I’ll catch you later. Take care of yourself. For real.”
“On it. Talk soon.”
After we ended the call, I pushed away from the wall, leaning both hands in the open windowsill as I surveyed the view. Although I had considered a number of options when I left the military, I’d craved the familiar and soothing comfort of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Stolen Hearts Valley offered that sense of being home once again.
I’d needed that. As an Air Force pilot during two tours of duty overseas, I’d seen my share of the world. I’d also seen my share of things I preferred to forget. I had a good handle on them, or so I told myself. Something about Dave’s heart attack had torn at those memories with sharp claws.
Dave was my oldest friend, and a few of the guys I served with were also like brothers to me. One of them, Keith, was gone. No matter how many times I told myself intellectually that I couldn’t have changed that outcome, I wished I could have.
I didn’t like being reminded of mortality and just how brutally people could be ripped away from you. Keith had a wife and a young son. I would’ve traded places with him. Ever since then, I’d promised myself I wouldn’t let myself get too close to anyone. Although I was no longer working and living in a war zone, being a first responder and dealing with dicey rescue situations was part of my life. I couldn’t imagine changing that. I derived a sense of purpose and focus from that work. Although I doubted I could ever save enough people to make up for the one friend I hadn’t been able to save, I would keep trying.
As I turned away from the view with my boots echoing on the floor of the unfinished cabin, Jade swung the door open into my mind. She boldly walked through with her confident, take-no-shit stride. In my mind, she was usually wearing fitted jeans and those worn cowboy boots she favored. She’d been wearing those boots the very first time I met her when I gave her a ride home on that icy cold winter night.
A new vision of her had begun to replace that one. Just now, another one filled my mind—the sight of her on her knees above me with her nipples pressing against the thin cotton of her T-shirt as she threw her head back and came all over my fingers. The mere recollection of that moment sent a shot of blood to my groin. Fuck me.
I didn’t enjoy thinking about it, but it wasn’t just Dave’s heart attack that had left me unsettled lately. Much as I wanted to deny it, the sly voice inside my head occasionally felt the need to remind me that perhaps it was my reaction to Jade that had knocked me off balance and left me scrambling for purchase. Take now, for example.
You know you want her. Why don’t you do something about it?
It was bad enough already. If her brother found out that I was going after Jade for nothing more than scratching that itch and seeing things through all the way, he’d fucking kill me. Okay, so maybe Lucas wouldn’t kill me, but he definitely might throw a solid punch right to my jaw.
You know it’s not just sex you’re after. What are you so afraid of?
My mind was taunting me. I was walking alone through the trees, and I shook my head at myself, murmuring, “Shut the fuck up.” That’s what Jade reduced me to—talking to myself.
I stepped through the trees with the main lodge coming into view. There were two old barns that had been renovated entirely. One of them had a restaurant in the downstairs with the hotel upstairs, while the other was all guest lodging with high-end fancy rooms, skylights, and glorious views of the Blue Ridge Mountains everywhere you looked.
I angled toward the back end of one of the barns. The lodge restaurant was busy and not just for guests. North Carolina was a foodie state, and the mountains were home to plenty of restaurants that graced the pages of dining websites and magazines. Jackson had been smart to plan a restaurant as part of the resort. He couldn’t have counted on how well it would do under the steady hand of Dani’s management.
Working at the lodge had a major, and I do mean major, perk. Although I didn’t live here, I still got to join in