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“You try those grits, girl. They’ll put meat on your bones. Texas men like their ladies with somethin’ they can grab hold of. Right, Jake?”
Jake tried not to laugh.
“Absolutely,” he said.
Addison narrowed her eyes at him as Angie walked away.
He was the very picture of innocence.
And he was waiting.
Okay.
What were a couple of pounds compared to the challenge in her lover’s eyes?
She looked at the grits, picked up her fork and dug it into the cooked, coarsely ground corn.
“I’ll get you for this, Jacob Wilde,” she said, trying to sound stern as she brought the fork to her mouth.
Jake waggled his eyebrows. “God, I hope so.”
She glared at him. Then her lips curved and she burst into laughter.
“Me, too,” she said—and that was the moment when Jake realized that against all odds, despite the ugly reality of his life, his smart, sexy, sophisticated-but-trailer-park-tough Adoré was starting to mean something to him.
Something that scared the hell out of him even to contemplate.
They drove home with the windows down and the radio on, singing along with Willie and then Waylon.
Well, no, Addison thought, as Jake switched stations so he could harmonize with Johnny Cash. He was singing. She only hummed.
She’d never listened to country music before tonight.
Turned out, she liked it.
The lyrics were honest and real.
Like her Jacob.
He was a man who’d grown up with wealth, and yet there was no pretension to him. He was a warrior, and yet he could be tender.
But there was a darkness in him that had to do with the war.
Travis and Caleb hadn’t told her much, only that he wasn’t comfortable in the role of hero.
She could understand modesty, especially now that she knew him, but there was more to it than that….
“Addison?”
She swung toward her lover.
She’d been so deep in thought that she hadn’t even realized they’d reached the ranch and were parked in the driveway.
Her heart swelled at the way he was looking at her.
“My Adoré,” he said softly, and she stopped thinking and went into his waiting arms.
The first faint light of dawn, touching the bedroom with crimson and gold streamers, woke him.
Addison was curled against him, sound asleep.
Jake looked at her, drinking in her beauty, her honesty, her essence.
He had never known a woman like her.
No pretense. No girlish gushing. No treating him with breathless wonder because he was rich or because he was a so-called hero. No averting her eyes from his damaged face or displays of cloying sympathy,
He just made her happy.
God knew, she did the same for him.
He was happy. And he’d never expected to feel that way again.
Gently, he kissed her bare shoulder.
Then he rose from the bed as carefully as possible, so he wouldn’t wake her.
He pulled on his jeans, made a face when he realized that though they’d showered a couple of times, he hadn’t changed them in—hell, in however many days he’d been here.
He’d lost track of time.
Was it Sunday? Monday? It was important to know. Addison had told him she was leaving at the end of the week.
He didn’t want to think about that now.
He’d also lost track of the fact that his family might be wondering what had happened to him.
He stepped out on the porch, took his cell phone from his pocket and hit the speed-dial button for El Sueño. It was early, but he was counting on the fact that Lissa had always been an early riser.
She answered on the second ring.
“Hi,” he said, “it’s me. Just figured I’d let you guys know I’m still alive.”
“We came to that conclusion on our own, otherwise, we’d have had a call from the hospital or the police.”
“Liss. I’m sorry—”
“It’s okay. You’re a big boy, Jake. We didn’t expect you to check in.”
He rubbed his cheek. The scar under his eye was throbbing. It had a nasty habit of doing that when he did something stupid.
“You’re also an idiot.”
“Yeah. You’d be amazed how many people have told me that lately.”
She laughed. “Wanna bet?” Her tone softened. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“But not fine enough to put down roots here, where you belong.”
So much for a softening of tone.
“Travis around? Or Caleb?”
Her sigh echoed through the phone.
“Trav drove to Dallas. Caleb had an appointment in Austin. Em and Jaimie are gone, too. They both flew back to New York. And I’m out of here in about half an hour.”
Jake ran a hand through his hair.
“Nobody waited for me? I mean—”
“I know what you mean. The thing is, we’ve been waiting almost two years. We love you like crazy but—”
“Yeah. I get it.”
“Do you?”
Silence. Then Lissa cleared her throat. “The General called. He said he wished he could have gotten home to see you.”
“I’ve heard the speech before.”
“Haven’t we all?” His sister sighed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say he really meant it this time.”
“Yes,” Jake said flatly. “But you do know better. So do I.”
“So, what’s next? You’re still leaving town?”
Jake hesitated. He thought of Addison, asleep in the bedroom….
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