Page 46 of Sutton's Shadow

A laugh burst from his chest. But then his expression turned sultry. “And you always will,” he promised.

Definitely a puddle of goo now. The man was lethal.

The corners of his mouth quirked in a sexy little grin. He was teasing her again, but she didn’t mind. She found she was rather enjoying his teasing and could usually give it back just as easily. Only as his thumb stroked across the pulse point on her wrist, she was not feeling particularly witty.

“Cat got your tongue, shutterbug?” She narrowed her eyes, broadcasting her opinion of that nickname, which he found highly amusing. She noticed he’d begun using it whenever he could.

“Okay, Tin Man,” she retorted, injecting as much snark into his nickname as she could. “New subject.”

Another of those deep chuckles rumbled through him. “Okay. Let me see.” He made a big show of trying to think, tapping his finger against his chin. “What’s your favorite Liam memory?”

She sucked in a breath, not expecting that, but a picture of a bittersweet memory filled her mind.

“It was during that time we visited you after your injury. You were in a crappy apartment, hobbling around on your crutches.”

“The crutches that Liam kept messing with the height, are those the ones you are talking about?”

“Oh my God. I’d forgotten about that. You knew?”

“Of course I knew. It was exactly the type of prank he’d pull.”

“And he thought he’d gotten away with it.”

“Who was I to spoil his fun?”

“I talked him out of putting grease on the bottoms. He thought it would be hilarious to see them slip out from under you. I convinced him you’d aggravate your injury if that happened.”

“Thanks for that.”

“Anyway, it was one night when Bethany was visiting. We were playing a card game together. She kept calling him Uncle Liam, and his eyes lit up each time.”

“He loved Bethany just as much as I do and took the role of honorary uncle seriously.”

“I asked him about that once. He said that since he was an only child, he thought he’d never get to experience being someone’s uncle. I watched him melt every time she called him uncle.”

“He’s the one who gave her the ‘Little Bee’ nickname.”

“Of course he was. He was so sweet with her. I remember looking around at the four of us and thinkingthis is what family is. My parents died when I was eighteen, and it had been a long time since I had experienced anything having to do with family. But when the four of us played cards and joked, it felt like I was part of an actual family.” That was also the moment she’d felt restless in her job. She and Liam were getting married soon, and she’d suddenly wondered what it would be like to have a family of her own. She’d started discussions with Liam about ending the travel aspect of her profession, or at least cutting back. She’d argued that the locations they went were no place to take a child.

He’d stared at her in shock. They’d never talked about having children, and from his expression, it seemed the thought had never crossed his mind. A gap she didn’t know how to bridge grew between them. She never imagined a few months later that the gap would swallow them whole with Liam’s death.

The memory of his interaction with Bethany was bittersweet. She loved that side of him and had hoped he’d be the same with their children. But at the same time, she saw the wanderlust in his eyes. And every time she’d talk about having a family, he looked like he was ready to bolt.

“That’s a good memory,” he said.

“Yes and no,” she admitted.

One brow quirked, curiosity filling his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“It was a time that exposed certain problems in our relationship.”

Wyatt nodded. “Ah, I understand. He wasn’t ready to settle down yet.”

“Yup.”

“Liam was supportive of my quest to get custody of Bethany, but I could tell he thought I was crazy for wanting to settle down to raise a kid. He still wanted to sow his wild oats.”

“Yeah, when I suggested I may want to cut down on some projects that required travel, he looked at me like he’d never seen me before.” And that look had spoken volumes. As did the surfing trip she’d told Wyatt about. She’d played it off as no big deal, but she’d felt abandoned. Like she wasn’t a priority. The two incidents combined had her reevaluating everything.

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