Destined for Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens, Book 2) Contemporary Romance (11 page)

THE BRISK NIGHT couldn’t have arrived soon enough for Rex. Between his father’s comment and thoughts of Jade, he’d felt hamstrung all afternoon. He stood beside his truck, just off of the exit ramp, feeling a little scandalous. He’d gone over the options in his mind time and time again, and this was the only way for him and Jade to have a fighting chance. What he felt for Jade was so much bigger than
like
. She consumed his thoughts every second of the day. He wondered what she was doing, how she was, when he’d see her again. Minutes dragged by like hours and hours like days.

Treat and Max’s relationship mirrored the pieces and flashes of the love he remembered seeing between his parents, and he never thought he was capable of feeling whatever those emotions were that made Treat want to rearrange his life just to be with Max, or that made his father keep his mother’s voice alive for twenty-six years. And then came Jade.

Seven minutes felt like seven hours, and as it neared eight o’clock, he worried she might have changed her mind. Then, just as that worry was taking hold in the pit of his stomach, headlights from the exit shone across the side of his truck, and Jade pulled in beside him. His cheeks stretched with a smile, and his heart bloomed in his chest. He opened her door, reminding himself that this was a proper date and not to attack her the moment he saw her.

Jade smiled, and her eyes danced with enthusiasm. “Hi,” she said in a breathy voice.

He took her hand as she stepped from the car. Her scent and the feel of her hand in his was enough to send pulses of desire through his veins. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.

Aw, shit
. Her tender lips, the gentle flick of her tongue, were like a dare. He wasn’t an ice king, after all. He deepened the kiss, and she responded with a sweet moan, pressing her body against his. It was like torture to pull apart, but he forced himself to do just that.

“Good to see you, too,” she said, slipping her finger in his belt loop and kissing him lightly on the lips again.

“Girl, you’re playing a dangerous game.” He heard the edge in his voice, like all his nerves were wrapped around the neediness in him.

She arched a brow. “Where to, my secret lover?”

God, could she be any sexier? He put his hand on the small of her back as they went to his truck, and his hand touched bare skin. He stole a furtive glance, then gritted his teeth against the swell of hunger that took him over when he saw all that bare flesh revealed by her backless dress. How in the hell would he keep from thinking about that all night?

BEING TRAPPED BESIDE Rex in the cab of his truck was nothing short of torturous. Her body was already reacting to the heat radiating from his body when they’d kissed. How was she going to make it through the evening?

“I hope you like music,” he said.

“Love it.”
Love it? That’s all you’ve got?

The mountain peaks disappeared into the night sky on the outskirts of Allure. Jade hadn’t been there in months, and when he pulled into the parking lot of Bar None, a restaurant and bar known for being a little less touristy than others, she became a little more nervous. She’d been there years before with Riley, during a college break. They’d danced and sang karaoke and had a fun time, but it had been forever since she’d been on a real date.

Rex opened the door for her, and when they entered the dim restaurant, live music filtered through the air. They followed the hostess to a booth by the small stage, passing by a table of men gawking at Jade and making no effort to hide their eager eyes. Rex put his hand possessively around her.

This should be interesting
.

After her experience with Kane, Jade knew that there was a possessive line that, if crossed, would send her running for the hills, and her eyes were open to it.
I’m a possessive bastard. I never knew I was, but the idea of you with anyone else kills me.
Rex had been honest with her, which was something to be appreciated, she supposed, but it occurred to her that she needed to know if she had another Kane on her hands. He had nearly punched that guy outside of the other bar, and while a protective nature was admirable, a stalker mind-set was anything but. As much as she hated herself for thinking about doing what she was about to do and probably ruining their first real date, she knew she didn’t want to waste any of her life on someone who would end up driving her out of another town—no matter how many things she loved about him.

“Dance with me?” she asked.

The band was playing a song that was neither fast nor slow, which Jade knew would work to her advantage.

“I’m not much of a dancer, but sure,” he said.

One bonus point for dancing
.

On the dance floor, she felt very small next to him. His boots made him almost six and a half feet tall. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. The buttons of his shirt jumped beneath her cheek with every beat of his heart. They moved in perfect unison. His fingertips grazed her bare back, and she almost decided to forgo her test to remain close. But it was something she needed to do. For a moment she wished Riley were there to tell her she was doing the right thing and give her the courage to do it. She conjured up her voice.
Better to know now than later. Just do a quick test, not an all-nighter.
She smiled and moved slowly from his grasp as the tempo kicked up a notch. Her hips swayed in an exaggerated fashion as she ran her hands seductively down his chest. She felt him stiffen beneath her touch, his eyes darting around the room and landing on the table of men, who were looking at her with wide eyes and lusty grins as they tossed quiet comments around like a basketball.

She almost abandoned her plan then and there as Rex’s eyes narrowed. She worried about making a scene, but in the next beat, his body began to move just as stealthily as hers. He met her, move for seductive move, paying no attention to the men at the table, and before she knew it, all the women in the room were gawking at him. She quickly realized she’d been had. While she was scheming up her plan, he’d already been one step ahead of her.

By the time the song ended and they landed back at their booth, they were both laughing.

“That was so fun,” she said. “I thought you weren’t much of a dancer.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t say I couldn’t dance, just that I wasn’t much of a dancer. I’ve seen better.”

His eyes never faltered from hers. Not one single glance at the table of men who were still ogling her, or at the women who were all but drooling over him. They ordered dinner and danced to another upbeat song.

Back at the table, they talked easily while they ate, and Jade had never felt so comfortable with a man. The first-date angst and her worry over his possessiveness was long gone.

“There’s so much I want to know about you,” he said.

“I’m afraid I’m not very exciting.” His eyes were serious, and she realized that she wanted to know about him, too. “Have you ever not wanted to work on the ranch?” she asked.

“Never. Taking care of horses and working the ranch is all I’ve ever wanted to do. There’s something very gratifying about breeding such beautiful, powerful creatures and knowing we can handpick the owners.” He leaned back in the booth, and a dreamy look swept through his eyes. “My mother used to say that picking a horse’s owner was as important as picking an adoptive parent for a child. When I was about six, she brought me down to the barn with her to groom one of the horses, and she said, ‘Look into the eyes. Every person, and every horse, carries the souls of the ones before them. In those eyes, you’ll see kindness or you’ll see something else. When that other appears, don’t try to look past it—just move on to the next buyer
.
’”

Jade had heard stories of her father breeding horses in the years before she and her brother were born, but she couldn’t remember why he’d gotten out of that business and went to work for the agricultural engineering firm until he retired to run the ranch full-time.

“I think your mother and I would have gotten along very well,” she said. “I feel the same way about animals and people.” She remembered how he’d reacted when she’d talked about depression in horses, and it gave her pause.

“You actually remind me a lot of my mother—from what I can remember of her. Like right now, you look like you swallowed a bug, but you aren’t even eating. Want to talk about it?”

Am I that transparent?

“My mother had this one uncomfortable look that I remember, and she only pulled it out on very rare occasions, but when she did, you knew she was on the verge of confronting you about something you’d done—and in my case, I was usually guilty of ignoring my schoolwork in lieu of helping my father with the animals, or my brothers and I had broken something when we were wrestling.”

He smiled, and Jade could see him enjoying the memories. She wished she would have known him as a friend when he was a boy. She had a feeling they would have gotten into all sorts of mischief, and she had to wonder, if they’d been friends, might they have developed into something more as teenagers?

“So, do you want to share what’s behind that worried look?” he asked again.

Honesty has to come first
. She swallowed the nerves that tried to steal her voice. “The other day by the feed store, I was asking you about Hope, and you made a comment.”

He reached across the table and took her hand in his. “Jade, when you said that, the way you said it, the look in your eyes, it was all so reminiscent of my mom. Your eyes were so serious, and it sounded so natural for you to link animals with human feelings. I grew up with a dichotomy of beliefs between my mother and father, and after my mother died, all of my father’s beliefs fell away. Suddenly he saw exactly what she had, and to this day, that has never changed. If anything, it deepened. Your beliefs, and the way you wore them on your sleeve for all to see, were so close to my mother’s that it…it stunned me for a minute. And by the time I had regrouped, it was too late.”

She searched his eyes for an element of deceit, a feigned reasoning, but what she saw was so much richer than anything she’d ever imagined: pure and simple honesty and regret. She knew she could trust him. No matter what they faced, he’d be honest and his actions would be pure. He had needed her touch as much as she needed to touch him. Her touch had more than its calming effect on him. What she learned was so much more than she’d imagined might be buried beneath that gruff exterior. Rex was a loving, passionate man whose honesty and love came in droves, cushioned with a tenderness that he saved for only those closest to him. She understood that now. Jade felt the moment sear into her memory, and she knew her heart had just crossed a defining moment in not only their relationship but also in her life.

REX WASN’T GOOD at keeping secrets, and he was even worse at lying to people’s faces, but the closer he got to Jade, the more secrets and lies he saw in their future. She was so easy to be with, so right. Talking with her at dinner was every bit as natural as it was necessary. He’d never shared his thoughts about his mother and the lessons she’d taught him about animals and humans with anyone. Not even his siblings.  With Jade, they didn’t just fall from his lips; they jumped. He wanted her to be part of his past and part of his future, and he wished she could have known the soulful beauty of his mother.

Now, as they walked hand in hand through the Village in Allure, with the trees that lined the sidewalk sparkling with little lights—one of the romantic things Allure was known for—he knew he didn’t want to continue hiding their relationship from their little Weston world. He also knew that it was ridiculous to think a solid foundation could be built on a handful of nights, so he tucked away the desire to share his joy with the people he loved until an appropriate amount of time had passed.

Jade pulled him up the stairs of an eclectic shop with a wooden sign above the door that read,
jewels of the past
.

He smiled, loving the feel of her excitement as it radiated through her hand. The little shop was chock-full of vintage clothing and jewelry, books, and other knickknacks. A woman in a long flowing dress called out to them from the back of the store. She had a mass of dark curls that tumbled down her back and a wide, pleasant smile. She lifted her hand in a wave, and the bangles that covered her wrist to elbow tinkled and clinked against one another.

“Welcome to a little piece of heaven,” she said as she neared. “My, my, look at those eyes of yours,” she said to Jade.

Jade blushed, and Rex’s heart warmed.

The woman sidled up to them, looking at Rex for a beat longer than Jade. “What are you two lovers looking for today?”

“Whatever my girlfriend wants,” he answered. God, he loved the way that sounded and the pride it evoked within him.

JADE SPUN AROUND.
Girlfriend? Girlfriend!
Gleaming like a fool, she laced her fingers into his.

“I’m not looking for anything in particular. We’re just browsing,” Jade said, smiling up at Rex. Her heart beat triple time, and the stupid smile on her lips refused to ease.

Rex laughed, and it was a sound that she hadn’t heard often enough. His laugh was deep, loud, and joyous, like he’d finally let all those layers of tension go.

“Nonsense,” the woman said. “Everyone is looking for something.” She winked at Rex. “They just don’t know it yet.” She crossed her right arm over her stomach and stroked her chin with her left hand, studying the two of them as they moved through the shop, touching items and pointing out the things they each loved.

Jade reached up and touched the wind chimes that hung from the ceiling, then snuggled in to Rex’s side as their music rang out. He took her hand and dragged her to a glass cabinet full of jewelry, where he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d been happier.

“Look at the amber,” he said to Jade, pointing at a necklace with a ragged-edged sliver of amber edged in silver.

“It’s one of my favorites.” Jade snuck a glance at the woman and whispered, “She’s staring at you.”

Rex looked, and his lips spread into a sexy grin. “What can I say? I’m a sexy monster,” he teased.

She turned to him and touched his cheek. “Damn right you are.”

“But I’m your sexy monster.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

The woman’s eyes grew wide, and she said, “Oh my goodness.” She scurried toward them. Her finger shot up toward the ceiling as she passed. “I have just the thing. I’ll be right back.”

SHE HURRIED TOWARD the back of the shop and Jade giggled. She picked up a treasure box. “I had one of these when I was younger. I used to keep all of my most sacred treasures in it.”

“You are my treasure.” He pulled her close. “I wonder where she went,” he said, looking toward the back of the shop. He was intrigued, not only by what the woman thought
just the thing
was, but also by the new feelings that had gripped him so strongly—the realization that Jade was
the one
. He felt like a switch had been flicked somewhere in his body, and the life he lived was no longer whole. It was no longer his to claim. Instead, as he thought about what he had to do the next day, his mind immediately included Jade, and he wanted to know what she was doing. He wanted to kiss her good morning and hold her as she fell asleep at night, and it had all happened in the space of the evening. The pieces were tumbling into place moment by precious moment, and he hadn’t even seen it coming until just now.
When he knew
.

The woman burst through the curtain at the back of the store with her hand held high.

“Here it is!” she said. She stopped before them, carrying a little antique jewelry box. “Do you two lovers believe in fate?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

Jade and Rex exchanged a smile. “Yes,” they said in unison.

“Me too. I knew a girl when I was in high school. I had lived in a little town outside of Weston then, and we were bused into the bigger schools, you see. Anyway, her name was Adriana, and she was the most beautiful little gal I’d ever seen. She gave me this, and she said that I would know who it was meant for. When I opened the store, I tucked it away with the rest of the little items I’d gathered over the years and forgot about it until now.”

Rex couldn’t breathe. This wasn’t happening. The room began to spin, and his chest tightened. He released Jade’s hand and latched on to a wooden bookcase that was off to his right.

“Oh goodness, are you okay?” the woman asked. She guided him to a velvet chair in the corner.

“Rex? What’s wrong?” Jade asked.

Rex put his elbows on his knees and covered his face, trying to gain control of his breathing. Why the hell were tears welling in his eyes? Fuck! He wished he were anywhere but with Jade. She couldn’t see him fall apart, and why the hell was he, anyway? What was wrong with him?

“I’ll get him some water,” the woman said as she rushed off.

Jade knelt before him. He felt her hands on his knees, heard the worry in her voice. “What is it? Do you need a doctor? What can I do?”

One of her hands moved to his back, and she rubbed gently up and down, soothing the raging panic that had engulfed him. He breathed in deeply and out slowly until he was sure he could handle whatever it was that was going on.

“Rex? Is it a panic attack?” she asked.

He shook his head, desperately wanting to speak but not trusting his voice. He clenched his fists and jaw repeatedly, until finally, his chest loosened and his breathing returned to near normal. He lowered his hands as the woman handed him a glass of water.

She locked her eyes with his. “This is how it happens,” she said. Then she shook her head. “I’m just really out of practice. Had I known, I would have been more tactful.”

“What are you talking about? What happens?” Jade asked.

Rex reached for her hand. He had a feeling that this time, he needed her strength.

The woman touched Rex’s shoulder. “Dear, are you related to her?”

He nodded. “Her third son. I have four brothers and a sister.” A lump lodged itself firmly in his throat, and the more he tried to swallow past it, the damper his eyes became.

She looked at Jade. “Sometimes I just get a sense of something, and I’ve learned to just sort of go with it. But this type of connection hasn’t happened in so long that I didn’t expect it, and I surely didn’t completely connect it as a coherent thought until I saw him falter.”

Jade rose to her feet. “I still don’t understand.”

The woman took her hand. “What I’m about to give you is from his mother, dear. It was meant for the two of you.”

“But how?” Jade looked at Rex.

He pressed his thumb and forefinger against his eyes, wiping the tears from them. He blinked away the dampness. “I felt it. When we were walking outside, I knew. Something came over me, and there was no doubt in my mind what it was. Jade.” He rose to his feet. “Remember when I told you that you were the woman I never knew I was looking for?” Before she could answer, he said, “It was true. When we were walking toward the store, I knew without a doubt that you were the one woman for me. I can’t imagine going through each day without you.” He took her hand in his, trying to bite back the rush of emotion. It was too soon to say the three words that he felt so strongly, but he looked into her eyes and he knew no amount of time would ever be enough. “I’m falling in love with you, Jade.”

The woman smiled, and he watched Jade swallow…hard.

“It doesn’t make sense. It’s been only a few days, and it’s crazy, especially given what’s going on with our families. But I know it to be true, and I have no idea how to explain how I know, because it’s as crazy as what just happened here.”

Jade hadn’t said a word, and he knew he’d blindsided her, but he wasn’t going to lie to her, and not telling her how he truly felt was a lie. He had to trust his instincts.

Rex lifted his damp eyes to hers. “This is fast and really impetuous.”

Jade laid her hand on his wrist, narrowing her eyes, looking at him so seriously that for a second he thought he might have acted too soon. In the next breath, she said, “And so right.”

All the best moments of Rex’s life crashed together in that moment, and they fell away, as if they’d never needed to exist, because that very second, when Jade became his, was the only best moment he would ever need.

He scooped her into his arms and kissed her with every bit of love he’d never felt before. Jade came away flushed and clung to him like she never wanted to let go.

He turned to the woman and held out his hand. “May I?”

She handed him the box, and touched his hand. “Adriana was a very special person.”

“Thank you.” He opened the box with shaking hands. Inside, there was a charm and two silver chains. He picked up the little charm and held it in his palm. The silver sparkled beneath the fluorescent lights.

“Do you know what that is?” the woman asked.

“It looks like two bodies intertwined,” Jade said.

“It’s the dance of two lovers,” the woman and Rex said in unison.

She continued. “Everything in their lives was meant to keep them apart, and against all odds, they found their way to each other. When they did, they danced. The myth says that after dancing”—she took the charm from Rex’s hand—“their souls became one, and from that moment on, they lived within each other, no matter if they were together or apart.” She drew the charm apart and looped one silver chain through the charm of the naked woman and one through the charm of the man.

“That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard,” Jade said, just above a whisper.

Rex wrapped the chain with the man around Jade’s neck and hooked it beneath her hair. Then Jade did the same for him. They stood that way for a long time, their eyes saying all the things that their voices were just not up to producing:
I love you. I’ve always loved you. I am yours.