“You don’t know her—”
“And neither do you, but at least I know how to shut the hell up and listen. You should try it sometime. You might learn a thing or two.” Hunter took another long pull from the bottle and set it down. “Thanks for the beer. Good night.”
“Hold on.” Justin grabbed Hunter’s arm.
“Buddy, I’m going to warn you once.” Hunter eyed Justin. Yeah, he could take him, but it was going to hurt and Jesse might not like it. “Take your hands off me or we’re going to have a problem.”
“Wait…” Justin’s face contorted with something that might be real, human emotion. “Jesse’s all we have left.”
Hunter pulled out of Justin’s grasp. He was out of fucks to give when it came to Justin and the stick up his ass.
“She told you about our parents.” Justin sounded…resigned. His shoulders dropped.
“Yeah.”
“It’s just us. And it’s on me to make sure Jesse is taken care of.”
“Do you hear yourself, man?” Hunter turned toward Justin. “What are your intentions? Taken care of? Have you even met your sister? I don’t think you realize what kind of brilliant, capable person she’s become while you were busy holding the noose around her neck trying to shove her off a cliff. Get your head out of your ass and go meet her, for fucks sake.” Hunter had mad respect for Jesse, especially after seeing the plain, unvarnished version of her oldest brother. The hell she had to have lived through…
“What happens to her when we’re gone? Who’s going to take care of her then, hm? You?”
“She’ll take care of herself.”
“Playing with dogs and playing at demo isn’t going to support her. If it wasn’t for James and I…where’d she be?” Justin shook his head.
“Kicking ass and taking names on someone else’s crew. Maybe that’s what she should do instead of cleaning up after your sorry ass.” Hunter knew she’d said the idea of leaving her brothers’ company was exhausting, but shit. Working with them had to be more demoralizing than she’d let on. “You have no idea who your sister has grown up to be, and that’s fucking pathetic, man. What’s your problem? Why do you think you have to be the one taking care of her all the time?”
“If I don’t, who will?” Justin stared at the counter top. Had he even heard what Hunter had said?
“Look, man, I don’t know you, but it sounds like you need to let it go. Jesse’s not your responsibility anymore. Neither is your brother or your parents. The only person you’re responsible for is standing here looking like he’s about to throw up. You’ve got a pretty neat family here. I’ve never had that, so it’s crazy to me that you’d piss on them like you’re doing. Man up and get over yourself. Or stand up and let me punch you in the face. I owe you one.”
Justin winced.
“You even ask her how she’s doing?” Hunter’s gaze narrowed.
Justin glanced away.
“Yeah, thought so. You can tell me what to do the day you give a fuck about what your sister wants, until then, good fucking night.”
Hunter shoved off the bar and strode across the house to the door.
Talk about a shit storm.
He stepped out into the evening air and breathed in the scent of…well, he didn’t know what that smell was. It was sweet and earthy. Kind of nice. He was too much of a city boy to have a name for it, but he liked it. Tucson had a whole different other aroma to it.
All the lights were on at Jesse’s place now, and none of the dogs were out in the runs.
The distance between Justin’s house and her barn made sense now. She did her best to give her oldest brother a wide berth, and rightly so. He couldn’t imagine what growing up with an asshole like that watching over her had to have been like.
He stepped into the barn and blinked in the lights. Seven furry bodies darted around, chasing balls and other toys. A Frisbee sailed through the air.
Jesse didn’t look at him, her entire focus on the big, ugly looking dog.
How she’d come through her youth with a brother like Justin hounding her for making mistakes was…he didn’t have words for it. Then again, part of him wanted that. To have family, people, that cared so much they changed their lives for you. Justin was dead wrong, but his heart was in the right place. His head just needed to let go of the past. Move on. Let Jesse be…Jesse.
She stood at the other end of the indoor space, her focus on the dogs. She didn’t glance his way once.
Damn.
He should have never tried to make nice with Justin. That was his mistake.
Hunter skirted the play area until he could slide up beside Jesse. She still wasn’t looking at him. Because he’d gone over to the enemy? He hadn’t seen it that way before, but now…he had a better lay of the land.
“Pretty sure your brother’s going to show up with a shotgun sometime soon,” he said.
Jesse started, as though she hadn’t realized he was there. She looked at him, eyes large and wary.
“What did you say to him?” she asked.
“I’m pretty sure I called him everything except a titty baby. I’m not going to be his best friend any time soon.”
Jesse sputtered and laughed. Her eyes lost some of the fear. Because she’d expected Justin’s opinion to change his mind about her? How many relationships had Justin ruined? How many people had he chased off? And why the hell had she ever come back?
“I don’t know how you and James never suffocated him in his sleep. Has he always had that stick shoved that far up his ass?” Hunter crouched and offered his hands to Elsa.
“Yes.” Jesse’s shoulders shook from laughing so hard. She flopped down on the fake grass beside him, her posture easier. More relaxed. All appeared to be forgiven.
Hunter settled in next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Again, this was what he liked about Jesse. What he saw, was what he got.
“What’d you think? I was going over to the enemy?” He gave her a little squeeze.
She glanced away.
“Jesse.” He nudged her.
“He could say things…”
“Want to tell me about what you’re scared he’ll tell me about?”
“High school.”
“When you were a dumb kid and made dumb kid mistakes?”
“I wasn’t just a dumb kid—”
“Did anyone die?”
“No, but—”
“Was anyone scarred for life?”
“Hunter?”
“Jesse?”
“No, but—”
“Did anyone get a felony criminal conviction or spend any time behind bars?”
“No.”
“Okay, I think that about covers it. Nothing he says is going to change how I feel, Jesse. Kids make dumb mistakes. End of story. Got that?” Hunter pulled her in and kissed her temple.
“Okay.” She smiled and leaned in closer. “What else did you call him?”
Jesse floated up the stairs, her feet hardly touching the ground. The day had some serious highs and lows, but it was ending on the right note, and that was what mattered. Hunter helped wrangle the dogs once they were all upstairs and in short order they were all settled.
Elsa and Lupin were inseparable to the point they contorted themselves into the same dog bed. Sirius had taken to following Dumbledore around like an adoring child and though the older dog wasn’t fond of rambunctious newcomers, he was putting up with his new shadow rather well. All in all, her little family was taking the new additions in stride.
Hunter wrapped an arm around her waist, his body fitting against hers. She closed her eyes and mentally surrounded herself in him. There weren’t words to describe how being with him made her feel. He was so out of her league it wasn’t funny, yet here he was. Going toe-to-toe with her brother, holding her hand through the craziest time of her life, and he liked her dogs.
She really needed Everly to meet him. Jesse had zero objectivity where Hunter was concerned, but Everly would. Maybe. O
r perhaps they’d both caught some sort of bug that made them susceptible to firemen. She could even pinpoint the moment things had changed.
When she woke up to a dog and man in the bed, both looking at her like they wanted her to stay. And in a way she had. He wasn’t just a one-night stand or a thrill. He was a person she liked, who got her and she wanted to know more about him.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Hunter’s lips brushed her ear.
“I was thinking it’d be nice to maybe go out sometime with Everly and Drake.” Like a normal couple. She didn’t have a lot of experience with relationships, but she wanted to try.
“Wait—what?” His brow creased.
“Your friend Drake and my friend Everly?” Had she imagined him telling her to ask about them?
“What about Drake?”
“Um, he and Everly seem to have hit it off. You said to ask her about him, so I was…I don’t know…just thinking that…I don’t know…” Shit. Had she just said something she wasn’t supposed to?
“What’s going on with them?”
“He hasn’t talked to you about them?”
“No.”
“You’re the one who told me to ask.” She turned and pushed his shoulder.
“About getting Everly out of a tree. What else is going on?”
“That’s what you were talking about?” Oh shit… A whole lot more than pulling her stranded friend out of a tree had happened…
“What’s going on with Drake and Everly?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “You ask Drake. I’m not telling.”
Hunter smirked and walked her back against the kitchen counter until there was nowhere for her to go. Jesse swallowed and glanced around. Her fierce protectors were all snoozing and not coming to her rescue like they were supposed to.
Because Hunter had passed their test. Jesse stared at Hunter, that little factoid crashing into her with the weight of a freight train.
Hunter was one of the pack.
He leaned against her, pressing their bodies together from knees to nose. He was everywhere, all around her, inside her mind, her heart, her pack. And she barely knew him.
“I bet I can make you tell me,” he said.
Oh, man… She would so lose and tell him everything.
A yawn chose that moment to attack. She covered her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut.
The post-demo adrenaline was gone, leaving her drained.
“How early were you up working today?” Hunter pushed her hair back, his touch gentle.
“I don’t know. Four or five?”
“In the morning?” He stared at her.
“Yeah…”
“Shit, how are you still standing? Bed. Now.” He took her hand, flipped the lights off and led her to the bedroom. The pups padded after them, likely just as tired as she was.
Her body tingled with awareness of him, but exhaustion was taking its toll. So much for demo sex, she’d be lucky if she washed up before she passed out. Her feet felt heavy, her eyes drooping. So not attractive.
“Arms up.” Hunter grasped the hem of her shirt.
It wasn’t a sexy order, but she did as he asked. Item by item, he stripped her clothes off. Even after getting an eyeful of her boobs, he merely smiled. He offered her a shirt from his bag, an oddly masculine thing to do. It was just clothing, yet her insides went soft and gooey.
Hunter liked to play the bad boy. The act hid a much deeper man. She’d glimpsed below the surface, the picture he painted for the world, and she knew there was more to him than just tattoos, abs and that panty-melting smolder he had down to an art.
“In bed.” He patted her bottom.
“I’m going to brush my teeth first. Sheesh, dad.” She huffed and rolled her eyes, though secretly she liked this side of Hunter. The caregiver. He was so…alpha, so sexy, so…Hunter…that this was a welcomed surprise. A secret side of him she got.
Jesse squirted toothpaste on her brush, but her mind wasn’t here.
What was it going to be like when Hunter left?
She didn’t want to think about it, but she wasn’t naïve. A guy like him wouldn’t stay with a girl like her. It didn’t make sense. But sometimes the best things in life didn’t.
Like her stubbornly refusing to leave the family business.
Hunter joined her at the sink in nothing but his boxer briefs. The action of brushing their teeth was mundane, normal, and yet she liked doing these things with him. Sex was great and all, it was a normal need like anything else, but it was moments like these, brushing their teeth, feeding the dogs, eating dinner straight out of the Crockpot, when she looked at Hunter…and she wanted more of this. Which was a crazy, weird thing when she paused to consider that she hadn’t even known the man a full week.
“What?” he asked around his toothbrush.
Shit.
He’d caught her staring at him in the mirror while she’d been off in la-la-land.
She spit, washed out her mouth and straightened, but he was still looking at her.
Jesse had to say something…
“I was just wondering…are you going to get any more tattoos?” It was the best question she could come up with spur of the moment like this.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, then bent over the sink.
She scuttled out of the bathroom and frowned at the bed.
“Okay, you guys, someone’s going to have to move.” She grabbed the comforter and pulled.
Five guilty faces pretended not to look at her from their places sprawled over the bed. Elsa and Lupin were not around, but that was probably because they were off canoodling or something. At least they were both fixed. The last thing her life needed was puppies.
She bullied three dogs off the bed and slid in. The moment her head hit the pillow she could feel sleep pulling her under, but her mind was too active. Too curious. Full of thoughts about her future.
Hunter flipped off the lights and she felt the bed dip under his weight. He nudged the dog at her calves aside and scooted closer. His hand curled around her waist and his breath fanned against the back of her neck. She’d half expected some sort of grope or a pout about the lack of sex. Instead, he kissed her sweetly on the cheek and whispered something that might have been, “Good night.”
There was always tomorrow. When she had more energy. But it was nice to lie like this, him holding her, feeling as though this was where she was supposed to be.
She’d never really considered her future would be apart from the company and training her dogs. For the last ten or so years she’d just been one foot in front of the other, doggedly determined to carve out a place for herself. Now though, she had to wonder, what came next?
Jesse liked Hunter. She had strong feelings about him that may or may not be tied to what she was going through. In a week or a month, would he still be in bed with her? Or would he move on?
“You pick your nails when you’re thinking,” Hunter muttered against her neck.
“Sorry,” she mumbled and flattened her hands against the sheets.
“Something wrong?” He rubbed her back.
How many times had he done this before? Hunter was good at her. He had practice with women, relationships, sex, that was so far outside of her skill set.
“Jesse?”
She rolled onto her back and he shifted, making room for her. Where she tensed and didn’t know what to do with her hands, he flattened his palm to her stomach and looked at her, waiting out the thoughts buzzing in her head.
“How long are you here for?” she asked.
“Uh, I don’t really have any plans for tomorrow.”
“No—not here, here. I mean…” She sighed. “With me.”
“How long am I with you?” He cocked his head to the side.
“Yeah.”
“How long do you want me here?” He traced her fingers with his, the nightlight casting long shadows on his face.
“I don’t know the answer to that.”
&nbs
p; “Jesse?”
“Hm?”
He slid his fingers between hers, joining their hands.
“I like you. How long I stay is completely up to you.” Two simple sentences, and yet, their meaning could be as great or as little as she chose to interpret them.
What did that mean?
Why was it up to her?
“I’m not a great guy, Jesse. I try to be…good. But I’m not always. I think I’ll always be a little busted. So…it’s up to you what you want.”
“You are not broken.” She frowned into the darkness.
“Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not.” She bed shifted. Was that a shrug? It sounded like it in his voice. “I just…I know I’m not always an ideal guy. So, it’s up to you, what do you want?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then do me a favor, tell me when you figure it out?” He chuckled, but she didn’t see the humor in it.
“Why would you say a thing like that?”
“Like what?”
“You’re not broken.”
“I have to be a little.”
“Because—why? Because of your parents?”
“And other people.” He lay back beside her, their hands still joined.
“Who? What do they matter?”
“Jesse… I don’t know.”
He did, he just wasn’t telling her. How did she get him to trust her? She hadn’t really had a choice in telling him her sordid past. He’d jumped into the deep end of her life and there was no way to avoid them. He didn’t owe her the truth, but she wanted to…hear it.
“If there wasn’t something wrong with me, then why am I always the fuck buddy? You got the raw end of the deal, Jesse.”
Her throat closed up. His words stung.
Just a fuck.
That was exactly what she’d thought, though at the time… Her reasoning didn’t matter. She’d thought it. Felt the same way. Put him in the same box. Because she’d looked at him and thought…that’s who he is. But he wasn’t.
She rolled to her side and slid her hand across his stomach, hugging him back.
“I think I got the good end of the deal.” She laid her cheek against his shoulder. His arms curled around her.
Up in Flames (Firehouse Three Book 1) Page 12
