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  What he’d seen in Jordan’s eyes and in Kai’s face had sparked more emotion than he’d had to deal with in a very long time. His son, and the nervy, gutsy woman who’d risked herself to help them, had turned his quest for peace and boredom upside down.

  And he knew Kai had been right.

  He had some explaining to do, to both of the people he loved.

  He nearly shuddered inwardly at the simple fact that he had used the word, and that he’d meant it. The realization shocked him almost as much as his own actions had shocked his son.

  There was so much to work out, so much to talk about. With a capital T, as Kai had put it.

  The thought made him smile. And suddenly the burden seemed lighter. And for the first time in a very long time, he felt the desire to do just that, work it all out.

  Wyatt wasn’t sure exactly what John had said to the investigators, but he was a more than solid citizen whose standing in the community expedited the process. He knew there would be more to come but for now, there was a lull.

  And sooner than he’d expected—and sooner than he’d have liked, he admitted, calling himself a coward in the process—he was back to facing the music.

  The old phrase ran through his mind before he thought, and then it made him smile. Music indeed. Kai’s music may have moved hundreds of thousands, even millions, but he’d bet he and Jordan were the only ones who could say it had literally saved their lives.

  He walked out of the HP office where the interviews had been taking place, and back to John’s private anteroom. He opened the door, and for a moment just stood there, looking at the woman and the boy who were waiting. His son stood up, his eyes wide and full of tangled emotions Wyatt could only imagine were reflected in his own.

  “Jordy,” he said, his voice tight. Then, catching himself, he corrected it. “Sorry. Jordan.”

  “It’s all right,” the boy said, his voice quiet. He flicked a glance at Kai. “She…told me. What you used to be. The stuff you did, people you saved.”

  Wyatt’s breath died in his throat. She really did know. He shifted his glance to Kai.

  “You can be angry if you want, that I told him,” she said. “But it was purely selfish.”

  “Selfish?”

  “I wanted your explaining to be why, not what.”

  He closed his eyes. Drew in a long breath. Lowered his head. He couldn’t do this.

  He had no choice. No more than he had last night.

  He had to do this. She had the right. And she hadn’t said it, never would in front of Jordy, but she’d had the right to know before she’d gone to bed with him. Any woman had the right to know who she was really sleeping with. Not that they’d ever done much sleeping in those fiery afternoon hours.

  He had to do this.

  “My life then,” he said, his voice low and harsh, “was full of people like Stark. And the ones they harmed were never the same, after. For a long time it was enough, to put the bad ones away. But…it never ended. No matter how bad one guy was, there was always another who was worse.”

  He opened his eyes then, saw them both looking at him. Quietly listening, as if his words were going to determine the course of all their lives.

  Maybe they were.

  He started again. “When they only sentenced Stark to five years, I knew I was done. When they let him out of jail early, I knew it was the right decision.”

  “You knew he was out?” Kai asked.

  He nodded.

  “Had he…threatened you? Before?”

  The memory of the day Stark had been dragged out of court screaming about what he would do to Wyatt when he got out was particularly clear in his mind at the moment.

  “Yes.” Kai gave him a look that wasn’t too hard to interpret. “Why wasn’t I more on guard?”

  “If you knew,” she began.

  He sighed. “He was just the latest in a long line vowing payback. I tracked them, but if I assumed every one would follow through, I’d be living in a cave somewhere, with a machine gun.”

  “How did he find you?”

  “He did come up with a unique approach.”

  “Unique?”

  “He used friendlies.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “He approached some people, civilians, who…had reason to be friendly. Pretended to be one of them.”

  “People you’d helped.”

  “Yes.”

  Kai flicked a glance at Jordy, who was watching and listening silently. But at least it was an avid sort of silence, not the sullen withdrawal he’d been used to.

  “People,” she said, “whose lives you’d saved. Or whose loved ones you’d saved.”

  His mouth quirked. Was she trying to build him up in front of his son? “Some,” he admitted. “People known to the team, people they’d be more inclined to be open with.”

  “They told them where you were?”

  He shook his head. “They wouldn’t. But apparently he got little bits from enough people, through the friendlies he cultivated, getting them to call and ask about me, under the guise of being…thankful. Eventually, he got enough.”

  “You knew this.”

  “I hadn’t put it all together yet, but yes.”

  “Why didn’t you ask for help?”

  “I cut all my ties with that world. I even cashed out my retirement, so there’d be no trail to me.”

  “I mean from me,” she said, startling him. “I thought we were…close enough.”

  Fire shot through him at the images sparked by her careful words. She didn’t look at Jordy, but he knew they were both painfully aware of the boy’s presence.

  She had every right, he supposed. They were sleeping together, they’d shared the most intimate moments he’d ever known, but he’d never told her the truth.

  “I’m…used to doing things on my own. I’ve never had much choice. Until now.”

  “And?”

  “Now I don’t want to do it that way anymore. But I have to learn how…not to.” He glanced at Jordy. “And how not to be like my father.”

  It was confused, convoluted, and as usual, Kai understood perfectly. The smile she gave him told him that. And then and there he made a silent promise to her—and his son—that he would learn, somehow.

  Kai would help him. He knew that now, knew it bone deep.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” It was the first thing Jordy had said since this started. “Why did you let me keep thinking you were this boring old guy?”

  “Because that’s what I wanted to be.”

  Jordy frowned. “But why?” Then the frown vanished as something occurred to him. “You never told because you didn’t want him to find you?”

  “Us.”

  Jordy blinked. “Oh.” Then, in a voice with a slight tinge of hurt this time, “Why didn’t my mom ever tell me?”

  Ouch. He’d figured that one was coming, and felt as if he’d opened the door on a roomful of time bombs, all set to go off simultaneously. How the hell did he explain a promise of no-strings sex to a thirteen-year-old?

  “I never asked her not to,” he said. “I’m sure she had her reasons.” He took a breath, glanced at Kai, who gave him a barely perceptible nod. Trusting her, he plunged ahead. “Just like she had her reasons for never telling me about you.”

  “Until she was dying,” Jordy said. It was a measure of his state of mind, Wyatt guessed, that for the first time he said it baldly, out loud, without a quiver in his voice.

  “Yes.”

  “Then she had no choice. You didn’t want to be my father.”

  “Didn’t plan on it,” Wyatt admitted. “There’s a difference.”

  “And he went from that,” Kai said softly, but still drawing Jordy’s attention, “to being willing to die for you last night.”

  Jordy’s eyes widened, as if he’d forgotten that part. His gaze shot back to his father’s face. “You really would have traded with me?”

  His first instinct was to dissemble,
brush it off, pretend the situation hadn’t been as dire as it had been. But something in the way Kai had said it made him change his mind.

  “In an instant,” he said, as softly as she had.

  The look of wonder that came into the eyes that were like looking in a younger mirror told him he’d made the right call.

  While you’re on a roll, he thought, and looked at Kai.

  “Just like I’d do for Kai,” he said, just as softly. “In an instant.”

  He’d caught her off guard, hard enough to do that it pleased him when she first gaped, then, very slowly, smiled that smile that set off urgent fires all through him.

  “You’re sure about that?” she asked.

  He nodded. “It’s what a man does, when he…loves somebody.” Her breath caught audibly. He reached out and brushed his fingers over her cheek. “But if you ever take a chance like you did last night again…”

  She reached up and cupped his hand, holding it to her face. “It’s what a woman does, when she loves somebody. Takes a chance.”

  Wyatt felt an odd sort of tumble inside at her words. He hadn’t realized how much he’d let himself hope until she said them.

  “I’m a hell of a long shot, Kai. I don’t know how to…be with someone.”

  “You didn’t know how to be a father, either, but you’re coming right along. Trainable is good.”

  One corner of his mouth quirked. He wanted to grab her, kiss her senseless, but he had one more thing he had to get out. He was aware that Jordy was standing there, staring at them, he could almost feel the boy’s mind racing, processing, as if he were trying to figure out if what he was hearing meant what it sounded like.

  “Besides,” Kai said softly, “we have a lot in common. We both gave up something we loved, because we couldn’t take what came with it anymore.”

  He’d never thought of it that way before. Leave it to Kai to put it in a way that made so much sense.

  “There could be more where Stark came from,” he said, finally getting out that last warning.

  “At least now I’ll be prepared. But one thing, Wyatt.”

  “Only one?”

  “For now.”

  “What?”

  She glanced at Jordy then. “No more hiding. Anything from anyone.”

  “Agreed,” he said instantly, meaning it.

  They turned to face the boy who had, in his way, brought them together. He was staring at them both.

  “You all right with this?” Wyatt asked.

  Jordy looked from him to Kai and back again. “You?” he asked, very tentatively.

  “Us,” Kai confirmed.

  “You mean like…together? The two of you?”

  “I was hoping,” Kai said, “it would be more like the three of us.”

  Jordy’s jaw dropped. He swallowed visibly. He looked at his father. “You mean it?”

  “More than I’ve ever meant anything,” Wyatt said. “Turns out I’m not quite through with life, after all.”

  Jordy stared at them, speechless. Kai took pity on him. “You’ve had way too much thrown at you in way too short a time, haven’t you? Why don’t you go round us up some sodas from that machine out in the hall?”

  The practicality of that seemed to distract the boy. “I don’t have any money.”

  Wyatt reached into his pocket and pulled out what he had and handed most of it over. Still, Jordy hesitated.

  “I’m about to kiss her, if that makes up your mind,” he said.

  “Ew,” Jordy said, and wheeled around to dart through the door.

  Wyatt laughed, for the first time in what seemed like forever. He pulled her against him. “Why did you pick that song?”

  She blinked. As if it took her a moment to even remember.

  “It was the only thing that would come out. It’s been in my mind, I guess,” she said.

  As it had been in his. “Playing With Fire.”

  “I’m not playing,” he said. “Not anymore.”

  “Does that mean you’re to make good on that promise to kiss me?” Kai asked, rather archly.

  He turned back to her, feeling an almost unbearable tightness in his chest as he looked at the woman who had burned through his walls so effortlessly.

  “I’m going to make good on all of them,” he said. “But I’ll start with that one.”

  And he did.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-8949-3

  ALWAYS A HERO

  Copyright © 2011 by Janice Davis Smith

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