“Not happening. Ever. Me, I’m a free agent. A lone wolf on the prowl for a quick and easy meal. I don’t do love, old man, and you know why,” he grates, losing that carefree attitude that he carries around everywhere, even when it’s appropriate.
For a carefree man, Jace just got surprisingly real, and I’m suddenly curious. There’s a story there, and once I have all my business squared away and Ellie safely married to me with a baby on the way, I’m going to find out what’s up with my brother.
“You may not think so, Jason, and a year ago I would have agreed with you, but just look at what love can do,” he says, looking over at Ma and Ellie with soft eyes that declare his heart firmly taken with the women in our lives.
“Change of subject. Miah and Nutso left to go and meet with Roman and that Case dude who’s helping with this issue. They want you on Ellie till they get home, and Jared said to tell you she needs to make biscuits.”
With that last shot, and after seeing Pop stiffen and grow weary, the idiot stands up and saunters out. Goddamned troublemaker.
“What’s that boy yapping about, Wyatt? You know how territorial your mama is about her kitchen.”
Uh, yeah. One of ma’s ex-friends came over one day a few years ago and tried to tell Ma how to make “a decent gravy.” Ma was fuming by then and things only got worse when the fool woman whipped out a pan and started pawin’ through the pantry.
That day ended with a woman running and screaming from the house and Ma standing in her kitchen with a chunk of brown hair in her fist and a grin the size of Texas.
No one tells Ma how to cook.
“Pop, my girl makes biscuits so good, you don’t have to chew. They melt on your tongue. And the gravy…”
“Boy, you make sure Ellie never lets on about that, or I will skin you alive. The last time I invited Lynn over and she cooked, your mama wouldn’t let me touch her for two days!” he hisses, giving Ma a toothy grin when his outburst grabs her attention.
“I’ll tell her, but one of these days she’ll have to get in on the action or I’ll have to move. The woman can cook and I’m not giving that up in this lifetime, not even to spare Ma or save you from a drought. Gross, by the way. Like I wanna hear about what you and Ma do,” I complain.
“Your mama’s right, boy, you’re not normal. Now, back to the subject at hand now that Jace is gone. You need to sit down and think about telling Ellie the truth about the end. She deserves to know, and like I said, a marriage doesn’t work without honesty.”
Honesty. The word is so easy and simple to say, but practicing it isn’t easy in this case and we both know it.
Am I a cowardly fool who’d rather drag things out for as long as possible? Yes and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Very little has the power to scare me after the full and jaded decade I’ve spent chasing skirt and then chasing Ellie.
What does scare me to the point of terror is losing her now that I’ve had her and tasted pure bliss and contentment. I want that all the days of my life. Now I just have to ensure that I keep it.
Chapter Eleven
Ellie
Jude is a hoot and possibly one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. And I love her already. It’s as if I’ve known her and her husband all my life and we’re just reconnecting.
The idea of marrying Wyatt and having his children scared me at first, but the longer Jude speaks about how much Wyatt loves me and how obsessed he’s been about me, the easier it’s getting to see myself as a permanent fixture in this family.
“Hey, Ma, I’m going to steal my girl before lunch and show her around.”
She pouts but lets us go with the strict order to be down at exactly one for a good lunch and some more wedding planning before Wyatt grabs my hand and starts towing me up the stairs.
True to his word and the rundown Jude gave me, I soon discover that Wyatt has his own wing in the eastern side of the house that is big enough to have me breaking out in a sweat from the long walk it takes to get to his room.
Good, now I don’t have to worry about us having sex under the same roof as his parents, since they’d never hear us unless they were outside the door.
“This is…”
The room is exactly how I would have decorated it with soft creams and a shade of lilac that makes me laugh my ass off. I happen to love this color, but seeing Wyatt in a room this girly is hilarious.
“Do you like it?” he asks, pulling me farther into the room and to the bench seat at the foot of the bed.
“Yup. It’s perfect, though I can’t believe you have a lilac room.”
I’m on his lap and not too surprised when he shifts me and presses me closer to his erection. Our relationship is still very new despite our familiarity with each other, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Wyatt and I are still starved for each other a year or two from now.