Protecting Her: A Romance Bundle

“So,” she said sitting down next to me. “What’s up with you and brother number two?”

“Ha,” I chuckled at the thought of that as Jason’s title. “I don’t know. I guess I really like the guy. A lot.”

“I knew it.” She smiled. “But . . .”

“But what?” I rolled my eyes. “There is always a but with you.”

“Well, life isn’t black and white, sweetie,” she said with sass. “I just know this is a very tricky situation, and you have to remember that sometimes blood is thicker than water. I just want you to be careful.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh. “It just feels so good to look at Jordan and feel nothing. I mean it did not bother me one bit to see him walk off with that redhead. It was like I was watching someone I didn't even know.”

“And I am so glad.” She smiled. “That should tell you something about your real feelings toward him. I just want you to be careful. We’ve all heard about the rebound. I know you care about Jason, but when we get out of serious relationships, we can be blind to the things we normally wouldn’t be blind to. I’m not saying Jason is a bad guy. I’m just saying it's very complicated, and you need to take your time going into it. You might find out a lot of people are hurt by this relationship.”

“I understand,” I said, really taking what she said to heart.

“Good,” she said. “Now, eat your eggs and relax. We had one hell of a night last night. It was fun, but I feel like I was hit by a truck.”

“Me, too,” I said, biting into a strip of bacon. “At least you didn’t go home with that creepy guy at the bar last night.”

“Oh, my God.” She laughed. “Mr. Plaid-Shirt-and-Matching-Socks? My drunk goggles were on high alert last night. I am positive I would have come out of his apartment this morning as a brand new lampshade. That dude was crazy weird. I wouldn’t have cared if you lived in New Jersey, I was determined to get to your house and not to his.”

“I do have to say he was persistent.” I laughed.

“Yeah,” she scoffed. “Looking for his next victim to show his comic book figurine collection to.”

“You could have been the next cosplay girl at the Star Trek convention,” I replied.

“God, could you imagine me in that scenario?” She laughed loudly. “I would totally have been wasted, stumbling across the stage in purple body makeup and fake ears.”

“It would have been amazing.” I giggled.

“Ahh, yes, so much for lost chances,” she said sarcastically.

We talked at length about the evening, the crazy dude at the bar, and the kiss that she apparently didn’t miss, even though she had been completely wasted. We touched a little more on Jason before we both made our way back to the beds in my room and the spare room and collapsed. She fell asleep almost instantly, but I laid there awake thinking about Jason a

nd what Mona had said to me. I knew she was right, but it was so hard to admit since it felt so good to have him wrapped up in my life. At first, I’d thought it was just the familiarity of the family, having him around just like I did when I’d been married to Jordan. As things progressed, I knew that wasn’t true. I knew it was more than that, and life seemed totally different when he and I were with each other. When we were alone, I didn’t even think of him as a Banks. I thought of him as Jason, the incredibly sweet man who I couldn’t keep my hands off of. After the initial attraction had been satiated with hot sex, then had come the rush of emotions I hadn’t expected at all. I hadn’t even imagined I could fall for him in any way, shape, or form.

I turned over and looked at my phone as it began to ring, smiling at Jason’s number popping up on the screen. I cleared my throat and pressed the button, excited to hear from him. I tried to keep Mona’s words present in my mind as I answered.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, obviously wide awake.

“Hey there,” I said sleepily.

“I won’t keep you long,” he said. “I know you guys are probably hung over, but I wanted to see if you wanted to go to dinner at my parent's house tomorrow evening.”

“Oh,” I said, Mona’s words echoing through my head. “I think that may be too much too soon.”

“Okay,” he said with hesitation. “No problem. I’ll talk to you later.”

“All right,” I replied, getting the impression he might be upset with me turning him down.

We got off the phone, and I laid there, thinking about my choice. I tried texting him a couple of times, feeling bad about possibly hurting his feelings, but he didn’t answer me back. As soon as Mona had gotten up, I raced out to talk to her. She listened carefully as I explained what happened, telling her I thought she was right about everything, and I was trying to take it slowly. She smiled at me and rubbed my back, trying to make me feel better.

“All I have to say, sweetie, like I said before, is you just need to be careful,” she whispered.

She was right. I had gotten so wrapped up in the romance of it all that I couldn’t help but want to jump headfirst into everything. I needed to slow down and take my time, even if it affected us. Still, knowing that I had possibly hurt his feelings left me feeling slightly off. Being careful was proving to be much harder than it seemed.

Chapter Fifteen