“Always,” he responded and cut off the call as Raine jerked awake when her hand met his cold empty spot.
All she did was arch her back and used her shoulders as leverage to tilt her head back, looking at him upside down. Her eyes traveled from his toes up and she couldn’t help but lick her lips at his turgid flesh.
∆∆∆
“I don’t think that’s wise to do,” he chuckled a bit nervously as her gloved fingers caressed his thigh.
“It’s not my fault that you aren’t manly enough to handle a little touch while driving,” she laughed as she stroked higher.
His jaws flexed as his knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. “I’m manly enough to admit that my pants are choking my parts and there’s nothing more that I want to do than bury myself in you but we’re inching on a road filled with black ice and parking on the side of the road in a snowstorm isn’t so smart,” he bit out.
She blushed at his candor and giggled at his grumpiness but moved her hand to his knee as the wheel vibrated under his hands. “What is it that you do?” she asked as she shifted in her seat to peruse his awe-inspiring frame.
He threw a glance her way before refocusing on the road. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he murmured.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” she questioned, her brows meeting as she surveyed the solemnity of his profile.
“As a judge,” he answered.
“If I guess correctly, will you confirm it?” she probed.
“You’ll never guess,” he chuckled and she cocked a brow at him.
Her green eyes took in his self-assured manner and suddenly she wanted to do something deviant but she stuffed down those feelings in the dark recesses of her soul. “From what the sheriff said, you’ve obviously been in the army—”
“Navy,” he interrupted with a correction and a smirk came over her kiss-swollen lips.
“Navy,” she amended glad for the additional info that she had already stored away about him from the family pictures. “You’re big on technology.”
He shrugged in response.
“I could tell by the way you find it easy to say that you could shut down a whole block with a touch to your watch,” she continued.
His lips twitched but whatever he’d planned to say, he kept to himself.
“You’re obsessed with weaponry and you have the most unique ways of concealing them.” She tapped a finger against her chin in thought as he stared straight ahead. “Come to think of it, you have inhuman ease with a gun and a knife.”
His brow arched at the latter part of her statement.
“I saw you dissecting those fruits when you made breakfast,” she supplied, knowing what he was thinking without him opening his mouth. “With all that, plus the way you dress, you have to be some form of a bodyguard,” she concluded.
“You’re partially right,” he started. “But you’re closer to being wrong than right.” He glanced at her again, this time longer. “I can’t guard someone who the world thinks is dead and Ignacio wouldn’t waste money on someone who he wants dead—”
She flinched at his statement but he just shrugged because it was the truth.
“I wouldn’t work for him anyway,” he grumbled as if to reassure her but it was a crappy attempt and unnecessary.
“Then who are you?” she asked.
“Wyatt Coleman.”
She punched him on his arm in irritation.
“You’re the most dangerous person ever!” he chuckled. “Why the heck are you hitting me when I’m trying to navigate this treacherous terrain?” he mumbled.
“Because you’re annoying,” she complained with a scowl. “You knew what I meant but you chose to be difficult.”
“You ought to be plainer,” he responded candidly and she rolled her eyes.
“What is your job description, Wyatt Coleman?” she inquired drily.
“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you,” he stated. “And I much rather have you alive.” His appraising eyes ran over her and she slumped in the seat with a pout.
“You’re so annoying,” she huffed out; he chuckled in answer causing her to want to punch him again. “Well, whenever you’re dabbling in guarding someone’s body for payment, you better not give them the same treatment that you give me,” she grumbled.
She made to move the hand that she had on his knee and he reached down to hold it in place before capturing her emotional eyes. “Do you really believe that?” he demanded, his jaws flexing as he cast his gaze back to the dangerous roadway.
“No; I don’t know!” she cried as she tried unsuccessfully once more to retrieve her hand.
“You obviously need some reassurance,” he stated as he started turning onto a side street.
“What are you doing?” she enquired.
“Stopping for you,” he breathed, his baritone washing over her as he pulled onto the shoulder of the roadway. “Come here,” he commanded, tugging her onto his lap when she hesitated. “Do you think that this is a service?” he questioned.
“No,” she whispered as he pushed her wild curls back from her face.
“I need you to know that,” he responded.
Minutes later, with glasses heavily fogged, she screamed her assurance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it.”
—W. W. Jacobs
Wyatt caressed the base of her spine as he led her to the front door, but before he could even open it, it burst ajar.
“Daddy!” Gabriella screamed as she threw herself into his arms, bypassing her mother.
His heart squeezed painfully as her tiny hands adhered to him for dear life. “Hey, hey,” he cooed, stroking her hair as she sniffled into his neck. He looked at Raine with a frown but her face was puzzled as well. His hand automatically tightened around her as a weird sense of fear came over him; the same kind that had seized him when the doctor had told him that Aiden was sick. “Gabby,” he murmured, shortening her name for the first time and Raine swallowed shakily because she knew what that look in his eyes meant but she didn’t want to hope. He held her closer but instead of answering, Gabby only clung to him more. “Hey, hey, sweetie,” he murmured softly. “It’s okay,” he comforted. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
She mumbled something into his neck but neither adult could hear. Sandy came from the sitting room to lean against the banister of the stairway leading up to the second level. She shrugged as well when she met Wyatt’s questioning gaze.
“Gabby, honey, you have to show me those beautiful eyes for me to hear what you’re saying,” he prompted her as he gently rubbed her tiny spinal column. Slowly but steadily, she lifted her thick head of dark hair to look at him with watery, navy eyes.
“Bad dream,” she murmured.
“Oh, sweetie,” he sighed, brushing her hair off her wet face. He pressed his lips to the almost unreal softness of her unmarred skin, inhaling her innocence. “It’s just a dream; you’re okay.” His arms shifted ever so slightly when her face crumbled again. “Want to tell me about it?” he questioned kindly, and her little head bobbed.
“I dreamed that you went to heaven again and didn’t come back,” she whispered, her voice breaking after every couple of words.
“Oh, honey,” he breathed, pressing her face into the nook of his shoulder as her composure crumbled even more. “I’m right here, sweetie, and everything will be okay.” He slowly brought his fingers up and down her back in a calming manner, trying his best to soothe her. “Did she see anything?” he mouthed to her mother.
Raine closed her eyes in consideration, trying to remember if it was possible that she’d seen anything. Rosa had taken her out of the kitchen mere minutes before Stephano had been shot, but in all the commotion, she couldn’t remember if Gabby had come back into the room. Anything was possible. “I don’t know,” she mouthed back and he nodded in acknowledgment.
“Let me tell you what,” he started, trying to inject some enth
usiasm into her voice. “We’re going to go outside and have some fun in this beautiful snow,” he said cheerfully. “But before we do, do you want to say hello to Mommy?” he questioned and she nodded before launching herself into her mother’s arms.
Raine’s eyes met his and widened in fear. Reaching out, he squeezed her shoulder in reassurance as her arms tightened around her daughter and mossy green eyes because glossy with tears.
Sandra raised a brow at the affection that passed between them, causing him to shrug in response. What could he answer and say? He just felt how he felt; he couldn’t change that. He wouldn’t even if he could. She indicated her intent with her hand, so he slowed to walk in sync with her, allowing Raine to precede them with Gabby still clinging to her.
“Are you certain that it’s wise to take her to your familial home?” she questioned.
His face drained of all emotions as her eyes scanned him for another weak point. “What do you mean?” he inquired briskly.
“How much do you know about her?” she enquired. “You’re bringing her into your family circle; that could get really dangerous for them and you. She’ll know how to hurt—”
“Sandy!” he ground out, halting her next words, even though his mind said that she was saying the right things.
Raine looked over her shoulder to look back at them at his tone, already aware of his different mood even though she couldn’t hear a word of their conversation.
“You know that I’m right,” she countered and his jaws flexed in annoyance as his teeth grounded together.
“I trust her.”
Sandy’s eyes widened in shock at his choice of lexes because she’d never heard him say those words before. Not even about the men who guarded his body in the field. “Wyatt, intimacy is not a reason—”
“Sandy, don’t go there,” he stated firmly, his voice deepening.
“Just be careful.”
“I will; thank you,” he replied touching her arm in reassurance.
∆∆∆
Raine pressed a hand against the glass as something soft and warm came over her demeanor as she watched them.
“What do you want from him?” Sandy questioned as she came to stand beside her, her voice cold.
Immediately, Raine’s muscles locked up as hostility rolled off the older woman to wash over her. She knew this kind well. “You slept with him,” she stated candidly, careful not to let the anger and jealousy burning her belly bottom to show. She would rather die before she gave her the satisfaction.
“Wyatt?” the other woman said as if questioning herself. “No, we banged. He doesn’t sleep with anyone.”
“I heard a different story last night,” she dug in and the other woman shifted.
Sandra, however, didn’t take the bait, even with antagonism flowing off of her in waves.
“But if it’s reassurance that you want, then here it is: I’m already halfway in love with Wyatt—”
“You barely know him—” Sandra began but Raine interrupted her as well.
“What’s your reason?” she questioned and the other woman seemed to stumble over her thoughts.
“We’re not—”
“Talking about you?” Raine butted in. “You threw that excuse out when you became bold enough to even think of questioning me,” she grounded out.
“I just want to protect him,” she protested.
“And I get that,” Raine started. “But you’d think that Wyatt knows how to do that all on his own,” she finished strongly.
Wyatt must’ve sensed something because he stopped in the middle of patting down his lopsided snowman to whisper something to Gabby before nodding towards the house. He rose in one fluid movement, clasping her daughter’s knit-covered hand and moved in their direction.
“Mommy, Daddy’s cold!” Gabby exclaimed as she burst through the patio door.
It was an obvious lie to the adults present but Raine grabbed onto it either way because seeing him up-close, reminded her that the woman who he’d called in to protect her daughter was someone he’d probably whispered the same words to in the middle of the night. She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to keep her face as blank as his was. “Well, if he’s cold, then you must be all ice under that coat. Let’s get you a hot bath and put some hot cocoa in that frozen body!” she chuckled as Gabby laughed when she tickled her.
Amid all that, Wyatt’s face remained impassive even where he would’ve at least smiled for Gabby.
The crap hitting the fan has nothing to do with me, she thought mentally as she adjusted Gabby on her hip and made her way upstairs.
∆∆∆
“Did you bug the house?” Sandra asked as soon as they were out of earshot.
“In the sixty seconds that I stood before you before heading out to the backyard??” he questioned sarcastically and her eyes flashed.
“Then how?” she started.
“Because I know how you feel about me,” he answered frankly and an embarrassed color flooded her cheeks, but she didn’t say anything. “What did you say to her?” he asked, ice lacing his words even though he’d said them gently.
“Raine doesn’t need you to defend her; trust me,” she muttered in annoyance as she took in his protective demeanor.
Wyatt shrugged nonchalantly; though internally pleased, none of his feelings leaked to the surface.
“There’s no chance is there,” she said with a touch of sadness.
“I think I love her, Sandy,” he answered honestly as he looked towards the snow-covered backyard, with his hands in his pockets.
“Funny that she said the same thing,” she murmured and pure, unadulterated joy washed through his frame.
Normally, he would allow the words to flow over him as mere expressions but these sank into his bones and his whole body felt lighter.
“I really didn’t expect you to act like that—”
“Act like what?” he interrupted.
“You’re body reacted,” she said simply, not bothering to expound. “I’m happy for you,” she commented.
“Is this the point where you say that you can’t come to Colorado?” he probed.
“I’m not that petty,” she answered starchily and his lips twitched. “Plus, even if I felt that way, I wouldn’t give you the privilege of knowing. After all, this is a job and despite everything, Gabby is a delight to be around. She needs a chance to use what this life has to offer.”
“Yeah,” Wyatt responded softly as a vision of Gabby all grown up flashed before his mind’s eyes and he just knew that he wanted to be there to see that.
“You’re in deeper than you thought, aren’t you?” she asked tenderly.
“It would seem so,” he replied honestly.
He looked up as tiny feet padded down the wooden stairs. His eyes met curious, green ones and he knew that he had some work to do.
“Daddy, you’re still cold!” Gabby exclaimed.
“Well—”
“Mommy, can you give him a shower too, please?” Gabby pleaded, interrupting him before turning pitiful eyes onto her mother.
Raine’s eyes flashed before she quickly concealed it and he stored away the emotion for later use. She bent down to say something to Gabby before she ran the rest of the way down the stairs and pushed him towards it.
“I guess it’s my turn then,” he chuckled as she looked at him with mischievous eyes. He gently ruffled her hair before moving towards her mother.
Silently, he followed her to the master suite, noting her suitcase now tucked neatly beside his instead of being in the guestroom down the hall. Well, no better place to protect her than in my bed, he thought as she turned to him. Her wall was now down and emotions floated boldly in her eyes. He picked up on her anger and his defense immediately rose.
“Is this the part where you shout at me for calling her in?” he questioned with an edge and Raine’s spine visibly stiffened.
“Your past is none of my business,” she bit out. “But I sure as hell need to
know where I stand,” she stated frankly, her cheek flushing from irritation.
“What Sandra and I had is just that, in the past,” he supplied.
“Does she know that?” Raine demanded, her feet moving towards him on their accord.
“Whatever feelings she developed on the way is not my responsibility; she knew the rules when she played the game.”
“Is that how you see me?” she questioned, her voice tight as she looked up into his deep blue eyes.
“This is different,” he breathed, cupping her face with both hands when she made to move away.
She scoffed, placing her hands on his warm chest to push him away. “Trust me; I’ve heard that before—”
“I am not Stephano,” he groaned out before he could bite his tongue. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a brief second before retraining them on her. “Until you know who I am fully, I don’t think that you’ll believe a word I say,” he sighed.
“I saw when you touched her,” she whispered as he pulled back, toeing off his boots.
He froze midway, peeling off his sock to look at her. “She was worried about me taking you to my familial home.”
“That much she made clear,” she grumbled and he rolled his eyes.
“You’re starting to sound like a petulant two-year-old,” he commented as he tucked his thick, black socks into the weather-proof, leather boots and started to remove his jacket.
Her mouth dried as he unveiled his ripped muscles barely concealed by a skin-tight, cashmere sweater. “I realize,” she muttered before licking her lips as the sweater followed the windbreaker by going over his head. They fell to the floor and her eyes trailed after them. His skin stretched taut over his knuckles as he unbuttoned his dampened pants. Seemingly ignoring her heated stares, he padded towards the bathroom, pausing only briefly at her side to brush his lips over hers.
“It’s different because I love you,” he said before strolling casually out of the room.
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