Page 77 of Guarding Colton’s Witness

“You’re ridiculous.” She leaned back, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “But thank you, I guess.”

He raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips. “You guess? You wound me. Here I am, ready to step in and save you from embarrassment, and you’re not even sure you appreciate it.”

She rolled her eyes, but her smile widened. “Okay, fine. I appreciate it. Happy now?”

“Much better.”

“Your turn. Never have you ever…?”

He had a quick debate with himself, then decided to go for it. “Never have I…been in love.”

“That’s too easy. False because you were engaged once, so you must have been in love.”

He’d thought so, but maybe not. He’d never felt for Cassie the way he felt for Matti. He wanted to tell her that he was in love with her, but she wasn’t ready to hear it. The words were on the tip of his tongue, though, and he’d even whispered them to her while she slept.

“Looking back, I think I was in love with the idea of being in love. It hurt when Cassie ended the engagement, but I wasn’t truly heartbroken.”

“I’ve never been in love.”

She sounded wistful, as if she wanted to be in love. “Do you want to be?”

“Someday.”

“Think you could ever love me?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back. The question was too revealing, sounded too needy.

“I know I could if…” She glanced down at their joined hands. “If you weren’t a doctor.”

That wasn’t an answer he was expecting or would have even guessed. Her father was a doctor, a damn good one, and she had to be proud of him. Was this the wall she’d erected that he was going to have to tear down?

“Why is being a doctor a bad thing?”

“This is a silly conversation. I don’t want to play this game anymore.”

“Can you explain it to me, please? I really want to know.” If he was going to blast that wall to smithereens, he had to know the reason for her aversion to falling in love with a doctor.

Doctors made decent money… Well, once all the student loans were paid off. They were the good guys, although many of his colleagues had some pretty big egos. It kind of came with the territory when you played God. He didn’t think he had an inflated ego, and he wasn’t bad looking. If she were truly his, he’d treat her like a queen.

“Matti?” he said when she didn’t answer. “What do you have against doctors?”

Wyatt walked into the room, giving her an excuse not to answer, and Ryan wanted to yell at him to go away. The moment was lost, however, but now he knew that for some reason, doctors were a no for her. It was a start.

“Anything new?” Ryan asked.

Wyatt took a seat in the chair across from them. “No. Still waiting to hear if those leads panned out.”

Matti jumped up and strode to the window and looked out. “I never thought I could kill someone, but I think I could wipe from existence without a second thought those men who want to hurt Sam.” She spun to face them. “If that makes me a bad person, I don’t care.”

“It doesn’t,” Ryan said, standing and going to her. “I think we’re all feeling the same. Come away from the window.” He didn’t think anyone would randomly shoot at them, but no need to test that belief.

“This needs to be over before Sam comes home. You hear me, Wyatt?”

“Hear you loud and clear.”

Ryan studied Wyatt, seeing the exhaustion and frustration on the man’s face. “Matti and I are going to see what we can scrounge up for dinner. Why don’t you take a break? Put a ball game or something on and stretch out on the couch.” He didn’t doubt that in about five minutes of turning a game on, Wyatt would be asleep, getting some much-needed rest.

Wyatt grabbed the remote from the coffee table. “I think I will.”

Ryan took Matti’s hand, and when they reached the kitchen, he said, “I’m guessing he’ll sleep for a while.”