Page 69 of My Fiancé's Brother
“Hi,” I said. My eyes traveled over his huge legs and his messy wet hair. He looked delicious. I averted my eyes.
“Irene wants to go home today. She asked if I would drive her back, so she doesn’t have to take the train.”
“That’s nice of you.”
“Did you want to come for a drive?” he asked, his voice sounded casual.
“Uh,” I paused, knowing that I really should say no. “Sure.”
“Just going to shower, then we can go.”
Irene seemedbright and chipper when we picked her up from the hotel considering how late she and Matt had talked. Jackson followed close behind, carry her suitcase like it weighed no more than a cup of coffee. He made everything look easy.
“You and Matt must have had a good talk last night,” I said to her, as we walked to the truck.
She smiled. “Well, we chatted a bit on the way back to the hotel, but he said he had a big day today, so he didn’t want to come up.”
I stopped so short that Jackson ran into me from behind. It was kind of like being run over by a wall of muscle. Instead of knocking me over with his size, his arm snaked around my waist, and he lifted me up for two steps, carrying me with his momentum. I shuddered as his hard body pressed against my back.
“Sorry about that,” his lips pressed against my ear, all rough and low. His voice sounded amused.
A ripple of something crazy shot up my spine. “My fault.”
He held me a fraction longer than necessary and then released me as if nothing had happened. The entire experience left me breathless.
Irene chattedup a storm with Jackson.
Last night Matt had told me he had talked late into the night with his mom, but she just confirmed he had only dropped her off. Where had he gone? Was it weird that I had no real emotion about that? I mean, should that not bother me just a bit more than it did? I felt decidedly indifferent about the entire thing.
Had Matt gone and spent time with the same woman? Another thought that left me completely indifferent. I mentally chewed on my life, uncertain about how to proceed. What if he had needed to drive around and listen to music? He never had alone time. He was either at work or with me. I needed to stop jumping to conclusions and just trust him. We had both promised that we wanted to make this work. Now I needed to trust him and believe that he wanted a fresh start with me.
My ears perked up as I heard Irene start to grill Jackson.
“So how many years have you been in the military?”
“I have been in the navy just over ten years.”
“You told Harry that you only wanted to join for a couple of years.”
Jackson didn’t respond.
“Harry always dreamed that you would follow in his footsteps and become a police officer.”
“I like being a soldier.”
She sighed. “Well, at some point you're going to have to get real about your career.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, what about marriage? Does your job lend itself to settling down?”
Silence.
“Are you dating anyone?”
The question dangled between them. I refrained from leaning forward to hear his response.
“Not at the moment.” His voice sounded terse.
