Wild Rekindled Love (6 page)

A sigh rushed from between her lips. “I’m out, Mom. Why?”

“It’s Samantha. She’s running a fever and her broken arm is warm to touch. She is also complaining it hurts really badly.”

“How high is her fever?” Jamie asked as worry laced her voice.

“One hundred and three.” She heard her mother sigh on the other end of the phone line. “I think you need to come home.”

“Shit.” Rubbing her forehead for a moment, she said, “All right. I’ll be home in a little bit.”

“What’s wrong?” Wyatt asked, sitting back on the couch next to her.

“It’s Sam,” she told him as she heard her mother say on the other end of the phone, “Who is that, Jamie?”

“Never mind, Mom. I’ll be home in as soon as I can.” She closed the phone with a click and stood up before she searched for her jeans. Wyatt dangled them from his fingertips along with her underwear and she felt heat creep up her neck. “Thanks.”

“I’m coming with you.”

Her gaze flew up to his and she shook her head in denial. “I don’t think that is a good idea, Wyatt.”

“If she is sick, maybe I need to look at her. Your mom said she was running a fever?”

She chewed her bottom lip nervously while she straightened her clothes.

What if she is really sick? He could help her. He is a doctor after all and her father, even if she doesn’t know that.

“Yeah, a hundred and three.”

“She could have some kind of infection with the break in her arm.” He waited, giving her the choice as to whether he would be welcome to come along or not. The tone gave her the impression he would check on Samantha one way or another.

“All right—fine. You can follow me back to my Mom’s.”

A smile rippled across his lips and she felt like slapping him as she grumbled under her breath about ‘stubborn men.’

He stood and headed toward what she assumed to be his bedroom. Several moments later, he returned with a black t-shirt stretched enticingly across his broad chest, jeans and boots.

“Ready?”

Without saying a word, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. He pulled it closed behind them and locked it as she walked toward where her truck sat parked against the curb. She watched him straddle his Harley and sighed when she remembered those firm thighs and tight ass between hers legs, a short time ago.

“Enough, Jamie,” she chastised herself before she slipped into the cab of her truck. Once she had started her vehicle, she looked into the rearview mirror and pulled away from the curb, keeping Wyatt in her sights. “This is a bad idea. I just know something terrible is going to happen with him coming over. Why the hell did I agree to this?” The reprimands continued until she pulled into her parent’s driveway. She wasn’t sure how she would explain his presence to her mother and father or how they would react to him.

Her head whipped around when the door popped open and he held it open for her. She hadn’t even heard him stop the motorcycle.

She slipped out of the truck and slammed it shut before she headed for the front porch with him on her heels. Her father stood behind the screen and pushed it open the screen when they approached and she could read the confusion on his face.

“Dad—you know Wyatt.”

“Uh…of course. Come on in. It’s been a long time.”

“It certainly has,” Wyatt replied, grasping the screen and holding it for her to precede him into the house.

“I didn’t realize you were back in town, son.”

“I haven’t been for long. A couple of months or so is all.”

They walked into the living room and her mother gasped in surprise. “Wyatt?

“Hi, Mrs. Wilder.”

“My goodness! Where have you been? It’s been ages since we’ve seen you, young man.”

Jamie caught his gaze and the questioning raise of his eyebrow.
I need to let him in on some of mom’s memory loss and mild dementia that came with her stroke the year before.

“I moved to California to finish my medical degree, but I came back here to practice.”

“Mom, Wyatt is the one who treated Samantha at the emergency room the other day and set her arm.”

“But…”

“No, Mom, Samantha doesn’t know.”

“But, Jamie…”

“Mom—let it be for now.” With a heavy sigh, she and fought the urge to lean into the warm embrace of the devastatingly handsome man who stood near her back. “Where’s Sam?”

“In her room.”

She moved toward the stairs, but stopped and looked over her shoulder at Wyatt as he continued to stand where he was. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah.”

They walked up the stairs together and she stopped at her daughter’s bedroom and knocked softly. “Sammy?”

“Mom?” Jamie heard when she pushed it open.

“Yeah, baby,” she murmured, moving to the side of Samantha’s bed and sitting down on the edge. “How do you feel?” She brushed the sticky hair away from her daughter’s forehead.

“I don’t feel very good, Mom.”

“I know, sweetie.” Her worried eyes met Wyatt’s. “She’s burning up.”

He bent down by the bed and smiled softly. “Hi, pumpkin.” His hand moved over the area above the cast on her arm and he frowned.

“Hi, Wyatt. What are you doing here?”

“Your mom said you weren’t feeling good so I thought I would come by and see you.” He looked at Jamie. “Find out if your mom gave her any Tylenol or Motrin.”

Jamie nodded and rose from the bed, but froze when Samantha whimpered behind her. “It’s all right, baby. I’ll be right back and Wyatt will stay with you. Okay?”

“Okay.”

She stopped and let her gaze slip back to where Wyatt sat on the side of the bed now and held his daughter’s hand. He whispered softly to her and pushed the hair back off her forehead. The whole scene broke Jamie’s heart and she felt tears choke her throat before she slipped out and headed back downstairs.

When she reached the living room, her parent’s stopped their conversation. “Mom, Wyatt wants to know if you gave Sam anything for her fever.”

“I gave her some Tylenol about an hour ago. Right before I called you.”

Bonnie’s concerned eyes rested on her for a moment and she sighed. “Just say it Mom, okay? Whatever you are going to say, I’ve probably already said to myself, so spit it out.”

“Nothing, Jamie. I’m surprised, that’s all. I didn’t know Wyatt was back in town and I didn’t realize you were seeing him.”

“I’m not seeing him.”
Never mind that you had mind-blowing sex a short time ago.
”I went by his house to talk about Samantha.”

“I see.”

“Just stop. Don’t read anything into this. He is here because he’s concerned about Sam.” She turned on her heel and headed back up the stairs. When she reached Samantha’s room, Wyatt still sat on the side of her bed. “Mom said she gave her some about an hour ago.”

“That should be fine then. We’ll keep an eye on her and see if the fever comes down. Why don’t you give her some of the pain medication I prescribed? That should help too.”

Jamie nodded and moved toward the small bathroom off to her left adjoining her room and Samantha’s. Retrieving two of the tablets, she grabbed the glass on the counter to get some water, before she returned to her daughter’s bedside. “Here, sweetie. Take these.”

Once the pills were swallowed, Samantha sat back on the pillows and looked up at Wyatt in what Jamie could almost describe as hero-worship. “Wyatt?”

“Yeah, pumpkin?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

Jamie’s heart began to thump loudly in her chest.

“Sure,” Wyatt answered.

“Mom told me something at the hospital the other day and I wanted to ask you about it.”

Concerned eyes found Jamie’s as she took the chair next to the bed. “Okay.”

“Mom said you knew my dad. Can you tell me about him?”

Oh fuck!
Wyatt’s startled gaze bounced from hers back to Samantha and Jamie said, “Baby, listen…”

“No, Mom. I want to know and you never talk about him. Every time I’ve asked, you avoid my questions so I decided I had to ask someone else who knew him.”

“What has your mom told you?”

“Not much, other than I have his eyes and he was cool, but I don’t know what kinds of things he liked, if I look like him, did he do good in school. I don’t even know his name.”

“I would love to tell you about him, pumpkin, but I think this conversation needs to happen between you and your mother, not me.”

Jamie sighed in relief.

“I do think she needs to tell you about him, though. I think it’s important for us to know our parents.” He stared pointedly at Jamie and her shoulder lifted in a half shrug.

“Mom?”

“You need to rest, Sam. We can talk about this some other time.” Jamie tucked the covers up around Samantha’s shoulders.

Samantha yawned. “Wyatt, are you and my mom dating?”

He chuckled softly and took his daughter’s hand in his. “I don’t think I would call it that.”

“What would you call it then?”

“We’re old friends, sweetheart. Your mom and I knew each other a long time ago.”

Another yawn spread her mouth wide. “I think you should date her.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he answered with a smile when her eyes drifted shut.

“Is she going to be okay?”

“I think she’ll be fine, but she does need to be watched closely. She could have an infection near the break and will possibly need antibiotics. It depends on how she reacts tonight to the Tylenol. If her fever stays down, it could just be a reaction to the break.”

Jamie shuffled her feet and her gaze rested on the tips of her boots.

“I think we need to talk about what happened earlier.”

She lifted her head and their eyes locked. “I…uh…I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have happened—I shouldn’t have allowed it to happen.”

“Why not?”

“Can we not talk about this right now? Not here, anyway.” She looked at Sam, then back to him.

“Fine.” He took her hand and led her out into the hall, before he pulled the door shut on their daughter’s room. His body pinned her to the wall behind her. “Now—why shouldn’t it have happened? I know you wanted me as much as I wanted you.”

“It was just a moment of weakness, Wyatt.”

His hand slipped into the hair near her ear before it moved around to the back of her head. “A moment of weakness.”

“Yeah,” she whispered when she felt him draw her closer until his lips were a mere hairsbreadth away. “I had an itch and you were available to scratch it.”

He leaned back. “An itch?”

Her shoulder lifted in a shrug.

I can’t let him get any closer to tearing down the wall I built around my heart when he left.
Yes, she had been the one to tell him to leave, but she had done it for him.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had sex and you still know how to push my buttons. You were available and I took advantage of it.”

Dropping his hands, he stepped back farther and frowned. “I didn’t realize how much of a heartless bitch you have turned into.” Before, his eyes had sparkled with desire, now they shone lifeless and dull as he looked at her. “I’ll check on Sam tomorrow. Be warned, I fully intend to tell her who I am by next weekend if you haven’t already.”

She sucked in a shocked breath and stared. “You wouldn’t.”

“Yes I would. She’s my daughter and I’m done letting you shut me out of her life.”

“But…”

“But nothing, Jamie. I will have a relationship with her even if you and I can’t stand to be in each other’s company anymore.”

Anger clouded his face before he spun on his heels and disappeared down the stairs. The front door slammed behind him and she jumped.

Fighting the urge to bang her head against the wall behind her in frustration, she closed her eyes and sighed.
Son of a bitch! Now what the hell am I going to do?

Chapter Five

Bright and early the following morning, Wyatt stood on the stoop, his Harley at the curb when she answered the bell.

“I came by to see Sam.”

“I figured as much. It’s not like you are here to see me.” She stepped aside and allowed him to enter. “Would you like some coffee? Sam’s not awake yet.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll be right back,” she said before she headed toward the kitchen. When she reached the countertop near the coffeepot, she stopped to take a few ragged breaths.

Damn it! Why does he have to affect me like this?
Just the smell of his freshly washed hair and the hint of his own unique musky scent had her heart hammering against her ribs. Her hands shook when she tried to pour him a cup of coffee and she splashed some of the scalding liquid over her hand. “Son of a bitch!”

“Everything okay?”

“Yes. I just burned my hand.”

A moment later, he stood by her side. Grasping her hand in his, he turned it over and inspecting the red skin. He pulled her closer to the sink and turned on the water. “Here. Hold it under the cold water for a minute.”