“I don’t know. They’re never home.”
A few more barks sounded, and Emily looked at the house. Still dark. Quiet. Woodrow finished his business, but before they could move, a truck came down the street.
“Uh-oh,” Sara said when it slowed.
Yeah, uh-oh. The truck was coming to the house. They turned off their flashlights and ducked behind a bush just as it pulled into the driveway.
Emily scooped Woodrow close and held her breath.
“We’re going to get arrested for not picking up dog poo,” Sara whispered. “We’re going to end up as someone’s bitch.”
“Shh!” She went back to holding her breath. Beside her, Sara did the same.
And then, in the silence, her phone lit up like day with a call.
Shit. Emily reached into her pocket and reflexively swiped her thumb across the screen to answer instead of hitting ignore.
The truck door opened. Two long legs appeared out of the truck, heading around the back of the vehicle instead of the front.
Emily sucked in a breath. She could see boots. Denim-clad legs.
And a gun at a lean hip.
Oh, God. Her heart leapt into her throat.
“Run,” Sara whispered.
The three of them ran like the hounds of hell were on their heels, Sara and Emily in terror, Woodrow barking like he was out for a joyride.
“Did you see—” Emily started.
“I saw,” came Sara’s grim reply.
“Cop?”
“Doubtful,” Sara gasped as they flew. “This is Idaho. Everyone and their grandma is armed.”
“Except for us,” Emily managed.
“I’ve got a knife in my pocket.”
Emily gave her a startled glance. “What?”
Halfway back, Emily got a stitch in her side and had to stop, hands on her knees, gasping for breath.
“That’s . . . pathetic,” Sara said, stopping besides her, but looking no better off.
Footsteps sounded, though it was hard to tell from which direction they came. It didn’t matter. They both gasped and started to run again. Emily flew right into a brick wall.
Wyatt.
He absorbed the impact without moving and wrapped his arms around her. “What the hell?”
“Yeah,” said a different male voice, from directly behind them this time. “What the hell?”
Big, Scary Neighbor Guy, Emily thought, shaking in her sneakers.
Wyatt flicked his flashlight upward and revealed the man who’d gotten out of the truck at the dark house.
Yep. It was indeed Big, Scary Neighbor Guy.
Woodrow got in front of Emily, backing his tush right up to her calves, standing on her feet as he barked sharply at the man.
Emily scooped him up and hugged him. “Good boy,” she whispered. “Brave boy.”
“Who are you?” Wyatt asked her neighbor.
“I’m the one who found Lucy and Ethel here in my bushes.” His gaze went to Sara, and then Emily, and finally Woodrow. No flicker of recognition for the dog, which was a relief. No way could she have given him Woodrow.
“The question is,” the guy said, “who the fuck are you?”
“We lost our kitten,” Sara said. “We were looking for her and you scared us.” She flashed a smile.
Emily didn’t know why Sara lied, but she nodded her head in agreement.
Big, Scary Neighbor Guy didn’t return the smile. Instead he pointed at her, and then at Emily. “Stay off my property,” he said, voice low and menacing. “Watch yourselves.”
Emily’s heart went into her throat, and she opened her mouth to utter an immediate apology.
“No,” Wyatt said, tall and strong at her back. “You watch yourself.”
Neither man budged for a long beat. Finally Emily’s neighbor made a low sound of disgust. “Handle your women, and I mean it, stay outta my business,” he snapped, and stalked off into the night.
“I’m my own woman,” Emily said to no one.
Wyatt didn’t budge, watching the guy go. After a beat, he looked down at her and her sister.
“It was all her doing,” Sara said, and pointed at Emily.
“I heard a dog in trouble,” Emily said.
Wyatt didn’t look happy to hear this. “Next time call me,” he said. He’d dropped the tough-guy stance and was back to easygoing, laid-back Wyatt.
Except Emily was coming to realize he wasn’t so easygoing or laid-back at all. He was just extremely good at compartmentalizing his life, and taking care of what was important, in the moment.
She could learn from that.
A whole hell of a lot.
But she wasn’t feeling laid-back or easygoing. Her blood was still pumping. “Did you come by for anything important?” she managed to ask casually as they walked home.
Sara snorted.
Emily blushed. “I mean—”
“This is where I bow out,” Sara said as they arrived back at the house. “I’m heading into town to play darts. Don’t wait up.”
And she and Wyatt were alone. She wondered if he’d come to discuss the internship, and her leaving.
But he didn’t speak.
“So,” she said. “How was it that you were our knight in shining armor tonight?”
“I came by and you didn’t answer the door. When I called you, and you hit Answer but didn’t say anything, I got worried. And then I heard someone say ‘run’ and just about lost ten years of my life as I came looking for you.”
“Oh,” she said, wincing, letting them into the house. “Sorry—”
She broke off when he kicked the door shut and then backed her to it. Somewhere along the way he’d removed his glasses. Setting a hand on either side of her head, he leaned in and kissed her until she couldn’t remember her name, much less wonder what he’d come to see her about.
“I want you,” he said, voice thrillingly rough. “Now.”
“I know,” she said, moaning at the feel of him, hard against her. “Me too. It’s adrenaline.”
“Bullshit.” Sliding his hands down the backs of her thighs, he hoisted her up his body. Carrying her like that, he strode to her bedroom and kicked the door shut. “Don’t make up reasons for what happens between us, Emily. For me, this has got nothing to with what happened tonight, and everything to do with you.”
She stared at him, her heart doing jumping jacks against her ribs. If this wasn’t adrenaline, and it wasn’t a good-bye, what the hell was it?
He stared back, steady as a rock, a little pissed off, and hot as hell. “You’re thinking so hard your hair’s smoking.” He rocked into her, letting her cradle the hardest part of him against the softest part of her. “Let me make this easy,” he said. “Tonight. Yes or no.”
She shivered with need and want, the two entwining so there was no telling which was which. Tonight? If that was all he wanted, she’d take it. “Yes.”
Twenty-five
Emily staggered into the kitchen shortly before dawn. Wyatt had left a few moments before, leaning over her for a lengthy kiss good-bye that would’ve turned into something else entirely if they hadn’t been out of condoms.
Sara was on the kitchen counter eating ice cream out of the container for breakfast, which was so unlike her, Emily stopped short. “What are you doing?”
“Rayna e-mailed me,” she said. “She said she missed me, the bitch.”
“Did you respond that you miss her, too?”
“No.”
“Do it.”
Sara sagged. “I can’t. I’m the one that broke up with her.”
“Which still makes no sense,” Emily said.
“Because she’s a ten, okay? And I told you, tens don’t date fives.”
Emily stared at her.
“She’s a model,” Sara said. “An L.A. runway model.” She spread her arms wide. “And I’m a short, chunky construction worker.”
“You’re gorgeous,” Emily said fiercely. “E-mail her back.”
&
nbsp; Sara dug for more ice cream. At her feet, on the floor, Woodrow was staring at Sara like the sun rose and set on her shoulders. Emily got why when Sara snagged another scoop and offered it to the puppy.
The wood spoon was quickly licked clean.
“Don’t do that,” Emily said.
“She’s no fun is she,” Sara said to Woodrow. “She doesn’t get that having a broken heart requires a million calories to even begin to heal.”
“You think you’re the only one who’s ever had a broken heart?”
“Of the two of us?” Sara asked. “Yeah.”
“Hey,” Emily said. “What about the Johns, remember them?”
“John Number One was a selfish prick and didn’t deserve your heart. And John Number Two never had your heart. How could he? After John Number One and Becky, and then Mom, you never trusted anyone with your heart again.”
Emily opened her mouth, and then shut it again. “Fine,” she eventually said. “I’ve been stingy with my heart until now, sue me.”
“Until now?” Sara pointed at her with the wooden spoon. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“No. It means nothing.” Not about to explain that Wyatt was interested in her body but not much more than that—especially when it had been all her idea in the beginning. Emily snatched the container of ice cream and the spoon and started to dig in. Then she looked down at the spoon that Woodrow had licked. She loved him but she didn’t want to eat after him. Tossing it into the sink, she reached for another from the drawer.
“Admit it,” Sara said. “You’re falling for Dr. Sexy.”
Emily choked on her first bite. “Would you stop calling him that?”
“You do realize you’re making roots,” Sara said. “Making friends. Getting pets.” She paused. “Bidding on hot bachelors.”
“I only bid to make sure the charity gets a lot of money,” Emily said. “Someone’s gonna outbid me.”
“How, when you keep checking it every day and upping your bid?”
Good point. She changed the subject. “And any day now, someone is going to claim Woodrow.”
Sara hopped off the counter. “Good to know you’re still the Denial Queen. I’m going to work. Maybe tonight we can have a discussion rooted in reality.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that you’re happy here.” Sara gave her a long look, and then walked out of the kitchen.
“Yeah, well, I’ll admit that when you admit you’re a ten and a stubborn idiot!”
Sara slammed out the front door without admitting any such thing.
* * *
That night, Lilah, Kate, and Holly included Emily in the Girls’ Night outing to the guys’ flag football game. It was Bones vs. Firsts—the town’s doctors, dentists, vets, and anyone in the medical field against Sunshine’s first responders like cops, firefighters, and medics.
The Bones were down a member since Dell was on day two of being up north. Emily watched the rough game through worried eyes, sucking in a breath when Wyatt got taken down by a guy who had at least thirty pounds on him.
They rolled viciously around for a moment, and then Wyatt came up, still holding the ball triumphantly.
His opponent pushed to his feet, and Emily blinked in surprise.
It was Evan, the cop who made the amazing chocolate chip cookies.
The two men stared at each other for a long beat before going back to their own lines. Evan shot Emily a smile on his way.
“He’s cute,” Lilah said.
Wyatt strode by the stands, slowing to give Emily a long, steady look that had her blushing.
“He’s cuter,” Lilah said.
The next play involved both Evan and Wyatt rolling around on the ground again.
Kate looked at Emily. “There seems to be some tension there that has ‘about a woman’ all over it.”
Emily bit her lower lip.
“Spill,” Holly said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Right,” Lilah said dryly. “That’s why the both of them keep looking over at you, flexing their muscles.”
“Honey, I’m all for a woman exploring her options,” Holly said, “but you can’t have two alphas sniffing around sharing air space like that.”
“We have alphas sharing air space at the center all day long,” Emily pointed out.
“But they don’t want the same woman.”
Emily sank down in her seat a little bit. “Evan brought me cookies. And wants to date me.”
“What does Wyatt want?”
She knew what she wanted Wyatt to want, and that was for him to indicate that maybe he’d want her to stay, something she’d never have entertained in the beginning, but now . . . now she couldn’t stop thinking about. But he’d not said a single word about a future with her, not once. She thought about the night before, when he’d taken her into her bedroom and given her so many orgasms she’d been boneless for hours afterward, making it perfectly clear what he did want from her.
Lilah took in her facial expression and burst into laughter, and Emily covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God. This is so out of my comfort zone.”
“What, being sought after by extremely hot guys? Stop and smell the roses, babe, and take in the moment.”
“Or,” Kate said quietly, watching Emily’s face, “you could pick one.”
“Picking isn’t the problem,” Emily said, gaze on Wyatt. “Wyatt and I aren’t a real thing.”
He threw a hard, fast pass to Adam, who caught it in the end zone.
Game. Over.
The Bones team tackled Wyatt to the ground, pounding his back, victorious. After a few moments of this, the guys all headed off the field, eyes on their real prize.
The women in the stands.
Adam claimed Holly, who looked all too happy to be claimed. Same for Brady and Lilah. And Grif and Kate.
Wyatt strode past the kissing couples and came straight to Emily.
She nearly swallowed her tongue. “What are you—”
Yanking her in, he kissed her long and hard.
In front of everyone.
She pulled back and had to shake her head to put some sense