Chapter Four
Jacey
When I was small, I’d looked at Kade as though he’d hung the moon. He was the best big brother in the world; he never ignored me or left me out of his fun, and when his friends were over at our house, he always made sure they treated me well, too. He’d taught me how to surf and shared his love of the sun and sand with me.
Later, when he was in high school and I’d been in middle school, I’d decided Kade was the biggest pain in the neck ever. Older brothers were highly overrated. He didn’t let me get away with anything, and if there were any boys who even dared to look my way, Kade had a special manner of glowering that sent them scurrying.
When I was fifteen and our father died, the bottom had dropped out of my world. I was devastated, grief-stricken and terrified about the future. But Kade had swept in, coming home from college to make sure we all three got through those first horrible days together. He’d gone ROTC shortly thereafter, since that meant the Army paid his college bills and eased some of the financial strain left in the wake of our dad’s death.
In the years since his graduation, I’d missed my brother. We didn’t get to see each other as much as we had when he’d lived in California. Still, we stayed in touch via the phone and the internet, and when I’d accepted his invitation to live with his new little family for a while, I’d been excited that once again, we’d be in the same zip code—but this time as adults who could be real friends.
However, over the course of the four weeks after I met Owen Hughes, I began to second-guess that excitement, because my big brother Kade was being a royal pain in the ass.
I’d had the first hint the morning after my chocolate chip cookie date with Owen at the diner. I’d come down to have breakfast the next morning and overheard the tail-end of what sounded like a tongue lashing Leah was giving her husband. I picked up a few words and phrases likedutyandunfairandkeeping Owen away from Jacey. Although they’d both clammed up once I’d appeared in the kitchen, I’d heard enough to gather that Leah suspected my brother had intentionally tried to derail my date by keeping Owen on post longer.
I couldn’t imagine that she was right about that. How immature that would have been—Kade would never have done anything so underhanded. Not when he’d said he promised me that he wouldn’t interfere in our dating.
Or would he? As the days went on, it was clear that Kade was waging a silent battle against my relationship with his friend. He’d given us his grudging approval, but I wondered if that had been more to placate Leah and my mother than anything else. He never said anything out loud, but I could tell by the brooding expression on his face whenever I left the house with Owen that all was not well. More than once, he’d asked for extra help with the baby, too, even when he knew full well that I had plans with Owen.
Now that Leah had begun classes again, though, I felt guilty if I didn’t agree to pitch in with Emma whenever Kade made the request. After all, he was providing me free room and board for this very reason, and I’d have been terribly ungrateful not to do my part. I was always around during the day to watch the baby when Leah was actually at the college or working on her on-line courses, but there were times at night when Kade asked for my assistance. Thus it was that I found myself cancelling or postponing dates more often than not. Sometimes it was only a delay of an hour or two, but twice I ended up missing my time with Owen altogether.
Once it had dawned on me what was going on, I did what any little sister would do: I fought back the same way. Instead of cancelling with Owen, I invited him over to hang out while I was on Emma duty. I felt a little as if I was a teenager again, watching TV with my boyfriend while we waited for the parents to come home.
For their part, Kade and Owen were maintaining a chilly but civil relationship. On the surface, it seemed like everything was fine, but I’d noticed a distinct lack of the relaxed humor that marked the friendships between all the commanders in the battalion. They treated each other politely, and that in itself was weird.
I knew that Leah was aware of the situation as well. She was too swamped with classes, homework and balancing all of that with her baby and husband to pay much attention, but she did go out of her way to treat Owen with special sweetness whenever he was over. I appreciated that.
What was really eating me up, though, even beyond the tension between my brother, my boyfriend and me, was the fact that Owen and I had so little private time. Between his work, my responsibilities with Emma and our living environments—his room at the barracks and mine in Kade and Leah’s house—we’d yet to move very far beyond long, involved kisses and groping. I was growing frustrated, and I knew Owen was, too. But whenever we made plans to be alone, they seemed to be mysteriously thwarted by emergency childcare needs or extra Army shifts of duty.
On the positive side, getting to know Owen in a non-carnal, getting-naked way had been wonderful. We really did enjoy spending time together, whether it was watching movies on the couch or taking the baby for walks. We could talk for hours, we laughed at the same kind of comedy, and we argued passionately about the important questions of life: Angel or Spike? Captain America or Ironman? Sam or Dean Winchester?
“Jacey, honey, come on. It’s clear as hell that Dean is the main character of the show. He’s the penultimate anti-hero, and he’s always having to save Sam’s sorry ass. Also, Sam needs a real haircut. He’s looked like a dork since the fifth season.”
“That issonot true.” I bent down to adjust Emma’s hat so that it shielded her soft baby skin from the sun. She kicked her small feet in the stroller and grinned up at me, melting my heart. I touched her cheek before straightening so we could resume our walk to the park. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon. Leah was at a study session, and Kade had once again been called into work for something or other. He’d been vague about why he had to go back to post, which made me skeptical. But I wasn’t going to complain when I had Owen strolling along with me, carrying the baby bag on his shoulder. It felt like an oddly domesticated scene for two people who hadn’t even had sex yet.
“Itistrue. Ask anyone.Supernaturalis the story of the older brother who makes the hard decisions and sacrifices in order to keep Sam safe. Meanwhile, Sam drinks the demon blood and does crazy shit that makes Dean’s job even harder.”
I snorted. “Sam doesn’t want to have that power over demons. He didn’t ask to be part of Yellow-Eyes’ recruits. He paid for that so many times—first he lost his mom, and then Jess—oh, and let’s not forget his world-saving swan dive into hell with Michael.”
“Which Dean tried to prevent, because he knew he’d end up having to straighten out everything again in the long run. You do remember that Sam returned without his soul, right?”
We’d arrived at the park, and while I parked the stroller near an empty bench, Owen leaned down to unbuckle Emma and take her out of the seat. A funny sensation spun in my stomach at the sight of this huge man so tenderly holding my small niece. There was just something about a big, built military guy carrying a baby that made my ovaries explode. The scariest part was that frequently, what I was feeling was more than just jump-my-bones-now lust. This was deeper and far more dangerous, because it carried with it a risky craving for forever.
“Jacey? You okay, honey? You’re just staring.” Owen’s forehead crinkled as he watched me.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Sorry.” I retrieved my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. “Let’s take the princess to the swings. I want to get a few pictures of her there. She has the best smiles when she’s swinging.”
Owen settled Emma in the baby safety seat that hung on the large chains, making certain the buckle was secure, and then he stood behind her, giving the swing gentle pushes that made the baby crow with glee. I crouched to the side, holding out my phone to frame the shot.
“Oh, look at you, sweetie! Such a beauty. Emmmmma ...” I clicked several pictures. “She’s so photogenic. Look at these.” I swiped across the screen to show him the photos. “I’m going to have them printed and frame them for Leah’s birthday next week.”
“Jacey, those are really good. Especially since you took them with your phone.” Owen skimmed over the shots again. “Do you have a legit camera?”
I shook my head. “I did when I was in high school. I took a few photography classes, and I was the photographer for the school newspaper.” I paused, remembering. “That’s actually how I got into makeup. During my first year at college, I did a photo session for senior portraits for underprivileged high school students as part of a charity, and the makeup artist who’d volunteered got sick. I offered to step in, and it turned out I had a knack for it. That part began paying better than the photography did, so eventually, I was only doing makeup.”
“But you enjoyed doing the photos?” Owen gave the swing another slight push.
“I loved it. It was as though I could see who people really were through that lens. I liked capturing the unguarded moments, the parts that they hadn’t planned to show me. I had an awesome teacher in high school who taught me this trick. When I was doing a session, I’d ask unexpected, off-the-wall questions. When someone asks you something that takes you by surprise, your face reacts in a way that’s amazingly genuine.” With a subtle flip of my finger, I turned the app back to camera mode. “So Owen ... when the hell are you going to take me somewhere we can finally get naked and fuck like bunnies?”
