Wild Rekindled Love (3 page)

“Damn it, listen to me. Leave him alone. This isn’t his fault.”

“Why? He needs to take care of his responsibility – his daughter.”

“He didn’t leave because he wanted to. He left because I told him to.”
There. It’s out.
The heavy burden she carried with her for nine years finally reared its ugly head.

“What the hell are you saying? You told him to leave?”

She sighed heavily and sank down onto the patio chair. “Yes. I told him to leave. I was seventeen and scared. He was twenty years old, trying to get through college and when I found out about my pregnancy, I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t ask him to drop out of school to take care of me and the baby. It wasn’t fair to him.”

Chase sat down next to her and took her hand in his. “What about you? It wasn’t fair for you to have to raise her by yourself.”

“No, I guess it wasn’t, but I had you, Justin, Cole and Mom and Dad to help me. I knew I could count on my family.”

“So he took the easy way out and left town.”

“I guess you could say that, yes. He didn’t want to. I told him I wouldn’t see him anymore. I forced him to leave.”

 
“God, what a mess this is,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“This isn’t your fight anymore. It’s mine and mine alone. I chose the path I took and now that he is back in town, I have to face the choice I made. It changed both our lives and Samantha’s. This is my mess to clean up.”

“Not alone. You are never alone and you know that.”

Tears burned the back of her eyelids when she touched his face. “I love you, Chase, but I have to take care of this myself. I’m not sure how I’m going to fix this, but I will – somehow I will.”

* * * *

Wyatt sighed when he sat down on the twin bed in the physician’s room to change his shoes.
I’m so glad today is finally over.
Coming face to face with Jamie and his daughter yesterday had taken its toll. All of his dreams last night involved Jamie and he’d slept like shit. Today every patient seemed to take everything out of him.

I knew it would happen eventually. It’s not like I could or even wanted to avoid her.

Five fingers cut a path through his hair and then rubbed the back of his neck for a minute. Grabbing his duffle bag, he pulled out his running clothes and changed. Exhaustion tickled the back of his mind, but the restlessness he felt since that afternoon tugged at his insides.

A good run is what I need.

Stretching out the muscles of his legs for several minutes, he pulled open the door and headed for the entrance leading outside.

Feet found a rhythm as they pounded against the pavement. Sweat poured down his back, soaking his t-shirt but he continued to run for over an hour. Ragged breaths rasped from his lungs as his chest heaved with the effort of keeping up the fast past he had set for himself.

Jamie. Jamie. Jamie.

Her name beat against his skull with each footfall hitting the ground beneath him until he stopped and braced his hands on his knees. Sweat dripped into his eyes and he swiped at the salty liquid with his sleeve.

When she had thrown herself into his arms it felt like heaven had opened up and smiled on him again after all these years.

God, I’ve missed her.

Medical school had been a bitch, but leaving her here, knowing she carried his child, had torn his heart out of chest. He always knew when he finished school, he would return to Laramie. Whether she would let him back in her life, he didn’t know.

The day she broke the news surfaced in his mind as he turned around and headed back to the hospital.

“Wyatt. We need to talk.”

Burying his nose in the crook of her neck, he nuzzled against it before he ran his tongue up the silky column of skin. A low purr rumbled in her throat for a moment as she tipped her head and gave him better access.

Her voice dropped to a whisper and he smiled against her skin. “We need to talk. I need to tell you something.”

“Mmm…whatever it is, it can wait. I need to make love to you.” His mouth trailed down her chest and she arched her back as he sucked the pert nipple between his lips. The moan of pleasure from her lips had pride swelling in his heart. Pushing her breast further into his mouth, she fingered the hair at his nape, wrapping the strands around her fingertips.

They had been dating for several months and even though she was only seventeen to his twenty, he knew she had already wound his heart around her little pinky. Her brothers would kill him if they found out they were having sex, but he couldn’t seem to help himself with her near. She intoxicated him with her scent, the first time she had walked by him at the pizza parlor and when she flashed those gorgeous dimples, he nearly dropped to her feet and kissed her toes.

“Open for me, baby.”

“God, I love when you do that.”

Swiping his tongue over the skin of her stomach, he moved lower, toward the warm center that awaited him, skimming the silky flesh and leaving goose bumps in his wake. She parted her slim thighs when his broad shoulders filled the space. When his tongue speared her vagina, she lifted her hips and begged for more. Licking from vagina to clit in one long stroke almost sent her careening over the edge as she whimpered her need above him. Her thighs quivered when he toggled the hardened little nub beneath his tongue until she screamed his name and flooded his mouth with her sweet cum.

He kissed his way back to her lips, slanting his over hers and delving his tongue into her mouth as his stiff cock slipped inside her waiting heat. Gorgeous legs wrapped around his hips, lifting her butt higher as he groaned into her mouth. His lips left hers and his breathing hitched in his throat. Her vagina squeezed him like a vice, almost making him loose control. “God, Jamie. You feel amazing wrapped around me.”

“Fuck me, Wyatt, fuck me hard.”

He brought her legs up to where they draped across his bulging biceps and his groin slammed into hers. The rocking of his pelvis brought them both to the brink and pushed them over together as her cries of pleasure echoed in his ears.

When the shudders calmed, he released her legs and draped himself over her chest, his nose buried in the crook of her neck. Her fingers skimmed down his back, tickling the skin beneath them. Shifting slightly, he moved to relieve her of his weight, but she held on tight and whispered, “Don’t move yet.”

“I’ll squish you.”

“It’s okay. I want to feel close to you,” she murmured, a small catch in her voice.

After a moment, he lifted his head and brushed the brown curls from her forehead. He frowned when he looked into her eyes and found tears glistening on her lashes. “What’s wrong, baby? I didn’t hurt you, did I?

“No, you didn’t hurt me. You wouldn’t ever do that, I know.”

“Then what? Why are you crying?”

She shifted under him, forcing him to move from on top of her and sat up on the side of the bed. The clothes on the floor were grabbed and she slipped on her shirt before shimmied into her jeans without a word.

“Jamie, honey. Come on. Tell me what’s wrong?”

“I need to tell you something, Wyatt. I tried before we—before we…”

“Before we made love?”

“Yeah, but as usual, you distracted me.” Her brown eyes found his and terror gripped his heart. “Put some clothes on, please.”

Not liking the look in her eyes, he stood up and reached for his pants before he slipped them on, and then took a seat on the bed again. The soft shuffle of her footsteps across the carpet, sounded loud in the room. “Jamie, sweetheart—whatever it is, we’ll work it out together. You know that.”

Air rushed from between her lips as she sighed heavily and took several steps away from him before she started to talk. “Wyatt, I know you are only a few years into your college degree and you still have several more to go so you can practice medicine.”

“Yeah.”

“Please, let me talk.” She chewed her bottom lip for a moment before she continued. “I care about you—a lot, but you can’t give up your career for me.”

“What are you saying, Jamie?” He frowned as confusion raced across his brain. “I’m not giving up anything.”

“You will, though. I know you well enough to know that.”

“I’m confused, baby. What’s going on?”

Facing the window, she blurted out, “Wyatt—I’m going to have a baby—your baby.”

He jumped to his feet and almost shouted, “What? You can’t be serious. You’re on birth control.”

“I realize that.”

“How can you be pregnant?”

“Come on, Wyatt. You know as well as I do, the pill isn’t perfect and we didn’t use a condom for the last few months since we were dating exclusively.”

Footsteps took the same path she’d make through the carpet. “Pregnant? Shit!” He stopped in front of her and took her shoulders in his hands. “We’ll just get married then, and raise this baby together.”

She pulled away from him and moved several feet away. “I’m not marrying you.”

What the hell? Did she just say she wouldn’t marry me?

“Wait! What did you say?”

“I’m not marrying you.” She folded her arms under her breasts and her lips pulled into a firm line when the infamous stubborn Wilder streak reared its ugly head.

“But we have to. This is our baby and we’ll raise it together like parents should. I’ll drop out of school and get a different job.”

“No. You are going to stay in school and I’ll raise this baby myself with the help of my family. You are not giving up your dream of becoming a doctor because I’m pregnant.”

“Fuck! Your brothers are going to kill me! They don’t even know we’ve been having sex, and now this.”

A frown pulled down the corners of her mouth as she bit her lower lip. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“They will never allow you to raise this baby alone, if they have anything to say about it. What about your parents?”

“It doesn’t matter. This is my life and I’ll decide what happens, not them. I’m not going to allow you to drop out of school.” Worried eyes met his. “Can you transfer somewhere? You can’t stay here, Wyatt. They’ll kill us both.”

“But I love you, Jamie. I don’t want to leave town.”

Presenting him with her back, she stared out the window for a moment, before she whispered, “I don’t love you. I’ll carry this baby and raise it alone, but you need to move on—finish school and be the best damned doctor this country has ever seen.”

He stepped behind her and grasped her shoulders in his hands. “You’re lying. I know you love me.”

Inhaling a big breath, she stepped out of his reach before she turned around and her eyes bored into his. “No Wyatt, I don’t.” She slipped on her flip flops, grabbed her purse and walk out without another word.

Chapter Three

The hot stream of water pricked his skin like tiny needles. Nine years. Nine fucking years he had been without her.

He did as she asked back then. He had been scared; terrified in fact, when she told him she was going to have his baby. For days after their conversation, he had tried to talk to her, but she refused to even see him. Messages went unanswered and going by her house proved to be futile. He had been at a loss as to what to do. Leaving town was the last thing he wanted to do, but he hadn’t seen any other choice so he wrote her a letter, mailed it to the house and left.

Walking away from Jamie and his daughter had been the hardest thing he ever had to do—until today. Now, continuing to live in the same town and not touch her would be the harder still.

Maybe she’ll let me be a part of her life.

“Yeah, and maybe hell will freeze over tomorrow,” he grumbled as he turned off the water and grabbed the towel hanging from the rack next to the stall. Once he dried off, he wrapped it around his lean hips, tucking the end in at his waist before he padded out to the small sleeping room.

Slipping a t-shirt over his head and pulling on his jeans, he jammed his feet into his boots, and ran a comb through his wet hair.

I need a cold beer.

Grabbing his duffle, he pulled open the door and came face to face with Amy.

“Oh, hi, doc. I wondered if you were still here.”

He cocked an eyebrow as a flirty smile rippled across her mouth. “Something I can do for you?”

 
Her green eyes wandered down his frame before coming back to his face. She didn’t even try to mask the interest in her gaze. “Mmm…maybe.”

A dry chuckle left his mouth. “I mean patient wise.”

Her eyes returned to his when she boldly ran a fingernail down his chest.

Damn! Did she ever give up?

“No, but I’m sure I could probably help you.”

Two steps to the side and he scooted past her. “Sorry. I’m headed out. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With a pouty turn of her lip, she said, “Yeah. I’ll be here.”

“Night, Amy.”

“Night, Wyatt.”

He left her standing in the hall as he hit the exit button where his Harley sat in the parking lot. Slipping on his helmet, he straddled the heavy bike before he brought the kickstand up and hit the ignition. With a low growl, the motorcycle turned over and he slowly pulled out into traffic, headed for Cowboy Lights.