by Natalie Ann
Sure, she was competitive, but not in a horrible way, just more so with her family.
It was not her fault most men were intimidated by her or her family. Or that she’d caught on right away if they were after her name and family money rather than her.
The biggest problem she found was that she was just downright picky.
Being surrounded by so many men, she’d come to the conclusion that she wanted her man to be a combination of the most important men in her life. Her brothers and father. Not that she’d ever tell them that.
She wanted someone laid back like Drake, a leader like Noah, funny and having a great sense of humor like Wyatt, and protective like her father. Who would have thought it’d be so hard to find it?
Oh, and she couldn’t forget the guy needed to turn her on in addition to having all those traits. He had to make her pulse race. Leave her speechless and wanting more.
She was batting zero on finding that man.
The first man to make her speechless while she broke out in a sweat was Brock James. But she didn’t know enough about him other than the physical effect he had on her and that he seemed to have a good sense of humor as he tried to relax her when he sensed she was nervous.
He was a commander in the Navy, so he had to be a leader. She had no idea if he was really laid back, as it didn’t seem to go hand and hand with his career. She’d like to think he was protective, but who knew?
Besides, he didn’t live around here and she hadn’t heard much about him other than he spent a few weeks with Ella and Travis and that was it. No use pining for someone she’d probably never see again.
“You’re being awfully quiet.”
She turned to see Ella sit down next to her. The wedding was winding down but family was still here. “Just looking out at all the couples.”
Ella laughed. “And waiting for your turn?”
“Something like that. But I’m not pushing it. I guess seeing all my cousins married and my brothers engaged. Even Wyatt is seriously dating someone. It leaves me and Ryder. I never wanted my name in the same sentence as Ryder.”
“I don’t blame you,” Ella said.
“How are you feeling?”
Ella had told the family last week that she was pregnant. Guess she and Travis had been trying but no one really knew. They’d waited until she was after the first trimester to make the news known.
“Good. I’m glad I didn’t have any morning sickness or that would have been too hard to hide from the family. Thankfully I never drank much to begin with so no one in the family had suspected anything.”
“I wish you’d told me last month at the picnic,” she said. She might be jealous, but she was beyond thrilled for her only female cousin. The two of them were close even if they lived two hours apart.
“Do you know the ramifications if you’d known before my mother?”
Jade looked out over the dance floor and saw her parents sitting with her Aunt Jolene and Uncle Gavin, Aunt Diane and Uncle Grant. “I suppose you are right.”
“Travis is over the moon and watching my every move on top of it. I want to strangle him at the same time I think it’s sweet.”
“You know why he is that way,” she said. Travis had been engaged before and his girlfriend had been mugged and later died along with the baby while Travis was overseas. He got back in time to say goodbye but had carried that guilt with him for years.
“I do. I try to keep that in mind and cut him some slack. It’s hard though.”
“He loves you. You can’t ask for more than that.”
“No. So tell me, what do you think of all your brothers and cousins falling lately?”
“I’m pretty sure my parents and Aunt Diane and Uncle Grant are behind it, but I can’t prove anything. There is enough there to make it a coincidence and they are fast to say that. I mean Drake and Kara worked together for a while before that happened. Wyatt and Adriana don’t work with my parents and my mother fully admitted she asked Wyatt to introduce himself but nothing else. I don’t know how my mother or father could play any part in Noah and Paige since they met when Sebastian got in trouble.”
“Aunt Diane gave Sam Dani’s name and gave Bryce a gift card to Payton’s deli,” Ella said.
“Yeah. But Aunt Diane had always picked girls that had things in common with the boys and those are total opposites,” Jade said, frowning. “I’m not buying it though either.”
“And you shouldn’t,” Ella said. “Our parents are all sneaky that way.”
“I’ve already confronted them and said they better not get any ideas or I’m ratting them all out. And we all know how hard it’d be for Ryder so they wouldn’t want him to even suspect a thing or he’d double his attempt to find the next blonde bombshell to annoy everyone.”
“At least he didn’t have a date for the past few weddings,” Ella said.
“Because he was in those weddings and probably didn’t want to torture the rest of the family having them stuck with some date they’d want to strangle after they kicked his butt.”
“I’m sure,” Ella said. “Anyway, keep an eye out.”
“So, you are sure they are planning something too?” Jade asked. She knew it!
“I wouldn’t put it past any of them, but no one says anything to me. I keep asking, but I’m not getting very far. But we do know if Wyatt seems serious...the next is you.”
“He does seem it and I love Adriana. I hope it works out.”
And at breakfast she found out exactly how well it was working out.
“Wyatt, what is in your hand?” her mother asked when Wyatt walked into the restaurant the next morning for breakfast. They’d all been told her mother wanted them there at nine so they could eat together as a family.
“Wyatt bought some candy I liked,” Adriana said. “He bought too much and I told him to share with everyone this morning.”
“Sweet,” Sebastian said. Her soon-to-be nephew fit right into the family. “Candy for breakfast. Paige never lets me have that. That’s why Wyatt is my favorite.”
“Nor do you need it now,” Noah said narrowing his eyes, but she saw her brother and Sebastian grinning at each other. Noah always wanted to be the first at something in the family and he was going to give the first grandchild once the adoption papers went through.
Wyatt opened the bag and dumped a bunch of candy ring pops on the table. “Those were my favorite too,” Jade said, reaching for one. “I like pink the best.”
“Of course you do,” Drake said. “Anything girlie is all Jade.”
“I’m outnumbered in the house.” She grabbed all the pink ones. “And Wyatt always stole these and left me with blue. I think he just liked it when my lips turned blue.”
“We liked it better when Wyatt had a pink ring on his finger,” Noah said. “It went well when we called him Prada.”
“Boys,” her father said. “Your mother wanted a nice family breakfast but I see nothing changes even as adults.”
“One thing changed,” Adriana said. Jade looked at her twin’s girlfriend and knew right away by the glow on her face that another one bit the dust.
“What’s that, darling?” her mother asked.
“I didn’t like those rings as much as I liked this one.”
Her mother stood up so fast her chair bumped into her father and fell to the floor as she rushed over to see the large diamond solitaire on Adriana’s hand. “Damn you, Wyatt. Can’t you do anything without making a joke out of it?”
“Did you really give her that candy ring first?” Jade asked with her head tilted. Leave it to her brother to never do anything simple and make a joke out of it. Though she had to admit Wyatt wouldn’t be Wyatt if he didn’t do something like this. And by the look on both of their faces, it was perfect for their relationship.
“I did. And she didn’t even care because she knows me for me and loves me that way,” Wyatt said.
“Yes, I do,” Adriana said, kissing Wyatt on the cheek.
Whe
n all the noise settled down, Jade moved next to her twin and gave him a hug. “I’m so happy for you.”
“I guess Adriana listened to you when you told her not to put up with my shit.”
“I did,” Adriana said. “And for that reason I’d love you to be my maid of honor when we settle on a date. Wyatt and I would have no other.”
“I’d be honored to,” she said, feeling her eyes fill up. She only let her emotions really show around family.
Her brothers Noah and Drake had their dates which weren’t that far off. About four months for Drake, five for Noah. No one wanted to wait. Noah didn’t want to go before Drake but the sooner he married the sooner they could push the adoption. She suspected all three of her brothers could be married within a year.
So one year from now, she was betting she’d be a bridesmaid four times and a maid of honor twice. Yeah, life was just grand.
Maybe with any luck she’d have a date to bring to one of the future weddings and could stop being solo, let alone wondering when her time would come.
One thing she knew for certain, whenever her time came it was going to be a man of her choosing.
Over an hour later everyone had left the table, Carolyn and Garrett still sitting there. “How did we get so lucky that our kids found such great mates?” Garrett asked.
“No luck,” Carolyn said. “You know that. This has been hard work, but it’s been so worth it. Two to one.”
“Fine. You win,” he said. “Because we know Jolene is going to take the credit if it works out with Jade.”
“Yes, she is. But we are going to have to put a lot of work into it and you know it. Are you up for it?” she asked.
“For our kids, I’m up for anything,” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Then you better gear up because in one week the fireworks might start,” she said.
“I don’t know about fireworks but maybe the matches will come out to light the fuse,” he said.
“Jade has no idea that Brock is back in the area?” she asked.
“You heard Gavin and Jolene yesterday. He stayed with Ella and Travis for two weeks, then went back to get the brace off his leg, make arrangements for a place to stay and fill out all his paperwork. He was officially done last week.”
“I hope Ella didn’t say a word to Jade yesterday. I heard them talking, but as far as Jolene knew, Brock’s name never came up. It’s not like Brock is staying with them again and with Ella’s baby announcement everyone has been more focused on that.”
“It worked in our favor,” he said.
“Sam and Wyatt hadn’t even said a word that Brock interviewed at Duke for the Director of Security last week. How did Jolene and Gavin know that and not Sam and Wyatt?”
Garrett laughed. “I’m sure Travis and Ella told them that Brock was interviewing. Travis most likely put a good word in since he’s got a lot of contracts in this area too, but again, there was no reason for that to be told to Jade or any staff at Duke. Remember, we played it well not telling Jade about Brock’s accident by saying she’d only met him that one time.”
“I hope this works,” she said. “There hasn’t been any word if he got the job, but that has nothing to do with him coming into your office in a week.”
“No,” he said. “He’s going to have to work with Jade on this and I’ve been careful about not putting his name down on her calendar for the project. James is such a common last name, that’s all I’ve got down for Grant and me when we talked to him. Now it’s in Jade’s hands.”
“Keep me posted,” Carolyn said. “This one is in your court more than mine.”
He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “You’d never let me keep you out of the loop and you know it.”
4
Putting Down Roots
Brock parked his SUV in the parking lot and went into the front door of the Fierce engineering firm. He was off his crutches and didn’t walk with a limp, but he wasn’t nearly as strong as he wished he was.
As he knew he’d never be again.
It had been a hard blow to accept he’d most likely never be in the field again. He wouldn’t be agile enough and the field was where he wanted to be if he stayed in the service.
He wasn’t meant to sit behind a desk or play the political game but knew his options were limited.
So after talking to his father, he’d made his decision and left. The next stage of his life had been up in the air for all of three weeks.
He’d interviewed for the Director of Security position at Duke and was offered the job within two weeks once his background checks cleared. Not that anyone thought there’d be any problems there.
He’d even gotten a call that they were reorganizing everything and he’d be overseeing the hospital and cancer centers along with the university. Everything on the entire campus was in his hands and he’d have someone under him in each building overseeing that location.
He wanted to turn it down fearing this was the political game and desk job he dreaded, but the salary that came with it was too tempting.
In the end he accepted and knew he could use that money to help fund his other project. The one he was meeting with Jade Fierce about today.
His world was changing and though he’d spent most of his life adapting to wherever he was, this one was going to be new for him.
Nothing had ever been permanent in his life before and he was wrapping his head around it now. He had an apartment that he was renting month to month and was ready to start looking into buying a house.
Maybe he was nuts, but it was time to look at the bigger picture, and if that meant putting down roots, he was doing it where he was within driving distance of his best friend.
Rather than go to the elevator, he found the stairs and walked up to the fourth floor. Any bit of exercise was what he was doing. He had to find some gym to work out in too, because his apartment building didn’t have one.
He supposed he could work out at the university, now that he thought of it, but the idea of being there with college kids held no appeal, though he’d been told there were multiple facilities with gyms on the campus.
More stuff he had to figure out.
When he got to the front desk, he gave his name to the receptionist. “Brock James here to meet with Jade Fierce.”
“Hmmm,” the woman said. “I don’t see you on her schedule. Oh wait, you’re on Garrett’s schedule with Grant.”
“I have talked with both of them. I just thought I was meeting with Jade today since they’d said she’d be working with me on this.”
“Let me call one of the owners and see what they want to do.” He waited a minute and then heard, “Garrett, Brock James is here. He said he had an appointment with Jade but he’s on your calendar with Grant. I figured I’d try you first since you and Jade both have the same discipline.”
He hadn’t realized that. That Grant and Garrett had different degrees. Not until he met with them. Grant and Drake were on the civil engineering side of the business. Garrett and Jade mechanical. This place was huge and he figured there were plenty more engineers, but he was only looking at the Fierces.
It was probably costing him more going through Jade, but when they’d said she was the best for what he had in mind, he wasn’t going to argue.
The truth was, he suspected they were giving him special treatment due to the family association. But since this was such a great cause, he would take it.
The secretary hung the phone up. “Let me show you to the conference room. Grant and Garrett will be there in a minute.”
“Sounds good,” he said, following her down the hall and into a room.
“Can I get you something to drink?” the secretary asked. “Water, coffee, tea?”
“I’m good,” he said.
She left and he sat there, then opened his laptop on the table and pulled up his idea. He’d already sent everything to Garrett and Grant, but he had more notes this way too.
“Brock,” Garrett
said, walking in with Grant. “How are you doing? No more crutches?”
He stood up and shook both their hands. The twins were about an inch taller than his six-foot-three-inch frame and big imposing men. Just like the rest of the men in their family.
“I ditched them a few weeks ago. I’m getting along good without them. I should since I’ll be starting work next week too.”
“So you got the job?” Garrett asked.
“I did. The offer came through last week. I’m just getting settled in an apartment now. I guess I’ll start looking for houses soon. Time to get myself some more space.”
He wasn’t surprised that neither of them knew he’d gotten the job. There was no reason for Travis to have said something to them and as far as he knew an official announcement would be sent out to all personnel next week when he started. That would include Sam and Wyatt in the cancer center, and Bryce at the university.
“I’m sure you won’t have any problem finding a place,” Grant said. “We’d be happy to show you around. Any of us would. Jade probably would too.”
“I can figure it out, I’m sure. I appreciate it though,” he said.
“I just called Jade and asked her to come to the conference room,” Garrett said. “She didn’t realize you were her client today. We just had James written down and, to be honest, it slipped my mind to tell her it was you.”
Brock thought that was odd, but didn’t say a word. The brothers were looking at each other and he was trying to figure out what was going through their heads. He didn’t have time to ask before Jade showed up in the doorway and just stopped.
He’d seen her in a gown for Ella’s wedding, a dress for the rehearsal dinner, and shorts for the summer party.
Now she was a fashion plate in work attire. A light green straight skirt on that hit just above her knees, a white silk shirt tucked into her waist and killer green and white pumps on her feet.
Her hair was down but pulled away from her face and she had a file in her hand—and a shocked looked in her eyes.
He wasn’t often stunned speechless and imagined she felt the same way as him.
