Sweet Talk Boxed Set (Ten NEW Contemporary Romances by Bestselling Authors to Benefit Diabetes Research plus BONUS Novel)

by Novak, Brenda

  Her brother had come and gone earlier in the day, and now if she could just convince her mother to go home and rest, she’d stay a while longer and then go home and get some rest herself. How long she’d stay, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t have a magic time frame in mind. Maybe her father would go to sleep and then she’d know he was okay. She couldn’t even think clearly.

  “Jade’s right, sweet pea. Go home and get some rest. Tomorrow’s our big day. Benji said I should be out of here by two.” Her father touched her mother’s cheek. Jane covered his hand with hers and smiled.

  The love between her parents was as real as the love between her and Rex. She took comfort in seeing her father soothe her mother’s worry. It made him seem less fragile and more like the protector he’d always been.

  “Okay, Earl, but make sure Jade goes home soon, too. She has a wedding to prepare for.”

  Jade hugged her mother goodbye and promised not to stay too late. After her mother left, Jade asked her father if he needed anything.

  “No thank you, darlin’. Come sit over here with me.” He patted the side of the bed.

  She settled in beside him. Up close the fine lines around his eyes and mouth were more prominent, but his eyes hadn’t changed. There was strength in his gaze—as there had been Jade’s whole life. She took comfort in that, too.

  “I don’t want you to worry about your old man. I’m going to be just fine. You should go on home and get some rest.”

  “I will soon.” Jade hadn’t told her father about the necklace, and damn it, maybe it was selfish, but she needed to hear from the man who always seemed to know right from wrong—except where that darn feud was concerned—that things would be okay.

  Tears welled in her eyes as she confessed what had been weighing heavily on her heart. “Dad, I lost the necklace Rex’s mom left for him.”

  Her father’s eyes filled with compassion. “No wonder you’ve been so sad lately.”

  “That’s because of your heart attack,” Jade said.

  Her father held her hand and smiled up at her. It was the first real smile she’d seen since he’d landed in the hospital. “Darlin’, let me tell you a little something. You know how your mother and Rex’s mother used to sneak out and get the kids together when they thought Hal and I were too busy to notice?”

  “When the two of you were feuding, sure. Mom told me about it.”

  “Well, there are certain things a person just knows. The way you know you love Rex and the way Steven knows he belongs in the mountains. I knew your mama was out there keeping the two families tethered together by some thin connection, and I’d bet that Hal did, too. Although he’s as stubborn as a mule and would probably never admit it.”

  He shook his head. “Hal and I might have been feuding, but the loss we all felt when his wife died didn’t go away with the tincture of time. I know it didn’t for your mother, and you have seen that Hal still believes he can communicate with her.”

  “Through Hope.” She had caught Hal talking to Hope like she was Adriana at least a dozen times over the years.

  “Right. Crazy old bastard.” His smile told Jade he didn’t believe Hal was either of those things. “Anyway, the bond between Rex and his mother isn’t there because of the necklace. It’s in his heart, darlin’. That won’t go away because you lost a necklace.”

  “But the way it came to us after all those years. Dad, we walked into that shop, Jewels of the Past, in Allure—thirty or more miles from here—and that woman somehow knew it was meant for us. If that’s not a miracle, then I don’t know what is.”

  Earl sighed. “So you believe there was some greater force behind that piece of jewelry?”

  “I think so, yes. It’s too strange to be anything else. I know it sounds crazy, but it doesn’t feel crazy. And that day we walked into the shop, it didn’t feel crazy either. Everything felt right. Our love magnified. I wish you could have seen how the necklace impacted Rex. He had a full-on panic attack, and it was like everything came together at once. Our hearts, our love…our lives. Daddy, I hate that I lost the one thing that meant something to him.”

  “You didn’t.”

  Jade spun around at the sound of Rex’s voice. Rex came to her side and reached for her hand. “Hi, baby.” He lifted his eyes to Earl. “Earl, are you feeling okay?”

  “I am, Rex. Thank you.”

  “Then would you mind if I borrowed my future wife for a moment?”

  “Please.” Earl shooed her off the bed. “She won’t leave my side.”

  “What are you doing here?” Jade asked as Rex led her out of the hospital room and down the hall.

  “You wouldn’t come home, and I didn’t want to be there without you.” He pushed open a hospital room door, and Jade gasped at the sight of a candlelit dinner set up in the far end of the room.

  “Rex?”

  “I pulled a few strings so we could have some privacy. I promised them we wouldn’t be longer than thirty minutes—and that they wouldn’t have to change the sheets. You didn’t lose the one thing that meant something to me. You’re right here, Jade.” His mouth met hers in a tender kiss. “I love you. I’m so sorry for snapping at you earlier.”

  “Me too. I’ve been upset all evening.”

  He lifted her in his arms, and her legs naturally wrapped around his waist as he took her in a deep, soulful kiss that eased the pain in her heart. He turned them so Jade’s back was against the wall and pressed his body to hers.

  “You feel amazing. I should marry you,” Rex teased.

  “You’re not mad about not postponing the wedding?”

  He kissed her again. “I was never mad. I worry that you’ll be disappointed if your father can’t walk you down the aisle. I love you so damn much, Jade. All I have ever wanted was to make you happy.”

  She lowered her mouth to the swatch of skin and peppering of chest hair exposed by his open neckline and kissed her way around the base of his neck.

  “I can think of one way you can make me very happy,” she whispered.

  A deep groan rumbled through his chest. “No changing the sheets, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She pressed her lips to his. “Guess I’ll have to be happy with this.”

  Rex carried her while they kissed, and sat down on a chair with her straddling his lap.

  His eager length was hard beneath her. She was damp and was tempted to taunt him into taking her right there and then. She wanted to be closer to him, to feel him inside her. To borrow his strength and soak up his love.

  He deepened the kiss, then drew back, brushing his lips over her cheek. “If we’re getting married on Sunday, then you’re going to be Jade Johnson for only one more day, and I want to kiss you as much as I can between now and then. The rest can wait.”

  He kissed her again, a slow, torturous, teasing kiss that left her craving more, and whispered, “Maybe.”

  Chapter Seven

  SATURDAY MORNING JADE got up early and went down to the barn to massage Hope before going to help her mother take her father home from the hospital. Jade had been too tired to move when Rex got up at four thirty, but now, at seven, she was ready for the day and excited that her father was coming home. She walked through the woods between their property and Hal’s instead of driving. It was a beautiful morning, mirroring the hope in Jade’s heart. Streaks of sunshine peeked through the woods, illuminating the trail before her. She loved these peaceful moments when she could hear squirrels scampering across leaves and birds singing in the trees. The last few days had been so chaotic that she and Rex hadn’t shared much downtime, but last night had rejuvenated her.

  She thought of the glint in his eyes when he was getting ready to go ride Hope this morning. Rex needed that ride as much as Hope did—Jade was sure of it. She smiled at the thought as she came to the edge of Hal’s property and stepped free of the woods. Acres of pastures spread out before her, anchored by barns and Rex’s childhood home. How many years had she ridden her horse by that ranch hop
ing to catch a glimpse of Rex? She’d loved Rex for as long as she could remember, but because of the feud between their fathers, she’d never dreamed he’d give her a second look—much less that they’d ever have a chance at being together. That’s why she’d gone away to Oklahoma for school. It had been too hard having her heart long for a man she’d never have.

  Only now she had him.

  And now that her father was coming home from the hospital, she could breathe a little easier and revel in the family barbecue they had planned for their last night as an engaged couple.

  She wasn’t surprised to find Rex, Savannah, and Jack in the barn with Hope. Savannah and Jack lived in New York and had a cabin in the Colorado Mountains. They’d married on Hal’s ranch last year, and Savannah was four months pregnant.

  “Jade!” Savannah’s green eyes widened with her smile as she threw her arms around Jade. “I just heard that your dad’s coming home today. That’s wonderful news.”

  “Yeah, we’re all feeling pretty good about tomorrow.” Jade touched Savannah’s auburn hair, which she’d cut to just below her shoulders. “I love your new cut.” She patted Savannah’s belly. “And your baby bump.”

  “Thanks. I can’t believe in a few months we’ll actually meet our baby.”

  Jack embraced Jade. “How’re you doing, sweetie?” He was a burly man, like Rex, with a body as hard as stone and a heart as soft as cotton. He’d lost his first wife and unborn child in a car accident two years before meeting Savannah. Savannah’s love had helped him heal.

  “It’s been a rough few days, but I think we’re all much better now. Thanks for asking.”

  Rex pulled her in close and pressed his lips to hers.

  “Oh, here we go,” Savannah teased. “Okay, lover boy. Save it for the wedding night.”

  Rex laughed. “Come on, Jack. Let’s go hang with Treat and Dad.”

  Rex kissed Jade again and held her hand, slowly taking a step away until all that touched were their fingertips. “Love you, babe.”

  “Love you, too, Rexy.”

  “Come on. You’re making me look bad.” Jack tugged Rex up the hill.

  “You two are still so cute, it kills me.” Savannah stroked Hope’s side.

  “So are you guys.” Hope pressed her head to Jade’s chest. “Hi, Hope. I’m sorry I’ve been sidetracked, but I’m focused now, and I’ll love you up. I promise.”

  “Do you mind if I watch?” Savannah grabbed a blanket from the stall behind her and tossed it on the ground, then sat cross-legged on it.

  Jade walked around to Hope’s side and pressed her hands flat against her warm coat. “Not at all.”

  Jade closed her eyes, centering her mind on Hope. She worked her hands along Hope’s shoulder in long, slow strokes, easing the tension from her muscles. She concentrated on Hope’s shoulder and made her way down Hope’s front leg. As she kneaded and soothed, Jade instinctively felt for tender spots, completely in tune with Hope’s reactions. She worked her way across Hope’s chest muscles and the points of her shoulders, then concentrated on her shoulder again before moving to her back. Jade reveled in being close to Hope again. She’d missed this connection to Hope, and as she moved across Hope’s loins and hindquarters, first with her hands splayed, then jostling Hope slightly, loosening and lengthening the muscles, she remembered the first time she’d taken her hands to Rex. He’d been as tense as any horse she’d ever touched, but he’d eventually melted beneath her touch, the way she’d softened to his every day since.

  “Watching you is like watching some sort of weird horse and girl porn,” Savannah said.

  Jade smiled. She’d been in the zone and had forgotten Savannah was watching.

  “I bet Rex loves that.”

  “You hate when I talk about sexy things and your brother.”

  “Yeah.” Savannah sighed. “But I can see Rex needing massages like this. He’s so bottled up all the time.”

  “Not with me.” Jade went to work on Hope’s other side, stopping to kiss Hope’s head along the way.

  “I know. With you he’s like a gentle giant, but with everyone else, he’s this hulking, brooding creature,” Savannah said. “Hope looks like she’s enjoying the massage.”

  “She is. I can feel it.” Jade worked her hands along Hope’s neck. “I’ll never put off another massage—I promise you that.”

  “You’ve been busy with your dad and the wedding. I can’t imagine how you’re holding it together with everything that’s going on.” Savannah came around Hope and stood beside Jade. “What do you make of my family’s connection to Hope and…?”

  “And your mom?” Jade asked.

  Savannah nodded.

  “I think love works in strange ways. Your mother’s love for you guys was obviously so powerful that it’s impacted each one of your lives in a different way. Look at me and Rex.” Her heart ached just thinking about the necklace she’d lost.

  “For the woman who owned Jewels of the Past to know that necklace from your mom was meant for us?” Jade had always believed that there were bigger forces at play with the way the necklace came to them. “That’s the power I’m talking about. And the way your father loves this horse and talks to your mom when he’s down here…How can that not be real? I wish your mom were alive to see us get married. To see you all get married, really. But I think she’s with us in spirit.”

  Savannah touched Hope’s neck, and Hope turned her big head toward her. “I just hope I can be half the mother mine was. I don’t remember her well, but my brothers have filled my head with so many loving memories that I can imagine what she was like and I want to emulate that love with our children.”

  “You are going to be an amazing mother. Everything you do emulates love. Love is in the way you look at Jack. The way you touch his hand. The way you tease your brothers, and even in the way you get excited every time you see me or Brianna, Max, Lacy, or Riley. Love just is, and you’re full of it.”

  “Thanks, Jade. I hope you’re right.”

  Jade spotted Rex and Jack heading back down toward the barn with Treat. Jack was carrying Dylan and Rex was holding Adriana’s hand. “Look at our men. Have you ever seen a more beautiful sight?”

  “Never.”

  Jade sighed, feeling so full of love that she was near tears again. “All I know is that when you love someone as much as I love Rex and you love Jack, there’s no hope involved. Love just is.”

  Chapter Eight

  THERE WAS LITTLE on this earth more important than family to Rex, and as he looked around the tables they’d set up in Hal’s side yard for the family barbeque Saturday evening, his heart felt as if it were going to burst. Earl and Hal were sitting side by side, two hulking men with wide smiles, laughing heartily at something Rex hadn’t heard. Jade’s mother sat beside Earl, filling his plate with greens. Jade, Riley, and Savannah were whispering to one another while Jack and Hugh carried steaks and hamburgers from the stone grill where Josh was cooking and set them on the table. Brianna bounced Christian on her knee as he gnawed on a toy, and Layla and Adriana were spinning circles in the grass and giggling. Shannon was sitting with Steve. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and smiled. It was a flirtatious, shy smile. The kind that had Rex looking more closely at Steve. There was no mistaking the interest in his eyes. He took a step closer, and Treat looked up from where he sat on one side of Dylan’s high chair. Max sat on Dylan’s other side. Treat lifted his chin and smiled at Rex, a silent understanding of the wonder of family and love passing between them.

  Rex joined Josh at the grill instead of coming between his cousin and Steve. Who was he to get involved? He couldn’t help how protective he was, but Steve was a good guy, and surely Shannon could handle herself. She’d grown up with a handful of older brothers, too.

  “You doing okay, big brother?” Josh nudged Rex’s shoulder. Their family events always revolved around a barbecue, and sometime over the years, Josh had become the cook. After tomorrow he and Dane would be the last t
wo unmarried Braden men in their family, though both were engaged.

  “I’m better than okay now that Jade’s father is home. I was worried for a while there. But I wish I could reach Dane and Lacy. I’m worried about her.”

  “If something had gone really wrong, or if she took a turn for the worse, Dane would have called us. You know that. I know they had an appointment with a doctor. He probably turned the phones off so Lacy could rest or something.”

  Josh and Riley had arrived as dinner was getting started, and Josh had come directly down to the barbecue. Rex eyed his brother’s suit coat and tie. “Why are you still all dolled up?”

  Unlike Rex, whose body was homegrown from years of hard physical labor, of which his bulging muscles gave proof, Josh was two hundred pounds of sleek, well-defined muscles from long runs in New York City. As a world-renowned fashion designer, Josh wore clothing tailored to his tall, lean body to perfection. Luckily, while his clothing and career might have taken a highfalutin turn, Josh hadn’t forgotten his roots. He still had a down-to-earth, country-boy personality that kept him grounded.

  “No freaking idea.” Josh took off his suit coat and tie and laid them over the back of a chair. “You know, now that you’re tying the knot, Riley and I can’t put our wedding off any longer.”

  “No shit. You guys keep waiting for your schedules to ease up. Waiting for the perfect time.” Rex glanced at Earl. “If I’ve learned one thing from this, it’s that perfect doesn’t exist. Marry her, Josh. Stop waiting and start your life.”

  Josh’s gaze shifted to Riley. “We’re ready to start a family, so we’ve got to check off the marriage box.”

  “Me too, man. Me too.”

  Josh put the last of the meat and potatoes on plates, and they carried them to the table. Josh sat beside Riley, who immediately reached for his hand, and Rex sat beside Jade.

  Jade leaned in close and whispered, “You’re the most handsome man here.”