“Do we have a problem here?” Nate Wright loomed in the doorway, his eyes narrowed.
Gemma flushed. “No. No. Not at all. I just didn’t want to go to lunch.”
“I don’t like the tone of your voice, Sinclair.” Nate ignored Gemma, using that lawman look on Cade. He wasn’t that much older than Cade, but Nate Wright reeked of authority.
Gemma stood, her mouth a flat line. “He was leaving, Sheriff. Don’t worry about it. I can handle him.”
She walked around her desk and took him by the elbow, trying to lead him out.
Cade wasn’t sure he wanted to be led out.
“Please. Please don’t make a scene.” Gemma looked up at him with those big blue eyes. They were shining with tears again. She was trying to hold it together. It was plain to see.
So Jesse was freaked out at the street corner and Gemma was hanging on by her nails. When had he become the goddamn go-between? He allowed Gemma to drag him along. When they got to the small space between the inner and outer doors, she turned on him.
“Please go away. I don’t need to get fired again. I like this job. I don’t want to have to go around begging for another one.”
What the hell? “You think Nate was mad at you?”
She sniffled. “I think Nate likes to run a tight ship and my personal life is causing him trouble.”
How fucked up had her life been before? “He was pissed at me because of the way I was talking to you. He was trying to protect you. He wasn’t going to fire you, but he might have roughed me up.”
She stopped and looked back through the windows. Sure enough, Nate was still watching them. “I don’t know.”
“I do. I know a protective brother when I see one. I say brother because he might beat the shit out of me if I used the word ‘father figure.’” He couldn’t help himself. He reached out and held her arms, rubbing up and down, forcing her attention back to him. “Tell me what’s going on. I don’t mean between you and Cam. That was the two of you playing. Tell me why you said what you did to Jesse.”
“He doesn’t want me.”
Cade groaned. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Do you know what he planned for you today? A picnic. It’s going to be too cold next week, so he has a nice spread laid out in the park.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. He doesn’t want me. The real me.”
He crowded her a bit. They were too close. There wasn’t a lot of room. He could feel the heat of her body, smell the citrus shampoo she’d used. She was wearing a white button-up shirt, but it was thin and he could see her nipples, chafing against the cold—or responding to him? “Who’s the real Gemma?”
She swallowed once, her eyes on his chest. “What you said before. I’m a bitch.”
And he was a loser if he went by what some of his other girlfriends had said. He didn’t want to understand Gemma, but he did. Maybe even better than Jesse. He put a hand out and forced her to look at him, tilting her chin up. “I think you hide behind that term a whole lot.”
A bitter smile tugged at her lips. “You’re wrong. I really am. I don’t always say the right things. Hell, I almost never think the right things. I liked flipping Cam off. I can’t be this perfect, polite lady Jesse wants, and it’s going to hurt us both if I try. I have the sweetest mother you can imagine. Always courteous. Always nice. I have no idea where I came from. So please, leave me alone.”
“Tell me you don’t want him.”
Those eyes slid away from him again. “I don’t want him.”
Top her when she lies. Jesse had been drilling it into him. He’d never had the taste for dominating a woman the way Jesse did, but it roared to life with Gemma. He forced her chin up, looking her straight in the eyes. “I don’t like it when you lie.”
A spark leapt in those blue orbs. “I don’t like it when you talk.”
“Are you going to like when I spank your ass?”
Her face heated up. “Nate is still watching.”
Damn. Jesse had been right. She was interested. And his cock was hard as a rock, harder than it had been in months. All for her. Gemma Wells was like a weed, wrapping herself around him, strangling out the voices that told him why this was a terrible idea. And he suddenly didn’t give a fuck that the sheriff was watching. The sheriff needed to stay out of this. “Let him watch. He can handle Callie his way and I’ll handle you in mine. Now tell me again. This time try not to lie.”
“I want him, but I don’t think it can work.”
“Why?” He could give her a thousand reasons, but he was interested in what she thought.
Her hands played at his waist and then she seemed to force them to her sides. “Because I can’t be the woman he wants. It’s not fair of him to try to change me. And I don’t want anything serious.”
“Because you don’t want to get serious with men like us?”
“Because I’m not good for anyone. Damn it, Cade, I don’t have a job and I don’t have any prospects for one. Brush off whatever fucking chip is sitting on your shoulder. I don’t care what you do for a living. I want someone who wants me, but that’s neither you nor Jesse. You don’t want me at all, and he wants some perfectly polite princess.”
“Don’t want you? You think I don’t want you?” He could put that rumor to rest. He pressed her to the wall, grinding his pelvis against hers. His cock swelled, the close heat of her body perfectly torturous.
She was forced to hold on to him now. Her hands clutched at his waist as she tried to stare down at the place where their bodies touched. “Why? You don’t even like me.”
It felt good to be close to her. “I don’t have to like a woman to want her. And I don’t hate you. I’m a little scared of you. You think you’re not good for anyone? God, baby, you have no idea. Does this whole thing have to be so damn serious?”
She shook her head, licking at her bottom lip like she was staring at some dessert she wanted a bite of. “No. It doesn’t. It can just be fun, right?”
Keep it light. Don’t fall for her. He might be able to have her, if he followed the rules. He pressed in, enjoying the feel of her against him. She was so much smaller, but her breasts were plump and round. “We can have a lot of fun, you and me and Jesse. You have to talk to him. Tell him what you want.”
A hard voice broke through the tension. Jesse stood in the doorway, looking in. “I think I can tell what she wants. A little fast sex, Gemma? I hope that’s what you want because it’s all Cade is going to offer. That’s all he offers any woman. I’m the one who takes care of our women. He just fucks.”
Cade rolled his eyes and reluctantly pulled away from Gemma. “Good to know you have a high opinion of me.”
Jesse shook his head. “It’s true and you know it.”
Gemma was right back to her ice-princess self, all that hot and flustery anticipation gone in the wake of Jesse’s judgmental eyes. “I’m going back to work. You’ll both understand if I would prefer to not see you again.”
She started for the door. Cade was about to reach out for her, but Jesse was faster. He pulled Gemma to him, his eyes hard as he looked down at her. Cade glanced back and now both Nate and Cam were watching.
“Careful, she has a couple of protectors,” Cade pointed out.
“They better not come between us,” Jesse said. “You need to make it plain to those men in there that we’re involved. You haven’t told them, have you, baby?”
“We’re not involved. I think you made that plain,” she replied.
Jesse softened a little. “I was being a jealous asshole. And I’m sorry. You were playing around with Cam. I took it the wrong way. Then I walked back in to apologize and you were close to Cade and you told him you only wanted sex. I could give you more, Gemma. Give me a chance. I am sorry about walking out. It was a dumb thing to do. I got mad and I had to step away. Forgive me.”
He put his forehead against hers, and she calmed down.
“It won’t work.” But her hands came up to
cup his face.
Cade felt a brutal jealousy take root in his gut. She’d rubbed against him, gotten all hot, but she showed Jesse real tenderness.
Probably because you’ve never been anything but an asshole to her. You’re lucky she talks to you. You can get your shit together and figure this thing out or those two are going to leave you in the dust.
“Give it a chance.” Jesse hugged her close. “I’ll be at Trio tonight. If you want to make a date of it, I’ll be waiting.”
Cade couldn’t stand it. He hated being on the outside. He fucking hated the fact that she wasn’t looking at him. Damn it all, he’d fought it for a week, but he did want her. “I’ll be there, too.”
She finally looked his way, a half smile on her face. “Will you?”
Jesse nodded, never taking his eyes off her. “He will. He’ll screw up again, but you’ll see, he’s going to come around. We can give you what you need. Think about it. I hope I’ll see you tonight. If you want to make the first move, come to me. If you want me to handle it, stand by the jukebox and I’ll know you’re ready.”
“I don’t know if I should.”
Cade watched them. They looked good together. Gemma softened around Jesse. Jesse lit up around her. What was he doing?
“Don’t think. Just be there.” Jesse turned to Cade. “I’m going to go clean up. I’ll see you back at the shop.”
Gemma looked miserable as she turned and walked back in.
He was left alone, with his best friend walking one way and Gemma walking the other.
He looked back in to see Cam and Nate beginning to surround her. They would be friends to her. Jesse was wrong about that. She was fitting in nicely. Maybe even better than Cade had since he’d held himself apart, allowing Jesse to make connections and befriend people. Cade had dragged Jesse all over the damn country and every time Jesse made a home for them and then Cade forced them to take off again.
He was the one who shouldn’t show up tonight. He glanced back in as Gemma waved the men off and sat back down at her desk. Did she even have a lunch with her? He’d sent one with Jesse on the days he’d met her here. He’d fried chicken for today’s lunch, exactly the way Nancy had taught him. He’d thought about Gemma the whole time he’d done it. Usually he only thought about Nancy and his mother when he cooked, both gone, both because he’d been irresponsible.
He didn’t deserve Gemma. Hell, he didn’t deserve Jesse.
But he still went to the park, helped Jesse pick up, and he quietly marched back to the sheriff’s office. It took fifteen minutes, but when Laura Niles walked in, he handed her the cooler and asked her to make sure Gemma got her lunch.
Then he walked back to the shop and got to work.
Chapter Six
Jesse watched the town crazy walk into Trio. Well, one of the town crazies. Bliss seemed to be full of them, but this particular crazy was more sad than funny. And Jesse wasn’t sure Michael Novack wasn’t the tiniest bit dangerous. Novack was dressed in a flannel shirt and light jacket and jeans. It was what he always wore.
He took a long drink of his beer as the former US Marshal strode in and took a seat at the bar. Yep. He intended to keep an eye on Michael Novack because he knew what a dangerous man looked like. He’d stared at one in the mirror for months. Sometimes he wondered if chasing after Christian Grady for all those years hadn’t changed something fundamental inside him. There was still an ache in the pit of his stomach because he hadn’t been the one to take the fucker down. That had been Hope and Lucy.
How much worse was that ache for Cade? He’d lost two mothers. Cade had two whole families and they were both gone. Did he sit up at night wishing he’d been the one to end the life of the man who killed Nancy Gibbs? And how about the man who had killed Cade’s parents and sister? Jesse knew it was all bullshit, but Cade blamed himself for their deaths. How long would it be before Cade forgave the child he’d been?
“Damn it. Lucy caught sight of him, and I swear to god that girl is drooling.” Cade sat back with a long sigh. “That girl needs a keeper.”
Jesse watched as Trio’s cutest waitress fumbled with her tray. Lucy wasn’t the most graceful woman in the best of circumstances. Add inexplicable sexual attraction to the mix and she was downright clumsy.
Jesse winced as the tray in her hand wobbled and the single glass began its long dive toward the floor.
Luckily, Zane was damn fast. He caught the glass and managed to only spill a bit of what Jesse suspected was the town doc’s whiskey. Doctor Caleb Burke sat at a long table with his girlfriend, Holly, and his partner, Alexei. On the other side of the table sat Holly’s best friend, Laura Niles, and her boyfriends, Rafe and Cam.
Zane turned, and Jesse could hear Michael grumble his order. It was the only way the man talked, in a low mumble that was something between a growl and a moan.
“I don’t get it.” Tyler Davis sighed as he slid into the booth beside Cade. “Look at her. It’s like she could eat him up. What the fuck is wrong with me?”
Jesse shrugged. “Dude, according to most of the female tourists around here, there’s nothing wrong with you. Aren’t you like, rolling in the tips and shit?”
He genuinely enjoyed giving Ty a hard time.
Ty Davis was one of those sun-kissed blond gods who generally set Jesse on edge, but Ty was brainy with the slightest edge of nerd. It made up for his pretty-boy good looks. “I do not take tips, asshole. I’m a paramedic. I don’t have a tip jar on my med kit. Do you know how pissy people get after they break a leg while skiing? Trust me. They’re thinking lawsuits, not tips.”
Cade smiled, that shit-eating grin that let Jesse know he was about to say something wretchedly sarcastic. “He wasn’t talking about the medical stuff, Ty. How are tips after the sex stuff?”
Ty went a great shade of pink.
“Sex stuff?” Lucy asked, her breath huffy. She was wearing the Trio uniform, jeans and a tight white tank top with the bar’s logo, two beer steins with a glass of red wine in the middle. It was a slightly salacious logo that always reminded Jesse that relationships in Bliss tended to consist of two foaming beer drinkers and a single curvy female. Lucy fit the bill. The tank top molded to her plump breasts, but unfortunately, Lucy had been firmly placed in the sister category. And she was kind of a bratty sister. “If we’re talking about sex stuff, we must be talking about Ty.”
Ty’s blush deepened. “Damn it. Do we have to get personal? I’m not the only one around here who has sex.”
Lucy cocked her hip and set her tray on the table. “Well, I’m not having any, so we’re not talking about me. And these two have been working around the clock. I think you’re the only one at this table having sex.”
Cade’s head hit the table and a low moan came out of his mouth. “God, I miss sex. I miss sex with hot blondes.”
“You would not have to miss it if you would stop being stubborn.” Jesse missed sex, too. But the fact that Cade was joking about it gave him hope. He hadn’t missed the fact that Cade had left the park with the cooler in hand after the lunchtime debacle and then shown up without it at the shop. He’d gone back and made sure Gemma had food for lunch.
Cade was falling into the trap. Jesse knew what Cade was scared of. He simply didn’t intend to let it stop him. Gemma would be good for both of them. A soft, sweet bunny of a woman wouldn’t get Cade off his ass. Gemma would challenge him. Gemma would make him see the light.
If she showed up. He found himself watching that door. He was damn happy that every now and then Cade turned and glanced at it as well.
Ty’s head came up as though he was greatly relieved they were no longer talking about his love life—which resembled a TV sitcom. It came in short bursts and had zero chance of containing a long-term plot. “Are you talking about Gemma? She’s a hot blonde.”
Jesse felt his eyes narrow and his spine straighten like a dog who’d gone on full “protect my fucking turf” alert. Ty was a womanizer. Ty liked to bed almost any woman who wou
ld let him. He better not be sniffing around Gemma.
“How the hell do you know Gemma?” Jesse asked.
Ty leaned back as though realizing he was walking through a minefield. “She and her mom rented two of the cabins Cole owns. They’re right there in the valley. It’s the two cabins he hasn’t let go of yet. He had me take them spare keys.”
Cole Roberts owned the Elk Creek Lodge, the ski resort that was located outside Bliss. He was Ty’s boss and one of the wealthiest men in the county. He’d recently taken over for his uncle, who was now retired and spent all his time fishing.
Lucy’s sweet face contorted a little. “He has you playing his super now? When is River going to let you go full time so you don’t have to work at that lodge? It’s a bad influence. You’re going to catch something terrible from one of those women and you’ll die exactly like I always said you would. Of a venereal disease.” She winked Jesse’s way. “River and I have a bet. I picked syphilis. She’s got gonorrhea.”
Ty had two jobs, and one of them was working with a company that provided guided adventure tours around the area. It was obvious which one Lucy preferred.
Ty shook his head and sighed. “I would think River would be more circumspect now that she’s gotten married. And that’s precisely why I’m not working there much anymore. Matt takes most of the tours I would have taken. Another reason to not like him.”
Lucy’s nose wrinkled in a way that let him know she wasn’t fond of the guy either. “We grew up with River. I don’t know if you met her yet, but she’s awesome. We’re worried about her brand-new husband, but there’s not a lot we can do. I’m still not happy that Cole Roberts is turning you into a courier.”
Ty’s eyes rolled. “No one else was around. I get bored. I took her the extra key. I tried to talk to her a little, you know, get to know her. She took the key and slammed the door in my face.”
Good. The last thing he needed was Ty trying to hit on Gemma. He doubted it would work. He was pretty sure Gemma was interested in what he and Cade had to offer, but he was a straightlaced man. He believed in tradition, and that meant no fourths.
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