by Candis Terry
Times had changed.
She was older, wiser, and she’d learned to never back down from what meant the most.
Jake meant something to her.
He always had.
He was far from perfect although he was perfect to look at. But she knew that deep down, beneath the shell of that gorgeous exterior; he was a man with heart, honor, and loyalty. He’d been raised to respect family and community. And she knew that just like his brothers, when he fell in love, he’d be a forever kind of guy.
The question now was . . . could he ever fall in love with her?
Maybe Paige was right. Maybe it was time to step up and find out. Wondering wouldn’t ever give her an answer.
Determined, she smoothed her hands over her hair and down her skirt. At the window, she grabbed up Jake’s order and headed toward his booth. As professionally as possible, she set his Diablo burger, fries, and milk shake in front of him. He looked up at her, eyes dark, blue, and intense.
“If there’s anything else you want, anything at all, just let me know,” she said. Then she gave him a “Brace yourself, cowboy” smile and walked away.
When she glanced back, he was still looking.
Chapter 2
Annie glanced in the hallway mirror for the umpteenth time to check out her backside. There were no two ways about it, jeans fit differently after you had a baby. She might only weigh one pound more postbaby than she did prebaby, but hips didn’t lie. Neither did butts. And hers were definitely a smidge wider. Not that she had to go the whole lying down on the bed and sucking in so she could raise the zipper thing, but body parts south of her belly button no longer captured that youthful vibe. She wasn’t even going to think about what breast-feeding had done to her boobs. Although there was no question a good push-up bra had become her best fashion accessory.
Call her crazy, but tonight she wished she still had that fresh and innocent thing going on. The one that turned a guy’s head and brought him to his knees. She would never take back having Max for one second. But even though she’d worked hard to get back in shape, she was now a mom, and things had just . . . shifted. Enough, at least, to make her wonder if now she’d even appeal to a man.
Or, one man in particular.
A snorted laugh jumped from her mouth. Max giggled as he slapped his chubby little hands on the mirror, then stuck his tongue out and licked his own reflection. Oh to be young and oblivious to the often unfair ways of the world.
With one more turn to the mirror, Annie knew she’d have to be satisfied with her appearance. She’d washed and blow-dried her hair, then styled it with a wild array of soft curls. She’d applied her makeup as perfectly as watching an active one-year-old would allow. She’d spritzed on her favorite strawberries-and-cream body mist and applied a swipe of strawberry-tinted gloss to her lips. Though why she bothered with any of it seemed to be the question of the day.
Jake Wilder had never paid her any real attention before. Why would that change now just because she’d gussied up a little?
Could it be too much to hope change was in the air?
The moment he’d come through the door of Bud’s Diner yesterday, she’d noticed the huge difference in him. The laughter in his dark blue eyes had dimmed. The quick comebacks he’d tossed with the speed of the football he’d once thrown had dive-bombed into quiet consternation. And one would need a ladder and an axe to knock that Titanic-sized chip off his broad shoulder.
A casual observer would probably figure the wooden cane he now depended on was the cause of all that alpha-male angst. But Annie had known him long enough to sense there was far more smoldering beneath the surface. He might not agree, stubborn as he was. But Annie knew him. She’d been around him, watching him, studying him for years. She knew that when he tipped his head back and laughed, the amusement was all for show. But when he leaned forward and slapped his knee or curled a long, muscular arm around his washboard stomach, the laughter came from his heart.
Besides knowing his favorite meal at Bud’s Diner, she also knew he preferred fresh strawberry pie over apple. That his favorite type of movie was not action-adventure or the sophomoric humor someone like Adam Sandler might deliver. He preferred dramas that made him think, or romantic comedies that made him feel good long after he left the theater.
She knew he was highly competitive, drank milk from the carton, and that he slept in the buff. This she learned years ago during one of her parents’ frequent party trips that took them away from home for a number of days.
It hadn’t mattered to her mom and dad that it had been her sixteenth birthday. Thankfully, Jana and Joe Wilder had known and cared, and they’d invited her and Abby over for a barbecue and birthday cake. The festivities ran late into the night after they’d all gathered around the kitchen table for a game of Monopoly and extra servings of cake and ice cream. Jana had insisted she and Abby stay the night. Not only because it had been late but because their parents weren’t at home. Again. Abby had fallen asleep on the sofa while Annie had lain on the love seat, wide-awake and savoring the Wilder’s generosity beneath a warm blanket that smelled like mountain wildflowers.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Jake had wandered through the living room and into the kitchen. She’d squeezed her eyes shut, feigning sleep until the light from the refrigerator blinked on. Then she’d peeked through her lashes at a very young, very healthy, and very naked Jake Wilder as he guzzled what had been left in the jug of milk.
Their eyes locked—long enough for him to acknowledge the free show he knew he was giving her with a nod—before he tossed the empty carton in the trash and casually strolled back through the living room as though she hadn’t just witnessed him in his birthday suit.
He’d been the first naked man she’d ever seen.
True, he’d only been eighteen at the time—barely a man—but she couldn’t help wonder if the years and maturity between now and then had lavished their generosity on a guy who’d already started out in a big way.
Sleep had been impossible for the rest of that night. Her imagination had taken flight, and she’d fallen even more in love. Maybe at the age of sixteen one could argue that it had been a simple case of lust, but she was now twenty- nine, and nothing had changed.
Except Jake.
Unable to avoid the inevitable any longer, she reached down and swept Max up into her arms. For a moment, he protested. Loudly. Then she turned on her “be a good boy and Mommy will give you a treat” tone and he became all blabbering giggles.
She buried her nose in his blond curls and inhaled the sweet scent of baby shampoo. “Are you ready to go watch Mommy make a big ol’ crazy fool of herself?”
“Eeeee! Mamamamamama!”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Annie chuckled while the warmth of his pure-and-joyful baby love rushed through her heart. She bent her head and rubbed their noses together. “And for what it’s worth, young man, it would help tremendously if y’all didn’t upchuck your dinner on anyone tonight. Just sayin’. Mrs. Lewis is still trying to get your blackberry applesauce out of her favorite yellow muumuu.”
Max guffawed as though he knew Gladys Lewis’s loud yellow muumuu was atrocious even without the stain she received from bouncing a one-year-old just after he ate.
“Come on, bubba. We’ve got to go get our flirt on with big bad Jake Wilder. Is that completely crazy or what?”
“Geeeeeee!”
“My thoughts exactly.”
The warm September night drew a large crowd to Wilder Ranch for Jake’s homecoming party. It didn’t go unnoticed that his mother, brothers, and their wives had gone out of their way for the celebration to compete with their huge summer barbecue blowout, which a majority of the community attended.
The military-tank-sized grill he and his brothers had constructed way back when was cooking brisket and ribs at full capacity. Picnic tables had been
brought out and set up beneath the large oaks that filtered the setting sun and also served as holders for the Mason-jar candles that hung from the branches. Tablecloths in patriotic colors covered the rough wood surfaces of the tables so a display of salads, side dishes, and desserts could be set out in a spread hearty enough to feed an army.
A full bar had been constructed inside the barn, where galvanized buckets were stocked with chilled bottles of Shiner Bock Ale and assorted sodas for the nondrinking younger set. On the makeshift bar sat beverage dispensers filled with sweet tea. Bales of hay were placed everywhere as seating for those who preferred not to stand or for those who liked to sit in groups to chat. Banners of WELCOME HOME JAKE hung above the barn doors and across the veranda of the house. And from the flatbed hay trailer, a local cover band played Luke Bryan’s “Country Girl.”
The air was bursting with music, conversation, and laughter. But Jake didn’t feel much like partying. Didn’t mean he’d ruin the party, either. His mother had worked too hard putting everything together. Friends and family had gone out of their way to come by and welcome him home. He might be a hard-ass, but he wasn’t an asshole. He appreciated the love, but all the fuss made him feel awkward and a little edgy.
Standing beneath the oaks talking with Hazel Calhoun and Gertie West about their chances of winning a blue ribbon at next year’s Sweet Apple Butter Festival hadn’t exactly been on his radar. Still, he smiled and nodded at appropriate times, and even managed an “Ahhh” when Gertie mentioned that adding a fresh peach to the recipe was her secret ingredient.
“Well, if that isn’t just about the cutest thing,” Mrs. Calhoun said with a hand settled on her ample bosom. “Bless her heart.”
Jake lifted his head to look in the direction of Mrs. Calhoun’s attention. He hadn’t needed to search far for the recipient of the comment.
In the middle of the large open area currently being used as a dance floor, Annie held her chubby baby boy in her arms as they danced to the lively tune. The baby threw his head back in a fit of giggles that sent a grin to his mother’s pretty face. Annie had been dealt a shitty deal by the musician she’d gotten tangled up with in Seattle. Initially, when he’d heard the news, Jake had considered hunting the guy down and rearranging his face. Distance had cooled his temper. Still, knowing someone treated a person he considered almost family so poorly made him madder than hell. Later, when he’d come home for Jackson and Abby’s wedding and seen Annie with her baby, he’d realized, though it hadn’t been planned, and Annie might have preferred the father stuck around, she certainly was happy about having that little boy.
“Dancing with her baby. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing?” Hazel Calhoun said. “Although if you ask me, someone should have taken a bat to that ex-boyfriend of hers. Imagine deserting her like that. Such a shame.”
“Don’t you worry, she’ll find herself a good man now that’s she’s back home in Texas,” Gertie proclaimed. “We raise more responsible young men here.”
Jake wasn’t so sure Texas had a corner on that market.
Watching the single mother and fatherless child sent a fresh wave of guilt through his heart. That’s exactly how Eli’s wife Rebecca would be now. Alone. With people talking behind her back about her having to find a man to replace Eli.
As the result of a factory explosion where his father had worked, Eli had grown up fatherless. He’d confided in Jake that when he’d enlisted in the Marines, his greatest fear was leaving his own child fatherless, too.
Eli’s anxieties had become a reality.
The wooden cane beneath Jake’s palm burned like the mortars that had been fired that fateful day. His stomach rolled with the same nausea that had clogged his throat as he’d helped load Eli’s breathless body into the medevac. Jake couldn’t stop the memories any better than he’d been able to stop that lethal bullet that had taken his friend’s life. The bullet that had made his friend’s wife a widow and their child fatherless.
Diversions had been suggested by the team of counselors Jake had been assigned to while he’d been recuperating.
Pleasant diversions.
Things that made him happy. Feel a sense of accomplishment. Distractions that would help him to put one foot in front of the other and move toward the future instead of constantly stepping back into the past.
But the task seemed insurmountable.
Jake had broken promises.
First to Eli’s wife, when he’d promised that her husband would return home to her, alive. The second to Eli, when he’d promised that if anything did happen, Jake would be there to support Rebecca.
He’d yet to do his duty.
He’d faced battle, but couldn’t seem to find the courage to face his friend’s widow.
Jake knew he couldn’t change history. Couldn’t change the way he felt. Maybe at this point, all he could do—needed to do—was as the counselors suggested. Find a pleasant diversion from the guilt that burned white-hot and deep in his soul.
Watching Annie’s boots kick up a little dirt and the sexy way her body moved was as satisfying as things were likely to get. Even if he didn’t already know he could never again take pleasure in life as he once had, this was Annie. She was like family. He could look but not touch.
All he could do now was sit back and appreciate the snug jeans that molded nicely over her shapely hips and rear end. The way the slinky blouse floated over her full breasts and gave him just enough view of her cleavage to raise his eyebrows. Even if looking at her caused things in his body to stir to life, all he could do was lift the bottle of Shiner to his mouth and take a drink to drown the nightmare that haunted him day and night.
“Stirring up trouble again, little brother?” Jackson and his very pregnant wife crowded in between him and the senior ladies.
“Jake’s too sweet to stir up trouble.”
Jake smiled when Abby came to his defense. Having sisters-in-laws who head-butted his ornery brothers was a plus he was just beginning to appreciate.
His eyes lowered, and his heart clenched as Abby rubbed her hand over her big belly. Everything that made him the son of Joe and Jana Wilder wanted to feel that rush of celebration for his brother’s soon-to-be-born baby instead of the wave of guilt for another man’s child who would never look up and see his father smiling back.
“Sweet?” Jackson barked out a laugh. “The boy’s had the devil in him since he learned to walk.”
“For your information, young man”—Gertie West gave Jackson the stink-eye—“he’s not half the dickens you are.”
Jackson had the audacity to look surprised, which made Jake laugh. He’d need more hands than two to point out how many times his older brother had led him astray. Jackson might be married, a father, and captain of his own fire station now, but Jake didn’t see him changing his errant ways anytime soon.
“Yeah.” Jake looked slightly down at his older sibling. Because even though he was the baby of the family, at six-four, Jake was also the tallest. A fact he never let the brothers live down.
“Ooh. Nifty comeback.” Then Jackson grinned, pulled Jake into a hug, and did the good-buddy-backslap thing. “Damn it’s good to see you.”
“Me next.” Abby held out her arms, then laughed when he couldn’t get close enough for a real hug. “Apparently, I’ll have to claim that hug after the baby’s born.”
“When’s she due?” Jake asked.
“She?” Abby’s eyes narrowed accusingly at Jackson. “How did you know it’s a girl? We haven’t told anybody.”
He shrugged. “A long time ago, I heard that God gave baby girls to fathers who were nothing but trouble when they were boys. Jackson wrote the book on nothing but trouble.”
Everyone laughed because it was true. Then, before Gertie West walked away, she told Jake to make sure he tasted the turtle-thumbprint cookies she’d made just for him.
“I’
ll sure do that, Mrs. West.” His stomach rumbled, and he thought about going in search of those cookies now before they were all gone. “And thank you.”
“Speaking of girls, looks like someone has their eye on our Annie.” Obnoxious as ever, Jackson grinned and poked Jake in the biceps with a half-empty bottle of Shiner. “Sorry, little brother. You snooze. You lose.”
Despite the dark glares she was getting from Jake, who stood beneath the canopy of oaks with several ladies from Sweet’s Senior Center, Annie focused on Max and his belly laughs. The more he laughed, the more she swung him into the dance. With her luck, he’d end up being a total adrenaline junkie. He’d already proven himself to be quite the daredevil and added to his bumps and bruises daily as he gave up the baby Army crawl and mastered the art of walking.
“Mind if I join you?”
Annie looked up to find Bo Jennings with his hands out, ready to take Max into his arms. Bo was a great-looking guy whose parents owned one of the largest cattle ranches in the area. Bo had sought independence by forsaking the family business and becoming an ER doctor. Annie figured the Jennings family could hardly hold a grudge when their son’s intent was to help others and save lives.
“You mean you want to dance with us?” Annie asked.
“You bet.” He tipped back the brim of his straw hat. “One thing I learned long ago, never let an opportunity pass that you’ll later regret.”
Her son wasn’t too sure about the stranger who was lifting him into his arms. His giggles ceased and his little brows pulled together over his big blue eyes. “Ummm. Max doesn’t seem too eager.”
“No worries. I’m pretty good with kids.” He grinned and pulled her into his unoccupied arm. While the music played, they struggled to manage an awkward two-step.
Once they started moving, she expected Max to start giggling again. He didn’t. Instead, he puffed out his bottom lip, then reached out his arms, wanting to be back in a familiar embrace. Her son was great with those he knew, but he shied from strangers. Even nice ones like Bo.