Free Holdin' On for a Hero by Ciana Stone Page B

Chance started back upstairs then stopped. “Where’s Wyatt?”
    “I believe he is in his room,” Abbott replied. “Shall I have Cook prepare you something to eat?”
    “No, I’m not hungry,” she said with a strained smile. “Thanks anyway.”
    She ran upstairs passed her room and continued to the end of the hall. She knocked on the door and waited for a response.
    “What?”
    “Can I come in?”
    “Sure.”
    She opened the door and looked inside. Wyatt was lying on the bed, wearing only a pair of fatigues. Chance felt the heat rush to her face as she looked at his bare chest and hastily looked away.
    “What’s up?” He tossed aside the book he was reading and averted his eyes from her bare thighs.
    “Nothing,” she mumbled, wandering around the room and letting her hands trail over the furniture. “I mean…well, it’s… Wyatt, can I…can I talk to you?”
    “Sure,” he said as he sat up. “Something wrong?”
    “That’s just it.” She pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down. “I don’t know. See, I…well, I don’t remember how I got home last night.”
    “What do you remember?”
    “I remember leaving the bar around twelve-thirty. We were riding along and Mark said he was going to throw up so I pulled over. Then he—”
    “He what?” Wyatt asked when she didn’t finish.
    Chance twisted her hands in her lap nervously for a moment then jumped up and paced across the room. “Well, he started…you know…trying to make it with me.”
    “And?” Wyatt stood up.
    “And that’s it.” She looked up at him as he stepped in front of her. “I tried to get out of the car and he grabbed my hair and the last thing I remember was this pain in the back of my head then everything went black.”
    “And you don’t remember anything else?”
    “Nothing.” She put her hands to her temples, squeezing her head as if she could force herself to remember. “It’s like…like nothing’s there and it scares me.”
    Wyatt took her hand and led her over to sit on the bed. “I brought you home.”
    “You?” She looked up at him in disbelief.
    “Yeah, me. Cheryl and I got back around midnight and you weren’t here. She went on to bed and I waited up. When you hadn’t shown up by one I went looking for you and found both of you passed out in the front seat of his car. So, I put you in my car and left him asleep on the seat with his doors locked.”
    “Why?” She frowned up at him.
    “Why what?”
    “Why would you go looking for me?”
    “Is there some reason I shouldn’t?”
    “No, I guess not.” Both of them were silent for a few minutes.
    Chance’s attention was on something besides him bringing her home. It was something that Mark had said to her, something she had heard a great many times.
    When the silence continued to stretch, Wyatt spoke up. “Is there something else?”
    Chance stared at him for a long time, trying to decide if she really wanted to talk to him about it. When they were growing up he had always been the one she had turned to, the one she confided in. But since he had left to join the Navy she had become accustomed to keeping everything to herself. “Mark said there was something wrong with me.”
    “Like what?”
    She blushed and looked down, speaking without answering his question. “He’s not the only one. Lot’s of guys have said it. Even my girlfriends think I’m some kind of a freak.”
    Wyatt gave her a puzzled look. “I’m not following you.”
    She laughed in embarrassment. “You remember when you graduated from the community college  and were getting ready to leave for the Navy?”
    He nodded without speaking. “Remember what happened that night before you left?” Her face flushed as she remembered. “How I wanted you to…well, you know.”
    “Yes.” His voice sounded lower and deeper. “You wanted to have sex.”
    “Why wouldn’t you?” She looked up at him. “Am I too ugly or what?”
    Wyatt stared into her eyes for a moment