“Of everything.” Bree looked up at her best friend. “I’m feeling way more in a week than I’ve felt in a long time. He makes me feel things that…that I don’t actually remember ever feeling before.”
“And?”
“And a lot has been going on. What if, when it all settles down, it’s not so great? What if it goes to shit?”
“What if it does?” Denise asked.
She ran the heel of her hand across her forehead. “I’m not sure I could walk away as easily from Jase as I did from Chad.”
“So don’t walk away. If you decide it’s something worth fighting for, fight for it.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Of course it isn’t.”
Bree held Denise’s gaze. “Say it. Whatever it is you’re holding back.
Denise swept her hair up in a bun on the back of her head. “Brutal honesty?”
“Always.”
“Chad was a safe bet. There was never any chance of you actually falling in love with him. You said so yourself it was easier to stay with him than to break it off. Jase is a risk. You’re going to feel things. There’s a chance you could get hurt. That’s what’s scaring you.”
Bree nodded and looked out the window. “Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
Sometimes it sucked having a best friend who knew you so well. Everything Denise said was true. It was a chance. A risk. Her heart could end up torn into pieces, something she hadn’t risked in so long. Bree blew out a breath and shook her head. “We’re not going to figure out my love life in the next fifteen minutes, and I need time to stop looking like I’ve been crying.”
“Well, if your skin wasn’t translucent, you’d be a prettier crier,” Denise said.
Bree picked up a carrot. “Bite me.”
“Only if you ask nicely.” She wet a paper towel and wrung it out before handing it to Bree.
Bree pressed the cool cloth over her eyes.
“So when are you going to ask her to move in with you?” Tim asked.
Jase looked up from the grill. “What are you talking about?”
“Really? This is the first girl you’ve been serious about since— Have you ever been serious about a girl?”
Jase flipped a steak over. “I don’t know. Sarah?”
“That was high school.”
Jase shrugged. “So?”
“So, this is the first girl you’ve introduced me to. You’ve known her, what? A couple of weeks?” He took a sip of his beer.
He lifted another steak and checked the underside. “’Bout that.”
“So, what is it?”
Jase closed the top of the grill and picked up his beer.What is it?What was it about Bree that made Jase chase after her? What is it about her that made him want to protect her but still fuck her until she screamed his name?
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It’s like she sees me. She understands without having to ask the question.” He took a pull of his beer. “She hasn’t once asked me about what I did in the Army. She knows I was a Ranger, but it’s like she doesn’t care. She’s not some SOF groupie looking for a little danger.”
