“I’m not in a position to date.”
“Because of Cara? She’s gone.”
I glared at him before looking down at Abby. “No, not that.”
“Because of what happened in Boston?”
I shrugged. “Getting mixed up with a woman is dangerous. Pillow talk makes a man say things he shouldn’t. I don’t want to accidentally confess in a moment of passion.”
“What’s she going to do, call the cops and rat you out?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not interested in finding out. I don’t want to have to pick up and move again.”
Kevin let out a long sigh. “You’ve been paying for what happened a long time now. It’s time to move on.”
I didn’t think it was possible to move on. I had killed my wife. How could I pretend it never happened?
Jenna returned, expertly balancing our meals.
“Do you guys need anything else?” she asked, her eyes meeting mine.
“I’m good,” Kevin mumbled.
Jenna and I ignored him. “No, thank you,” I finally managed to say.
She nodded. “Okay, just holler if you need anything,” she said but didn’t look away or move.
“I wanted to say thanks for the cookies,” I said, trying to fill the awkward silence.
She smiled. “You’re welcome. I’m sorry they were store bought. I would have made them fresh, but I didn’t have time.”
I could see her relaxing a little. “They were great. It was a nice gesture. Abby liked them, didn’t you, sweetie?”
Abby looked up, her usual bashfulness keeping her from making eye contact with Jenna. “They were yummy.”
“What do you say to Jenna?” I asked, prompting her.
“Thank you for the cookies,” she said, barely above a whisper.
“You’re very welcome, Abby. I’ll let you guys eat.” She quickly left the table.
I breathed a sigh of relief once she was gone. She put me on edge and I didn’t like it.
“You want her,” Kevin said.
“Doesn’t mean I’ll have her.”
He smirked. “We’ll see.”
Chapter 4
Jenna
I busied myself around the house, cleaning up and rearranging the furniture a bit. It was my day off but Rose was working, which meant I really had nothing to do. My house needed the attention anyway.
I made my way into the basement, started a load of laundry, and headed upstairs, nearly falling on my face when a loose board on one of the old rickety steps moved as I put my weight down.
I’d bought this house back when Jason and I were serious. We had high hopes of fixing the place up and making it really nice. That hadn’t worked out and now I was left with a house that was almost a hundred years old and in need of a lot of work. A lot. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the money to hire anyone, and YouTube tutorials could only take me so far.
Walking into the kitchen, I admired the hardwood floors I had restored on my own. It was one of many baby steps required to get the place to look the way I’d envisioned in my head. Showering, I got ready to go to my mom’s for dinner. Here I was, twenty-five, single, and spending Saturday night with my mother.
Awesome.
Climbing into my car, I was ready to head out for my wild night when my mom called.
“Hey!” I answered. “I was just on my way over. Need me to pick something up?”
“Oh, Jenna, I’m sorry. I forgot all about our plans until just now.”
I leaned my head against the seat of my car, my door still open and one leg hanging out. “Oh?”
“Yes, I made plans with Gladys last week and forgot until now. Can I have a raincheck for dinner?”
I smiled. How could I say no? My mom had mourned my father for a long time. She had rarely left the house those first few months after he died.
“No problem, Mom. Have fun. I’ll check in with you later.”
I hung up, then sat in my car for a second and wondered if it was really Gladys my mom was spending so much time with. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I suspected it was a man.
I knew I shouldn’t be upset, but I couldn’t help but feel like she was cheating on my dad. It was silly and none of my damn business, but it was there. My parents were one of the few couples that had been truly happily married for twenty-five years. It sucked they didn’t get the chance to make it longer. They would have. I knew that in my very soul.
Letting out a long sigh, I climbed out of the car. My Saturday night plans, lame as they may have been, had gone up in smoke.
The sound of an engine grabbed my attention. My sexy, surly neighbor was just pulling into his driveway. I watched him climb out of his rig, appreciating every gorgeous inch of his body.
“Hey,” he said with almost a smile on his face.
“Hi,” I mumbled, grabbing my purse from the passenger seat.
He was walking toward me, and suddenly, I had no idea what to say or do. My heart was racing and my palms suddenly felt slick.
“What are you up to tonight?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I was supposed to have dinner with my mom, but she canceled at the last minute,” I blurted out, feeling like an idiot.
“Would you liked to come over and have pizza with us?” he asked.
My eyes jerked up to meet his. “What?”
“Pizza. I just ran down to that pizza place in town. You’re welcome to join us.”
“No, I shouldn’t,” I said, turning to head inside. “You guys enjoy yourselves.”
“Jenna, please. I want to repay you for the cookies. Besides, we could use the company.” He wore a genuine smile that transformed his entire face.
He still had the scruff on his jaw, which somehow made his eyes look bluer. He was dangerous. I sensed it, but I didn’t care. I liked danger. A little walk on the wild side could be fun.
“Sure, thank you,” I said, throwing caution to the wind.
“Great, you can help me carry the pizzas,” he said, walking to his SUV and opening the back door.
My eyes bulged at the number of boxes he had stacked. “How many people are at your house?”
He grinned. “Me and Kevin and Abby. This will be lunch and dinner for tomorrow as well. I’m not big on the cooking.”
I followed behind him, carrying one box. There were butterflies in my stomach, thinking about going into his house. There was no denying the chemistry between us. I wanted to think he felt it too, but maybe he was just being nice. For some reason, I didn’t get the impression he was a nice guy. Not a bad guy but definitely not a nice guy.
“Hey, guys!” he said, pushing open his front door.
I walked in behind him, feeling a little awkward about crashing their party. Kevin and Abby, who were sitting on the floor playing with dolls, looked up at me. The look on Kevin’s face was one of surprise.
“Hi,” I muttered, feeling completely out of place.
Abby looked up, her eyes wide. “Are you eating dinner with us?”
“Yep,” he said. “I invited her for dinner. We owe her for those great cookies.”
With a glance at me, he nodded toward the dining area. “You can set the pizza on the table.”
I followed him and set the pizza down on the small table, surrounded by four chairs.
“I’ll grab the plates,” Kevin said with a huge smile on his face that made me feel like I was missing something important.
He returned a second later with a stack of paper plates and a roll of paper towels. I watched as Colton opened a box, grabbed a slice of cheese pizza, and put it on a plate for his daughter.
“Can I eat in the living room, Daddy?”
He nodded. “Yep, tonight you can.”
Abby looked at me and, unlike yesterday, seemed very excited to see me. “Do you want to eat with me?” she asked, her pretty blue eyes making it impossible to say no.
“I’d love to!” I told her and grabbed a plate, waiting for Colton and Kevin to get their slices.
&nbs
p; “Go ahead,” Kevin said with that flirty grin of his. “Ladies first.”
I heard a strange noise come from Colton and looked over to see him scowling once again. That was the look I’d expected to see on his face, not the smile he had graced me with not five minutes before.
Snagging a piece of pepperoni, I grabbed a paper towel and escaped the tense situation unfolding over the stack of pizza boxes. I half expected them to snarl and jump at each other, or maybe raise their legs and start peeing on things to mark their territory.
“I like your dolls,” I said, sitting down on the floor next to Abby.
She grinned, showing off her perfect little teeth. “This one is my favorite,” she said, picking up a pink-clad baby doll that closed her eyes when lying down.
“She’s a pretty doll.”
“I have Barbie dolls too, plus a big house for them to live in and a car,” she said, excitedly.
“After we finish our pizza, I would love to see them!”
Her eyes lit up. “Okay! Some of my Barbie dolls are still in a box.”
I shrugged. “I could help you unpack them if your daddy wants me to.”
The low rumblings of the men’s voices could be heard coming from the table. They were obviously arguing about something but without saying much. I had a feeling I had missed a critical piece of the conversation. A couple minutes later, they came into the living room and flopped down on the couch, shooting glares at each other all the while. Kevin turned to look at me, that charming smile still in place.
“So, Jenna, how long have you lived here?”
“Here in the neighborhood? About two years. In Beatrice though, most of my life. I left for a couple years but had to come back.”
“Why’d you have to come back?” he asked.
I could feel Colton’s eyes on me as I cleared my throat. “I was away at school when my dad had a stroke, so I came home right away to help my mom take care of him. He passed away two years ago.”
Kevin’s expression was one I had seen a hundred times over the years when I told my tale of woe. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “What were you going to school for?”
I smiled, knowing my answer was sure to cause a reaction. It always did. “Criminal psychology.”
Colton choked on his pizza. “Criminal psychology? What is that?”
Both men looked as if I had flashed a badge. The guilt on their faces made me second-guess my decision to come into the house with two men I didn’t know. I was pretty sure this very scene had been played out in a horror film.
I shrugged a shoulder. “I could go into a number of different jobs. Originally, I wanted to work for the FBI as a profiler, but I’m not so sure about that now.”
Colton was staring at me with a strange look on his face. I knew nervous when I saw it, and he was very nervous.
“That’s cool,” Kevin said, breaking the tight thread of tension in the room.
“What about you?” I asked Kevin, tearing my eyes away from Colton’s dangerous baby blues.
He smiled. “We’re both MMA fighters.”
“MMA?” I asked. I had heard the term, but I had no idea what that meant.
“Mixed martial arts,” he clarified.
“Oh. Like, professionally? Is that a job?” I had no idea what all that would entail. Of course, I had heard of boxing, but MMA? I wasn’t sure if that was a hobby or a career.
Kevin chuckled. “Some make it a career. Colton did up until a few years ago. We’re getting a little too old to be getting in the ring nowadays though.”
I raised an eyebrow, looking from Kevin to Colton. They didn’t look like they were going to be needing canes anytime soon.
“How old are you?” I asked, knowing it was a little forward.
Colton smirked. “Thirty. We’re not over the hill, but in the fighting world, we are.”
I nodded, understanding a bit more about my neighbor. Abby jumped up and ran down the hallway, returning a minute later with several Barbies in various states of dress. She was chatting away, telling me about each of the dolls. I wondered who her mother was and if she was in the picture. I decided it was best not to ask any more prying questions.
“So,” I said, when Abby ran back to her room to get more toys, “what brings you to Beatrice?”
Colton got the deer-in-the-headlights look once again. “A change.”
“You wanted a change? Where did you move from?”
“Boston,” Kevin blurted out.
Both men were acting shady. My eyes moved back to Colton. He was looking at me with such intensity, I actually squirmed on the floor. The man was a predator, and for some completely stupid reason, I wanted to be his prey. The physical attraction to him was making me feel out of sorts. I couldn’t be attracted to a man I didn’t know and who I knew was dangerous. There were warning bells going off in my head, telling me to run the opposite direction. But I ignored the warnings. Despite the danger I could sense in him, there was something far more powerful pulling me in.
“You’re a long way from home,” I said, my voice much lower than normal.
Colton’s eyes were still on mine and I couldn’t look away. Moth to a fucking flame. The feeling of being snared in a trap washed over me, along with a shiver of fear and excitement. This guy was going to be bad news for me.
I could just feel it in my bones.
Chapter 5
Colton
Spacing out, I watched the little bubbles in the pancake batter form and pop. I couldn’t get my neighbor out of my head. It was like the worst addiction. I hadn’t had so much as a taste or even touched her, but I wanted to. It was a primal need which I blamed on pheromones. It was something she was putting out into the universe that was fucking with my head.
I flipped the pancake, letting it cook a bit longer before sliding it on top of the stack I had already made. It was our last breakfast with Kevin and I wanted to make it special. I wasn’t a great cook, but I could add water to pancake mix.
“Breakfast is ready!” I hollered.
Abby and Kevin were in her room, unpacking the last of her boxes. I knew Abby was going to miss him a lot. He was like a second father to her and was a brother to me. I wasn’t going to throw my arms around him and beg him to stay, though. My pride kept me from telling him how important he was to me and asking that of him. Pride, plus our small business back in Boston, required at least one of us be in town.
I was glad he hadn’t told Jenna too much about us. I couldn’t trust anyone, and I didn’t want her asking questions. I could be friendly but needed to keep her at arm’s length.
Kevin and Abby strolled into the dining room where I had the table set with heaping stacks of scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes.
“Damn, this looks good,” Kevin said, looking at the spread on the table. “You outdid yourself. A regular Mr. Betty Crocker.”
“Thank you. It’s the least I can do for all the help you’ve given me over the past week. I really appreciate it. I really couldn’t have done this without you.”
“I’m going to miss Uncle Kevin,” Abby pouted. “How come he has to leave?”
“I know, bug, me too,” I said. “He’ll come out for a visit soon.”
Taking a pancake off the stack, I quickly cut it up for her before dumping syrup over the top.
“You know you only have to call and I’ll be here in a flash,” Kevin said, speaking to her, yet I knew he was really telling me. “I’ll drop everything and get on the first plane here.”
It was going to be strange not seeing him every day. We had been thick as thieves for the past eight years. He’d been at the gym that first day I walked in after getting out of the Marines. I had been a little lost, but he quickly took me under his wing. He’d been there when I met Cara and when she died. He supported me, believed in me, and pulled me through the darkest hours of my life.
I couldn’t allow myself to get melancholy, though. I had to be strong for Abby. In a way, I was glad I had no other family to s
peak of. I didn’t have to worry about them being hurt in an attempt to get at me. Kevin knew the score and could handle himself.
We finished our breakfast, and while I cleaned up, Abby went to play for a bit.
“What are you going to do with all your downtime?” Kevin asked. “Obviously, you can’t fight under your name anymore. I don’t think you’re going to find a lot of guys wanting a trainer around these parts, or even a gym to train in for that matter.”
“I’ll create,” I said, shrugging a shoulder. “We need to keep the business going, and the only way that happens is if I’m still welding.”
“How are you going to get me the pieces to put in the shop?”
“FedEx. If you can ship a tractor across the country, we can ship my pieces.”
“Is that a good idea? What if they track it?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I’ll be careful. I’ll take pictures of the finished work, you post it to the website, and we go from there. We’ve got to do something to keep a roof over our heads.”
“We can take some time off. You know we can. We’re not hurting for cash. Relax and enjoy this break.”
I sighed, nodding. “I know, but I need to stay busy. How many times can I mow the lawn? This isn’t a vacation.”
He chuckled. “You don’t even own a lawnmower.”
“Add that to the list of things I need.”
Kevin was silent for a moment. “That neighbor of yours could help you pass the time.”
“No.”
“Come on. You guys have some serious vibes happening between you. When you look at her, I can literally feel the temperature in the room rise a good ten degrees. You know you want her.”
I shook my head, chuckling at his persistence. “It isn’t going to happen. I don’t have the time or energy for that kind of drama.”
“You have nothing but time.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Bullshit. You haven’t been able to get her off your mind. How many different ways have you imagined yourself with her?”
I scowled at him. “Not… going… to… happen.”
Throwing my dishtowel down, I headed toward the living room. A few minutes later, Kevin came into the living room as well, carrying his bag.
Going After What's Mine Page 3