Chapter 8 Jace
JACE
After Monroe said goodbye to her friends and led me out of the Rusty Spur as if she were my commander in charge, she gave me directions to her house.
The ten-minute drive and a phone call to her son didn’t give us any time to talk. But she kept eyeing me, cheeks flushed and expression flirty.
Man, she was gorgeous. Monroe had all the qualities I loved in a woman.
She was strong, feisty, and compassionate.
Hell, her singing spoke to me, seeping into my soul as though she was singing directly to me.
Even the words matched my character, my inability to settle down.
But when she’d sung the last chord, I’d been ready to drop to my knees and worship her.
More importantly, I was finding that I needed her like she was the reason I was still breathing.
Maybe she was. Maybe fate had spared my life after the G-LOC just to throw her in my path.
Everything looked different now, felt different—sharper, more fragile.
And Monroe? She was making me think about things I hadn’t let myself imagine.
Marriage. Kids. Forever. If I was being honest with myself, that was scaring the fuck out of me.
Maybe I wasn’t ready for what was about to come in the next few hours.
She finally hung up with her son the moment we pulled into the driveway. “Sorry, I needed to make sure he was okay. It’s the first night in over a year he won’t be home.”
I killed the engine, and she got out before I had a chance to talk to her.
She rounded the hood of my SUV and prodded me with her eyes like I was some sort of idiot.
Shaking my head, I climbed out. “Monroe,” I called as she unlocked her front door.
She flashed those sultry green eyes my way. “Problem?”
Maybe. Maybe not.
I closed the distance between us. “I just have to ask. Why here? We could’ve gone to a quiet place in town.”
Her tongue darted out to brush over her busted lip, which appeared to be healing. “You’re forgetting most places close early in Pine Valley. And are you afraid to be alone with me?”
Hell, yeah. I had a lot of restraint, but with her I might find that I had none.
As if she could see the war raging in my head, she smiled. “Relax, Captain. I won’t jump your bones. I’ll make some coffee.”
She went inside like the tension between us was a blip on the radar.
I hesitated.
Man, you’re an adult, not a teenage boy in puberty. You can handle her.
A laugh broke out in my head. Maybe with Monroe I couldn’t. The thoughts I had about her were X-rated—both of us naked, in every position possible as she came undone beneath me.
“Jace,” she bit out, “you’re letting the heat out. Please, come inside. I don’t bite.”
“I might want you to,” I volleyed back as I stepped into her warm and inviting home.
Laughing, light and airy, she switched on the living room lamp that threw a soft golden glow across the homey space. “You like it rough?”
My knees almost buckled. “Are we really talking about sex?” My dick thought so.
Her cheeks flamed red as she turned on the gas fireplace. “Sorry, that just slipped out. But weren’t you telling me earlier… What were your words? Oh, ‘I would like to find out what those other things are, Teach.’ I shouldn’t assume, but wasn’t that a sexual innuendo?”
Silence breezed through the open floor plan as we discarded our jackets, then she hung them in the coat closet.
“I just want to be sure whatever is about to happen, it’s not because of the alcohol in your system.”
She didn’t look drunk. Her eyes were clear.
She angled her head. “We’re just having coffee.” Her sultry smile said otherwise as she wiggled her curvy hips into the kitchen and flipped a switch.
Not if I had any say in it. Dude, take it down a notch. How could I? She started it.
I swished saliva around my dry mouth. “This place is nice.”
I hadn’t had a real home since joining the military, and I could envision myself living here with her. I could get used to quiet mornings filled with sex, coffee, and kicking back watching Sunday football.
Jace, shut the fuck up.
“Thanks. I bought out Ryan during the divorce. I didn’t want any material ties to him.” She filled the carafe with water. “How do you take your coffee?”
“Black and strong.”
“Of course,” she mumbled.
My gaze wandered around as I went into the family room. Pictures on the mantel of her and Ethan, Ethan’s school picture, and one with an older woman who resembled Monroe. I would guess her mom.
I hadn’t spoken to my mom in a couple of weeks, and I owed her a call. I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what had happened to me. She would only worry, and after my brother’s death, I swore not to divulge anything about my job.
I made myself comfortable on the couch, my gaze flicking to the college booklets strewn over the rustic coffee table.
“Is Ethan looking at colleges now?” I asked. Her son was on the JV football team, which told me he was probably in the ninth or tenth grade.
“Even though he’s a sophomore, we’re starting early.”
The cling and clatter of cups and spoons bounced off the walls and high ceilings. “By the way, how’s your shoulder? I understand that Dana is your doctor.”
I pressed my fingers into the injured spot. It had been a week since the near disaster during rock climbing. But it didn’t feel as bad as I thought it would. Then again, Advil helped.
“Much better,” I replied. “Dana was scolding me at the Rusty Spur for not wearing my sling.”
“Why aren’t you?” she asked.
“I didn’t injure it as badly as I thought.”
Once the coffee maker began to gurgle, she joined me on the couch, toeing off her shoes then tucking one leg under the other.
“You asked me about the other day at school, and I want to apologize for leaving you hanging at the football field,” she said, facing me. “I never introduced you to Coach Perry. But after you took the phone call, Lila texted me. She needed help with something.”
I studied her, not fully believing her. After all, her ex and his lady had thrown her into a tailspin. That was my guess, anyway. Plus, I would also bet our close encounter in the hallway after I told her about my brother might have spooked her since we’d almost kissed.
“Are you still interested in helping Coach?”
I sat back, turning toward her. “At the moment, I’m not flying. So I just got reassigned to help an instructor with his F-15 class. That’s the type of jet I fly. So I don’t have time now.”
For a split second, disappointment washed over before she banked it. Then she hopped off the couch as if I were contagious.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees as she skirted the coffee table and adjusted the lamp shade by the window, appearing nervous and testy.
Odd reaction. I wondered what I’d said to spark her change in mood. Did she think that meant I’d chosen duty over her?
“Monroe?”
With her back to me, her shoulders hunched.
“Monroe,” I said again in a louder tone. “Did I say something to offend you?”
She hugged herself.
This might’ve been a mistake, coming here. “I should go.” She wasn’t ready for me. Not if she was newly divorced.
She spun around. “No!” Lines creased her forehead.
“What is it then? We’re adults. Say your truths.”
She returned, sitting on the edge of the coffee table in front of me. “I lied to you.” She tangled her fingers together. “I didn’t leave you at the football field because Lila texted me.”
“I figured. I would bolt if I saw my ex with her new beau too. Not that I’ve been married or in a serious relationship.
” I needed her to know that last part. “I want to apologize as well. I came on too strong the other day. I’m the type to go after what I want.
But I make no apologies that I really like you. ”
She rubbed her small hands down her jean-clad thighs, nodding.
“Thank you for all that. It was kind of a freaky moment when Ryan showed up. But while he threw a wrinkle between us, it wasn’t so much his presence as it was you.
You scare me. When I’m near you, I can’t think.
You make me feel things I haven’t in a very long time. ”
“Is that bad?”
“We just met.” She gnawed on her bottom lip. “Don’t you find that nuts?”
I touched her legs, then in two moves, I had her in my lap, straddling me.
She squealed like a schoolgirl, giddy but nervous.
I threaded my fingers through her silky blond hair. “Maybe. But I want to explore more of us. See where this goes.”
She shuddered. “I would like that.”
“I hear a but in your tone.”
She rubbed a path up my chest. “Just… It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a man.”
I searched her face. She was so fucking beautiful.
She had porcelain skin, a small nose, and heart-shaped lips, but what brought out her beauty was her kind soul.
That day at Devil’s Hollow, she’d come to my rescue even though she couldn’t help.
If I’d fallen, there wasn’t a damn thing she could’ve done except call for help.
Then she’d been compassionate when I told her about my brother.
Yeah, I was falling, one heartstring at a time, which hadn’t happened to me since my first love in high school.
“I got you.” I flattened my palms on her soft cheeks and brought her face closer to mine. “I’ve been dying to kiss you since Devil’s Hollow.”
Her green eyes became hooded. “Then what are you waiting for, Captain Callahan?”
I crushed my mouth to hers. The second my tongue was tasting the sweetest thing ever, my dick responded instantly.
“Oh my” dropped from her mouth as she squirmed on my lap, her tongue dancing with mine.
Fuck. I adjusted her on my lap or else I wouldn’t last another second. “You’re killing me, Sunshine.”
She smiled. “Why Sunshine?”
I took a breath, brushing my nose against hers. “You’re a light in my darkness.”
She frowned. “Want to talk about that darkness?”
“Not at all.” My G-LOC and the other crappy shit in my life weren’t up for discussion right now. “But I want to be inside you. I want to kiss every inch of you, and I want to see you come undone while I’m buried between your legs.”
“You sure have a way with words,” she said, her tongue darting out to lick her lip as she rocked against me.
I growled. “What do you want?”
She slipped her hand between us and squeezed my cock. “Him.”
Motherfucker. “Are you sure?” Lust had a way of making people do things they might regret come morning. “I’m cool just hanging out and talking. Sex doesn’t have to be on the table tonight.”
“You’re a gentleman to say that. But Jace, I just want to feel you, all of you. I want to experience that connection we have. We can talk tomorrow or the next day. Unless you’re worried that I might bite.” Her smile was blinding.
I threw my head back and laughed hard. “Careful, Monroe. I might want you to.”
“Bring it, flyboy,” she volleyed back, rocking against my erection.
I was on my feet in a nanosecond with her in my arms. “Where’s your room?”
She wrapped her legs around me. “Down the hallway. The last door on the right.”
As I carried her, I kept telling myself to calm down because the way she smelled, like lilacs on a warm summer day, and the way she was nibbling on my ear was enough to make me lose it like a virgin teenage boy. But the craziest and scariest part of all, I was all in with this beautiful creature.