“Crystal.”
Wyatt turned and left, then drove back to his place.
He barely got out of the shower when he heard knocking at the door.
Adriana was standing there, her arms crossed and a pissed off look on her face. “What do you have to be mad about?”
“You,” she said, walking past him. “I don’t need someone to fight my battles.”
He snorted. “Then you’re going to hate the fact I had words with Dr. Spencer Rymes this afternoon.”
* * *
Adriana had come over here ready to do battle.
If it wasn’t bad enough that all her dirty laundry was going to be aired out like a twister flung it over the city, now she had to deal with the fact Wyatt looked ready to fight Spencer.
Not that there’d be any competition there. But Wyatt never took anything serious other than his job or his family. Just this morning she’d started to suspect that he loved her too and she had to wonder if maybe she’d been wrong about him.
That anything that was important in his life was what he put his focus on. Did she rate up that high in his eyes because finding out where Spencer was and having words with him was beyond being serious?
“How did you find him?”
“Does it matter? I did. And he won’t be bothering you again. If he does, I’ll know. Whether you tell me or not, I’m going to know. I’ll make it my mission.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t even know what to say to that.”
“What you’re going to tell me is why I didn’t know any of this before. Why you felt you couldn’t tell me. If I knew I would have had a better understanding of why you wanted our relationship so quiet. Never once did you say your ex was a doctor.”
“Because it wasn’t relevant.”
“Like hell it wasn’t,” he yelled.
She sat down on the couch. Again, this was a side of Wyatt she hadn’t seen before. What she wanted to do was pace, but she was just so tired of everything. Maybe he was right, but she was sick of saying that too.
“I told you he was married. No one at work knew we were dating.”
“He’s a primary care doctor. How did you even meet?”
“I want to know how you know these things, but I guess it doesn’t matter.” He was staring at her, not saying a word. “He had office hours in the hospital two days a week. We met in the cafeteria. He was new to the practice. New to the area.”
“So you had no idea he was married and no one else did either?” he asked.
“No. He didn’t wear a wedding band but not a lot of men do.”
“True.” He knew that, but all the men in his family wore them. It wasn’t a symbol they were taken, it was a symbol of love in his eyes.
“Go on.”
“We started to date. I worked second shift and we didn’t see much of each other. His wife started to suspect he was having an affair and came into the hospital and made a scene, hugging and kissing him. Enough that it got people talking in general. It got back to me. I confronted him and he tried to tell me they were separated.”
He snorted. “It doesn’t sound it from the wife’s point of view.”
“No. And I don’t need to go into details there. The minute I found out, I told him we were done. I had a lot of choice words for him too. A few days after, his wife confronted me at work in front of everyone. At that point everyone knew and I was enemy number one. First no one knew I was dating anyone, let alone someone in the hospital. Then I’m being called a slut and homewrecker on top of it.”
She started to sniffle remembering how hard it had been. Normally she didn’t let shit bother her, but in that instance it was hard to shake it off. It just seemed like the happy go lucky world she’d had over a year ago had changed overnight.
She’d gone from dating a man she thought she loved and was a great catch to finding out what a fool she was, moving to another state, and then being someone she never thought she’d be.
Finding Wyatt helped her get back to who she was and the last thing she wanted was to have it all brought out again.
“It made you feel like your mother?” he asked.
“Yes. That made it all the worse. On top of it, Spencer wouldn’t let it drop. For a few weeks he did, then he started to call me, begging me to come back. Telling me he loved me and wanted me to hear his side of the story. I didn’t want any part of it.”
“He was stalking you,” he said. “I’m going to go wipe the floor with his ass.”
“No,” she said. “I think he just wouldn’t take no for an answer. It made me uncomfortable. And well, my father was upset, as he knew. He convinced me to leave and I felt it was best. I never thought he’d follow me here. It’s been months.”
“How did he find you?”
“My mother. Last night I called her and told her to never call me again. She felt I should give Spencer a chance. That it’s a great thing to have a man want to be with you that much. She doesn’t get it. I told her I was dating someone and then she got pissed at me for not telling her that. Said if I told her about you maybe she wouldn’t have let Spencer know where I was.”
“I just can’t even imagine a parent doing that.”
“Don’t get me going there again,” she said.
“So your mood last night? It’s because of Spencer and not me?”
“No,” she said, moving closer to him. “Not like you think.”
“Then explain it to me. I feel like I’ve
