Page 7 of Her Loving Hero

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Emily staredup at the nice stucco townhomes as Wyatt parked his truck.

“You’re going to be surprised when you see how old my gaming system is,” Wyatt teased.

“I’ll just stay in the truck.” Emily needed some alone time. Time to think. It was going to be hard to do it when she was surrounded by all things Wyatt.

He gave her a perplexed look and got out of the truck. She sighed with relief.

The door she was leaning against opened slowly so she moved. “Wyatt, I said I wasn’t coming in.”

“Well, you’re not staying here in the truck.” His expression was…She couldn’t get a read on his expression.

“Please, can you leave me alone. Please?”

“I have a deck. You can sit out there, it looks over the kid’s swings. I just don’t feel comfortable having you sit out here, okay?” He held out his hand.

Emily ignored it. She unbuckled her belt and grabbed the handle on the truck and stepped on the runner of the truck and carefully got to the ground. She didn’t look at Wyatt. She heard him sigh.

“It’s this way,” he said as he closed and locked the truck.

She noticed that the crepe myrtle trees were pretty as she walked beside him toward his townhome.

Darn it! She should have held her ground.

When had he crawled so deeply into her life? How had she let this happen? She peeked up at him under her lashes.

Oh yeah, he was hot. He was nice. He was funny. He was easy to be around. That’s why she’d let him in. Wyatt was just such so sexy. She’d never felt like this about a man before.

Darn. Darn. Darn. I can’t be falling in like? Can I?

She stopped in her tracks as shivers racked her body and she broke out in a cold sweat. What was she thinking? The idea of a man touching her was abhorrent.

“Emily?”

Was somebody saying her name?

She felt a hand on her upper arm, she shook it off and fell backwards into the grass next to the sidewalk. She scuttled backwards like a crab. She couldn’t see, but she knew she needed to get away from that hand.

“Emily?” a man’s voice whispered softly.

“Stay away.” She tried to yell, but her words came out weak and hoarse.

“Please, Emily. It’s okay.”

She pushed into the ground with her elbows and heels, trying to get away from the voice. “Don’t hurt me,” she begged.

“Miss Emily Hoag, this is Petty Officer Wyatt Leeds. I’m not going to touch you.”

She heard a commanding male voice. It sounded safe.

“Emily, it’s me Wyatt. Remember? Emily, you’re safe. No one is going to hurt you.”

Emily stopped moving. Nobody was touching her. She slumped back on the soft grass and opened her eyes, she looked up and saw a blinding blue sky. Her heart was beginning to beat at a normal rate.

“Angel, you with me?” Wyatt asked softly.

Damn it. Again? When would this end?