Yeah, JJ wasn’t so sure that was a fair assessment. She’d seen the way Wes looked at Julie. The man’s eyes heated in much the same way his son’s did. Granted, he was careful to mask it, but JJ had noticed.
“As they say, the heart wants what it wants,” she mused, staring out the window.
Baz chuckled. “I think this pregnancy has turned you into a romantic.”
JJ grinned. She didn’t know about that, but she wouldn’t deny she had a better outlook on things now than she had. That likely had something to do with Baz and the way he’d steamrolled right into her life and into her heart before she was prepared. Now that she knew firsthand what it felt like to be left loving someone who wasn’t available, her internal wiring had been reset.
And because she’d been given a second chance—something that had never happened before—she wasn’t going to question it.
***
When JJ got quiet, Baz worried thathe’d ruined the lightness of the day by discussing his parents’ imploding relationships, so he opted for a different tack. The last thing he wanted was to leave JJ with a bad feeling about his parents. They weren’t the sort to conform to society’s rules where love and relationships were concerned, but they had a way of making things work out for themselves, and he loved them for it.
“You want to go check on the house?” he suggested, glancing over at JJ. “See if they’ve made any progress?”
“Yes!” Her response was instant and ringing with excitement, her eyes glittering when she looked his way. “Is it wrong of me to want them to hurry it up?”
He chuckled. That was the same question she asked every time he brought up the house they’d recently purchased. They had officially closed on the property Bristol Walker had so kindly sold them, and they were well into the renovation stages. It helped that Bristol had allowed them to start getting things in order before it became theirs. It had saved them significant time because they’d been able to get the plans and the permits for the addition to the back. It had taken some compromise on both their parts, but they finally decided on a master suite and an office space for the new construction while making a few minor adjustments to the existing structure. They’d focused a majority of their money on updating the kitchen and existing bathroom and removing some of the walls to open up the space.
The general contractor they’d hired had told them three months for completion, including the planning and permitting phase. That meant they still had a couple of months to go, but Baz was as eager as JJ to get moved into the house. He was ready to start this new phase of his life with the woman he loved, and this seemed like the perfect first step.
“They’re workin’ today,” JJ announced when they pulled up to the house a short time later.
“And that means I need to go in first,” he informed her, anticipating JJ’s exasperated sigh that came a moment later.
“Fine,” she huffed. “But I’m comin’ in, so don’t you dare tell me it’s too dangerous.”
Baz was actually surprised that JJ had conceded this argument when it had first come up. While she didn’t look pregnant physically—not quite yet—he wasn’t taking any chances with her safety. Granted, it hadn’t been a fun conversation when he’d first brought it up, insisting that she not go traipsing into a construction zone unprepared.
“I’ll hurry,” he assured her before getting out of the truck and heading to the front door.
A few minutes later, after he’d ensured there were no gaping holes in floors that she might fall into, he went back to the front porch. As he’d expected, JJ was pacing the small walkway that led to the driveway. When she heard the door open, her eyes snapped up to him.
He pushed the screen door open wide, holding it for her. “Come on.”
A smile pulled at her full mouth as she bounded up the stairs, her excitement palpable.
Sometimes it was difficult to tie this new JJ to the one he’d fallen in love with all those months ago. She’d been through a lot in the past year, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her. Of course, sleeping beside her was a different story. The nightmares that jarred her awake at night were ever present, a glaring reminder of the hell she’d lived through after the ordeal with Dante. He knew she was trying to work through it on her own, but there were still signs that she was suffering from PTSD. The fact that she didn’t want to be left alone was the most prominent. She didn’t stay at the apartment without him, preferring to go to HQ since she insisted Brantley’s converted barn with all its security was a much safer place for her.
Truth was, Baz wanted her to feel safe here, too. That was the reason he’d made a few minor adjustments to the plans after JJ had signed off on them. Nothing significant, but he was putting some safety measures in place, including a top-notch security system that even a world-class hacker like her wouldn’t be able to breach.
“What are they workin’ on to—?” JJ’s words cut off when she stepped into the house, her gaze on the man installing the panel beside the door.
“JJ, this is—”
“Leif Walker,” JJ said with a grin.
Looked like introductions weren’t necessary.
Leif turned to look at JJ, his smile slow as recognition set in. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Baz watched the interaction between the two. “I take it you know each other?”
“We went to school together,” JJ explained, her gaze sliding to Baz. “Kinda. They were a couple of years behind me, but there’s not a person in Coyote Ridge who’s not familiar with the twins who put a pig in Principal Tucker’s office.”
He raised his hands, palms up, in a sign of innocence. “In my defense, it wasn’t feral.”
“That didn’t stop it from eatin’ a good chunk of his desk.”
