He stared at her, the words almost verbatim what Darcy had said not that long ago. “Where did that come from?” he asked, having his suspicions.
“The grapevine, so I can’t cite its origin.”
He bet he could.
“I heard it three different times earlier when I called everyone in town to find out if anyone knew who Woodrow belonged to,” she said.
“Darcy.” He wondered if she realized she’d started calling the dog by a name, but that would have to wait. “Definitely Darcy.”
“She loves you,” Emily said.
“Yeah,” he said. “And so does my mother. And we both know how much that means.”
She didn’t smile. “Do you remember our plan?”
“You and the P word.”
“It was to get to know each other,” she said. “And we were going to not like each other.”
“How’s that working out for you?”
“Right now?” she asked. “Pretty good.”
He flashed a grim smile. “Ditto.”
“So we’re on the same page. We have no problem,” she said.
“Absolutely not a one,” he agreed.
They stared at each other, and the air crackled. His body did that annoying-as-shit thing where he got hard from just looking at her. “Fuck,” he muttered.
“Yes, please,” she said, and threw herself at him.
He caught her. “You know what this means, right?” he asked, hauling her up his body.
She was already panting, taking little nips along his jaw, heading for his mouth. “What?”
“You’re all crazy.”
“Women? Yes, I know.” She got to his mouth.
He met her halfway, tightening his arms around her, pulling her in hard just as his door opened.
Dell and Darcy stood in the doorway.
Both stared at Emily and Wyatt—still shirtless—and had the same brows-up reaction.
“Playing doctor?” Darcy asked.
“Would you believe yes?” Emily asked.
“No,” Darcy said, and turned to Dell, palm out. “I’ll take my fifty now.”
“Christ.” He fished through his wallet and paid up. Then he pointed at Wyatt. “You owe me fifty bucks.”
When they were gone, Wyatt looked at Emily, who had her hands over her face.
“Not good,” she said, and dropped her hands. “We’ve got to get a hold of ourselves.”
“We?”
She closed her eyes. “Okay! It’s me! I know!”
He laughed. “It’s not just you. Not even close.”
She opened her eyes and stared at him, achingly unsure and vulnerable. Shaking his head, a little thrown off by how much he wanted to see her smile again, he stepped into her. “Not even close,” he repeated softly.
“This has to stop,” she said, just as softly, her big eyes entreating and desperate. “We can do it,” she said, and he wondered which of them she was trying to convince.
“Look, I’ll show you,” she said, and pulled out her phone. She accessed her calendar and shoved it under his nose. “Three hundred and twenty-three days left.”
“That’s wrong,” he said. “You haven’t updated. It’s three hundred and twenty-two, see?”
She stared at the screen and blinked. “Huh. I guess I forgot.”
He wondered if she realized that was a sign, and then decided by the annoyance on her face that it wasn’t a sign at all.
Which made him the crazy one. Shit. He’d been here, right here in this place before, and he’d promised himself not to do this again.
Emily was looking into his face. “You look like you just had an epiphany.”
Yes, and it wasn’t all that pleasant. He shook his head.
She opened her mouth to say something but Mike called for her from down the hall.
With one last long look at Wyatt, she left his office.
When Darcy poked her head in five minutes later, Wyatt was still standing in the exact same spot.
She barely reached his shoulder, to which she gave a good shot with her fist, right where he’d been bitten.
“Jesus,” he said, rubbing it. “What the hell’s your problem?”
“You,” she said, and did it again.
He caught her fist in his hand. “Knock your shit off, Darcy. I don’t have time for your games.”
“Even if I give you a hint?” she asked, and leaned in close. “You’re an idiot.”
He let out a breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Go away.”
“Can’t. It’s my job to give you your messages. And this one’s from me. You got screwed by Caitlin. She left you for a job, and you don’t even get to be mad about it because it was noble and all that bullshit. But that didn’t negate your feelings for her, did it? You’d have eventually married her, and then it would have been worse. You didn’t deserve that, Wyatt, honest to God you didn’t, and there’s not a person in Sunshine that appreciates how she treated you in the end. But if you let yourself fall for Emily—another woman who isn’t the right one for you, you will get exactly what you deserve. Disappointment—again.”
“I’m sorry,” came a quiet voice.
Wyatt and Darcy both turned to face a pale Emily standing in the doorway. She bit her lower lip. “I really didn’t mean to hear that.”
Darcy blew out a breath. “No, I’m the sorry one. Don’t pay any attention to me, I’m crazy. Everyone knows that.”
“No, it’s true,” Emily said.
“That I’m crazy?” Darcy asked.
“That if Wyatt falls for me, he’d be disappointed. It’s a recurring theme in my life.”
Shit. Wyatt started toward her, but she put up a hand. “No, we really don’t need to discuss.”
Mike had come into the front room behind her, a file in his hand. Behind him was Woodrow. Around the dog’s neck was a badge on a braided lanyard, just like the ones all the staff wore. It had his pic, name, and addy—Belle Haven— just like a real one.
Emily took the file from Mike’s fingers, bent to kiss Woodrow on the head, and vanished into an exam room.
Woodrow and Mike vanished.
“Nicely done,” Wyatt said to his sister. “You really outdid yourself there.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Save it,” he said. “It’s my fault, anyway.” He pushed past her and went after Emily.
She was with Mr. Myers and his thirteen-year-old golden retriever Buddy. “I’ve got this,” she said without looking at him, nose buried in the file.
Wyatt smiled at Mr. Myers.
Mr. Myers smiled back. He was somewhere between eighty and two hundred years old. He hadn’t worn his teeth today. Wyatt was counting on the fact that he wasn’t wearing his hearing aid, either. The guy hated both with a wellknown passion. “Emily—”
“Dr. Stevens,” she corrected. “And I’m a little busy right now.”
“I just want to be clear about why you’re upset.”
“Shh!” She slid a quick look at Mr. Myers.
“He can’t hear you. He can’t hear anything without his hearing aid.”
She relaxed marginally but emotion still sparked from her. “I’m trying to be professional,” she whispered.
“Professional?” he asked. “Is that what we’ve been doing?”
She flicked another glance Mr. Myers’s way, found him sitting there humming to himself, and then glared at Wyatt. “We both know exactly what we’ve been doing. Fun and games.”
“Which we both agreed to,” he reminded her.
“Yeah.” Her eyes shuttered. “Which apparently doesn’t include discussing your ex with me. Which doesn’t matter anymore since we’re done as of now. So if you’ll go on your merry way, I have a patient.”
Wyatt looked at Mr. Myers. “Excuse us a moment.”