Eventually he was going to figure out what was up. Maybe not tonight, but pretty damn soon.
He hopped into the driver’s seat.
“So, are you going to be good?” Emily asked.
“I promise, no probing questions. Except one. How committed to coffee are you?”
“I don’t know?” she asked. “What do you have in mind?”
“How about ice cream down at the pier?”
“Sold,” she grinned.
“Do you mind if we stop by my townhome and I go change and take a quick rinse?”
“Let me guess, you need to freshen up after donning latex,” she said knowingly.
Surely, she didn’t mean that the way it came out. He looked at her and saw no suggestive smile on her face. Nope, she wasn’t making a double entendre. After five months of friendship, Wyatt knew that Emily was as innocent as a spring morning. Which is why he’d kept her in the friend’s category. You could never have enough friends, right?
Who the hell was he kidding?
“Wyatt?”
“Huh? Oh, right. I figured that after I scrub down, I’d take you for ice cream.”
“I want strawberry, or if they have it boysenberry. I love the fresh berries when they’re in season.”
“We should go to Knott’s Berry Farm, it’s the Boysenberry Festival there.”
He loved seeing her eyes light up.
“Really, you’d do that? I didn’t think somebody like you would be into going to an amusement park.”
“I would definitely be up for that. They have rollercoasters, right?” he said as he put his truck in reverse and headed out of the parking lot.
“That would be awesome.”
She was practically bouncing in her seat.
Friends, Leeds. She’s just a friend.
“You know I always wanted to see where you lived. I have this picture of a huge TV and a state-of-the-art gaming console.”
“Thanks,” he grumbled as he pulled onto the Eight-Oh-Five freeway. “So, should I expect nothing but unicorns and rainbows when you finally let me into your apartment, even though it’s in a party neighborhood?”
“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to cast aspersions on my apartment.”
“Emily, you’re the one who’s told me that your dad wants to give you money, but you refuse to take it. Your apartment might have decent security, but it’s in the middle of the Gas Lamp District. There’s a party going on almost every night, you’ve told me you hate that.”
“I’m not taking Dad’s money. I’m using the interest from Grandma’s inheritance and what I’m earning from the bookstore. As long as it’s a secure building, I’m happy.”
“That’s not what you said two weeks ago when you couldn’t get to sleep because of all the singing at the bar across the street.”
Emily crossed her arms and shrank back into the corner of the truck. “I’ve told you far too much about my life.”
“Come on, I’ve told you a whole hell of a lot about my life.”
“No. No, you haven’t. I don’t even know if you grew up here in California. I don’t know if you have brothers or sisters. You only talk about your teammates.”
He hated the way her voice wobbled. Wyatt drove faster, intent on getting to his place as quickly as possible so he could make her feel better.
Could he make her feel better?
2
Emily stared up at the nice stucco townhomes as Wyatt parked his truck.
“You’re going to be surprised when you see how old my gaming system is,” Wyatt teased.
“I’ll just stay in the truck.” Emily needed some alone time. Time to think. It was going to be hard to do it when she was surrounded by all things Wyatt.
He gave her a perplexed look and got out of the truck. She sighed with relief.
The door she was leaning against opened slowly so she moved. “Wyatt, I said I wasn’t coming in.”
“Well, you’re not staying here in the truck.” His expression was…She couldn’t get a read on his expression.
“Please, can you leave me alone. Please?”
“I have a deck. You can sit out there, it looks over the kid’s swings. I just don’t feel comfortable having you sit out here, okay?” He held out his hand.
Emily ignored it. She unbuckled her belt and grabbed the handle on the truck and stepped on the runner of the truck and carefully got to the ground. She didn’t look at Wyatt. She heard him sigh.
“It’s this way,” he said as he closed and locked the truck.
She noticed that the crepe myrtle trees were pretty as she walked beside him toward his townhome.
Darn it! She should have held her ground.
When had he crawled so deeply into her life? How had she let this happen? She peeked up at him under her lashes.
Oh yeah, he was hot. He was nice. He was funny. He was easy to be around. That’s why she’d let him in. Wyatt was just so sexy. She’d never felt like this about a man before.
Darn. Darn. Darn. I can’t be falling in like? Can I?
She stopped in her tracks as shivers racked her body and she broke out in a cold sweat. What was she thinking? The idea of a man touching her was abhorrent.
“Emily?”
Was somebody saying her name?
She felt a hand on her upper arm, she shook it off and fell backwards into the grass next to the sidewalk. She scuttled backwards like a crab. She couldn’t see, but she knew she needed to get away from that hand.
“Emily?” a man’s voice whispered softly.
“Stay away.” She tried to yell, but her words came out weak and hoarse.
“Please, Emily. It’s okay.”
She pushed into the ground with her elbows and heels, trying to get away from the voice. “Don’t hurt me,” she begged.
“Miss Emily Hoag, this is Petty Officer Wyatt Leeds. I’m not going to touch you.”
She heard a commanding male voice. It sounded safe.
“Emily, it’s me Wyatt. Remember? Emily, you’re safe. No one is going to hurt you.”
Emily stopped moving. Nobody was touching her. She slumped back on the soft grass and opened her eyes, she looked up and saw a blinding blue sky. Her heart was beginning to beat at a normal rate.
“Angel, you with me?” Wyatt asked softly.
Damn it. Again? When would this end?
Her eyes filled with tears. “When will this end? It’s been two months since something like this has happened.” She couldn’t turn her head and look at him. She just couldn’t.
“With everything Brant was saying today, and me telling you what I found at the back of the van, it’s no wonder it triggered something. You need to cut yourself some slack.”
After long minutes she turned and rolled her neck and looked at him. “I’m a mess.”
“No, you’re not. I’m pretty sure they have some kind of official name for this. It’s a complicated term. Hold on. Let me think.”
Emily waited.
“Hmmmm. It’s not mess,” Wyatt’s expression was puzzled, but she knew he was going to be a smartass. “Maybe tangled,” he mused. “Nope, that’s not it. Maybe it’s a kerfuffle.”
Emily sniffed.
“No, that doesn’t sound right either.” Now his eyes were twinkling. “How about a hash-up. A goat-fuck?”
She gave s small smile.
Slowly he put one finger under her chin and his expression turned serious. “Why don’t we admit you’re still suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and that you’ve come a hell of a long way in a short amount of time, and skip this mess bullshit? How about that Emily Lynn Hoag? Huh?”
Darn it. He was right.
Emily watched as he hesitated to help her up.
“Oh, for goodness sakes, help me up,” she sighed. “I’m through with my panic attack.”
He still watched her carefully.
“Wyatt I’m fine.”
“Look, it’s part of the job. You just observe t
hings, okay. You were a tutor for how long?”
“Almost two years.”
“Could you turn off being a teacher? Let me answer that for you. No, you couldn’t, because you’re a natural teacher. I see it with the kids at the center. Part of my job is observing, I don’t want to touch you until I know you’re totally comfortable.”
Bloody hell.
Emily pushed up into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she breathed into his throat. “Thank you for everything.”
She’d scared the living piss out of him.
Wyatt shut off the shower and climbed out doing a fast dry off so he could get back out to Emily. He hadn’t wanted to leave her, but in her sweet-as-molasses, stubborn-as-hell-way she’d damn near frog marched him into his bedroom so he could shower. Wyatt grinned. He’d loved seeing her get her gumption back after those moments of terror out on the lawn.
He pulled on cargo shorts and a button up white short sleeved shirt and carried his socks and boots out to the living room, expecting to find her out on the deck.
Nope.
“You lied.” Her blonde hair swirled around her as she quickly turned back from his bookcase. “There isn’t a gaming system in sight.”
“It’s in my closet,” Wyatt said as he sat down on his couch to tug on his socks. He watched her as she pulled out one of his all-time favorite books.
“You like Robert Heinlein?” she asked. He could hear the excitement in her voice.
“I don’t like him. I grok him.”
She let out a laugh. “I said that same joke at the book shop, when we had science fiction night, but sadly only two of the twenty people got it.”
“What is the world coming to?” Wyatt asked as he finished tying his boots and walked over to her. “Has nobody read ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’?”
When I was twelve, I used that word in my middle school class English class,” Emily said. “The teacher crossed it out and gave me a ‘B’. I was able to show her the definition on dictionary.com that GROK meant to understand thoroughly and intuitively. She said that on-line dictionaries didn’t count, and made-up words from novels didn’t count as words.”
“Even if they’ve become part of the lexicon? Was that one of the American schools over in Oman?” Wyatt asked.
“Nope. Virginia. Dad always worked in government before he got the ambassadorship in Oman.”
“Oh yeah, you went to Oman when you were thirteen,” Wyatt nodded. “But why did I think you lived in California before moving overseas?”
“Because I told you about my grandparents living on Lake Elsinore.”
“Right,” he snapped his fingers. “That’s it.”
He saw Emily frown as she put the book back on one of his three bookcases.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“It’s what I said earlier, you even know that I went to Oman when I was thirteen and that I spent time in California. What are my sister’s names, and what are their ages?”
“Kristi is fifteen and Carly is eighteen,” he answered immediately.
She lifted an eyebrow. “How is it that we’ve known each other for six months, and all that time you’ve known I worked in a bookstore, but you never mentioned what an avid reader you are?”
She had him. He didn’t know what to say.
“Wyatt?”
“If I say it didn’t come up, you’re going to slap me upside the head, right?”
Her expression was tight. “No. No, I’m not,” she shook her head sadly. “But I think I’ve had enough. You’ve been a good guy when I’ve needed you. I really appreciate your patience with me. I think it’s time I’ve found some new friends. Can you take me home?”
She moved toward his door.
“Emily, no. Don’t go.”
He saw the faint tremble of her shoulders and he felt like utter shit.
“Does it help that nobody knows I like to read? Not even Dalton, and he sucks up books like a freaking vacuum.”
She still didn’t turn around, but at least she wasn’t bending down to pick up her purse beside the door.
“Em, I don’t like talking about myself. Okay? My past is ugly.”
Her fists clenched and she muttered something.
“What did you say?”
She shook her head and started reaching for her purse.
“Emily, talk to me.”
She turned on him like a virago, her blue eyes blazing. “Like my past is a fucking sweet dream?” she demanded incredulously. “But you know every damn thing about that. Every single fucking detail, don’t you Wyatt? You might not have been there, but you listened in on my screams. Yet somehow you can’t share one tiny little bit of yourself. Well count me out. And don’t bother taking me home. I’m calling an Uber. I’m going to request a little car that I don’t need someone to lift me into.”
Every word stabbed at him, and he stood rooted to the floor as she slammed out the door. How could he have messed things up so badly?
3
He needed a beer, for oh so many reasons. He’d been delayed getting to the out-of-the way bar near Dog Beach. He’d wanted to just ride his Ducati along the coast and get his head on straight before meeting up with his team. Wyatt gave a chin tilt to his mentor Dex Evans when he saw the Pacifico waiting at an empty seat beside the man.
“You doing okay?” Dex asked quietly as Wyatt sat down.
He shrugged as he pushed the lime wedge into the mouth of the beer then took a long sip.
Heaven.
Wyatt looked around the table and saw there were two more empty seats near the end of the table next to Hunter Diaz. Since his whole Black Dawn SEAL team was here, he lifted an eyebrow in question to Dex.
“Night Storm is in town. They’re doing some training. While we were on the range getting our asses handed to us by Liam, they were on the obstacle course.”
“Zed?” Wyatt asked hopefully.
Dex’s grin was wide. “Yep, my guess is we’ll actually get a chance to see him Facetime with Marcia and Luella, so we won’t just have to see pictures of his little girl, we’ll get to see her in action.”
“Lord help us if the girl is a stick of dynamite like her mom,” Wyatt said.
There was a loud ‘whoop’ from three tables behind them. Wyatt turned and cringed. It was four newly minted SEALs and one of them had just managed to knock over one of their chairs.
“Shit,” Aiden muttered. “Are we going to have to start drinking in Encinitas to find some peace and quiet?”
Wyatt looked over the crowd, it was mostly locals and surfers, the few military that were in the crowd were Marines from Camp Pendleton. It had never been formerly discussed, but as his team had matured and Dex had found Kenna, more and more of the team’s down time had taken place at places that weren’t Navy SEAL bars in Coronado. So, seeing the youngsters made his shoulders ache. It was too much like looking into a mirror five years ago.
“Hermano!” Hunter shouted out.
Zed Zaragoza practically filled the doorway as he stood there zeroing in on Hunter’s face. “So, when were you going to tell me?” Zed asked.
“What?” Dalton turned to look at Hunter. “What does Zed know, that we don’t know?” Dalton demanded of Hunter.
Wyatt’s lieutenant, Gray Tyler merely cocked his head, looked at his subordinate, then back up at Zed, and smiled.
Hunter dropped his head into his hands. Zed came over and patted his younger brother’s back. Hunter looked up at Zed who was on the Night Storm SEAL team from Virginia. “Dammit, you better act surprised when Aliana tells you the news, okay? She wanted to tell you the news about the baby tonight at dinner.”
The chorus from ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ blared from Aiden O’Malley’s phone. Wyatt struggled not to spit out his beer. Dalton started to chuckle.
The way Zed and Hunter behaved together stirred up a lot of feelings. Biological brothers were special. Hunter had changed when he found out that Z
ed was his big brother, he became a little more settled. It was subtle, but Wyatt had watched as the change had taken place. He’d been a strong team member to Black Dawn, but it was as if having that connection to Zed made him walk taller.
“I promise to act surprised.” Zed’s voice was solemn. “Little sister’s feelings are safe with me.”
“So, Zed, you still doing your voodoo shit?” Dalton asked. “What other things do you ‘know’ besides your brother’s fertility?”
A big man with piercing green eyes came up from behind Zed and laughed. “We wouldn’t survive half our missions without Zed’s intuition, so don’t give him a hard time.”
Zed straddled a chair and lifted his hand to call over the waitress. “Does everyone know Kane McNamara?” he asked.
“Only by voice,” Gray said as he reached over the table and shook Zed’s companion’s hand. “You did an outstanding job on the Abu Dhabi mission.”
“I was just happy to be of service,” Kane replied as he sat down beside Zed and Dalton.
“So, will you and Dex have time to do a little knowledge sharing while you’re in town?” Gray asked.
“Max is setting me loose tomorrow, I’m supposed to talk to you about that tonight. He’s also calling Mason Gault to see if Clint is available.”
“I’d also like you to pull Wyatt in.” Gray nodded Wyatt’s way.
“You planning on putting Dex out to pasture?” Kane asked, then his eyes narrowed. “Or perhaps there’s something else on the horizon for Evans.”
“Wyatt is damn good at the communications and intelligence gathering. Any additional knowledge he can gain, I want him to have it,” Gray said easily.
It felt damn good to know that even though he was cleared for missions after his injury, Gray still wanted him working with Dex. He’d never thought his career would take that turn, but now that it had, he realized he not only had an aptitude for it, but he was enjoying it.
The distinctive sound of an incoming Facetime call sounded. Zed pulled out his phone and Wyatt wasn’t surprised to see all of the men with children gather around Zed.
Her Loving Hero Page 2