Crissy. How are things going at the ranch?”
Crissy blushed. If Pam could see her face at that moment, she would know that something had happened between her and Wyatt. Good thing she couldn’t see.
“Everything is going good here. Wyatt has come over every day to help feed the animals, and Kitty seems to be perking up a bit.” Before Pam could ask any more about Wyatt, she said, “How’s Fred doing?”
“Fred is just fine. He starts treatment next week. The doctors are hopeful.”
“That’s great, Pam. I’m so happy for you. Don’t you worry a bit about the ranch. I’ve got everything under control.” That was, if she could keep her lips off the neighbor. Her face heated again.
“Crissy, I don’t know how to thank you for doing this. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You’re a real blessing.”
“Sure, Pam. You’re my cousin. I’d do anything for you and Fred. Besides, I’m enjoying ranch life. I might just be moved completely in before you return.”
Pam laughed. “You know you are always welcome in my home.”
They laughed together for a moment and Crissy felt the urge to tell Pam what had happened between Wyatt and her.
“I better let you go. Fred is calling for me.” In the background, Fred’s throaty voice called out to his wife. “See! I’ll let you go, Crissy.”
“Okay. Give Fred a hug for me. I’m praying for you both.”
After talking with Pam, she dialed Becca. It was good to hear that Fred was starting treatment in the new week and Crissy was happy that she hadn’t disclosed too much information to Pam. There was no use getting her hopes up. Pam had been trying to get her interested in a handsome cowboy for as long as she could remember.
“Runaway friend!” Becca’s voice called through the phone. “So, you remembered me today.”
Crissy laughed. “Goes both ways, you know.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got it easy. No Nick breathing down your neck. The office is quiet with three of you out there. I've been working with the publishing team, tweaking the layout of the magazine. I was sure I didn't want your job but with this new glamour to it, mine seems so meh.”
Crissy laughed. “Poor baby. But at least you're not afraid of losing your job. Mine is on the line, and I'm not sure where to start. Wyatt is not making things easy.”
“Are you on a first name basis already? Girl, dish.”
“It's insane. I mean, I've only known this guy for a few days and...”
“You've fallen for him! I knew it! Love is stranger than fiction, girlfriend. Alexa met Tom on a blind date. Six weeks later, they were married. And dare I say they are doing well, girl.” She ended on an inflection. “That makes your work easier.”
“Not exactly. He hates the media.” Crissy explained what Wyatt had told her about his ex-fiance going to the media after his accident, but she didn’t know all the details about what was said. The pain in his eyes as he spoke about it made her not want to press the issue. “Whatever I write will be what I gleaned on my own but that still puts him smack in the middle of it, otherwise there’s no story.”
“So, what do you plan to do?”
“I'm going to write it and have him read it. Hopefully, he'll like it enough to give his consent. Or I might as well kiss my job goodbye.”
Kitty sidled up to Crissy’s legs and she picked the cat up. Crissy was glad that Kitty seemed to have made a full recovery.
“Maybe, you could just tell him why you need to write it?”
“And have him feel I'm manipulating his pity.”
“If he's in love with you like I think he is, then—”
“A few kisses don't equate to love.”
Becca shrieked. “Wyatt Danner kissed you? I’m swooning, girlfriend.”
Crissy flushed at her slip and groaned. “I'm not going to hear the end of it. Am I?”
Becca guffawed. “You're so not. Let me be the first to see your write up. Take lots of pics, all right?”
“Yeah.”
When the call ended, Crissy dropped the phone. “Kitty, want some milk?”
The cat meowed.
Taking that as a yes, Crissy poured some milk for her, watched her lap a few times. She powered on her laptop and opened a fresh document.
She stared at it for several minutes. And then typed a heading WHEN THE CURTAINS ARE DRAWN
She wished it were so easy to just say, “Hey, Wyatt, I want to do a series on you. What's your life like out of the bucking chute?
Sighing, she closed that and decided to do a writing session on her experience on the mechanical bull. Something to get her creative juices flowing.
Chapter Nine
“You're skipping dinner. Where are you going to this time? You've somewhere to go every night now. What gives?”
Wyatt turned to his brother-in-law Nathan, his oldest sister, Melissa's husband. “Does she still ask this many questions? I thought marriage changed people.”
Nathan chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the edges. “I'm afraid not.”
“I'll be staying out late until she’s asleep,” Wyatt teased.
>
His sister laughed, not fazed.
“Who sleeps?” his dad asked, walking into the living room.
Wyatt rose.
“Not so fast, kiddo.” Melissa blocked his path. “Wyatt is hiding someone from us.”
“Would that be the same girl from the neighbors?” his dad asked.
“The one who beat him up. One and the same.” Humor gleamed in Melissa's eyes.
Wyatt swallowed a groan, heat filling his collar.
Dad chuckled.
What possessed him to tell his family? “Can you all stop already?”
“Not until you tell us where you're heading out to.” His sister could be persistent.
Since their mom had passed, Melissa had taken on the mother role for everyone, making it her duty to know when everyone was happy or sad. He missed her at the ranch house now that she was married. She was happy, which mattered to Wyatt.
“Still waiting, buddy.” Her hands perched on her hips. “Where are you going and with whom?”
Wyatt could feel all eyes on him. He was a grown man and not a teenager, for crying out loud. But his best bet was to give her what she wanted, and get out of there before his other siblings showed up. “Dinner with Crissy. Can I go now?”
Melissa smiled triumphantly. “Yes you may. You should bring her for dinner next week.”
“No thanks.”
Laughter trailed him and he heard her say, “You might just start preparing for another wedding, Dad.”
Maybe, Wyatt thought. He climbed into his truck. Moments later, he pulled into the Moores' driveway. He grabbed the red single stem rose and walked up to the door. Before he could knock, a smiling Crissy pulled it open.
“You're early.”
He kissed her lightly on the lips. “I need to feed the animals. How's Kitty?”
“She's great.”
“Good.” He handed her the rose, appraising her shorts and shirt with the Stetson he bought for her. “You’d look stunning in a potato sack.”
She giggled, holding the rose to her nose. “You have a weird way of giving a compliment.”
“Yeah? I'll be back.”