She shook her head. "I don't understand."
"This is your new meeting spot."
"What are you talking about?"
"For your SAT group."
"You're saying this building is ours?"
"For the next five years." He handed her some folded documents. "This is a five-year lease. You can move in anytime. We should fix the place up first, though. Maybe give it a coat of paint and a good cleaning and—"
"But how? When? Why?" The questions raced through her mind, stirring her heartbeat and making her blood pound. She didn't understand any of this.
"I couldn't take your money," he told her.
"Are you saying you bought this with the hundred dollars I gave you?"
"Actually, your money bought that sign. The place is courtesy of Walter Turnover."
"Jenny's husband?"
"I talked to him and convinced him that the one thing this town needed was a women's shelter. Someplace where they could go and get counseling. Where he and his wife could seek counseling if they wanted to."
The meaning of his words sank in and warmth spread through her, along with dread. "You talked to him about Jenny? You didn't tell him she's been coming to the meetings."
"I just mentioned that she looked unhappy and that if he loved her, he would find out why. This seemed like the place to do it."
"You shouldn't have—"
"I know when to interfere and when not to. Walter isn't a bad man. You said yourself that Jenny looks beaten down emotionally, not physically."
"It's still a chance you shouldn't have taken."
"I wouldn't have taken it if there had been any risk. I've known Walter my entire life. And Jenny. And I talked with the sheriff to make sure there'd been no reports of any type of abuse or violence. Then I sat down with him, man to man. He's hardheaded and domineering, but he does love his wife. I don't think he even realized how his behavior had been affecting her until I mentioned to him that she didn't look as happy as the last time I'd seen her. That made him think." He took her hand. "That's the 'how.' The 'when' was yesterday. And the 'why' is because—"
"Don't." She shook her head, panic rushing through her and making her heart pump all the faster. "Please don't say it."
"I love you, Paige. I wanted to show you how much and I couldn't think of a better way to do it than to give you what you've been wanting more than anything in the world, to show you that your dreams and your hopes are important to me. That you're important to me."
"I…" She fought back a wave of tears. "I appreciate it, but…" This wasn't fair. She didn't want him to love her. He wasn't the man for her. He wasn't her type.
"Tell me you love me."
The realization hit her as she sat there next to him, the shelter she'd dreamt of so many times right in front of her eye, thanks to Jack She did love him.
She'd always loved him, from the first moment she'd spotted him through her video lens. Joy rushed through her, followed by an all-consuming dread that sent her scrambling from the truck and running for her life. Because Paige Cassidy had done the one thing she'd vowed never to do again. She'd fallen for the wrong man and made the same mistake all over again.
But she didn't have to walk the same path. She might love Jack, but she didn't have to admit to that love. She didn't have to commit herself to him and wind up back in the very same situation as before, with the same type of man. Even if that man was Jack Mission.
No matter how much she suddenly wanted to.
* * *
Chapter 11
«^
Jack Mission was totally different from her sorry, low-down, snake-in-the-grass ex-husband.
Paige came to that conclusion over the next few weeks as she kept her distance and tried to forget all about Jack, the way he touched her, kissed her, smiled at her and said "I love you."
She tried to forget, but she couldn't. The words haunted her as much as the man himself. She thought she'd catch the occasional glimpse of him around town when she'd first heard he was staying. Instead she saw him every day. Several times a day. He showed up at her office to walk her to this interview or that story. He brought her lunch. He showed up at her house in the evening to help water her yard. He was everywhere she looked. Worse, he was in her head. Her heart.
Because she loved him.
Not because he was so much like Woodrow and she'd been fooled once before. She loved him because he was different. Because he made her feel different. He made her feel smart and pretty and important.
More than that, he made her believe all those things about herself. She was smart and pretty and important, and worthy of a man's love. Of Jack's love.
He wasn't Woodrow. Woodrow had been a taker. He'd taken her love and sense of self and everything until she'd had nothing left inside. But Jack was a giver.
He'd given her back everything she'd lost and more. His love, his admiration, his praise, his sincerity, his heart…
Yes, he'd given her his heart and she'd yet to figure out what she was going to do with it.
"Dump 'im!" The shout came from Sue Groff, who shouted encouragement to Delilah Sue Wilkins, who was currently bashing the boyfriend who'd bought her a toaster for their one-month anniversary.
Paige forced her thoughts from Jack to the first SAT meeting in their brand-new location. Paige's House.
"I say if the man can't be more in tune with what a woman likes, then who needs him?"
"Are you kidding?" someone asked. "They can't be in tune when they're all a bunch of idiots. The whole lot of 'em."
"And babies," someone else added. "Not a one of 'em could withstand even one labor pain."
"They're self-absorbed jerks," another woman said. "I swear, if I have to see any more butt patting on national television during a football game, I'm liable to puke."
"Men," one woman declared. "Who needs 'em?"
Before Paige realized what she was doing, her hand slid into the air. "I do," she said. Stunned silence held the room captive for the space of several heartbeats, before hands started sliding into the air as the rest of the women joined in, including Jenny Turnover, who'd had the first official counseling session at Paige's House just yesterday with her husband, Walter. Paige hadn't sat in on the session, but she'd heard from Jenny herself that they'd talked more in an hour than they'd talked in the past five years. They still had a lot of work ahead of them, but Jenny was optimistic, and she was smiling again.
"I need a man. My man," Paige said, and the words didn't bring the same dread they had a few weeks before.
Because Paige wasn't afraid anymore. She trusted Jack. And she loved him. Now all she had to do was tell him.
* * *
She hated him.
Jack finally admitted the truth to himself as he saddled Molly and prepared for her first ride. Gone was the wild animal who'd nearly stomped him to death. She was as calm as the Gulf on a hot Texas day, and just as pretty.
He'd won with her, but not with Paige.
He'd tried, but she was stubborn. Maybe too stubborn.
"I just can't get through to her, girl." He rubbed Molly's neck. "At least I've got you to talk to. You don't mind listening, do you, girl? I'm not such a bad guy. Decent looking. Sexy as hell. Don't you think?"
"I'm out of sight for five minutes, and you're already flirting with another woman."
Paige's voice drew him around and he turned to find her standing in the barn doorway. She wore an oversized baggy dress that hid her luscious shape and a smile. He didn't think he'd ever seen a woman look more beautiful.
"She's pretty," she said, crossing the distance between them and coming up next to him. "You've definitely got good taste when it comes to women."
"When it comes to one woman – you. I love you," he said again, as if that would tip the scales in his favor. If only it would.
"I've been giving that a lot of thought and I've come to the conclusion that you're going to have to stop stalking me."
"Stalking you?"
"Yeah. You show up everywhere, uninvited. That definitely qualifies as stalking. It has to stop."
His nostrils flared as the meaning of what she was saying sank in. She didn't want him around. She wanted him to leave her alone. "So what are you trying to say?"
Leave me alone. The words stood unspoken between them as they stared at each other. And than she smiled and his heart started beating again.
"That this uninvited business has to stop."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, I'm giving you an invitation."
"To stalk you?"
"To love me." Her smile disappeared as a serious light lit her eyes. "Because I love you. I was scared. I'm still scared. But you're worth the risk. What we have is worth the risk."
Joy rushed through him and he hauled her into his arms, holding her close as if he never meant to let her go.
Because he didn't. Not now. Not ever.
"Marry me," he said, pulling back to look at her. "Marry me and have my kids and give me forever."
She tilted her head back and smiled up at him. He saw his future right there in her eyes. "I thought you'd never ask."
* * * *
RESTLESS Page 12