Jackson's Destiny (Sawyer Brothers #2)

by C. A. Harms

  “A tantrum?” she asked. “I do believe you’re the one throwing a tantrum. Showing up here and dragging me out. I was just fine with Noah.”

  The smile fell from my lips, and I leaned over the console, bringing my face closer to hers. “Noah will not be the man offering you support. Not today, not ever. You need a shoulder to lean on—” I leaned in just a little closer, and she didn’t pull away. “—that shoulder will be mine.”

  We spent a few seconds glaring at each other before I settled back against the seat, started the Jeep, and backed down Noah’s drive. I glanced back just in time to see him walking down his driveway toward his cruiser, shaking his head and smiling brightly.

  Asshole knew this shit would fire me up, I realized then. He brought Bailey here to pull me out of my rut, and I walked right in to his trap without hesitation.

  Chapter Five

  Bailey

  I wanted to smack him one second and kiss him the next. Jackson was infuriating. He was commanding and controlling, and goddamn it, he was sexy on top of all those things that drove me bat-shit crazy.

  I refused to look over at him and instead concentrated on the scenery as he drove back down the gravel drive before turning up his own. I now found myself on the opposite side of the lake that separated Noah and Jackson’s houses.

  Noah lived simple and rugged. Jackson, on the other hand, was more flashy and elaborate. I had never seen his A-frame cabin up close until now, and I was surprised by how beautiful it was. It was surrounded by a huge deck, and the north side that faced the lake was lined with large floor-to-ceiling windows. The landscaping was immaculate, and trimmed and well-manicured bushes lined the drive. He even had colorful flowers planted near the front of his house and surrounding his deck, which stretched out over the water on his side of the lake and included a gazebo. It was very impressive.

  I’d been so busy staring in awe, I just now noticed my Jeep had come to a stop.

  “Why so quiet, Fireball? You like what you see?”

  I jumped at the sound of his voice and turned in the seat until our eyes met. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of him. His grin was a thing of beauty, and that dimple in his left cheek melted away any irritation I had left. That smile worked every time, and I was sure he was aware of its effect.

  “It’s beautiful,” I said.

  His smile grew wider, and he nodded toward the front of the cabin. “Let’s go inside, get us a drink, and then we can sit down and you can fill me in on what has got you so upset.”

  I shook my head and started to tell him it was nothing, but he stopped me immediately with a determined look. “Don’t even think about trying that whole ‘it’s nothing’ game. Ain’t gonna work, darlin’. I know you got some shit rolling around in that head of yours, and you need to get it out.”

  He helped me out of the Jeep and placed his hand in the small of my back as he led me toward his front door. When we were inside, he pulled two water bottles from his fridge and nodded toward the couch. “Take a seat, Bailey. Whether you want to talk or not, we’re staying here until you choose to share.”

  “Don’t you have a horse to train or a fence to fix?” I asked as I sat down. Sadness immediately filled his eyes, and I wanted to kick myself for bringing up the ranch. “Sorry,” I offered as he sat next to me. I laid my hand on his thigh. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s okay.” He shrugged. “It’ll get easier. It just takes time, I guess.”

  “You have something I never had,” I said, knowing I had just opened the door for a conversation I wasn’t sure I truly wanted to start. But it would be worth it to distract him from thinking about his loss.

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  When he took the bait, I had no choice but to go forward. “You have an amazing support system. A group of people who love you and hate that you feel so alone in this.” I gently squeezed his thigh to emphasize just how true my statement was.

  His gaze was focused on my hand as his jaw ticked. When he didn’t speak, I felt horrible for changing the subject to make it about his feelings and turmoil. Finally, he swallowed hard and looked up at me. His expression was so intense, I could feel the heat rising in my neck, and my ears felt like they were on fire.

  “Does that team of supporters include you too, Bailey?”

  “Definitely,” I whispered without hesitation.

  A grin pulled gently at the corners of his lips as he nodded and looked out the large windows at the open land of the ranch that spread out for miles just beyond the porch. The ranch was his father’s pride and joy, and Jackson obviously loved it just as much. He was silent for only a moment before turning back to face me, his expression softer. “What has you so upset?”

  “I don’t want to upset you.”

  “Me?” he asked. “How would whatever you have to say upset me?”

  I weighed my words, rearranging them over and over in my head. How could I tell a man who just lost his father—his best friend—that his loss reminded me of my own?

  “Do you know anything about my past? My family?”

  He shook his head, and I took in a deep breath. I had a feeling a lot of tears were about to be shed.

  “I had a brother,” I began.

  “Had?” he asked as he moved just a little closer, placing his arm over the back of the couch.

  I nodded and took a moment to calm my racing heart before I continued. “Gabe was older than me, and he was always my best friend, my protector. He was the most amazing big brother. No matter what, I could count on him. When he graduated high school, he enlisted in the military.”

  I leaned forward and grabbed my bottle of water from the coffee table. After I twisted the cap and took a drink, I rolled the cap between my fingers. I needed something to focus on; Jackson’s eyes were too intense.

  “He eventually was deployed to Afghanistan, and we wrote every week—more often if we could. With each letter I could sense the change in him, but I never thought too much about it. I knew it had to be rough, and those conditions would be hard to live in day after day.”

  I tensed as Jackson ran his hand along my upper back and twisted my hair away from my face.

  “When he came back, we all thought he just needed time, some space to settle back into everyday life.” Tears began to form in my eyes. “But I couldn’t have been more wrong. We were all so wrong.” A sob escaped me. Jackson wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him.

  “He needed someone to save him, and we all failed. When I went over one day to make him get help, I was too late.”

  I started to shake as I curled against Jackson’s chest. “I found him in his apartment. The image of my brother hanging from that beam is something I will never forget.”

  “Bailey,” Jackson whispered, and I instantly felt horrible for dumping all this on him. I tried to sit up, but he pulled me closer and rested his lips against my temple. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” I could hear the tremble in his voice.

  “You don’t need this right now with everything you have—”

  “You can always talk to me. No matter what, I’m here,” he assured me.

  “It’s just with the loss of your…”

  “My father.”

  I nodded against his chest. “It just brought back a lot of the feelings I had tucked away. Feelings I avoided.”

  A silence set in between us.

  “Carla being here in my face doesn’t help much, either. That woman makes me feel destructive and slightly murderous.”

  I breathed in his manly scent as I felt him take in a deep, shuddering breath. “That woman is enough to make even a pastor feel hellish,” he offered with a chuckle.

  “Yeah, especially when she slept with my father and ruined my mother’s life.” I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting back the tears that burned my eyes.

  “What?”

  I only nodded and opened my eyes as he pushed back and looked down at me. As the silence stretched on, he watc
hed me as if waiting for a sign he’d misheard me.

  “My family was already falling apart slowly after Gabe’s death. Carla made a ploy for my father and worked her skank charm. When she gloated about how she’d slept with him, she single-handedly finalized the end of my parents’ marriage. She also drove my mother into having a breakdown. She still hasn’t recovered.” I shrugged, because what the hell else was there left to say?

  “Does Amber know?”

  I shook my head, and he pulled me back against his chest. We sat in silence with only the sounds of our breathing filling the room as he stroked my arm, offering me the comfort I needed.

  Jackson, the overpowering man his brothers refer to as Hercules, had a gentle side. Yes, he was dominant and had no problem doing things his way whether people agreed with his tactics or not, but he was also compassionate.

  My eyelids grew heavy as he held me, and the emotional strain of the day slowly faded. I was hanging on the edge of consciousness when he kissed my temple and whispered, “You got me, Bay. You always have me in your corner.”

  Chapter Six

  Jackson

  My neck ached as I stretched it upward and tried to work out the kink. Something tickled at my nose, and as I lifted my hand to rub it, my fingers got caught up in something. I opened my eyes and looked down at the blonde hair tangled in them.

  The sun was just barely coming up over the horizon, and the soft glow in the room highlighted Bailey’s face. An uncontrollable smile pulled at my lips. After what she shared last night, we both curled into one another, not caring that we were still on the couch. As I held her, I felt a sense of peace I hadn’t felt in days. She didn’t stir as I carefully untangled her hair from my hand and pushed it back off her cheek. She looked so sweet and gentle, but I knew she was so much more than that.

  Bailey was feisty and full of surprises. She was untamable, nothing like what you would expect from a woman who had so many painful memories tucked safely inside her head. We shared that pain because we had both lost someone we loved. Someone so close to us that we knew going on without them in our lives would be next to impossible.

  Without hesitation, I traced her jaw with my thumb, and she leaned into my touch. She was painfully beautiful, and my chest felt tight from the overwhelming sensation of being so close to her.

  My phone chirped, muffled from where it was in my back pocket. I hadn’t removed it the night before and was surprised it still had enough battery life to be on. Slowly, so as not to wake Bailey up, I lifted my ass from the cushion and slipped the phone from my pocket.

  Sure enough, it was showing a low battery message. I was just about to check my messages when it began to ring as Ryan’s name flashed across the screen. I hit Answer before it woke Bailey and lifted it to my ear.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “Where are you?” he barked. “I’m up here shoveling shit on my own. Noah is inside with Mom, and your ass is, what, still in bed?” I could tell by how out of breath he was that he was hard at work.

  “Not in bed, but on the couch.”

  “Bailey still with you?” he asked. “Amber said she didn’t stay at the apartment last night.”

  I looked at Bailey, and once again that damn ache in my chest took over. “Yeah, she’s here. She just needs some time.”

  “Well, I can guarantee you that Amber will be seeking her out today. She was climbing the walls last night with worry.”

  “Bailey has a lot of shit in her head, bro. Things she needs time to sort through.” I hoped Ryan understood what I was trying to say.

  “I understand needing time, Jack, I do. But Amber is freaking out. She knows it has something to do with Carla, and the not knowing is driving her insane. I don’t think she slept last night. And seeing her worry only makes me wanna fix things for her. It may sound selfish, but if she hurts, I hurt.”

  “Same here,” I assured him.

  “Oh yeah?” He chuckled. “So Hercules is falling, huh?”

  “Don’t push it, Ry. Just know that I get what you’re saying. Bailey is just a lot more than I took the time to see three months ago, that’s all I can say.” She was more than I think a lot of us took the time to see.

  “We need to get them together. They need to work it all out.” He took a deep breath. “It’s the only way either of us are gonna see a smile on their faces right now.”

  “I’ll be up in a bit. I just need to wake her up and move her to my bed.”

  He chuckled, and I hung up before he could make some stupid-ass comment. I laid the phone on the arm of the couch and worked my other arm out from behind Bailey’s shoulders. Moving slowly so I wouldn’t wake her, I slipped one arm beneath her legs and the other behind her back. When I lifted her, she wrapped her arms around my neck.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered hoarsely.

  “I’m taking you to my bed. I gotta get up to the ranch to help Ryan, and I didn’t want to leave you on the couch, sweetheart,” I assured her as I carried her to the bedroom and nudged the door open with my hip.

  Just before I laid her down on the bed, our eyes connected, and she smiled back at me. Damn if that didn’t hit me like a punch to the stomach and make my knees just a little weak. Her happiness had come to mean so much to me, and it was still a new feeling.

  I lowered her to the bed and slowly pulled my arm out from under her shoulders and legs, but I still hovered over her as our eyes locked on one another’s.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  My body moved of its own accord, and I lowered my lips to hers and kissed her softly. The kiss started out gentle and quickly became heated and more intense, and Bailey gripped the back of my neck, holding me close. She and I had been attracted to each other for months, and after our first kiss, that attraction was almost like an uncontrollable pull and just as hard to fight.

  I pulled back, allowing my forehead to rest against hers, breathing her in. I kept my eyes closed as I spoke, my voice sounding weakened by lust and need. “Stay in bed, relax. I’ll be back in a few hours.” I inhaled, attempting to calm myself. “We’ll go grab something to eat then.”

  “Okay.” Her soft whisper sent chills over my back and arms.

  After kissing her once more, I stood tall and took one last moment to take in the beauty that now lay tangled in my sheets. Visions of joining her fought against the need to get up to the ranch. Finally, I slowly took a few steps backward, shaking my head to clear it of the images of spending the day rolling around in bed with her. The smile that spread out over her lips told me she was having the same thoughts.

  Bailey was an intriguing woman. She had a dirty mind like a guy and a mouth like a sailor, but she was sweet as honey when you got her alone.

  Chapter Seven

  Bailey

  I woke just after eight, and the house was still empty. Stretching my arms above my head, I rolled over and buried my face in the pillow at my side, where I was engulfed almost instantly by the sexiest scent. Jackson drove me crazy. I had never been turned on by something as simple as cologne until I met him.

  The last twenty-four hours had been emotional overkill. A lot of things I had hidden away had come back, and whether I was ready or not, it was time to face those demons. Which also meant it was time to have a discussion with my best friend that I should have had a long time ago.

  As if she could read my mind, the theme from Toy Story filtered through the open bedroom door. As a silly joke, Amber and I had chosen it as our ringtone for one another. The looks I received when standing in the middle of a grocery store or a salon as “You Got a Friend in Me” blared from my purse always made me grin.

  I knew I owed her an explanation for running out on her the way I did. I also knew there would be more tears in my near future.

  Just as I was about to crawl out of Jackson’s bed to answer my phone, I heard the click of a door and looked up just in time to see him walk in from the adjoining bathroom. I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. The
towel around his waist hung low on his hips, and those damn dips just above the cinch in the middle of his waist made my mouth water. What I wouldn’t give to trace those very dips with my—

  Jackson chuckled, bringing my dirty thoughts to an abrupt halt. “Darlin’, if you wanna touch, all you have to do is ask.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to appear irritated by his cockiness. But he didn’t buy it at all as he took a few steps closer to the bed. “I can unhook this towel and give you a closer look.”

  My gaze fell to his taut and mouthwatering stomach as he fisted his hands in the towel and slowly began to pull it open. I swallowed hard right before the Disney song broke through the silence of the room again.

  Our stares connected once more, and he arched a brow in question.

  I shrugged and sat up. “Amber,” I confessed. “Pretty sure she’ll keep calling until I answer.”

  I felt a slight pang of disappointment as Jackson tucked the towel tightly around himself once again. I was so close to getting a glimpse of what I was sure would be anything but mediocre. He took a seat beside me on the bed and tucked a stray wisp of hair behind my ear. “We can hold her off for a while longer if we need to.”

  I shook my head. I had dodged her too long. She didn’t deserve to be ignored. “I can’t. I need to talk to her,” I confessed. “I know she’s going crazy.”

  Jackson rested his hand on my thigh and rubbed it, sending warm flutters through me. “Ryan said she was up most of the night. Apparently, she knows you’re upset because of something to do with her mom, due to the comments you made at the bakery.”

  I cringed, remembering that both Amber and Olivia had seen my outburst. “Yeah, I need to apologize to Liv. She was there too.”

  “Sweetheart, she has me as an uncle, so I’m pretty sure she’s heard worse.” He chuckled. “But really, I can take you to see Amber.”

  “Or I could drive myself.”