by Ann, Natalie
“No, Wyatt. I’m going to say this to his face again. I want nothing to do with you. You know the reasons. All of them. Leave. Go back to California and your wife who loves you. Who for some reason still wants you. I don’t care. I haven’t cared since I found out the truth.”
“You don’t mean that,” the man said.
Wyatt was losing his patience and took a step forward. “I think she does mean it, but maybe I need to make it clearer for you.”
The man’s eyes went to Wyatt’s badge that was hanging around his neck. “You’re a doctor. That’s famous. Now I understand more.”
“What do you understand, Spencer?” she asked.
“That you are after doctors. You’re one of them. Those nurses who just want a doctor. You didn’t believe I loved you and you left without letting me explain it. Without letting me convince you. Now you’ve moved on and that is why you won’t give me a chance.”
“Wyatt, let’s go.”
“No,” he said. “You go in, but your ex and I are going to have a coming to Jesus talk.”
“No, you aren’t,” she said, grabbing his arm. “It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it.” She started to pull him. “Spencer, leave. I’m calling security when we get in there. You might want to be gone or I’ll have them call the police for harassment.”
Once they were in the building, he pulled her to his office and then shut the door. “What the hell was that?”
“I’m going to be late,” she said. “I need to clock in.”
“Tell me what is going on now!”
He guessed Scott hadn’t made it up, but the bigger question was why Adriana hadn’t told him about this. That the guy followed her from California. That he wasn’t taking no for an answer.
“It’s what you assumed. That’s my ex. I told you he was married and when I found out I ended it. I left because he wouldn’t leave me alone. He wasn’t violent or threatening, but it was making me uncomfortable.”
“You were wise to leave. I wish I knew more. I wish you’d told me all of this. But you didn’t seem surprised to see him here today either. Why?”
Her shoulders dropped. “He was waiting for me last night in the parking lot. We had some words and I thought it was done.”
“Why didn’t you tell me last night?” he asked.
“Because I thought I had it handled.”
“Yeah, well, I guess you didn’t,” he said wondering what else about her he didn’t know.
“Wyatt. I’ve got to leave. We’ve got surgeries to take care of. Can we talk about this tonight?”
He wanted to say fuck his job, but he couldn’t. People were depending on him. “You’re going to talk tonight? You’re not going to make some excuse not to?”
“I want to say that hurts, but I understand why you asked it. No. We can go back to your place and talk.”
“Fine. Go punch in.”
He watched her leave and then picked up his phone and made a call. For once in his life, his career that he put before everything else was going to wait. Maybe he found out what the most important thing was to focus on.
“McKinley.”
“Travis, it’s Wyatt. I need a favor.”
“Shoot.”
He gave his cousin Ella’s husband, who owned a security firm, everything he knew about the guy, which wasn’t much other than his first name, he was a doctor by the accusation, and that he might have practiced at the same facility as Adriana’s last job. “Can you tell me where he is staying? It’s Adriana’s ex and he showed up and confronted her today. I want to have a few words with him but am not sure where he might be.”
“Give me a few hours and I’ll hit you back.”
“Thanks.” He looked at his schedule quick. “I should be out of surgery around two.” Before Adriana would be done for the day, but she wouldn’t know that.
Somehow Wyatt got through the few surgeries he’d had scheduled and pushed everything with Adriana from his mind. He had to. He had no choice.
The patient came first when he was in that room. Always.
The outside world couldn’t exist.
Lives depended on it.
But the minute his last patient was out of surgery and in recovery, he didn’t even bother to shower. Travis had come through and found the hotel Spencer Rymes was staying at. Dr. Spencer Rymes. His guess was right and that was another thing he was going to address with Adriana tonight.
He drove to the hotel and knocked. As much as he was hoping the guy had checked out and left town, something was telling him that might not be the case.
And it wasn’t when Spencer opened the door, Wyatt just pushing himself in there and shutting the door behind him.
He had no thought of anything other than making sure this guy knew to get the hell away from his woman.
“I don’t know why you thought you could come here, but you’re going to leave and never contact Adriana again.”
Spencer looked up. He was much smaller in stature and build than Wyatt. He was a primary care physician with an office out of the hospital. It seemed Adriana and he would have never crossed paths in her job so they had to have met another way.
“She made it very clear she wants someone better than me,” Spencer said. “I should have realized all along it was a game to her.”
He wasn’t addressing Spencer’s opinion of Adriana. “I think she made it clear she doesn’t want you. Whether it’s me or a homeless man on the street doesn’t matter. It’s not you.”
“I have a flight out of town tomorrow. There is no reason you need to see me out,” Spencer said.
“I found you. She didn’t tell me your name. She didn’t tell me where you were. She doesn’t care enough. But just know I was able to find you in a few hours by your first name alone. There isn’t a hole you can hide in that I won’t find you if I hear you’ve tried to contact Adriana again. Do I make myself clear?” he asked, moving a few steps closer, forcing Spencer to step back.
“Crystal.”
Wyatt turned and left, then drove back to his place.
He barely got out of the shower when he heard knocking at the door.
Adriana was standing there, her arms crossed and a pissed off look on her face. “What do you have to be mad about?”
“You,” she said, walking past him. “I don’t need someone to fight my battles.”
He snorted. “Then you’re going to hate the fact I had words with Dr. Spencer Rymes this afternoon.”
* * *
Adriana had come over here ready to do battle.
If it wasn’t bad enough that all her dirty laundry was going to be aired out like a twister flung it over the city, now she had to deal with the fact Wyatt looked ready to fight Spencer.
Not that there’d be any competition there. But Wyatt never took anything serious other than his job or his family. Just this morning she’d started to suspect that he loved her too and she had to wonder if maybe she’d been wrong about him.
That anything that was important in his life was what he put his focus on. Did she rate up that high in his eyes because finding out where Spencer was and having words with him was beyond being serious?
“How did you find him?”
“Does it matter? I did. And he won’t be bothering you again. If he does, I’ll know. Whether you tell me or not, I’m going to know. I’ll make it my mission.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“What you’re going to tell me is why I didn’t know any of this before. Why you felt you couldn’t tell me. If I knew I would have had a better understanding of why you wanted our relationship so quiet. Never once did you say your ex was a doctor.”
“Because it wasn’t relevant.”
“Like hell it wasn’t,” he yelled.
She sat down on the couch. Again, this was a side of Wyatt she hadn’t seen before. What she wanted to do was pace, but she was just so tired of everything. Maybe he was right, but she was sick of say
ing that too.
“I told you he was married. No one at work knew we were dating.”
“He’s a primary care doctor. How did you even meet?”
“I want to know how you know these things, but I guess it doesn’t matter.” He was staring at her, not saying a word. “He had office hours in the hospital two days a week. We met in the cafeteria. He was new to the practice. New to the area.”
“So you had no idea he was married and no one else did either?” he asked.
“No. He didn’t wear a wedding band but not a lot of men do.”
“True.” He knew that, but all the men in his family wore them. It wasn’t a symbol they were taken, it was a symbol of love in his eyes.
“Go on.”
“We started to date. I worked second shift and we didn’t see much of each other. His wife started to suspect he was having an affair and came into the hospital and made a scene, hugging and kissing him. Enough that it got people talking in general. It got back to me. I confronted him and he tried to tell me they were separated.”
He snorted. “It doesn’t sound it from the wife’s point of view.”
“No. And I don’t need to go into details there. The minute I found out, I told him we were done. I had a lot of choice words for him too. A few days after, his wife confronted me at work in front of everyone. At that point everyone knew and I was enemy number one. First no one knew I was dating anyone, let alone someone in the hospital. Then I’m being called a slut and homewrecker on top of it.”
She started to sniffle remembering how hard it had been. Normally she didn’t let shit bother her, but in that instance it was hard to shake it off. It just seemed like the happy go lucky world she’d had over a year ago had changed overnight.
She’d gone from dating a man she thought she loved and was a great catch to finding out what a fool she was, moving to another state, and then being someone she never thought she’d be.
Finding Wyatt helped her get back to who she was and the last thing she wanted was to have it all brought out again.
“It made you feel like your mother?” he asked.
“Yes. That made it all the worse. On top of it, Spencer wouldn’t let it drop. For a few weeks he did, then he started to call me, begging me to come back. Telling me he loved me and wanted me to hear his side of the story. I didn’t want any part of it.”
“He was stalking you,” he said. “I’m going to go wipe the floor with his ass.”
“No,” she said. “I think he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. It made me uncomfortable. And well, my father was upset, as he knew. He convinced me to leave and I felt it was best. I never thought he’d follow me here. It’s been months.”
“How did he find you?”
“My mother. Last night I called her and told her to never call me again. She felt I should give Spencer a chance. That it’s a great thing to have a man want to be with you that much. She doesn’t get it. I told her I was dating someone and then she got pissed at me for not telling her that. Said if I told her about you maybe she wouldn’t have let Spencer know where I was.”
“I just can’t even imagine a parent doing that.”
“Don’t get me going there again,” she said.
“So your mood last night? It’s because of Spencer and not me?”
“No,” she said, moving closer to him. “Not like you think.”
“Then explain it to me. I feel like I’ve been fighting for you from day one. It gets tiring when I’m not sure where I stand or if I have a chance of winning.”
“See, that’s the thing. You’ve been winning me over all along and I let what happened in my past and with Spencer hold me back. I saw him yesterday and I was pissed off and I was upset. And then I got thinking that everything a woman wants, I’ve got with you. That I was one damn lucky girl.”
“Again, you couldn’t tell me any of this?”
“I feel like all I do is apologize or tell you you are right. I’m still so scared to get hurt. It’s not just hurt, it’s an embarrassment. I just told you what happened at my last job. If we don’t last I’m going to be run through the gossip mill again. You know that. You have no idea how hard this is for me to accept. Everything is confusing and conflicting in my mind.”
“What is it you’re accepting? That we aren’t going to last? Because of what everyone says about me? Haven’t you learned enough about me to know the truth now?”
He looked hurt by her words. Not the first time that had happened either.
“Are you insecure about us too?” she asked quietly.
“Yes. I’ve been judged and labeled too. My whole life I’ve been that way. Not many thought I had what it took to be a doctor let alone an anesthesiologist. I worked damn hard to get here.”
“I know. You never let anyone know you are insecure though.”
“I guess that is a little like you too. Sometimes people don’t want others to see their weaknesses.”
“I don’t think there is much weak about you, Wyatt.”
He laughed. “I could say the same about you.”
“But I’m always saying I’m sorry or I was wrong,” she said, wiping her hand under her nose.
“That isn’t a weakness. That’s just being humble. Not many people can admit when they are wrong or sorry. But you can.”
“I can,” she said. “I’ve been wrong about you all along. Everything everyone says about you is wrong. You’re a great guy and you’re my guy.”
“I don’t know if everything that is said about me is wrong,” he said and pulled her into his arms. “There is a lot of truth to my flaws and I’m man enough to admit it. But you’re a great woman and you’re my woman. Are you going to make me say it first?”
“Say what?” she asked.
“You know.”
“I do. I love you, Wyatt. I’ve loved you for weeks and have been terrified to voice those words.”
“You haven’t been alone in that fear or those feelings. For weeks either. I love you too.”
She laid her head on his chest. “Going forward, no more hiding, running, or fears.”
“I’m always going to fear your cooking. Sorry. I don’t know what you might put in it and burn my belly.”
“Two things, Wyatt. Eggs and salsa. And you watched me make the salsa,” she said thinking of the time they bought the ingredients and he helped her chop everything.
“I only ate it for you. I couldn’t let you think I couldn’t handle it.”
“All I care about is if you can handle me,” she said.
“Every day,” he said. “That’s how much I want to handle you.”
“Then I’m all yours to do that.”
Epilogue
“That was a beautiful wedding,” Adriana said when they were back in the hotel room. “Payton looked stunning. Not that Bryce was too shabby in his tux.”
“Not too much for you?” he asked. “I know you were a little overwhelmed at my Aunt Jolene and Uncle Gavin’s house a few months ago for the summer party. A Fierce wedding is said to scare people away.”
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing. Family joke. Before Paige, Noah was dating someone and they got into a fight at one of the family weddings. She said it was wasteful and made a few comments about our family.”
“I couldn’t imagine that,” she said. “Your family is terrific. They’ve been so open and friendly and accepting. Even Jade has asked me to go shopping with her twice.”
She’d been shocked the first time it happened and agreed. Anything to make sure she was winning over Wyatt’s twin. By the end of the day she’d been exhausted though. The second time she’d been asked she was more prepared going in.
“My family is pretty great. So they’ve grown on you?” he asked.
“They have,” she said. “I even put a dress on. I don’t do that for many people.”
He laughed and unzipped the dress she was dying to get out of. “You looked lovely in it too. But I happen to like y
ou in athletic gear. Not that you didn’t have some nice moves on the dance floor. I shouldn’t be surprised you can dance too. Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Oh, there are plenty of things I can’t do.”
“But if you wanted to, you could,” he said, pulling his tie off as she changed into shorts and a T-shirt. She’d been thrilled to get her heels off, but pulling shorts on just felt like home to her.
“Just like you. You can do anything you want and prove everyone wrong who says otherwise. You can be funny and serious at the right time.”
“And I found someone who understands that about me,” he said. He was moving around in his suitcase pulling his clothes out, then a bag.
“You did find someone. You found me. Every day I’m going to remember that I left your office with my tail between my legs when I misunderstood your motivations. What’s that?” she asked of the brown bag in his hand.
“Just something sweet for you. You’ve got a sweet tooth always buying cookies and drinking smoothies. You’re my sweet and spicy girl. This is something for you to play with and suck on.”
“Oh,” she said. “I like sweet things I can play with and suck on.”
She was reaching for his pants when he stepped back and put the bag in her hand. She opened it up and pulled out a huge candy ring pop. “What’s this?”
“A ring,” he said. “What do you think of it?”
“I think I haven’t had one of these since I was a kid.” She might have thought it was odd, but figured what the heck. It was Wyatt and he always tried to do funny things like this. She pulled the wrapper off, slipped it on her finger and showed it off. “What do you think? A perfect fit.”
She popped it in her mouth to taste while it was on her finger.
“I guess you wouldn’t like this one then if that one is perfect.”
She started to cough when she looked down and saw a diamond ring in the palm of his hand. “You’re joking?”
“I’m more serious about this than anything else in my life. I know you’ve lectured me before about a time and place to joke and be professional. But this isn’t work. This is us. This is me and you. And though I’ve learned my lesson about when to joke and when not to, this is one of those times where I think you’d expect me to be funny while being serious at the same time. It’s who I am.”
