By Thursday, all my brothers are in love with Jane. Archer and Brogan are up and showered fifteen minutes early so she can have the shower as soon as her alarm goes off. Flynn spends far less time in his room when she’s here, and Knox leaves every morning telling me to “say good morning to Hollywood for me,” which I never do.
And me, well, having her safe at my house where I don’t need to constantly scan our surroundings, I find it’s a whole lot harder to ignore how much I want to look at her and talk to her. She’s sleeping in my bed at night. It’s a fantasy and a nightmare. Basically, I’m frustrated as hell, and I have no one to blame but myself. I’m currently working out that frustration in the garage while she practices French.
I have my earbuds in, listening to music, while I pound the bag. I have no idea how long I’ve been out here, but sweat drips down my brow and my heart thumps wildly in my chest. Any frustration I’ve burned off is back as I realize I’m going to have to go back in there and spend the next few hours pretending like her presence doesn’t make me want things I have no business wanting.
Movement catches my eye and I glance over to the door expecting Flynn to come out and ask when we’re leaving for practice. Instead, Jane stares wide-eyed as she steps into the garage.
I remove one ear bud. “Hey, everything okay?”
“Uh-huh.” Her gaze snaps up. “I needed a break. I’ve done more studying this week than I have in my entire life.”
Nodding, I take out the other ear bud as she walks closer. Tentatively, she reaches out to touch the worn black bag. Her eyes flit up to mine, then drop to take in my bare chest and stomach. “You do this a lot?”
“Yeah, guess so.”
“I can tell. You’ve got some serious muscles going on.”
Her honesty and obvious appraisal of my body make me laugh. She throws a half-hearted punch that the bag absorbs without budging.
“Not like that.” I come around and take her hand, pry her fingers open and move her thumb. “Now make a fist while keeping your thumb on the outside.” When she complies, I say, “There you go.” I extend her hand. “Keep your wrist straight and hit the bag with this part of your hand.”
I demonstrate by placing her hand in the right position. Neither of us moves as we stand there frozen with me caging her in, my fingers wrapped over her wrist as her hand presses into the bag. That coconut and vanilla scent and the way her body fits against mine makes my dick stir.
“Like this?” she asks in a quiet, throaty voice.
“Yeah,” I say, no longer looking at her hand but at her mouth. That perfect fucking mouth.
Clearing my throat, I let go and step away. She refocuses her attention, pulls her hand back and tries throwing a punch on her own. “Ouch.”
“It also helps if you have gloves.” I reach down for my discarded T-shirt and wipe the sweat from my forehead with it. I sit on the bench in front of the weight rack. “Almost done for the day?”
“Yeah,” she says as she walks around the garage taking in the various workout equipment and old boxes, a few tools. “I need to submit an assignment for sociology, but I can do that later. Flynn goes back to school tomorrow and my roommates are all home tonight. There’s no reason for me to keep taking all your time. You can take Flynn to practice and then maybe take a break and enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She heads now for the open garage door. The skies are clear, and the sun is out. It’s still cold, but the rain is gone. “It’s beautiful out.”
And so is she. I keep that cheesy ass line to myself.
“I don’t need a break. Besides, if you leave before I drop off Flynn, he’ll be disappointed.”
That makes her laugh. “He’s sweet.”
“My truck stinks from all the cologne he’s started wearing to practice.” I shake my head. “He has a crush on you. They all do.”
“I think they’re being nice so I keep feeding them.”
I snort a laugh. Tuesday she brought donuts, Wednesday she had bagels delivered, and today it was a variety of breakfast sandwiches. “There’s probably some truth to that.”
“Besides, boys don’t have crushes on me, they have crushes on Ivy.”
“I hate to break it to you, but you are Ivy.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Plenty of girls were only interested in dating me because I was a pro football player, however short-lived that was. I guess it didn’t bother me then because I wasn’t looking for anything more, but I can see where that’d get old after a while. “But I doubt they’re only crushing on Ivy. You’re a cool girl. Beautiful and smart, funny.”
She turns and comes back into the garage. “Thanks. You’re not so terrible either.”
“High praise.” I laugh.
She wears a smug smile that drops as she gets closer to me. “Speaking of how super awesome I am, don’t you ever get tired of working? When’s the last time you took a night off?”
“Not that long ago,” I say even though I don’t really remember. “Come on, it’s about time to take Flynn.”
When I open the door to go inside, I’m immediately met with the smell of his cologne.
I try not to breathe as I say, “Hope you can hold your breath for the drive.”
“Thanks for the ride,” Flynn says as I pull up to the curb in front of Valley High School. He glances at Jane in the passenger seat before opening his door. “Are you coming by tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so,” she says. “You’re going back to school so I’m out of excuses to avoid campus.”
“Too bad. Hen smiles more when you’re around.”
Jane looks at me with a happy, smug expression before giving my baby brother her attention again. “This is him smiling more? Wow. What a sad case he is, huh?”
“Yeah, go ahead and talk about me like I’m not here,” I say dryly.
Flynn cracks up. “I have a game tomorrow night. Will you come watch? With Hendrick.” He adds the last part like he’s doing it for my benefit.
Before I can tell him that she has other plans, she says, “Sure, I’d love to.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I say to her.
“No, I’d really like to.” She smiles at Flynn and then looks at me. “I mean, if that’s okay. I’ve never been to a high school basketball game.”
“Yeah, it’s fine by me.” I wrap my fingers around the steering wheel and squeeze. The more tightly she becomes intertwined in my life, the harder it’s going to be when the job is over. But I can see how excited Flynn is, so I suck it up. “Prepared to be dazzled. Flynn’s one of their star players.”
His cheeks turn red, and he finally opens the door. “My friends are never going to believe me. I can’t wait to see their faces. Thanks, Jane. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” she calls after him.
He runs up to the front door and disappears inside.
“You really don’t have to come,” I say, regarding her seriously. “And I’ll talk to him about using you to show off to his friends. I’m sorry about that.”
“Are you kidding? I love it. I mean, yeah, it’s weird when guys my age do it, but for Flynn, it would be my honor.”
“Thank you for being so cool with him.”
“I like your brothers.” She shrugs it off like that statement is no big deal, but I know we’re a lot to take. “But speaking of Flynn going back to school, I don’t really need to stay anymore.”
I feel my brows rise. I should have expected it, but the disappointment of her leaving hits me hard.
When we get back to the house, the Bronco is in the driveway. Jane follows me inside, where Archer is pulling on a clean T-shirt as he walks out of the bathroom and Brogan is ironing a pair of jeans.
“What are you two doing home? And why does Archer look like he combed his hair?”
Brogan smirks at Archer, then sets down the iron and removes his jeans from the ironing board before he answers. “Party tonight at the football house.”
“Isn’t it a little early?” I glance at the clock on the microwave. It’s just after four.
“We have a team meeting first, then we’re going to The Hideout for a bit.”
“Is the party at Felix’s place?” Jane asks as she gathers her stuff on the dining room table.
“Yeah. Are you going?” he asks her.
“No.” She shakes her head. “But that explains why Dahlia just texted me to see what I’m doing tonight.”
“You should come,” Archer says, then looks at me. “You both should.”
“I’m exhausted.” She smiles but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She lifts her backpack onto one shoulder and then walks in front of me, stopping to pat me on the chest. “But you should make this guy go and force him to have fun. Send photos.” This time her smile seems more genuine. Her fingernails lightly scrape down my pecs as she removes her hand. “I better go. See you guys later. Thanks for letting me crash.”
The door closes behind her and my brothers look at me.
“She’s right, you know? You should come. You need a night out.” Brogan turns, not even waiting for my answer.
My gut reaction is to say no, but something stops me. “Maybe.”
They both hoot their surprise.
“Hell yeah. Really?” Archer asks. He’s practically beaming at me. “You aren’t fucking with me?”
“I’m not fucking with you.” I shake my head. “I’ll be right back.”
I take off after Jane, catching her as she’s starting her car. When she sees me, she rolls down the window. “Miss me already?”
“Don’t go.”
“What?” She laughs quietly as she studies me.
“I think you should keep staying here for a while longer. At least until we figure out who sent the email. No one outside of your friends and my brothers knows to find you here.”
Her chin tilts down as she regards me closer, and her long blonde hair falls forward into her face. “I can’t hide forever.”
“I know. Not forever. Just give me a little more time. I want to be sure that whoever is behind the email isn’t going to escalate things.”
She sighs. “All right.”
“Really?” I’m shocked that she’s agreeing so easily.
“I trust your judgment. If you think this is the right call, then okay.”
I can’t fight the smile that breaks out across my face.
“But I’m still leaving for a little while. I wasn’t kidding earlier. You need a break.”
“About that, I think you should go to the party tonight.”
Her eyes widen with surprise. “Excuse me?”
I rest my hands on the car and lean forward. “I understand why you’ve been staying in and not going out. I can’t imagine what it’s like for you. But you can’t stop living your life.”
“I’m not—” she starts.
“Yes, you are. And as the guy whose top concern is to keep you safe, I should be thrilled because it makes my job a whole lot easier if you stay in every night, but that’s not you.”
Her mouth falls into a straight line and she glances down.
“I know how much you want to go and have fun with your friends like you used to.”
“You can see that?” She glances at me and then away. “Guess I’m not that good of an actress anymore.”
“I just know you.”
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I can’t ask you to watch me all day and all night too.”
“You didn’t ask me to, I volunteered.”
She cocks her head to the side. “You know what I meant.”
“I do.” I grin because I can tell she’s going to give in. “Let’s go to the party tonight, Jane. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll be right there looking out for you while you cut loose and have fun with your friends. I won’t drink a drop. Neither will Archer or Brogan if I ask them to help me.”
“I don’t need three bodyguards.” She laughs lightly.
“How about one really awesome one then?”
She nods. “All right. But don’t think I didn’t notice that you turned what was supposed to be a fun night out for you into work.”
I chuckle as I push off from her car. “Work is fun. I’ll pick you up at eight.”
