He'd been there; in spite of every effort she'd made to push him away, he'd been there for her. For Penny. He'd argued for them getting married. He'd enlisted the help of his friend to resubmit her permanent guardianship application and he had his other friend trying to track down Gina.
And he wanted to wear his ring. Wanted everyone to know they were married.
What the hell was she supposed to think of that?
What was she supposed todoabout it?
Her phone buzzed, jolting her out of her thoughts. Pulling it out of the side pocket on her bag, she glanced down at the screen and laughed.
Jack.
He'd sent her a message.
One word—coming?—and a slightly indecent emoji if you knew what Jack was referring to.
Shaking her head, she slipped her phone away and got out of the car. If nothing else, Jack knew how to make her smile and with steps lighter than her thoughts, she walked toward him.
As she got closer, she cocked one eyebrow.
"What?" He didn't quite stifle his laughter.
She wanted to walk right up to him and throw her arms around his neck, press her mouth to his and swallow down that happy sound.
Three months ago, she would have. Now? Now she could only wonder if she would ever feel comfortable in his presence again.
In a typical Jack move, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. With a tug, he had her plastered against his chest, his arms around her. "Stop thinking so hard. Like you said, we'll take this week, get everything with the house settled, then talk," he whispered in her ear.
Should she be worried he could read her so well? Or was she just that obvious? Taking in a deep breath she savored the scent of Jack. He never used cologne or aftershave, leaving nothing to mask his natural scent other than the soap he used and that had such a mild fragrance that when she was close enough, breathed deep enough, all she smelled was Jack.
With him surrounding her, inside her, she felt grounded in a way she hadn't since waking on his plane Sunday morning. Hell, who was she kidding? She hadn't felt this grounded since she'd first seen Penny standing on her front porch. As much as she wanted to keep Jack at arm's length, she couldn't deny that having him close always settled her.
He calmed the chaos in her head in a way nothing and no one ever had.
She had no idea what would happen when she was granted permanent guardianship and as much as she didn't think they should stay married once that happened, Alyssa wasn't at all sure she would be able to give him up.
7
Jack had done what Alyssa asked, he'd given her the week. He didn't know how he'd managed it though, not when he'd spent every moment he wasn't at work with her. Penny had been a good distraction and Thursday's shift had helped keep his mind on things other than Lys for twenty-four hours.
Actually, that was a lie. Even when he'd been in the middle of a rescue flight, she'd been on his mind. Nothing seemed to take his focus off the woman he'd married.
"Hey, that's the last of it," Grayson stopped next to him, reminding Jack where he was and what he was supposed to be doing.
"Thanks for helping." He'd been surprised when Grayson showed up because the man had come off shift at seven this morning. "I know you had other things to do today."
"No worries. I said I could do a couple of loads. Although by the time I got to Alyssa's old place, there wasn't more than one load left."
"Yeah, she doesn't have that much and with everyone lending a hand, as well as a vehicle, it didn't take long to get everything moved."
"I just brought in the last box from my load and I think everyone else already headed out. You want help moving some of this around?" Grayson asked with a frown.
"Nah, we're good." Jack stared at the two pieces of furniture in the living room. "She's going to need more than a couch and chair to fill this space."
Grayson nodded. "It's more than just this that needs filling. Other than here and two of the bedrooms, most of the place is empty."
"I guess that's what you get when you go from a two-bedroom cottage to a five bedroom plus in-law suite house."
"Yeah." Grayson scratched his chin. "I don't get why she bought such a big place when it's just her and her sister."
