“The Marines made sense. I’d finished up school. We had a baby on the way, and I could count on a steady paycheck and benefits.”
Her gaze dropped to the coffee as she swirled it. “I didn’t mean for you to give up baseball.”
“I’d expected us to talk about it once you finished exams. But you lost the baby.”
“And it all fell apart.” A furrow formed between her brows as she absorbed the information. “Then the Marines, DPS and the Rangers.”
“That’s exactly right.” He nodded toward the kitchen table and when they were both seated he said, “Life can throw a curve, but sometimes that’s just fine.”
“I suppose.”
“What did you do after I saw you that last time in the hospital?”
“Mom insisted I move home. I thought about quitting school after. Mom put me to work in the salon. Two weeks in the shop of setting perms and doing comb-outs and I was at college registration.”
“Suppose she knew the right motivation to get you back to school.”
Jo frowned. “I never thought about it that way. But I think you’re right.”
Silence hung between them before he said, “Tell me about Dayton.”
Jo leaned her elbows into the table, cradling the mug in her hands. She injected no drama and several times admitted she’d thought she was being paranoid, but when she’d seen the picture of her sister on a date with Dayton, she’d called Santos.
Santos.
Not again. Brody was the man she needed to call going forward when trouble rode up. “Santos is digging into Dayton’s business right now.”
She shook her head. “Dayton is clever. He thinks he’s smarter than everyone.”
A smile lifted the edge of his lips. “I wish I had a nickel for all the smart guys I’ve locked up. I’ll nail Dayton.”
She arched a brow. “You sound pretty sure about that.”
“I am.”
“You can’t say for sure how it will go.”
“We might have been married back in the day, but you don’t know me well now. You’ll learn that when I make a statement I back it up. Don’t you worry. Consider Dayton taken care of.”
She stared at him a long moment. “I’d like nothing better than not to worry.”
Brody had failed Jo once badly. And now he wanted to right that wrong. He wanted to protect her. Touch her. “I will stop Dayton. Trust me.”
She lifted her gaze to his, and he saw the doubt. Carefully, she set down her coffee cup. “This isn’t such a great idea.”
For a moment, he thought she’d peered into his mind and read his thoughts. “What isn’t a great idea?”
She dropped her gaze to her cup as if carefully considering and weighing the words. “I can take care of myself, Brody. I don’t need your help.”
“I want to help.”
She drummed impatient fingers on the table, as if trying to restrain emotions she didn’t want released. “I called Santos for a reason. You should have let him come here tonight.”
A growl rumbled in his chest as he set his cup next to hers. “Why him?”
“Because he’s a friend. Because I trust him.”
“You don’t trust me?”
Delicate brows rose. “I did once. And”—she attempted a smile—“it didn’t go well.”
“I fucked up. In my ham-fisted way I tried to fix it. I didn’t. Now I want to make it right.”
She tilted her head. “Your being here is about paying back some kind of debt to me?”
“Sure. In part. I also care about you, Jo. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“Why do you care about me, Brody? We barely know each other.”
“We were married.”
“Ancient history. You aren’t the kid you were, and I’m no longer a pushover.”
“You were never a pushover, Jo.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but they glistened with anger and frustration, not sadness. “I stood there in that hospital room and listened to your accusations. For weeks and years after that night I replayed it over and over, wishing I’d told you to go to hell.” She swiped away an escaped tear. “But I stood there, dazed and quiet like a half-wit.”
“You shouldn’t have had to fight me. I was out of line. I still cringe when I think back. Christ, you’d suffered a miscarriage, and I took my anger and frustration out on you.”
She shook her head, rose from the table and moved to the counter as if needing the space. “I swore I’d never be that helpless again. I swore I would never need or want anyone as much as I needed you in that moment.” She tipped her head back but that didn’t stem the rush of tears that spilled down her cheeks. “I thought you’d be the one person who might come close to understanding the loss.”
Needing to touch her, Brody took her hand in his. She jerked away but he stood and moved behind her, putting both hands on her shoulders. Her soft skin didn’t disguise the tension rippling in her muscles. “I am sorry.”
Her head downcast, she was so still he wondered if his words had registered. “I will not need you.”
“I’m not asking you to.” Yet. “I am not asking anything of you. But I am going to take care of Dayton. And Robbie.”
Jo glanced up at Brody. Like it or not, she did need him right now. She was smart as a whip but she was too much of a straight shooter to really deal with the likes of Dayton. Whereas he’d take the bastard apart piece by piece, even if it meant using every nasty trick in the book.
As he stared at Jo, he wanted to kiss her. To taste her. Looking at her made him hard. But he’d never make the first move. Not again. Their past dictated his restraint.
She didn’t move away either.
She raised her hand to his, the touch feather soft, exploratory. The sadness had vanished from her gaze and something darker burned in the green depths. Standing, she faced him. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and he remembered the subtle gesture—temptation warred with reason.
He could step back and end this. He didn’t.
“I never stopped to ask.” Her voice sounded throaty, raspy. “Are you single?”
Tension rippled through his body. “Very.”
Bitter amusement lit up her gaze. “I wish you weren’t.”
“Good excuse to end this?” he challenged.
“Common sense is telling me to walk away.”
Her scent wafted around him. Silent, he traced circles on her shoulder with his thumb, knowing if she pulled away he’d not follow.
Instead, she rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. The kiss was light, exploring, even as a frown furrowed her brow. She still searched for an excuse to stop.
He wasn’t going to give her a reason. If she well and truly wanted him, he wasn’t moving a damn inch.
She nibbled her bottom lip and lifted a hand to his face, tracing his jawline with her fingertips. “I
can come up with a thousand reasons why this is a bad idea.”
He traced her cheek with his knuckle. As a kid he’d thought she was pretty enough but now he realized he’d not really taken a hard look. If he had, he’d have seen she was stunning. “I can’t think of one.”
“We’ve traveled this path before.” She clung to reason like a drowning man did to a raft.
“Seeing as we aren’t the people we were fourteen years ago, it’s easy enough to argue that we’re on a different trail.”
“You’re rationalizing.”
“As fast as I can.”
She kissed him again, this time her touch more insistent. Unable to resist, he leaned into her, coaxing her lips open with his tongue. A soft moan rumbled in her chest as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
His right hand dropped to her shoulder and then down her arm. He savored the way she shivered and the way her breath grew a little ragged. At her wrist her pulse thrummed wildly against his fingertips.
When he’d first touched her all those years ago, she’d shivered. She’d been tantalized and afraid by her reaction to him. He’d been so lost in his own desires that he’d not thought to ask and didn’t realize until later that she’d been a virgin. He’d not realized what she’d given him that night. But he did now. No matter how many men she’d had since they’d split, he’d always be her first, and maybe if he were really damn lucky, her last.
He kissed her at the nape of her neck, savoring the rapid race of her pulse. He slid his hand up under her loose shirt and cupped her lace-covered breast. Her nipples hardened.
“God, Brody, you are killing me,” she rasped. “I’m going to explode.”
He raised his head to search her gaze. “Too fast? You want me to back off?” And God, he would if she asked.
Laughter bubbled in her chest. “Too slow.”
A smile hitched the corner of his mouth. “I can fix that right quick. Where’s your bedroom?”
“Down the hallway. First door on the left.”
He kissed her lips hard before taking her hand and leading her to the bedroom. Details other than the large, neatly made bed escaped him as he backed her toward the mattress, tugging off his jacket as he did and dropping it. She reached for the edges of her top as he unfastened his shirt. Both dropped to the floor in unison, mingling in a puddle on the floor.