Swept Away in Wilde (Wilde, Nevada Beginnings 1)

She nodded and followed him.

“What can I do to help?”

Like his mother had done last night, he declined her offer. “You are my guest, Mary. Just sit down and enjoy your pop. I’ve got this covered.” He pulled out a skillet from a cabinet and some ground meat from his refrigerator. He was moving at lightning speed. He definitely knew his way around a kitchen. “Besides, I want to impress you with my culinary skills.”

“I have some skills of my own.” She took a seat at the island. “I’m just going to have to cook for you and your whole family before I leave Wilde.”

Craig froze in place. “You’re not planning on leaving soon, are you?”

He seemed upset. She wasn’t sure why. “No date is set yet. I want to get your family’s entire story down before I do.”

“How long?” His unblinking eyes locked in on hers.

So intense. “I’ll be here a few days at least. Maybe a week. Your parents are gracious hosts, but I do not want to overstay my welcome, Craig.”

He sighed before returning to preparing their lunch. “Why don’t you start my interview, Mary?”

She brought out her notepad. “Good idea.”

“I know you said that you are the one asking the questions—the reporter. But I have some questions of my own for you. Fair is fair. You ask me one. I’ll give you my answer and then I’ll ask you one. And you give me your answer.”

“You’re used to getting your way, Mr. Wilde. Aren’t you?”

“I am. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”

She thought about all she had left behind in Missouri. She didn’t want to think about the past, only the future. “Depends on your questions, but we can start that way if that’s what you want.”

His sexy smile returned. “Good. You first.”

“Do you know which one of your dads is your biological father?”

He shook his head. “That’s not done in Wilde. All three are my dads. When Dan, Dillon, and I get married, all our children will be just as much mine as they are theirs.”

“I’m sorry to push this, but aren’t you curious which one of them is your real dad?”

“I know it must be hard for someone who hasn’t lived this life, but my brothers and I were raised that they were all three our dads. Me, Dan, and Dillon are their sons. One hundred percent. Pappy Jack, Pop Will, and Dad Tom are equally our fathers to us no matter what. Real dads. It never crosses our mind which of them is our biological parent, as they all play such important roles in our lives and all three show us the same amount of love. Can you see why it wouldn’t matter?”

“The one thing I can see is a generous amount of love, which must be the most important part of growing up in your family.”

“Did you have that kind of love in your family, Mary?”

She felt her eyes well up. His question reached deeply inside her. “My childhood was…was different than yours. Very different.”

“How so?”

She took a deep breath. “That’s another question, but it is my turn. Not yours.”

“No, Mary. You just said ‘different.’ You didn’t really answer my question.”

Might as well answer him. After all, I will be leaving soon and will never see him again. But for some reason that made her sad. “My parents aren’t the affectionate type like yours. They are both lawyers and were always more interested in appearances than in me or my sister Maude. In fact, Maude is only two years older

than me and was more like my mom than our mother was to me. Actually, I was more like her mom, too. We have always clung to each other.”

Craig turned off the stove and came around the island. He put his arms around her and held her close. “You deserve love, Mary.”

She looked up into his eyes. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. All the worry she’d been carrying since leaving Springfield melted away in his kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck. When the kiss ended, the tears that had been dammed up inside her for days could no longer be held back. She felt them stream down her cheeks.

He didn’t say a word but pulled her in tight. She leaned her head into his shoulder and sobbed.