“For what?” I lifted the water bottle again and took another few swallows.
“Getting that asshole away from Jade a few nights ago. Jackson mentioned what happened.”
“Of course. I’d do the same for anyone.”
On its face, that comment was entirely truthful. That said, it wasn’t likely that I would be as fired up as I’d been. Jade had come to mean far more to me than I’d been prepared to handle.
Lucas nodded. “I know you would.” He slid a hand in the pocket of his jeans, leaning out the other open windowsill and looking through the trees. The day was beginning to heat up, the air heavy with humidity. A drop of sweat rolled down my spine.
Lucas looked back at me, his gaze assessing. “What’s going on with you and my sister?”
It didn’t slip my notice that he called her “my sister” rather than simply saying her name.
Oh fuck. This was the part where I should have spoken to Jade about this possibility. Lucas was no idiot.
I didn’t look away as these thoughts spun through my mind. I finally settled on the only answer I could live with because I didn’t want to out and out lie to Lucas. “Can I take a rain check on answering?”
I knew my answer would be revealing, but it gave me the chance I needed to talk to Jade first. That was its own quagmire. I’d gone and fallen in love with her.
Holding Jade’s heart was like holding spun sugar in my hands. As feisty and guarded as she could be, I knew what lay under the surface was fragile. She’d let her doubts rule her. She was a vulnerable woman who was strong and loyal and so damn sexy I didn’t think she’d ever stop taking my breath away.
Lucas’s eyes fairly bored through me. After a very long moment, during which my heart beat out the drum line to an anxious tune, he nodded slowly. “You can.”
He went quiet, and I could see the muscle in his jaw clenching as he turned to look out the window again. I held my silence, waiting for whatever he had to say next. Because I knew he had more to say.
Turning back, he leveled me with another hard look. “Do not fucking hurt my sister.”
Lucas, never one to be particularly chatty—a quality I appreciated because I shared it—walked out after that. He called over his shoulder a second later, “Catch you at lunch. We can knock this floor out this afternoon.”
Later that evening, I parked my truck in front of Jade’s house. I’d seen her briefly when I stopped by to check on Everett before I left for work. She was checking on him on her way back from a lunch shift at the bar.
Although we hadn’t had much of a chance to talk, she’d nodded when I asked her if it was okay to stop by tonight. As I sat in my truck with the quiet settling around me, I became uncomfortably aware of the steady beat of my heart and anxiety twisting in my gut. I didn’t consider myself an anxious man.
In fact, my nerves were usually so steady that the sensation inside was completely unfamiliar to me. Here I thought I’d never fall for anyone, and I’d tripped and stumbled right into love with Jade. I was pretty sure she didn’t want to be in love.
The only thing that was certain was that I had to talk to her. Before Lucas said something. I’d never been one to delay, so I figured I would barrel through this just like I did anything else. I wasn’t a first responder for nothing. I was solid in a crisis. I hoped those nerves would help me through this.
I stepped out of my truck and closed the door, pausing for a moment to look ahead. Although I’d been offered the option to live in one of those cute studio cabins I was building at the lodge, I passed it over. I liked my privacy, and I’d lucked into a house my grandmother left to me. Like my place, Jade’s house offered a clear view of Stolen Hearts Valley. The mountain ridge on the far side of the valley was a dark silhouette with the moon rising behind it. The sound of crickets chirping filled the air.
I took a breath and walked to the door. Whether I liked it or not, Lucas asking me about Jade forced my hand. A moment passed after I knocked before she opened the door. She’d changed out of her jeans and T-shirt into a pair of fitted shorts and a black V-neck T-shirt. The sight of Jade with her hair pulled up in a ponytail and her skin fresh and rosy as if she’d just showered slammed into me. She seemed almost sweet. Jade was sweet and I knew it, but I knew she’d argue that point.
“Hey,” she said, holding the door open and gesturing me through.
I stepped past her, stuffing my hands in my pockets, solely for the purpose of containing the urge to grab her and kiss her senseless.
Whether she sensed the tension coiled tightly inside of me, she didn’t let it show. She walked past me. “I’m having a glass of wine. Do you want something to drink?”
I followed her through the living room and into her kitchen.
“I’m not much of a wine guy,” I replied, sitting down on the stool she pointed toward as she walked to the counter to pick up her glass of wine and take a sip.
Lowering it, her lips quirked in a smile. “Walker, I’m a bartender. I have more than wine. I’ve got vodka and scotch. I’m all out of beer, though.”
“I’ll take a scotch if you have it.”
“It’s the good kind,” she said with the sly smile. “On the rocks?” She pulled out a clear glass tumbler and a bottle from a cabinet.
“Nope. Just plain scotch.”
In another moment, she slid the
