Deeper Than The Ocean by Julie Ann Walker

 

 

Chapter 13

 

9:29 AM…

 

Wolf had closed the car door behind him when he heard the taxi driver say, “Chrissy Szarek, is that you?”

Chrissy was adjusting her sling, but at the sound of her name, she glanced up. The smile on her face when she met the driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror was absolutely radiant. Wolf wasn’t sure he’d ever heard her voice sound quite so chipper as when she chirped, “Billy Morris! What are you doing back in town? Last I heard, you were up in North Carolina singing for your supper!”

What the hell happened to all that pain med lethargy? He scanned the cabby’s handsome face, noting the heavily lashed eyes and the deep look of appreciation in them when the man stared back at Chrissy.

Ah,he thought. It jumped right out the window, thanks to Mr. Tall, Dark, and Taxi Driver.

Just that easily, that damned green-eyed monster hopped atop his shoulder.

“Still am,” Billy of the swoony blue eyes and movie star grin replied. “I’m here on vacation.”

“Vacation?” Chrissy looked around the cab.

Billy chuckled. It was a nice sound. A deep, rumbling sound. The kind of sound that Wolf knew women went goo-goo-gah-gah over. Grrrr. “My dad was shorthanded drivers today. I’m just filling in.”

“You always were the sweetest guy in our class.” Chrissy’s tone was low and…flirty?

The green-eyed monster on Wolf’s shoulder gained ten pounds and started poking him in the ear with a razor-sharp fingernail.

Luckily, before Wolf could prove himself a prick of epic proportions by giving into the beast’s provocations and saying something like “Stick a sock in it, cabby, and put the pedal to the metal,” Chrissy turned to him.

“Wolf, this is Billy Morris,” she said. “We went to school together. But he’s since moved to Asheville where he’s a bit of a local legend when it comes to what people from your neck of the woods would call pickin’ and grinnin’.”

Speaking of grinning, Billy had turned in the driver’s seat to smile his toothy smile back at Chrissy.

Wolf bared his teeth in response and watched the light in Billy’s eyes dim.

Chrissy was oblivious and continued with, “Billy, this is Wolf Roanhorse. He’s living out on Wayfarer Island and excavating the Santa Cristina. He’s my…friend.”

The hesitation had been slight. Miniscule even. But Wolf heard it.

Was he an idiot to feel a flicker of hope? Was her hesitation because, when it came to the two of them, the word was distasteful to her too?

He stared hard at her. Hard enough that a line appeared between her eyebrows. “What?” she asked. “Do I have gravel stuck to my forehead or something?”

She reached up to touch her face and winced when her fingers met the small scrape on her cheek. Oh, what he wouldn’t give to cover it with his lips. To kiss the hurt away.

Instead, he shook his head. “No. You’re as beautiful as ever.”

She rolled her eyes. “Then why are you looking at me like that? Didn’t you hear me make introductions?”

For her benefit, he managed to grind out, “Nice to meet you, Billy.”

“Likewise.” The cabby touched a finger to the brim of his imaginary baseball cap. “You’re part of the crew excavating the Santa Cristina,huh? I didn’t think she’d ever be found. You must be so excited.”

“Burstin’ with it,” Wolf deadpanned.

Billy cocked his head and made a face of commiseration. “Yeah. I heard you guys haven’t found the mother lode yet.”

Was it Wolf’s imagination, or was there a hint of smug satisfaction in Billy’s tone? Before he could respond, Billy’s gaze snapped back to Chrissy. Like the bastard couldn’t help himself. Like Chrissy was a honey pot and ol’ Billy boy was a hungry bear fresh out of hibernation.

Wolf was overcome with the unmistakable urge to poke the man’s eyes out of his head with a pointy stick. He might have too, had there been any pointy sticks handy.

“News of what happened last night is all over the island,” Billy said to Christy. “I’m so glad to see you’re okay.” He hesitated a bit, his smile fading completely before he added, “Winston?”

Chrissy shook her head and Wolf would swear he could feel the tension enter her body. She’d been relaxed against the cushioned seat, but now she sat as straight as a backwoods preacher. Even her fingers were rigid where they rested against her cotton-clad thigh.

Just that easily, his jealousy disappeared, replaced by concern. Before he knew what he was doing, he took her hand, gently massaging the stiffness from her fingers.

Part of him expected her to jerk away. It was a rare occasion when she let down her defenses enough to accept his comfort.

Thankfully, this was one of those times.

She gave him a grateful little smile before telling Billy, “He’s still in a coma. But he’s a fighter.”

“One of the toughest sonsofbitches I ever met,” Billy agreed. “I still remember the time in ninth grade when he took a fastball to the face. He grabbed his two front teeth off the ground, turned to Coach Taylor and said, ‘Coach, I think I need to have my mom take me to see a dentist.’”Billy shook his head and chuckled. “It was the damndest thing.”

“He’s going to make it.” Chrissy’s voice was soft, as if she tried to convince herself as much as she tried to convince Billy.

Wolf squeezed her fingers and felt ridiculously happy when she returned the gesture.

Billy’s eyes pinged down to their joined hands, and he tried to play off his obvious disappointment by being the professional. Turning in his seat, he put the car in gear. “Where to?”

“You want to stop anywhere before headin’ to your place?” Wolf asked Chrissy.

What little energy she’d summoned up to greet Billy had seeped out of her at mention of Winston. She was back to looking wan and exhausted.

“No.” She shook her head. “As Dorothy said, there’s no place like home.”

“Hey!” He faked affront. “I’m not allowed quotes, but you are?”

“Movie quotes don’t count. Besides, all’s fair in love and war.” She grinned impishly, and then froze, her smile sliding off her face when realized what she’d said.

You can bet your bottom dollar Wolf realized it too. In fact, the moment the word love left her lips, his heart tried to leap from his chest like his mother’s old mule used to leap out of its pen to eat the neighbor’s green grass.

“Since we’ve already established we’re not enemies, what do you reckon that leaves?” He kept his voice low.

She blushed. “It’s a figure of speech, Wolf.” Before he could answer, she turned back to Billy. “I’m headed home,” she told him, then blushed harder when Billy answered, “I gathered that. But unless you still live in the same place you grew up, I don’t know where that is.”

Wolf rattled off Chrissy’s address, and lifted an eyebrow when she turned to blink at him in surprise.

“What?” he asked, all innocent-like. “Just ’cause you’ve never invited me over doesn’t mean I don’t know where you live.”

He’d memorized her address months ago. You know, just in case.

“Be fanatically positive and militantly optimistic,” Wolf’s favorite travel writer, Rick Steves had written. Words of wisdom he tried to live by.

Billy drove the cab from the parking lot, and they’d made it about a mile down the road before he caught Chrissy’s gaze in the rearview mirror again. “Last time I was back here you were dating that guy who’d moved down from Fort Lauderdale to run a bar on the north end of Duval. You two seemed so smitten.” Billy’s eyes pinged to Wolf before returning to Chrissy. Was Billy boy trying to rub Wolf’s nose in Chrissy’s past romances? Was Wolf’s jealous streak that obvious? Probably. Double grrr. “What happened?” Billy asked.

“We wanted different things.” Chrissy lifted her uninjured shoulder. “I wanted to settle down and start building a life, and he wanted to text pictures of his dick to the woman who supplied his beer kegs.”

“Yeesh.” Billy grimaced. “Sounds like an ugly scene.”

“It’s branded into my brain like a bad tattoo,” Chrissy nodded grimly. Then a smirk hitched up one corner of her mouth. “Joke’s on him, though. She ended up ditching his ass for a professional sport fisherman, but not before she totaled his Jeep on the overseas highway.”

Billy laughed. “I guess it’s true what they say. Karma’s a bitch.”

“That’s why I like her so much.” Chrissy bobbed her eyebrows.

For a while after that, everyone in the cab was quiet. Billy because he’d run out of things to chat about or annoy Wolf with. Chrissy because her usual exuberance was tempered by worry for Winston, the pull of the pain medication, and, you know, the small inconvenience of sporting a fresh bullet wound. And Wolf because he kept turning Chrissy’s words over in his mind.

I wanted to settle down and start building a life.

He’d always assumed she was happy being foot loose and fancy free. So damned independent the thought of a white dress and a gold ring might make her break out in hives.

He’d been fully prepared to not only have to coax her into falling in love with him, but also cajole her into marrying him. Because he wanted it all. The wedding, the honeymoon, the house, the kids. But now…

Well, now maybe the only thing I’ll have to work on is the “fallin’ in love with me” part. Which might be easier said than done since they were still haunted by the specter of That Night.

He needed to fix that. Problem being, he wasn’t sure where to start since she shut him down every time he tried to talk about it.

“I, uh, didn’t get a chance to thank you, Wolf.” Chrissy’s words broke into his thoughts.

“For what?”

She shook her head in disbelief. “Oh, you know. For getting the paramedics to Winston in time. For staying with me last night. For taking care of things this morning. For keeping me from getting my ass ran over, as you so eloquently put it. I saw you barreling toward me and thought, ‘Look at him go. He’s on X Games mode.’ Too much TikTok in my spare time, obviously.”

“Huh?” He tilted his head, genuinely perplexed.

“It’s a social media app with funny videos and—” She cut herself off. “Never mind. My point is, I was this close”—she dropped his hand so she could hold her finger and thumb a half inch apart—“to becoming road k—”

He stopped her before she could voice aloud the end of that sentence and make him sick to his stomach. “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, darlin’.”

“Mmm,” she hummed noncommittally, shivering despite the warmth inside the cab.

He put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close while being careful of her injury. Once again, he was ready for her to pull away. Once again, he released a sigh of pleasure when she didn’t.

In fact, far from pulling away, she snuggled into his side, placing her head on his shoulder. It felt so good. So right. A smart man would’ve kept his trap shut and enjoyed the moment.

Wolf was not a smart man.

“Were you serious when you said you wanted to settle down and start buildin’ a life?”

She frowned up at him. Her mouth was close enough to kiss. All it’d take was for him to tilt down his chin a mere two inches.

But if he filled her mouth with his tongue, she wouldn’t be able to answer him. And he was keenly interested in her answer.

“Sure.” There was confusion in her cornflower eyes. “What? You thought my plan was to wrinkle like a raisin in the sun and then die a spinster?”

“No.” He shook his head. Then he reconsidered. “Sometimes you give off a vibe that says you’re hell bent on goin’ it alone.”

She tucked down her chin. He didn’t know if he was disappointed or relieved her lips were no longer within easy reach. “Like most men, you confuse a woman’s self-sufficiency for a desire to live her life solo. That’s never been my intention.”

“So what’s your intention?”

“Ever since I was little girl, I’ve dreamed of having a big family.” She yawned so wide, her jaw cracked. “Four kids.” Her voice sounded sleepy as she continued. When he glanced down, he found her eyes were closed, the pain meds doing their best to pull her under. “Enough to fill a house with madness and mayhem, all commotion and clamor. I hated being an only child. It was so…” For a moment, he thought she was searching for the right word. Then he realized she was falling asleep when she softly finished with, “quiet.”

The physical and emotional trauma she’d been through partnered with the warm air and the lulling hum of the engine to have a soft snore issuing from the back of her throat.

Four kids. The perfect number in his opinion since it was the exact amount his parents had had. And it happened to be the exact amount he’d always envisioned having himself.

Recognizing he’d fallen in love with Chrissy had been epic. Huge. But not as big as knowing when it came to family and a future, they shared a common dream.

This is good. He felt something warm unfurl in his chest. It spread to his limbs. This is right.

Of course, the trick would be convincing her of that.

Well if there’s one thing my elisi always says about me, it’s once I set my mind to somethin’, I’m like a clock that never stops tickin’.

When he glanced up, he caught Billy watching him in the rearview mirror. “She’s the absolute best, in case you didn’t already know that.” The cab driver kept his voice low so as not to wake Chrissy. “Don’t go texting pictures of your dick to someone else.”

“Not a chance,” Wolf vowed solemnly.