“He probably had a designer.”
Wade straightened his shirt. “I don’t know where this came from. Now you know what to expect when you say you’ll take me.”
“Damn you. Do we have to go out there to face those people? Did I scream out?”
“No, not with your mouth, but you screamed all right, and I’m afraid I screamed right into you.”
Her lip twisted to the side, and she blinked. “I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sophie shrugged. “The chance is slim for me to get pregnant. As I said before, I’m disease-free.”
He grinned. “Fantastic, and you know I am.” This would be bad timing. He’d have two kids, three with Emmett. He’d be prepared for whatever happened. He hoped she could handle it.
Sophie peered into the mirror. “Oh no, Wade, you didn’t.” She pulled her collar aside. “Look!”
He smirked. “Sorry.”
She splayed her hands forward. “Look at you. You’re not sorry. How do I explain this to students? My principal.”
“You cover it up.”
“Yeah, you’re going to get yours one of these days. Remember that.”
“Try it.” He folded his arms across his chest and smirked. Sometimes he had no control over that bad boy from his past sneaking out. “The bar doesn’t sound very busy tonight. Somebody out there still has to pee unless she used the men’s room.” Wade smoothed out his hair then pulled his shirttail down. They casually walked over to the booth where two beers and a basket of nachos waited. Wade checked out the bar. Everyone in the place acted natural.
Rob laughed and entered the kitchen. He came back with two cold ones. “I suppose the other two are warm by now.”
“Thanks, Rob.” Sophie sat across from him with her hand over one side of her face. “You haven’t met Sophie yet. Sophie, this is Rob Adams. He’s a good friend and owns this place.”
“Nice to meet you, Sophie.”
Sophie stuck her hand out without lifting her head. “Likewise.”
“Let me know if you need anything else.” Rob went back to the bar.
“Here, honey, want a nacho?” Wade pressed it against her lips. “Huh, want this? Can’t you look up? No one is paying attention. They don’t know we were in the same bathroom.”
She raised her eyes then guzzled a quarter bottle of beer. “I’m going to kill you, Wade Emory. I hope none of the men around here are fathers to my students.”
“Hell, some are my customers. You’re a bad influence on me.”
Sophie burst out laughing. “I’m starved.”
“I’ll get us burgers?”
Sophie nodded then glanced toward the bar, making eye contact with Rob. “Oh, he knows all right.”
Wade chuckled when he observed the stare-down between she and Rob Adams. “Wait here.”
“Don’t worry!”
She smacked his ass when he walked past her. He had not expected that from her, but he sure liked when her spunkiness came out.
Chapter 15
Outside of the bar, Sophie slid her hand around Wade’s waist. “Saturday night is still on. The more I have of you, the more I want. You’re addicting like a drug.”
“That’s nice,” he replied dryly.
He leaned his elbow against the window frame of his truck to prop his head against his fist. They were on the highway toward his ranch before Sophie noticed Wade’s solemn mood. “Are you all right?”
He nodded and sat straighter.
She lay her hand on his shoulder. “How come I don’t believe you?”
“Sophie, you don’t believe a lot of things about me. I don’t understand how you can tell me you’ll hang around when you’re afraid I’ll run back to Cynthia. You have no trust in me.”
He’s thinking this now after what they’d just done? “Turn this around, buddy. You’re deaf to most things I tell you. Haven’t I proven how much I care? Plus, I made love to you in the bathroom like a wild chick for crissakes.”
“That was raw sex and you know it.”
“Love drove it. The same purpose! I loved it, and you. You keep telling me you aren’t going back to her yet you won’t believe that I want to be with you. All of this is because of her—of what she’d done to you. Yes, I have a broken heart, too, but I want to believe you when you talk about the future.”
“No, you don’t. We’re different that way. I’ve been burned too many times to believe in a future. You’re afraid of losing again. Here I am now falling in love with a child that I only think is mine. I’m setting myself up for another burn.”
“Oh, Wade. You can’t deny that boy is yours. He isn’t going to burn you. Neither am I. What will you do when I don’t leave you, when I stay with you forever, and we have a happy future?”
“We don’t know for sure.”
She groaned. “Talk about trusting someone. I see. You’ll allow the negative “ifs” to dictate your future? Snag a little now and then and let it go when it gets serious? Is that what this is? We’ve proven this isn’t a one-night stand, but have we? You’re treating it like it is with a one-night stand mentality.”
“Can you stop talking?”
Sophie folded her arms and seethed while looking out the side window. Damn right she can. She was close to steam coming from her ears. “Sure, but you better mean it when you say it because, yeah, I can stop talking…texting, communicating. Can you drive faster?”
He switched direction from his house in a sharp turnaround and sped down the highway. Wade raced down her driveway then slammed on the brakes before he ran into the barn, then backed up rapidly to be nearer the porch.
“Good night. Thanks for the beer and burger.” She pushed the door open, tossed twenty bucks on the seat for the food and beer, then slammed the door, and strode toward the porch. He turned around then tore away. She stood at the doorway watching his taillights fade. What in the hell had caused all that?
She called him but the call went to voice mail. “Get your ass back here, Wade. This is ridiculous!” Sophie tucked her phone back in her pocket. She folded and squeezed her arms. Damn you, Cynthia, and all the other women who had hurt him. Sophie swiped at tears rolling over her cheeks. She should’ve known better too. Not only her heart opened up, but so had her son’s. She couldn’t bear Emmett being hurt.
If anyone had a right not to trust in a future, she did. From now on, she’d do a better job at protecting their hearts.
Aaron came out the door. “You all right, Soph? Was that Wade peeling out of the driveway?”
“Unfortunately.” She sat in a chair beside the door and brought her legs up to hug them.
“I’ll be right back.” Aaron went inside but came out with two glasses of bourbon. “I’m here if you want to talk.”
She spilled it all about the way Wade had been hurt and was afraid or didn’t want to put his faith in a relationship. “You asked once if he was father material. Well, he gets a whole life-time to figure it out now. He learned recently he has a son over two. Because of what the boy’s mother had done to him, he can’t believe in a future with me.”
“I know you and Emmett are crazy about Wade.”
“Yeah, lesson learned on my part. He didn’t like losing, but I guess he didn’t care that Emmett and I lost him. I’m done with men.”
Aaron patted her knee. “Sophie, listen to what you said, girl. You fear loss yourself for good reason. You have to move on.”
Sophie sighed at the truth. Isn’t this what she had tried to do? “Is Emmett sleeping?”
“Yeah, he’s all snuggled in. Let Wade cool down. You’re too young to be done with men. Your son deserves a father. What is Wade going to do about the boy? That’ll say a lot about the man.”
“He had paternity testing done. He’s waiting on the results, but he’s already fallen for the boy.” She chuckled. “As funny as it sounds, so have I. It’s his child. He looks just like Wade. He’ll be doubly devastated if it does turn out Cynthia lied again, but th
e test was her idea so he’d know for sure. He wants the boy.”
“A woman wouldn’t go to that extent if it was a lie.”
“I know, and so does Wade. I’m not sure we’re over, but I think we are.” Great. If by some slight miracle she had gotten pregnant in a bathroom tonight, it would be awful timing. However, she wasn’t worried. Thank God, she had Emmett. She finished the bourbon and stood. “I’m going to bed. Emmett has the MRI tomorrow. It’s another day of work I have to miss.”
“I can take him. I’m not in court tomorrow. I’m getting used to being semi-retired. Maybe in another year I’ll be fully retired.”
“No, I need to be with him, but you can come along. Enjoy life, Dad. That’s about all we can do. Good night.” On the way in, Sophie thought of Wade’s meeting with Cynthia on Saturday. The ache of them being together shot through her heart. Had he sabotaged this on purpose so they’d have another chance?
Either way, he’d ruined it. She hadn’t died from the broken heart over losing Rhett, and there was a good chance she wouldn’t die over this one, either. Right now, Sophie couldn’t bring herself to say anything to Emmett. He’d ask once he noticed Wade hadn’t come around.
***
Two weeks after arthroscopic surgery on Emmett’s knee, and four weeks after Wade had gone ballistic, she and Emmett left the orthopedic doctor’s office. They had learned that Emmett not only had a torn ligament, but a severed anterior cruciate ligament. Somehow in the accident, he had hyperextended his leg. Surgery for a complete repair was far into the future because of his age, but in the interim they’d need to be concerned about damage to his meniscus. His days of playing baseball might be over, but she hoped not. He needed sports. Bronc riding certainly would not be a part of his future though he hadn’t mentioned it.
What had happened to her brother, anyway? Her dad had contacted hospitals again and again, but they had no records of him. He disappeared, but it wasn’t the first time. Clay knew how to hide when he needed to. Still, as angry as she’d been at him, she worried. Emmett asked about him often. However, she had no news to tell him. If it went much longer with no word, she’d go to some of his old hangouts to inquire about him. Maybe the sheriff didn’t know where he was, but his friends, or enemies, might.
Wade had sent her a text to ask about Emmett after his surgery. She didn’t reply, but that wasn’t all. In more texts and phone messages, he’d asked her to meet with him. He’d apologized over and over and called their argument a stupid mistake on his part. He’d asked her to stop talking the last time they were together. She did but suffered herself for it. Every day when turning in from work, she prayed to see his truck in her driveway.
By now, Wade should’ve had the results for their DNA tests. It killed her not to know what he went through. How many times had he seen Cynthia? That was something she didn’t want to know, but she didn’t care anymore and came to terms with her being a part of his life because of their son—a son she thought she’d never be able to give to any man. After two unexpected relationship losses so close, her heart had shredded.
Tears came at night when no one could see, and she’d almost pick up the phone to call Wade multiple times throughout the day, and nights. She dragged herself from bed each morning to face another day for Emmett’s sake. Damn, but stubbornness hurt.
The next day after work, she stopped at the grocery store in Canyon Junction on the way home after leaving a staff meeting. How had she missed his truck in the lot? She rounded the corner in a canned goods aisle. There he stood with Noah in the cart. Had Cynthia been with him? Sophie’s eyes misted, and she brought her hand over her mouth so she didn’t call out to him. Her gaze wouldn’t leave his handsome face nor would her legs take her out of there.
“Soapy.”
Oh no! Noah had remembered her.
Wade lifted his eyes from the item in his hand and turned his head. Those gorgeous brown, tired-looking orbs rested on her face. Their gaze connected. Her eyes burned.
Feet. Move.
She whipped her cart around and pushed it to the front of the store meaning to leave it and the contents, but he grasped her arm.
“Sophie. Wait. Wait.”
She raised her eyes to his. Omigod. She loved him. “That’ll teach me to shop here.” She smiled at Noah and wiggled his hand. “Hey, big guy. You’re with Daddy today.” Sophie glanced around.
“She isn’t here if that’s what you’re thinking. She’s in Nevada soon to be shipped out.”
Had she been that obvious? “It’s good that she left Noah with you. He looks happy. Don’t you, sweetie?” He handed her the toy in his hand.
Wade pleaded, “Sophie, come over.”
“Sophie, come over,” Noah repeated after his daddy, getting her name right this time.
She stood motionless. At least the store wasn’t crowded.
“Please? Will you come over? Now?”
“I don’t know, Wade. What’s the purpose? Let’s get past this and move on. You won’t see me shopping around this town anymore. We were a mistake.” It broke her heart even more to say those words. She brought her fist to her mouth and bit on her finger.
He moved in a step closer. So close that she felt his heat and smelled the man of him. “Is that what you believe? I don’t.”
“What does it matter, what I want or believe?” She lowered her voice when an elderly woman nearby attempted to get a can from a high shelf. Wade got it for her, came back, and stood closer. He hadn’t been working by the fresh scent of his cologne.
“Don’t make me stand here and beg. I want to talk to you. You didn’t answer my texts or messages. How’s Emmett?”
“You sabotaged our relationship. I don’t know if it was on purpose—”
“If it was on purpose, I’d be in Las Vegas instead of standing here. This is where the problem lies. I don’t want her.” He leaned in. “I want you.”
“You didn’t four weeks ago.” Again, she turned to go.
Again, he caught her arm. “Don’t make me do this in the store, Sophie.”
She couldn’t speak.
Wade pushed his cart back to the same aisle, and her shredded heart shattered as Noah called for her. Now who’d sabotaged them? Sophie left the cart sitting and left. What could she do? She didn’t get very far down the road before turning around and heading to his house without knowing why. No, she did know why. She wanted him and Noah and couldn’t let him get away again.
However, there was no guarantee this wouldn’t happen again. Trust. That had become a big word in their relationship. He didn’t think she was over her husband. She didn’t think he was over Cynthia. How could they meet in the middle and start like a normal couple without all the baggage? She answered her own question… Releasing the baggage would be the only answer. Oh, Rhett, you’re not baggage, my darlin’. But I need to move on.
Wade pulled in next to her in his driveway twenty minutes later, unbuckled Noah from his seat, and lifted him. He came to her window. He spoke softly. “I’m glad you’re here. Are you staying a while?”
She made eye contact with him. It took a moment to speak because she was lost in his gaze. Her body and will surrendered. “Yes, a short time.”
“Come on. I’ll make something for Noah, and we can talk.”
“We need to let go of our baggage to make this work—” Sophie gasped. “What?” Wade had said something similar at the same time?
He gave a to-die-for smile she’d missed so much. “We’re on the same page. Now, how are we going to handle doing that?” He kissed her on the forehead.
“Kiss Sophie, Daddy. Me too.” Noah held out his palm toward her.
He wanted a kiss from Sophie. She gave him one on the cheek. Mmm, that familiar baby smell struck her senses. “I love him,” she wailed. “I’m sure you have the results by now.”
“Yeah. He’s definitely an Emory. You were right all along.” He lifted a bag out of the backseat.
“Let me help.” She went for
a bag, but Wade held Noah out to her. “Take him. I’ll carry them in.”
She took a smiling Noah from Wade and followed him inside. “You’re such a good little boy taking to me like you do.” Sophie smoothed his long hair back and stood staring at the interior. What a difference these absent weeks had made. A highchair sat in the kitchen now. Toys were scattered on the floor in the great room. A child lived here. “How long have you had him?” She put Noah down near his toys and removed his cowboy boots.
“Four days this time. It’s working out, but it’s hard getting him to sleep. He misses his mom, but he’s getting better.”
“What are you doing about work?”
“Remember meeting Gracelyn? The brunette at my house the day of the memorial? On the days she doesn’t go to work early, she watches him. He has Will to play with, so they’re company for each other.” Wade put cold stuff into the refrigerator. Sophie handed him frozen items. “You haven’t met Judy Carlson yet, but she’s Dane’s mom. She watches him. She treats him like one of her grandkids. Once she got over the shock that is. I’m looking for a daycare. I don’t want to depend on friends all the time.”
“Is he potty-trained?”
“Yeah, um, well, not always, but he’s thinking about it. I guess her sister started training him when his mom was on duty. She has triplets now, so can’t watch him anymore. That doesn’t matter to me because I’m watching him.”
“Full-time?”
“Not exactly.”
Sophie wandered into the great room to sit with Noah. He rolled a toy NASCAR to her, and she rolled it back. “Where’s your big truck?”
He pointed upstairs. “In the bedroom.”
A child gate was closed across the stairway at the top and bottom. “Where does Noah sleep, Wade?”
“Upstairs,” Noah said, pointing again.
Wade came out of the kitchen. “Yeah, for now. Come on, Noah. Here’s a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”
Hooked By Sundown (Canyon Junction: Hearts In Love Book 3) Page 21