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“For you?” He shot me a quick, almost sad look. “I reckon I’d do just about anything to keep you safe.”
CHAPTER TWO
ELLA
“You’ll take care of this guy, right?” I tipped my head A.J.’s way, eyes on Marcus. “Don’t let him get into any trouble.”
Marcus grinned, then lifted his gun—his water gun—closed one eye and focused on A.J. “I don’t know. Should I have your six? You’ve been kicking my ass in this water gun game,” he teased.
Water gun fight for adults. Totally Shep’s idea.
A.J. put his hands up, palms out, since he wasn’t currently “packing” and backed up a few steps. “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man, now would ya?”
Marcus kept his weapon aimed on A.J. and stole a look at me. “I guess fair is—”
Before he could finish, A.J. snatched a small water gun he had hidden at the back of his jeans and squirted Marcus in the face. “I’ll never surrender,” he said with a laugh before turning and taking off toward the others still engaged in “battle.”
Marcus lowered his gun to lift his tee up to dry his face. “He’s still just a big kid.”
“Yeah, I hope the Navy doesn’t change that heart of his. It’s pretty big, too.” I smiled.
“Nah.” Marcus shrugged. “That man will probably find humor in every situation. Wouldn’t be surprised if he kills bad guys in those American flag boxers that I’ve had the displeasure of seeing him in a time or two while drunk during our Bama days.”
“Yeah, I can totally see that. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
Marcus tossed a thumb toward the fight. “Time for payback, though.” He winked at me, then took off toward my brothers.
I sighed and dropped my eyes to my pink shirt, which was fairly wet from Caleb and Beckett ganging up on me five minutes ago. And Rory, the traitor, helped them out.
“You coming back over, or what?” I heard Beckett call out, and I turned to see him waving me over down near the barn where they were gathered on our ranch.
But then I spied Jesse off on his own, removing his wet shirt beneath the shade of one of the way-older-than-me trees.
“Be there soon,” I promised my brother, already en route to Jesse like some magnetic pull was drawing me there.
Abs. His abs are drawing me there. Who am I kidding? Not to mention the hard curves of his biceps. And now he was using his wet tee to swipe at his chest, and he was doing one hell of a job of it.
“Hey, you,” he said when he spotted me, and I joined him in the shade. He wrung out the water from his shirt and slapped the tee over his shoulder. His eyes landed on my T-shirt and his mouth fell open but nothing came out.
“I’m soaked, too. Thanks to your sister teaming up with my brothers.” I looked down at my shirt, and ohhh. Hello, nipples. Sports bras weren’t great armor for water.
“I guess you need to hit the range a bit more often if they nailed you that hard.” His Adam’s apple rolled as he visibly swallowed.
“You took it easy on me. You didn’t nail me.”
Sticks last night. Nails today. Is this progress? Or a sad progression of the English language getting all mucked up in my head?
“No, I’d never nail you.” Jesse blinked a few times and ripped his eyes to my face. “You know what I mean.” The same lopsided smile from last night met his lips. Warmed my heart for a half a second until reality of what he was saying without saying it settled in.
Sadly, I think I do. “Of course.” I faked a smile, unsure if he’d see through that one or not.
“So, um.” He removed his tee from over his shoulder, and his eyes dipped back to my breasts before he took a step in the opposite direction from me.
“You okay?” After an agonizing moment, he made eye contact, but something was different in the way he was looking at me. Like he was seeing me as someone other than a Hawkins. And if I was being honest, I kind of loved it. Maybe there was no other girl. Or someone he was chatting it up with online. Because I had a feeling Jesse wasn’t the type to look at me this way if he had someone in his life.
“I’m sorry, did you ask me something?” His brows pinched tight, and a line of distress cut across his forehead.
“Just if you’re okay.” I ate up the little smidge of space he’d placed between us.
