“I’m trying. That’s where we started. If we get that back, then we can move forward.”
“Friends is nice, definitely the foundation for what you have now, but friends aren’t the same as boyfriends and husbands. They aren’t there every day. They aren’t the people you count on to be there at the end of a long day, or first thing in the morning.”
“I’m trying to take things slow. For her.”
“Is that really what she wants? Does she want a friend? Or does she want a boyfriend? Does she want you to be her husband?”
“I don’t know. Not for sure. That’s why I’m giving her time.”
“Yes, and while you’re giving her time, you’re acting like her friend, which tells her that’s all you want,” Raid said.
“It’s like that saying about dress for the job you want. In this case, you need to be the man you want to be to her. If you want to be her husband, you need to be that to her.”
“So because I’ve been trying to be her friend, she doesn’t believe I want to be more.”
“After you left her once, why would she?” Rain asked.
“Crap.” Dylan ran a hand through his hair. “What do I do now?”
“Well, it’s too late to go and get her for the barbeque. She’ll think it was an afterthought.”
“She’s my every thought,” he admitted.
Rain and Claire both smiled and sighed.
“Thanks for that one,” Brody said. “Go back to making me and Owen look like good husbands.”
Dylan laughed and shook his head. “Hey, you’re married to the women you love. I can’t even get Jessie to call me.”
“Stop taking things slow, or that spark between you will burn out. Fan the flames. Heat things up,” Owen suggested.
Dylan glanced at Claire and Rain for their approval of that plan. “Okay, I’m definitely on board for that. This is taking too damn long as it is. I want her in my house, in my bed, in my life every day.”
“Tell her that,” Rain said.
“I have. Many times.”
“Yes, and then you treated her like your best pal,” Claire said. “If you mean it, show her in a way she can’t misinterpret.”
“Drag her to the ground and have my way with her,” he teased.
“Less caveman, more ‘I need you now,’” Rain suggested.
Dylan thought about the last two weeks and how’d he been so careful not to push for too much intimacy. They’d shared a few kisses, but they were far too chaste for his liking, and maybe Jessie’s too. Maybe what he interpreted as caution in her eyes was really her confusion and trepidation to ask for more, or show him she wanted more, when he kept things so light and carefree.
Dylan dropped into the seat next to Rain. She put her hand on his knee and gave him a pat. “I think it’s sweet you’re taking things slow, but take it from someone who was left, all she wants to know is that you want her and only her. Don’t tell her. Show her.”
“Believe me, I want to. Bad.” That admission made all of them laugh. “I’ll take her to dinner tomorrow night. Something quiet, intimate. Set the scene, so to speak. Then, I’ll take her home.”
Chapter Thirty
* * *
JESSIE WORKED ON top of the roof of one of the custom homes at the back end of the park in the new housing development. It had become her special project and her own personal torture. With her shoulder and thigh completely healed, if still a little bruised, she’d gotten back to work with a vengeance. Mostly, she worked out her frustration over Dylan. Over the last two weeks, he’d begun a campaign of being there one minute and gone the next. She never knew when he’d show up or be missing. Disconcerting and a little—okay, a lot—annoying.
She hammered another nail into the tar paper and sat back on her heels. Scanning the housing development, progress continued even while she’d been gone. Several of the homes were finished, potential buyers arriving daily to walk through and hopefully buy. Work continued on the other homes. Everything ran smoothly.
Brian stepped things up while she was away, and he’d become one of James’s go-to guys. He worked hard and made his presence known to others. A good sign, he took his job seriously and worked hard to make things right in his life. On many occasions, he’d thanked her for the work she’d done on the house and told her Marilee was happier than he’d ever seen her. The baby would arrive in a few short weeks, and Jessie couldn’t wait to meet her nephew.
That thought put an ache in her belly. As happy as she was for them, she wished the same for herself. As much as she loved Hope, she wanted to have more children. She thought of Will and smiled.