Breathless (Steel Brothers Saga #10)(53)

“Okay. I’ll be in to roust the boys in a few.”

He nodded again, walking out of the kitchen.

Whew! That wasn’t pleasant, but he seemed to accept that I wasn’t going to offer up any details to my whereabouts the previous evening. I hadn’t slept a wink once I’d returned, but I felt okay since I’d slept for seven hours in Bryce’s arms.

Seven wonderful hours. Granted, I had no memory of them since I was asleep, but I felt oddly refreshed this morning, both physically and mentally. Emotionally? Not so much.

I missed Bryce. I wished we’d ended it on a better note.

But I had other fish to fry today, beginning with taking care of my nephews.

I woke them and pulled them out of bed to come to the kitchen to eat. Even Donny was quiet this morning. The skies were gray, unusual for a Colorado morning, and the boys were feeling it.

An hour later, I’d dropped them at the bus stop and returned. I went in to check on Jade.

She was up and showered, a good sign.

“Starting to feel better?” I asked.

“A little less nauseated. Believe it or not, that’s a good thing. I’ve been feeling so sick that the ‘little less’ part actually feels good.”

“Feel like breakfast?”

“Yeah, actually. Maybe just some scrambled eggs and dry toast.”

“You want me to bring it in here?”

“No. I’ll come out to the kitchen.”

Oddly, she didn’t interrogate me about last night.

But it was coming. I knew Jade too well.

Once she’d sat down at the table and I’d placed her breakfast in front of her, the questions began.

“You going to tell me, or what?”

“Tell you what?”

“Yeah. Play coy,” she said sarcastically. “That always works.”

“I’m a grown woman, and—”

“I get it. That’s what you told Talon. He told me. But it won’t fly with me. Since when do we have secrets, Marj?”

“I’m really sorry if I worried you guys.”

“I know you can take care of yourself, but Tal was a little worried. I mean, after all we’ve been through and all.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I said again.

“Obviously you’re fine, so spill it.”

Words began tumbling out of my mouth in what I hoped was coherent speech. I held back the tears that threatened. For me, being strong meant no crying. I’d grown up with three brothers, and crying was for girls. Yeah, I was a girl, a girl who once liked pink and yellow unicorns, but I always vowed to be as strong as my brothers were.

I vowed that to this day.

Jade didn’t interrupt my jumbled speech, just nodded a few times.

Finally, I stopped talking.

Nothing more to say.

“He just left,” I said. “He said, ‘see you around.’”

“Sounds like you said it first.”

“Well, yeah. What else was I going to say? I wasn’t going to thank him.”

“How about something like, ‘I had a nice time’?”

I stayed silent. “I had a nice time” seemed so light and airy and noncommittal, so nonspecific. We hadn’t had a “nice time.” We’d had some intense lovemaking, the kind of lovemaking that doesn’t come along all that often. It went so far beyond “a nice time.”

At least I thought it had.

“If you want something more with him, tell him,” Jade urged.

“Like you told Talon?”

“Talon was different. He told me up front that he couldn’t love me. I accepted that.”

“Not so different. Bryce has basically said the same thing. And as I recall, you kept going back for more Talon, no matter what he said.”

“He let me come back, though,” Jade said.

“Bryce let me come back,” I said. “This was our second time, after he’d told me it could never happen again.”

“Then accept it. Accept that all you can have is sex right now. Maybe it will turn into something more for him. It did with Talon.”

“What if he doesn’t come back for more?” I asked, almost in a whine. I hated whiny women.

“I think he will.”

“But what if he doesn’t? I don’t want to go to him. I can’t throw myself at him any more than I already have. I’m not used to being the aggressor”—I smiled—“at least not until we actually get to bed.”

“If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. It is what it is, Marj. There are other men out there.”

“Where?”

Jade shook her head. “Everywhere.”

“Not in Snow Creek.”

“Are you kidding me? We have hundreds of men right here on the ranch.”

“Fifty-year-old ranch hands who’ve been around since I was born? I don’t think so.”

“They’re not all fifty years old. A lot of them are young and hot, Marj, with amazing muscles from the outdoor work. Plus, check out some of the guys in the marketing department. Or that new guy Ryan hired to help with creating the wines. Wowza.”

“Aren’t you married to my brother?”

“And that means I can’t look? Men don’t become less hot just because you get married. Plus, I’ve been feeling so sick, ogling men is one of the few pleasures I have these days.”