Josh laughed from the driver’s seat. “That’s like asking an alcoholic to hold your beer at a party.”
Rex leaned forward and punched Josh’s arm. “Hardly,” he said in a stern voice. “What am I, an animal?” I am when it comes to Jade.
“I saw the way you looked at her when she rode by the day Max crashed her car in the driveway.” Josh flashed him a challenge in the rearview mirror.
Rex stewed. Being near Jade without being able to touch her was going to be difficult enough. He didn’t need his brother egging him on, but silencing a Braden brother was never as easy as he wished.
“We’ll be fine. It’s not like we have a choice. Max, it’s probably not a good idea for me to dance with her. No need to create an issue. If word got back to Dad that we danced…He’s a smart man.” He shook his head, knowing it was time to make some hard decisions—tonight. There was no way he’d be able to act like a kid on restriction forever.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“YOU’RE A CRUEL girl,” Riley said as she eyed Jade in her short jeans skirt and sexy Rogue boots.
“What?” Jade fingered the plunging neckline of her nearly transparent silky blouse. She might not be able to be with Rex in public, but she sure as hell could keep his mind on her and her alone.
They stood by the busy concert entrance, waiting for Rex and his siblings to arrive. Half the town was already there, and Jade was nervous about being there with Rex. She was sure her feelings for him were written all over her face. She plastered a smile on her lips and hoped that no one would notice how her smile changed when Rex arrived.
“Oh, there they are!” Riley pointed to the Bradens walking across the parking lot. “Wow. It’s like watching the opening of a movie, when the actors all walk out. Damn, they really are the hottest family around.”
“Stop drooling,” Jade said as she licked her lips. Rex walked between Josh and Treat, his eyes locked on Jade. His arms arced out to his sides from his glorious muscles, and every step of his thick, powerful thighs straining against his jeans made her heart thump a little harder. Savannah bent down to pick something up, while the others continued forward. Max reached for Treat’s hand, and Treat pulled her close. Rex hung back with Savannah. He touched her shoulder lightly, saying something that Jade couldn’t hear. Savannah looked up and smiled. She got up and hugged him, and Jade felt her restraint falling away. The way Rex loved resonated in everything he did, not only with his siblings, or the way he said all the right things to Jade, or the perfect specimen of a man that he obviously was. Those things were only part of the equation. His desire not to hurt his father by rushing to disclose their relationship was also the way he loved. Seeing him now, waiting for Savannah, walking with his arm around her, Jade knew she was a goner. She thought she’d fallen for him before. Now, she realized, she hadn’t fallen; she’d tumbled head over heels, and there was no righting herself.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“I THINK YOU should stop worrying about Dad and just go for it,” Savannah said as they neared the gate.
“Is that why you picked up that quarter? So you could try to convince me without Treat and Josh around?” Rex asked.
Savannah raised her eyebrows with a smile.
“Do you have any idea how difficult this is already going to be? You know me, Savannah. When have I ever told all of you about a girl? Huh?” Rex’s voice was harsh, but not because of Savannah’s pushing him toward doing something that he knew would hurt his father. It was because Jade stood by the gate looking sexier than ever before in those boots she’d been wearing down by the ravine, with a goddamned see-through shirt that already had his blood pumping when he wasn’t even close to her yet. She looked at him with an innocent smile he was sure was meant to fool everyone else, but one glance into those blue eyes and he knew differently. He was only a handful of steps from her, and when they reached the gate, he had to put his hand on it to steady himself. If his hands weren’t busy, he’d pull her close and answer every lusty desire that pooled in her eyes.
“Hi,” she said, licking her lips.
Rex swallowed a groan and a long breath. “You look gorgeous.”
She ran her eyes up and down his body. “So do you.”
Savannah barged between them. “Jade, hi! So good to see you. Hi, Riley.”
“Hey, Savannah. Great to see you again,” Riley said.
Rex and Jade’s eyes hadn’t strayed, but he knew that if he didn’t move now, he might never let her get away from the gate.
“Riley, this is Max, and you know Treat and Josh, of course,” he said.
“I hear you’re a clothing designer now?” Josh said as they headed into the gate.
Riley and Josh talked about fashion on their way through the crowd.
Rex’s senses were heightened. He felt Jade beside him and desperately wanted to reach for her hand. He clenched his fists instead.
“How’s Hope?” she asked.
“Our father’s with her,” Savannah answered. “He’s got our numbers, and he’ll call if he needs us. She was still acting different when we left. She’s not rolling or biting or anything, but she’s not exactly calm, either. I thought that medicine would help her pain.”
“It should have,” Jade said with a worried tone.
“Look!” Max’s eyes lit up at the sight of the band on a makeshift stage, where her boss’s wife—her best friend, Kaylie Crew—stood front and center, singing into a microphone. Max turned toward a pretty, curly-haired woman and squealed.
“Danica! I didn’t know you’d be here, too!” Max embraced Danica, and Danica’s husband, Rex’s cousin Blake Carter, appeared behind her.
“Hey, cuz,” Blake said to Treat.
Treat hugged him with a wide smile. “Blake, so great to see you again.”
“Kaylie is my wife’s sister. Do you really think we’d miss this one? A chance to see my cousins and my sister-in-law sing all at once?” Blake answered.
Blake looked very much like his Braden cousins—tall, darkly handsome, and well built. Rex pulled him in close and gave him a brotherly pat on the back, then put his hand possessively on Jade’s lower back and felt her flinch beneath his touch.
“I’m sorry we missed your wedding,” Savannah said, kissing Blake’s cheek. “Josh is around somewhere. He disappeared right after we got here.”
“Blake, this is Jade.” God, he wanted to claim her as his. Just two simple words. Would that be so hard? My girlfriend.
“Hi, Jade,” he said. “You’re here with Rex?” His eyes darted between the two.
Savannah came to their rescue. “Jade Johnson,” she said, like that explained everything.
Blake opened his eyes wide as Rex removed his hand from Jade’s back. “Ah, got it.” He moved close to Jade. “Forbidden love?” He winked.
JADE HADN’T EXPECTED her stomach to clench the way it did, or the hurt that stirred in her heart. She didn’t want to be forbidden. She wanted to be on Rex’s arm, showing all the women who were watching the handsome Bradens that she was his, and he was hers. Instead she smiled at Rex’s cousin.
“I guess you could say that,” she managed.
Rex looked at her with a silent apology in his warm gaze, but even that didn’t lessen the pain she felt, or the way she felt dirty for being hidden.
She spotted Riley dancing with Josh, and jealousy spiked something akin to anger within her.
“Excuse me. I’m going to grab a drink,” she said, wanting to get away before she said or did something stupid.
“I’ll come with you,” Rex offered.
“No. Stay here; visit with your family. I’ll be back.” She felt Rex’s hot stare on her back as she made her way to the concession stand.
“SORRY, MAN,” BLAKE said to Rex. “I didn’t mean to upset her.”
“It wasn’t you,” Rex said. “It’s the whole family feud thing. There’s no way to rectify it and…”
“And you want to be with Jade. I get it. When I met Danic
a, she was my therapist. Talk about forbidden.” Blake turned and looked at Danica. “Best damn apple I’ve ever eaten.”
Rex shot a glance at the concession stand, where Jade was laughing with Jimmy Palen, who owned a large auto-repair and body shop in town. Jimmy leaned against the edge of the concession stand, one hand grasping a beer bottle. Rex couldn’t see his green eyes, but he’d bet they were focused on Jade’s chest.
Jade threw her head back with a laugh, and Jimmy reached out and touched her arm. In the next breath, they were heading toward the dance floor.
“Wanna dance with me, big brother?” Savannah knew how to create a distraction. She wasn’t one to wear Western style clothing. Instead she had on tight jeans and a black spaghetti-strap blouse. The contrast of the black against her radiant auburn hair was stunning, and her eyes danced with happiness—or a devious plan. Rex wasn’t sure which.
“No, thanks,” he said.
“Oh, I think you do.” She took his arm and dragged him onto the dance floor.
At six foot three, he was not an easy man to drag, but his feet would not obey his mind. He wanted to stay put and stew—or stalk—Jimmy and Jade. The last thing he wanted to do was dance with his sister, but there he was, on the dance floor, moving to the music.
“Look at you go,” Max said as she and Treat sidled up beside them. Danica and Blake were right behind them.
Rex fixated on Jimmy and Jade. His body might not want to cooperate, but his head was right in the game and getting angrier by the second, watching Jade’s hips sway beneath Jimmy’s hungry gaze. Oh yeah, he could see the bastard’s eyes now, and they hadn’t left her breasts once since they’d begun dancing.
“Rex, you okay? They’re just dancing.” Savannah touched his biceps, and he was so tense that he instinctively flexed.
He barely registered her next comment beyond the blood thundering in his ears.
“Treat? We might have a problem.”
“Rex, we can’t have any trouble here,” Treat said in a low, firm voice beside his ear.
“Oh, don’t worry, big brother. I’m not about to make any trouble.” I’m just going to claim my woman.
Jade shifted her eyes to his, and in that brief glance, he saw hurt so deep it was like she reached into his gut, grabbed his organs, and twisted. How could he have not recognized how much she’d be hurt by the same things that angered him? This situation was untenable, and even as Treat put a stabilizing hand on his shoulder, Rex knew there was no way that he’d be the cause of any more of her pain. This madness had to stop.
He looked into his brother’s eyes and asked, “Could anything have kept you from Max?” It wasn’t a challenge; it was a question—one to which Rex already knew the answer. Before Treat could answer, he asked Blake, “Would you have let anyone come between you and Danica?”
“Not on your life,” Blake said, pulling Danica close and wrapping his fingers beneath her wild, dark curls.
Rex ran his eyes over his family’s faces. Their worry was quieted by their support for him. Rex nodded, coupling their strength with his.
“The hell with this. Dad’s not here, and her parents aren’t here. Even if they were, I can’t live a lie. It’s not who I am. It’s time to end this shit.”
Rex took a determined step forward and was pulled back by Treat’s strong grip on his arm.
“The minute you do this, you have to be ready for the fallout back home,” Treat warned.
Rex’s eyes didn’t waver from Jade.
“Rex, look at me.”
He shifted his determined eyes.
“I’ll stand behind you—we all will—but are you one-hundred-percent sure that she’s the one? Because if you’re not, you’re gonna dig a ditch that you might be buried in, and it might not be worth it.”
The flash of rage happened so quickly that Rex couldn’t buffer it. “She’s the one, and if I’m buried because of it, as long as she’s with me, it’s worth it.” He yanked his arm from his brother’s and stalked over to Jade and Jimmy. He had no intention of causing a scene. Jimmy was a nice enough guy, and the only thing he was doing wrong was ogling the wrong woman.
“Rex.” Jade centered him, dulling the sharp edges of his anger.
“Hi, babe,” he said. “Jimmy, you mind?” He draped his arm around Jade’s shoulder.
“A Johnson and a Braden?” Jimmy lifted his eyebrows in surprise. “You gotta be kidding me.” He laughed under his breath.
“Jimmy, I’ve lost my dance partner. Dance with me?” Savannah, in her typical manipulative, flirty fashion, pulled him alongside of her, then flashed a wink at Rex.
The music slowed, and Jade wrapped her arms around Rex. He guided her chin up so he could look into her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell Blake you were my girlfriend, but I was afraid of people finding out.”
She blinked several times, renewed worry shading her eyes.
“What?” Rex asked.
“And you think dancing with me isn’t going to cause a stir?”
His heart swelled with love. Everything about Jade fed him in some way; her sensuality fed his sexual desires, her thoughtfulness fed his heart, the way she worried about animals, and the way she loved Riley and her family, fed his loyalty. It killed him to know that instead of feeding her right back, he’d been souring her with hurt.
He lowered his mouth to hers in a greedy, possessive kiss. She smelled sweet and familiar, and the press of her breasts against him warmed him with need as he pulled her closer, covetously deepening the kiss, until they parted with the need to breathe.
“I can’t hide anymore,” he said. He took her mouth again, there, in the middle of the dance floor, with his family beside him and half the town watching.
Jade splayed her fingers on his stomach as their lips drew apart. He could feel her trembling against him. Her eyes darted around the crowd, a flush rising on her cheeks. He wrapped one arm around her lower back; the other gently held the back of her head as he pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “I’ll never hurt you again. I’m telling my father tonight, and I’ll go with you to talk to your family when you’re ready.”
She looked up at him, the hurt in her eyes replaced with love. “I’m ready,” she said.
Rex’s world had never felt so right. He was in for the fight of his life with the man who gave him life—for the woman who would give that life meaning.
Chapter Thirty-Four
REX TOOK JADE’S hand, and together they forged forward on a path to change the course of their lives. The thundering in his heart was no longer weighted by anger or longing. It was pushed and thrust by the knowledge that after tonight, the world would know about him and Jade, and they’d no longer have to hide. He wouldn’t have to replay their morning together over and over. He would relive it for years to come.
His brothers, Savannah, Max, and Riley all hurried behind them as each determined step brought them closer to the gate.
“Where are you going?” Savannah asked, out of breath from jogging behind his long strides.
“We’re going to tell Jade’s parents before her dad hears it from someone else,” he called over his shoulder.
“Her parents?” Savannah said. “Treat?” Her phone rang. She hung back as the others raced forward.
“I’m here.” Treat caught up to Rex. “I’m coming with you,” he said. He asked Max what she wanted to do, and Max said she’d stay with Riley, Blake, and Danica.
Rex stopped at the gate. Josh and Treat stood beside him, adrenaline causing their chests to heave with every excited breath.
“I can do this alone,” he said.
“No way. This feud is bigger than you, Rex. I know how much you feel for Jade, and, Jade, I know how much you love my brother. But I also know how things can get out of hand too fast to comprehend. We’re going with you.” Treat left no room for negotiation.
Rex pulled Jade forward. “Fine.”
“Wait!” Savannah yelled, jogging to cat
ch up to them. “Dad just called. Hope is going nuts. He can’t keep her from rolling, and now she’s trying to bite her stomach. He can’t reach Dr. Baker.”
Treat and Rex exchanged a glance that held an entire silent conversation.
“Josh, you go with Rex. I’ll go home and see what’s going on,” Treat said.
“She needs a vet, Treat, not us,” Savannah said.
“I can go,” Jade offered without a moment’s hesitation.
“What about your parents?” Rex reminded her. “Someone might say something. I don’t trust Jimmy not to try and cause a ruckus.”
“Oh, I think Jimmy’ll be fine,” Savannah said with a confident smirk.
“Your father wouldn’t call if Hope didn’t need help, right?” Jade asked.
She was right, but there was no way his father would let her anywhere near Hope. “Jade…”
“Jesus, you guys. Do I have to figure everything out?” Savannah barged between them. “We’ll all go to Dad’s. Josh and I will get Dad sidetracked and back up to the house. Rex, you and Treat take over for him with Hope; then Jade swoops in when Dad’s safely inside.” Savannah nodded at their contemplating eyes. “Well, come on. Let’s go.”
Rex put his hands on Jade’s shoulders. “Are you sure you want to do this before we settle things? I’m sure I can find another vet somewhere.”
“You can’t find another vet fast enough. If her stomach twists, she could die, Rex. We have to do this. I want to do this.” She put her hands on his arms. “Besides, I’m not afraid of any of this. Love conquers all, right? Isn’t that the way things are supposed to work?” She withdrew the charm from beneath her shirt and held it out for him to see.
He touched his finger to the lump beneath his own collar. God, he loved her. “It is,” he said, thinking of all the signs that had blessed them in the last few days. From his mother’s charms miraculously finding them at just the right time to her mother seeking him out. What were the chances? Now he could only hope that love could conquer the most difficult road block of all. His father.
Destined for Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens, Book 2) Contemporary Romance Page 19