Fierce-Jade (Fierce Family Book 6) Read online

  “Well, she just likes spicy foods,” Aunt Jolene said. “It’s her heritage. Just like Nic who has red sauce flowing through her veins. They are good at making what they grew up on.”

  “Oh yeah. That’s it,” she said. “Not that he called her a wuss because she couldn’t handle his coffee.”

  Her mother laughed. “That a girl.”

  Her mother never got involved in any of their dating relationships if she didn’t care for the person. If she really liked them, she got overly involved. For just a few months of Wyatt dating Adriana...yeah, moving fast for her mother, but Jade wasn’t about to point that out. She liked having her mother slip like this so she could keep an eye on things.

  Jade looked out at the party guests. “What’s he doing here? What the hell, he’s on crutches. What happened?” she asked almost rambling, the words coming out one after another. She was always cool and composed, except in this man’s presence.

  Brock James just came hobbling in. Brock was her cousin Ella’s husband’s best friend and had been the best man in Ella and Travis’s wedding last September where Jade met him for the first time when she was the maid of honor. Where most of the family met him the first time, as Brock was some special op Navy SEAL who took his leave for his best friend’s wedding.

  “You didn’t know?” Aunt Jolene said. “Brock got injured four months ago when a bomb exploded. He’s on leave right now while he tries to figure things out.”

  “No,” Jade said, her voice dropping, her eyes not leaving his. Crutches or not, Brock James still had one imposing frame. “No one said anything to me. How come no one did?”

  “I didn’t think anything of it,” her mother said. “You only met him that one time.”

  “That’s true,” she said and straightened up, then looked away. “I’m going to see if I can get my hands on one of the babies.”

  She had to get out of there before she started to ask more questions about Brock and raised some red flags in front of three charging bulls. Those bulls being her mother and two aunts.

  Besides, she could go over and talk to him and ask all the questions she wanted herself.

  She wasn’t helpless in the least.

  But before she did that, she needed to do exactly what she said, and get her hands on one of her cousin’s babies.

  Nic was rocking her son Anthony in the shade while he slept. No reason to wake him. She looked over to the pool and saw Mason and Jessica both in the water playing with their twins, Jeremy and Jacob. No longer babies, those two toddlers were full of spit and vinegar running around driving their parents insane. They were having a lot of fun but she didn’t want to get wet.

  Aimee was in the pool with her daughter, Sidney, so she looked around trying to find Brody. She saw him walking at the other end of the property with a fussy Evan.

  Just what she needed and made her way toward her cousin. “Want me to take him off your hands?” she asked.

  “Please,” Brody said, smiling. “I’ve tried everything. He won’t settle down with me. He just kicks and wants to move and play. The more I rock him the more he fights.”

  She pulled Evan out of Brody’s arms and cuddled the baby against her chest. At about eight months old, Evan was a big baby and had the energy of his father no doubt.

  “I bet it’s because you always want to play with him and that is what he thinks right now.”

  “You’re probably right. He gets in a woman’s arms and he’s all smiles and laying his head down. Just like that,” Brody said, frowning.

  “He might take after his father there too,” she said, letting out a little laugh as she cuddled Evan. What a little charmer he was with his dark hair and eyes. The Fierce genes were strong.

  “I’m reformed,” Brody said. “Happily married, father of two. If only this little stinker would let me get some sleep.”

  “He misses his father and wants to play with him,” she said again, her hand rubbing up and down Evan’s back. She turned her head and saw his little eyelids start to droop.

  “I’m sure he does. If you want to keep doing that, I’ll take him off your hands once he’s out and put him in the house.”

  “That works,” she said, knowing that Brody would want to lay his son down. Her cousins and their wives all made sure their children were set before they moved away from them. Even though it was only family here at the moment, other than Brock, the party would be picking up soon enough when employees and neighbors showed up.

  Another ten minutes went by while she moved around with Brody, the two of them talking, her hand never stopping the motion of rubbing or patting Evan on the back. He’d been sleeping for most of that ten minutes so Brody felt safe in saying, “Ready for the transfer?”

  “Here goes nothing,” she said, then let Brody lift his son and move him toward the house.

  With the baby gone from her hands and her nerves calmed enough, she searched out her cousin Ella. Of course Ella was sitting next to Brock so there was no way she could question her. She’d have to make her way there now.

  No man had ever left her speechless or worked up like she’d been the first time she met Brock James as he rushed into the rehearsal dinner still in his Navy SEAL fatigues having just landed from wherever in the world he’d been. He’d promised he’d get there on time and he made it with not much time to spare.

  Brock was tall and built full of muscles, though he wasn’t nearly as big as Travis was. Brock had been Travis’s commander in the Navy and though they were best of friends, she suspected Brock was a little older than Travis. Age hadn’t come up in the twenty-four hours she’d spent with the man.

  Heck, it wasn’t even twenty-four hours nonstop, no matter how much she’d wished it were.

  They’d walked up and down the aisle a few times during the rehearsal. They talked a little at the dinner and spent more time together at the wedding, but still not enough to get into any personal conversations about age or hobbies.

  Nope, right after the wedding ceremony, she’d started to drink and would have continued if Brock hadn’t laughed and leaned in to tell her to pace herself. Little did he know she was drinking because she was so confused over her conflicted reaction to the military man and he’d even suggested she have a drink to loosen up. She guessed it was easy to see she was tense.

  Now it was time to face him so she took a deep breath and walked over. She’d already talked with Travis and Ella a few times so it was going to be obvious she was coming to see Brock.

  When she was standing next to him, she realized he was facing Travis and not her. He might not have even known she was there, but waited until he was done talking, then turned and smiled at her from his seat.

  Yeah, that smile again. The one he had when he ran into the rehearsal dinner laughing and making jokes that even a terrorist couldn’t keep him from Travis’s wedding. She’d thought he might have been kidding but then realized maybe he wasn’t when he and Travis were overheard talking about the mission taking longer than expected.

  “Hi, Brock,” she said.

  “Hey, Jade.”

  He reached for his crutches to try to stand, but she put her hand out. “No, don’t. I’ll grab a chair.”

  “Take mine,” Ella said. “I need to help my mother with some food.”

  “Mason is waving me over,” Travis said. “I think I heard the truck pull in with the beer. I told them to let me know and I’d help him get it set up.”

  And just like that, she was left there with Brock all alone. There wasn’t a wine glass in sight for her either.

  2

  Pretty Damn Lucky

  Brock had known all along that Jade Fierce was watching him and then standing behind him.

  No one ever moved in his space without him being aware.

  And of course he knew that Jade would be here today. He hadn’t asked. There was no reason to. Not when he suspected Travis would question him on it.

  Since he was staying with Travis and Ella while he figured out a li
ving situation, it was best to just keep things to himself. Like the fact that though Jade was nothing like any woman he’d ever wanted to spend time with before, there was something about her that made him want to be around her.

  “How have you been?” Jade asked, her eyes landing on his leg in the brace up to his crotch. “Stupid question. I just found out. I’m so sorry. I saw you coming in on crutches and my Aunt Jolene told me you were hurt in an explosion.”

  “Yeah,” he said. “About four months ago. Maybe longer. I’m not really counting the days.”

  If he did he’d want to hang himself. Between lying in the bed recovering and trying to remember what happened, then finding out his leg was so badly damaged they weren’t sure they could even save it let alone repair it, he tried to wipe out as much time in his mind as possible. He was able to remove the brace to do his physical therapy and was happy enough for that but looking forward to getting it off permanently.

  He’d proved them all wrong and was healing fine. The multiple surgeries were a success and he would be forever grateful that his father was notified as fast as he was and made arrangements to get his son to the US and the best doctors available. Cost wasn’t an option.

  But money didn’t get things moving fast.

  Nope. Brock was a military brat. His father was an Admiral in the Navy and he was notified right away of the injury and when retired Admiral James called in a favor there were many that jumped to do it.

  At thirty-five years old Brock didn’t expect to follow completely in his father’s footsteps. Some would say he wasn’t hard enough for it, but he was a year or so away from Captain.

  Now it was anyone’s guess what the future held, but his Navy career had ended in his mind.

  “Are you going to be okay? It looks pretty serious,” Jade said. Her voice was soft, like a caress of sorts. And that just made him think it might have been too long since he’d been with a woman if he was thinking the concern in Jade’s eyes was more than it was.

  “It was serious. It is serious,” he said, grinning. He’d always been one to smile and now forced it more than anything because he sure the hell didn’t want the sympathy. “But I’m breathing and I’m moving and I’ve got all my limbs, so some might say I’m pretty damn lucky.”

  “That’s a nice practiced speech,” she said with her head tilted. Her dark hair was down and floating around her shoulders. It’d been up during the wedding almost a year ago and he supposed that was a good thing or he might have wanted to wrap his fist in it and yank her in for a kiss to loosen her up.

  She’d been uptight and stiff. Nothing at all like her cousin Ella.

  Was she just as stunning as Ella? Yeah, only in a different way. He even remembered asking Ella years ago when he first met her if she had a sister. She’d said no, but she had a cousin, and then they’d dropped it. He’d only been kidding. Something he did whenever he was off the clock.

  He spent so much of his time being serious and in control. In command. Lean and mean had been thrown his way more often than not. But when he wasn’t working he was a completely different person.

  The only person that Jade had ever seen. She probably wouldn’t care for who he was when he was on duty. Not many did.

  “Most don’t want to hear anything else,” he said. “And the truth is, I know I am lucky. Some weren’t that day.”

  His smile dropped and her hand reached over and lay on his. “I’m sorry. You probably lost some friends that day and here I am cracking a joke at it. That was wrong of me.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” he said.

  Yeah, he’d lost a few good men that day. Not just men in his squad, but friends. Brothers. It was hard to put it behind him and when he was well enough it was time to be with the closest brother he’d ever had. Travis.

  Being an only child he’d never gotten close to anyone as much as he had Travis. And when Travis’s fiancée and unborn child died many years ago, Brock had been the one there to help Travis through and hold it together.

  He knew Travis would understand and welcome this short visit.

  “How long are you here for?” she asked. “When can you go back to work?”

  “I’m here for a week or so. Not sure. I’m staying with Travis and Ella right now but don’t want to overstay my welcome either. Even in that big-assed house of theirs.”

  “They’ve got that in-law suite they built for Travis’s father. Are you staying there since he can’t get his father to move out of his house yet?”

  Brock nodded. “Yeah. They said it’s just empty and it’s removed enough from them. Thankfully it’s on the first floor, but I would have managed on stairs if I had to.”

  “Something tells me you can manage just fine with anything if you put your mind to it.”

  “I can and I have,” he said wondering what that comment meant.

  “Will you be able to go back to what you were doing? How bad was your injury?”

  “Why all the questions?” he asked.

  “Just curious,” she said. “Ella and I are close. You’re her husband’s best friend. We shared a few dances together and you tried to get me drunk. I guess I thought that gave me license to ask more than I should.”

  He laughed. “I didn’t try to get you drunk. I tried to get you to relax. You were uptight for some reason on the day of the wedding. If anyone should have been nervous it’s me. Everyone was a stranger there to me. That was your family.”

  “I don’t think you get too nervous about anything in life. And I wasn’t nervous like you think. It’s the maid of honor’s job to keep the bride in check and relaxed. Ella had the dress change and she’s a perfectionist. I wanted to make sure she didn’t worry.”

  She might have been telling him the truth, but he wasn’t sure he was buying it. “Ella seemed pretty laid back to me. Everything went off without a hitch.”

  “That’s because you’re a guy and didn’t have to run around and double-check everything like I did. Once we were able to start taking pictures I felt I could have a drink.”

  “You had more than one before we got to the reception,” he pointed out.

  He’d taken the glass away from her after the second one was empty when they were having pictures taken. Pictures that he still looked at now and again that Travis had sent him. Not that he’d admit that to anyone. Or that he had one of him and Jade dancing, her eyes laughing and staring at him. There was more in her gaze than she’d let on that day.

  “You gave me the first one and then you took the third away. I don’t think that was very nice.”

  “I haven’t been told I’m a nice person very much,” he said.

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Believe it,” he said.

  She stopped smiling when he said that and he regretted it. But she didn’t get up and leave, instead said, “So can I ask what happened to your leg? Or is that too personal?”

  “It’s not a secret, so that doesn’t make it personal. It was shattered when a bomb went off. A bomb I should have realized was there or was a trap. Thanks to my father and getting my ass back to the US fast enough and lining up top-notch doctors, they were able to save it.”

  Her face just paled when he said that, which was why he hadn’t wanted to. “That’s more serious than I thought. I can’t believe no one told me about this.”

  “Why would they?” he asked. “We’d only met that one time.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. Why would they?” she said, her voice trailing off and he knew he must have hit a nerve.

  “Now it’s my turn to apologize. That came off wrong.”

  “No. It seems we aren’t doing that good of a job talking. Maybe we were better off drinking and dancing and keeping it simple. Can I get you a drink or can’t you drink?”

  He laughed. “I’d kill for a drink.” When he arrived, he’d hobbled in and sat down. Travis and Ella both offered to get him one but he’d said not yet. Now he desperately needed one to figure out what this whole conve
rsation was about.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said. “Do you care what I get you?”

  “I’m not fussy. Anything of Mason’s will hit the spot.”

  He watched her get up and walk away, his eyes on her lean legs in tan shorts that hit her mid-thigh, a light peach shirt on that was cinched at the waist and crossed over in the front. She had floral print open toed sandals on her feet. A pretty French pedicure matching her manicure.

  Everything about Jade said fancy. It said girlie. It said elegant.

  And it said out of his league.

  But something being out of his reach had never stopped him from trying before and since he had nothing but time on his hands, he could figure out if it was worth exploring. She seemed to be wanting to if he guessed correctly.

  Or maybe he was nuts and seeing something that absolutely wasn’t there.

  3

  Intimidated By Her

  A month later, Jade sat at the head table and watched her cousin Bryce dancing with his new wife, Payton. Three weddings now she’d been in and knew there’d be more with her two older brothers, Drake and Noah, recently engaged.

  At this rate, looked like she was going to be the “forever a bridesmaid and never the bride.”

  Which kind of sucked because she’d figured she’d be married with a kid by now. At least that had been her plan.

  She hadn’t been like her cousin Ella who didn’t date much and put her career first. Sure, Jade’s career meant a lot to her, and she worked her butt off to prove her worth in her father and uncle’s firm as a mechanical engineer. But she always knew she had a place there and the business was already successful.

  She even dated a lot over the years, but she never could find the right guy.

  That night all those years ago that her so-called friend Miranda told her she was still single because it was her and not her older brothers chasing men away Jade realized it was true.

  Not that she thought she was uptight and rigid. She had fun. She liked to do things.