“Okay, then.” Jake glanced from Owen to me. “As long as you both are going to handle this the right way, I guess my work here is done.”
“Just what kind of work have you been up to?” A feminine voice, filled with amusement, floated out to us as Harper stepped onto the deck, shutting the door behind her. “I thought we were meeting out here for old time’s sake, babe. I didn’t realize it was a group thing. Kinky.” She waggled her eyebrows in my direction before she took in Owen next to me. Realization dawned on her face.
“I was just advising our friends here that keeping secrets from the rest of us isn’t cool. Right?” Jake looked at his girlfriend expectantly, clearly thinking that she would back him up.
“Oooooh, that’s a tough one.” Harper’s mouth curled a little, and I caught a wicked gleam in her eye. “I mean, remember when we were sneaking around, hiding all the sexy times from the others? That was hot. I think it amped up the passion every time we went to bed together. Or when we were in my kitchen, or when—”
“You’re not helping,” Jake interrupted. “Not at all. And that was different, because at first, we were a no-strings attached couple. Once we had the strings, we let everyone in on the secret.” He slid his arm around Harper’s waist and snugged her up against him. “And it’s much better this way. Much less stressful.”
“I guess, if you say so.” Harper winked at me around Jake’s back, but I didn’t miss the way her hand gripped the shirt at his waist. “Although, Jacey, if you decide to keep things under wraps, I can promise that both Jake and I will keep our mouths shut. Right, sweetie?”
“No way. I can’t—” Jake began before he caught sight of his girlfriend’s pointed glare. “Oh. Yeah, I guess it’s up to you two.”
“Also, if you need a place that’s private but also a little risky, a little out in the open, there’s this nook—”
“I think we’ve given them enough advice.” Jake’s face went slightly red as he gripped Harper’s arm and turned his back. “Let’s go inside.” He shot me a pointed stare over his shoulder. “Leah’s looking for you, Jacey.”
“Okay, I’m right behind you.” I pushed against the seat to stand up, hesitating before I followed Jake and Harper inside. “Listen, Owen, if you’re thinking I’m not worth the trouble that I might cause between you and my brother, tell me now. I won’t lie and say I wouldn’t be disappointed, but I’d understand. You probably would’ve given me the brush-off last night if you’d have known that I’m Kade’s sister.”
He rose to stand next to me, tipping my chin up so that he could touch his lips to mine. “I wish I could say that I’d have been that strong, but I don’t think I could have done it. That spark?” He cupped my cheek with his huge hand, rubbing his thumb over my skin. “It’s pretty irresistible, Jacey. And so are you. Yeah, we might have to survive a few bumps in the road, but I’m thinking you’re worth it. More than worth it, in fact.” He lowered his mouth to kiss me again. “Call me after you talk to Kade, and we’ll make plans for a date this week.”
“And if Kade freaks out?” I tried to keep the trepidation out of my voice.
Owen smirked. “Then call to warn me that he’s heading my way so I have time to get ready for that fight.”
I gulped over the lump in my throat and attempted a laugh. “Will do. I just hope you can run faster than my brother can.”
Chapter Three
Owen
Most of my friends in the 94th ID at Fort Lee probably would’ve pegged me as a fairly chill guy, someone who never let shit get to me. Most of the time, they would’ve been right. I learned early in my days at the academy that if I obsessed and stressed over every little thing, I’d make myself nuts or give myself an ulcer. I’d decided to do the best I could and trust that everything else would work out as it was meant to be.
But that night after Max and Samantha’s post-wedding get-together, I was jittery. I sat in my room in the barracks, my phone on the desk in front of me, waiting for Jacey’s call and dreading what she might say.
I hadn’t planned to like this girl so much. I hadn’t expected the click that I’d felt with her at the wedding and then again today at Max’s house. But when I’d heard Jake greet her by name—by the name Kade used for his sister, not her given legal name—my stomach had rolled over, and all I could think was . . . shit.
Getting mad at her and ranting like a lunatic had been knee-jerk defensive action born out of the fact that I’d already known I couldn’t let this chick go . . . not without finding out if there was something here, something deeper. The physical connection was undeniable, and from our conversation in the dark outside the reception tent, I knew I actually liked her, too. I wanted to know her better. I wanted to see those pretty brown eyes light up, and I wanted to hear that contagious laugh again.
That was why, when I’d seen her tear up and begin to pull away today, all of my resolve and good intentions had melted like ice cream in the sunlight. Kissing her again might not have been one of my better ideas, but it had solidified my hunch that we could be amazing together . . . that this beautiful woman, who was as sassy as she was sexy, might be the one who’d send me tumbling head over heels, just like the rest of my friends.
Jake’s advice, while it hadn’t been what I wanted to hear, was actually pretty much spot-on. He was wise enough to know that keeping something like this from Kade would eat me up. I suspected that ultimately, trying to stay on the down-low for too long would’ve bothered Jacey, too. I’d heard Kade talk about his sister, and it was always with affection. They were definitely close.
Now that I knew who Jacey really was, I tried to divert my mind from worrying over her talk with her brother by remembering what he’d said about her in the past. I knew that the two had grown up in a beach town in southern California. Kade often spoke about surfing even before he could walk, and I wondered if Jacey loved to catch waves, too.
Their father had died suddenly when Kade was in college, which was what had led him into ROTC and ultimately, to his career in the Army. Jacey would have been in high school then, I thought. I couldn’t imagine what that must have been like. I wondered if losing her dad at that young age had contributed to her perception of herself as flighty and immature. From even the little I’d seen of her, she couldn’t have been more wrong.
My phone began to buzz, jolting me out of my preoccupation. I snatched it up and answered, my voice tense even to my own ears.
“Do I need to lace up my running shoes?”
Jacey’s low answering laugh eased some of my tension. “No, I don’t think so. Um . . . Kade’s on his way over to talk to you. But he’s not mad. At least, he didn’t seem like he was once Leah and I got finished talking with him.”
My chest went tight. Kade was an upright, honest guy, but I didn’t have a single doubt that he could’ve disguised his rage from his sister and his wife if he’d wanted to convince them that he wasn’t coming at me loaded for bear.
“What happened, exactly?”
Jacey sighed. “On the way home, I told Leah that we’d met last night, that you’d had no idea who I was, but that we’d liked each other, and that when we’d met again today, we felt the same way, even after you found out who I was.”
“How’d she take that?” I didn’t know Kade’s wife extremely well, but she seemed reasonable.
“She thought it was very romantic.” Jacey’s tone was dry. “She said you’re one of the best guys around, and that she’d always thought you needed to meet the right girl. And then she told me that I had to tell my brother, no ifs, ands or buts, because there was no way in hell she was keeping a secret from him.”
“But she was on your side when you talked to him?” I had to think that Leah’s support could only have helped Jacey’s cause.
“She was. Kade was home by the time we got there. Leah and my mom were giving Emma a bath, and I told my brother that I needed to let him know something. I said that I wasn’t asking his permission, just respecting his rol
e as my brother, especially since I’m living in his house right now. By the time I got around to actually telling him, I think he was half-afraid that I was building up to something truly awful.”
“How did he react?” As I asked the question, I stood up and stalked over to my window, which looked out over the parking lot. No sign of Kade yet . . . unless he’d parked over at the building where we worked and walked over.
“I made sure I didn’t make more of this than it is. I kept everything simple: I said I’d followed you at the wedding, that you hadn’t had any idea that I was his sister, and that we’d, um, hit it off. I also said that when we’d run into each other again today and I’d admitted to you who I really was, you’d insisted that I tell him everything before we took things any further.”
Hearing that Jacey had made me look like an honorable, responsible man in front of her brother only made me like her more. “How did he react?”
“Well . . .” She hedged a little. “At first, he wasn’t exactly thrilled. He went on for a little bit about bro codes and you knowing better, and—” She deepened her voice to imitate Kade. “‘Out of all the chicks in the world, he had to decide to get handsy with my little sister?’” Jacey giggled. “I asked him what getting handsy meant, precisely, because we hadn’t done anything but kissing and heavy making out . . . yet.”
“You didn’t.” I massaged my forehead. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I did. I was being honest, right? I did tell him that most of the heavier making out happened last night, before you had the whole story. That made him feel a little better, even though he did yell at me. It was at that point that both my mom and Leah came in to tell him to keep it down, because they’d gotten the baby to sleep. Mom told Kade to leave me be. She said that I had a steady head on my shoulders, and that she was sure I wasn’t going to jump into anything recklessly.” She paused for a beat. “Which made me feel good. I’d kind of expected her to take Kade’s side. But she didn’t, and then Leah told Kade that he was making a mountain out of a molehill. She reminded him about how much he likes you, and she pointed out that he’d hated all of the guys I’d dated in California. He listened to her, and he calmed down fast. He said you were the best company commander in the battalion, and I couldn’t do any better than to get involved with someone like you.”
All of that was encouraging. “So why is he coming over here?”
“Ah, I think he just wants to make sure you’re on the same page. I don’t know. He muttered something about me getting in the way of his friendships and that chicks complicate everything, and then he hugged me, said he loved me and assured me that he only wanted to talk with you.” I heard her take in a deep breath. “And he made me promise that I wouldn’t break your heart.”
A smile spread over my face. “What did you say?”
Jacey lowered her voice, murmuring softly into the phone. “I said that if things worked out between us and if I had the chance to hold your heart, breaking it would be the last thing I’d want to do.”
“I think you could, you know.” My words were quiet, too. “I know we’ve only just met . . . but I like you a lot, Jacey. It scares me shitless.”
“Me, too,” she admitted. “I’ve never been with someone so . . .” She paused. “Solid. Someone who knows who he is and isn’t ashamed to own it. I like you so much, Owen. It feels like it means something, you know?”
I nodded as though she could see me. “I do, and I promise—” A pounding at my door broke into my reply. “Kade’s here. I’ll call you when he leaves, and we’ll make plans for this week.”
“Okay.” She sounded a little breathless. “Good luck.”
Ending the call, I dropped my phone back onto the desk and walked slowly to the doorway, schooling my face to a blandly neutral expression before I opened the door.
“Hey, Kade. Want to come in?”
He stared at me, his eyes narrow as he stepped over the threshold. I shut the door behind him.
“Dude, really? My sister? My baby sister?”
I cleared my throat. “In my defense, I didn’t know she was your sister when I first met her.”
He waved his hand. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard all that.” With a long and heavy sigh, he sank into my desk chair. “I’m not here to bust your balls, Owen. Maybe I should be. Maybe any brother worth his shit would have you up against the wall, shaking you down and telling you to stay the fuck away from my sister. But honestly, I’m not even that mad. I was . . . surprised more than anything.”
I sat down on the end of my bed. “I understand that.”
“Jacey told me that she wasn’t upfront with you last night. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He leveled a steady gaze on me. “But today you knew.”
“Yeah, I did. And that’s on me. We weren’t sure, though . . . I mean, we thought maybe last night was just all the wedding crap and a bottle of decent wine. I guess I thought I didn’t want to jump the gun and get you involved if it turned out that we didn’t have any, um, spark.”
Kade snorted. “But from what I hear, spark wasn’t an issue.”
“Not really.” I stared down at my own knees, unable to look my friend in the eye as the image of his sister on my lap, grinding down on me, flew across my mind. “That’s why we wanted to talk to you now. I’m going to take Jacey out this week. On a date. I didn’t want to do that behind your back.”
“I appreciate that.” Kade was stiff. “You know, I like you, Owen. Leah asked me if I had any good reason to be unhappy about my sister being with you. I couldn’t come up with even one . . . except something that I didn’t want to get into with my wife.” He wagged his head. “Bro, we used to pick up girls together. We used to talk about what we did with those chicks. We joked about their tits, their asses . . . how loud they were in bed . . .” Kade shuddered. “Now when you talk about that shit, it’s my sister who you’ll be describing. That makes me want to pound on you until you promise that you’ll never look at her again.”
I was quiet a moment, thinking. “Kade, the thing is, we don’t talk like that anymore. Think about it. Did Max ever brag on how good Samantha is in bed? Does Jake tell us everything he and Harper do together?”
Kade looked pained. “God, no. And thank you, sweet baby Jesus, because I think some of what Jake and Harper get up to would give me nightmares.”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “We’re not kids anymore. You all have wives or girlfriends who are probably going to be wives before long. We respect our women, right? They’re not random chicks.” I took a deep breath. “I hope you’ll trust me to have enough regard for both Jacey and for you that I’d never treat her with anything less than my total respect.”
He studied me for a minute. “You’re serious about this, aren’t you? This isn’t a hook-up.”
“No, it isn’t. I’m not sure how serious it’s going to be, because we only met last night, Kade. I’m not proposing marriage. I’m just asking her on a date. If that goes well . . . I hope there’ll be more of them. If it doesn’t, then at least we’ll be friends. But I won’t play with her feelings. I’m not looking for fast and easy here.”
We sat together in silence, neither of us looking at the other.
“Does this mean the last man standing is about to go down?” Kade broke into what looked like a grin. “Are you joining the committed club?”
I shrugged. “It could be. Not getting ahead of myself, though.”
“Fine.” With a long exhale, Kade stood up. “Just . . . don’t break her heart, okay? Jacey acts like she’s full of confidence and totally impervious, but the truth is, she still second-guesses herself all the time. She’s vulnerable.”
I quirked my eyebrow. “I heard that you told Jacey the same thing—not to break my heart.”
“I did.” He waved one hand. “What can I say? You both matter to me. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt here.”
“Neither do I. I promise to do my part.” I offered him my hand.
“That’s all I
can ask.” Ignoring my hand, he brought it in for a quick, tight man-hug, slapping my back. “Do your best. And don’t fuck this up.”
* * *
The following week was a busy one. With Max away on his honeymoon, the rest of us who were company commanders stretched to cover his men and duties, too. Derek was only just now back to full-time duty after his long recovery from the freak accident at Air Assault school, so all of us were still lending him a hand as well.
It had taken me some maneuvering, but I’d managed to free up my Wednesday night to take Jacey out to dinner. All that day, I had a spring in my step, and I caught myself whistling as I went about my many tasks.
“You’re in a good mood today, sir,” Lieutenant Ross, one of my platoon leaders, observed with a smile as we walked the back of the range, where one platoon was working on qualifications. “It’s a bitch of a week with all the extra duty. I figured we’d all be growling and grousing every day. What’s your secret? Got a hot date tonight?”
Because it was just my luck, right as he said that, Kade passed by us. He paused mid-step, shooting me a raised-eyebrow look. I knew what that expression meant. He was not-so-subtly reminding me of my vow not to talk about his sister the way we did about other women.
“Um, I do have a date tonight, with a beautiful woman. Beautiful and intelligent. She’s a wonderful woman, and I’m very lucky that she agreed to go out with me.” I glanced at Kade.
“Captain Hughes, are you saying my sister isn’t hot?” With a smirk, Kade crossed his arms, challenging me to talk my way out of this one. “Is that what I can take from your answer to Lietenant Ross?”
“Sir—you’re taking out Captain Braggs’ sister?” Ross’s eyes were huge in disbelief.
“I am.” My good mood was quickly disappearing. “Did you need anything else, Ross?”
“Uh, no, sir. Thanks.” The lieutenant sprinted away, and inwardly I rolled my eyes, knowing this news was going to travel fast and far among the battalion. Soldiers were bigger gossips than a bunch of old ladies.
Scheme of Maneuver: A Career Soldier Military Romance Page 5
