Chapter Fourteen

Jace had hoped Trent’s competitive nature and ability to dominate the conversation would be a turnoff for Angie. But instead, she’d giggled at his stories all through lunch, and they now appeared to be discussing strategies for the water gun fight, heads bowed and arms touching.

“Hey. Eyes over here.” Nick waved a water pistol in front of him. “Time to get your head in the game, Red Team.”

Their team consisted of Nick, Jace, Olivia, and their dad. Soraya was sitting the fight out so the teams could be even and also because she was a much better referee than she was at any competitive sport. The water guns—which ranged in size from smaller pistols to larger models—were filled with water and natural food coloring.

Everyone had changed into the white T-shirts Melanie had picked up, so any shots they received would be captured. The food dye would color the T-shirt, and at the end of a frantic ten-minute fight, Soraya would judge which team had taken the most shots.

“Mum went all out this year,” Olivia said with a laugh. “I love how she gets so into it.”

“Try being married to her,” Frank grumbled, his mustache bobbing up and down. “She’s a sore loser.”

“We want you to be sleeping on the couch tonight.” Nick slapped his hand down on his father’s back. “Winning is our goal.”

Jace’s eyes drifted back over to the blue team for a minute, where Trent was helping Angie aim her gun. His hands were on hers, and they were both laughing. If he were any more in her space, he’d be dry humping her in front of everyone.

“Jace! Man, can you pay attention for, like, five minutes?” Nick had on his I must be number one face. The whole family might be competitive, but Nick made the rest of them look like amateurs. “Okay, so we need to be strategic about this. How are the others likely to play it?”

“Trent will go in all guns blazing…pun most definitely intended.” Olivia grinned. “But that will leave him open. I reckon Mum will be sneakier and so will Adam. Not sure about Angie; she’s the dark horse in this race.”

“What does our resident Angie expert say?” Nick turned to Jace.

“Since when am I the Angie expert?”

“You know her better than anyone here. How do you think she’ll play it?”

Jace thought for a minute. “She’s chaos. She loves the fun of things, so I think she’ll run in and get right into the middle. No worry for her own safety.”

That was how she was with a lot of things—jumping in with two feet. Not thinking about the consequences. Hell, if she was chasing after Trent, then that’s exactly what she was doing.

“Right. So we’ll want to position two people with some cover. You can try to get a few shots in from behind the trees back there.” Nick gestured with his pistol to farther down the massive yard. “Jace and Olivia, you guys can do that. Dad and I will stay up here. There’s less cover, but we’ll be able to soak them when they come up from behind the shed.”

“Got it.” Olivia nodded.

Everyone broke away into their positions as Soraya got out of her seat and blew the “official” ref’s whistle. “Two minutes, and then the timer starts.”

From Jace’s vantage point behind the Grevilleas, he watched Angie and Trent sneaking behind the shed. He was starting to wonder why he’d invited her here today.

Because you wanted to see her.

It was true. In fact, there hadn’t been a day go past in the last week where he hadn’t thought about Angie. He’d spent time thinking about when he was going to see her next, whether he could make up an excuse to drop by.

But then he’d opened his big fat mouth and agreed to help her. And why? Because he was too scared to go after what he wanted? Too worried she’d eventually reject him?

You know she will.

Of course he knew it. She wanted all the things he didn’t…or rather, she needed what he was trying to avoid: commitment. Marriage. Their goals didn’t align.

Because even if she knew all his idiosyncrasies and thought they were adorable now…he knew from experience that eventually she would find him frustrating and too rigid. And she would leave. He wasn’t sure he had it in him to deal with that a second time. Change was tough for him. And losing someone after being with her for so long was one way to take his need for stability and rip it to shreds.

“I saw Angie and Trent go back there, and Mum is skulking around by the barbecue.” Olivia had her back pressed to the tree and her water gun up by her chest like she was some kind of Jason Bourne. “Did you see Adam?”

“No.”

“Too busy mooning over Angie?”

Jace’s eyes snapped up to his sister’s cheeky face. “What?”

“You’ve been giving her puppy-dog eyes all afternoon. If she hasn’t noticed it, then I’ll be sending her straight to Dr. Holt to get her eyes checked.”

“You’re full of it.” Jace huffed.

“Nope. You’re acting like a thirteen-year-old boy.” Olivia jabbed him with her water gun.

Great. The last thing he needed was his family speculating on his love life. After the whole Julia debacle, he should have known they were biding their time for someone else to come along. Never mind the fact that nobody seemed to worry about Nick or Trent being single. But oh no, because Jace the Introvert wasn’t banging his way around town, then he must need help to change his life.

“Liv,” he warned. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Why not? You can’t stay locked up in your house forever. Just because—”

“I said enough.”

Olivia blinked at him, taken aback by the harsh tone. “Wow. No need to get your jocks in a bunch. I was only saying—”

“How about everyone stops talking about me, huh? I’m perfectly happy living my life the way I want to live it.” He took a breath to calm the frustration racing through his veins. He felt like a dick; it wasn’t his sister’s fault. Wrong place, wrong time and all that.

“You’re happy being alone, are you? I get being single, trust me. But until recently I felt like we barely even got to see you anymore.” Her blue eyes were brimming with worry. “You were starting to become like the character in your comics.”

Before Jace had the chance to retort, Soraya blew her whistle and announced the game’s ten-minute timer had started. Olivia shot him a look that said their conversation most definitely wasn’t over. Peeking around the side of the tree, Jace could see his mother skirting the fence.

“I think Adam is up around the house,” Olivia said. “I’m going to sneak past the table and try to catch him from behind.”

Jace nodded. “I’ll stay low and take the shed.”

“Of course you will.” She smirked. “See you on the other side.”

Leaving the shelter of the tree, Jace crouched and followed a line of shrubs along the back of the garden. The shed sat in the other corner, and there was quite a bit of bare space to cross. From the other side of the yard, there was a shriek and laughter and Adam and his mum open fired on each other. The once-pristine white T-shirts were now streaked with watery lines of red and blue.

The hot sun beat down relentlessly, and sweat beaded along Jace’s spine. In true Australian summer fashion, the day had started warm and was steadily progressing toward the fiery depths of hell. A few more minutes outside, and he’d welcome an encounter with a water gun. Hell, at this rate he might shoot himself.

“Hands up, sucker.” Angie had her gun trained on him as she came creeping out from behind the shed. Her lips were curled up into a wide grin, and it looked like she was having a hell of a time. “I could hear those big feet coming a mile away.”

“Big feet?” Jace stretched to his full height and brought his pistol up to face her. “That’s no way to speak to your landlord.”

“Oh, so it’s landlord now? I see, that’s how you want to play this.”

“Makes it easier to shoot if there are no personal ties.”

Angie laughed, and the sound ran like glitter through his veins. “You’re a coldhearted man, Jace Walters.”

“That’s Mr. Walters to you.” He couldn’t keep a straight face for too long. Something about the water guns and the hot sun and Angie’s smile had him feeling…calm—like she didn’t make him want to be alone. At least maybe not always.

Sure, he needed his alone time. Time to think and process. Time to come back down to earth when the outside world got a little too much. But that was the weird thing about Angie: being around her was like standing in the eye of a hurricane. There was a small space of calm in the swirling chaos. She made everything in the outside world fade away, leaving only them.

“Then prepare to eat my watery bullets, Mr. Walters.” She raised her gun a little higher, both feet planted firmly on the ground.

They both fired at once. Streams of red- and blue-tinged water shot out, and Jace tried to twist away, but she managed to get him on the right shoulder and across the side of his rib cage. The cold water was a pleasant kiss of relief from the heat. Angie turned and ran back behind the shed. Grinning, Jace followed her, gun aimed in front of him.

But he was ambushed by Trent, his T-shirt quickly turning blue as the food dye spread. “You’re going down, big brother.”

Jace managed to hold his own, soaking Angie and Trent as much as he could while having the two of them on him. “Man down!”

His father appeared, a bandanna wrapped around his head Rambo-style. “Say hello to my little friend.”

Trent made a break for it, but Angie got caught in the cross fire. Her shriek cut through the yard as she was cornered, thoroughly soaked and looking like she was loving every minute of it. The shenanigans went on for several more minutes as Jace jogged back out into the yard and rescued Olivia from Trent and Adam.

The fight went on until everyone was mostly out of “ammo,” and then eventually Soraya blew the whistle. “That’s ten minutes!”

How could it only have been ten minutes? It had felt like hours. Everyone was laughing and slapping one another on the back. When was the last time he’d had so much fun with his family? Last year, he’d left early to go back to work. He’d skipped Adam and Soraya’s annual Boxing Day bash because of a deadline, too. And he’d declined family dinners left and right, because sometimes the thought of having to answer everyone’s questions about where he’d been was just…too much.

But now he saw what he’d been missing out on. Angie was right—he was lucky. More fortunate than so many people who were estranged from their families or had parents who brought them down. What’s the worst thing he could say about his parents? That they forced dog-sitting on him? That they wanted to spend time with him?

A guilty little lump settled in the back of his throat.

But that guilty little lump promptly vanished when the entire family went silent for a heartbeat. The Walters family was never quiet. Not without a very good reason.

“Oh my God.” Soraya clamped her hand over her mouth, and all heads swung in the direction of the back door.

Jace blinked. What on earth…?

Truffle trotted happily toward the group, totally unaware that he’d caused the entire family to come to a standstill.

“What the fuck?” Jace rushed forward to pick up the little dog, whose fur was damp.

And hot freaking pink.

“Oh no.” Jace’s mother clamped her hands down on either side of her face. “The extra dyed water…I left it sitting on the breakfast bar. But how…?”

“What exactly is in the dye?” His brain spun like a tire in mud—what if it contained something harmful? What if the dog went into toxic shock? Or what if he couldn’t be cleaned?

What if he’d dyed Eugenie’s dog forever?

“It’s natural food dye. Organic. I knew the dogs were coming, so I picked something safe in case they got in the way of the fight.”

“Or in case they decided to take a bath in it.” Nick snorted.

“This isn’t funny,” Jace said, turning the dog around to inspect him. Every damn inch of him was pink—from the tip of his tail, down each of his four spindly legs, to his pointed, bat-like ears. “I’m supposed to be taking care of him.”

“He’s fine.” Adam waved a hand. “You’ve…decorated him.”

“I’d better check the kitchen,” his mother said. “Where’s Tilly?”

As if on cue, the older dog came out to the backyard, tail wagging and a bucket in her mouth. Given there was pink water sloshing out the side of it, Jace was pretty sure the mystery of the pink dog had been solved. Tilly had probably found something on the bench, so she jumped up and knocked the bucket over, drenching and dyeing the unsuspecting Truffle.

“And I was thinking a minute ago how I should come around here more often,” Jace muttered.

Angie came to his side. “We’ll get him cleaned up—it’ll be fine. Come on, we’ll do it now before the dye sits on there too long and hopefully it won’t stain his skin, too.”

“Just hose him down,” Nick suggested unhelpfully. “Water pressure might dislodge the bulk of it.”

Angie looked at his brother in horror, and Jace cut in before she could say anything. “Please never have children, Nick. We’ll find them lined up in the backyard getting their nightly hose-down instead of having a shower.”

Olivia snorted. “That’s totally something he’d do.”

“What? Sounds efficient to me,” Nick said with a shrug.

“You can use the big sink in the laundry,” Jace’s mother said.

He picked up Truffle and cradled the dog against his chest. Red dye began to mix with the blue already on his T-shirt, making a purple splotch in the middle. Angie followed along behind, asking Olivia if she would keep an eye on Tilly in the meantime.

“You don’t have to help. Go, have fun.” He placed Truffle into the big metal sink. The dog jumped around, his toenails making sharp clicking noises against the sink’s surface.

“I feel like the little guy is my responsibility, too,” Angie replied, giving Truffle a scratch as Jace turned the water on and tested the temperature on his hand. “What do you think about co-parenting?”

“I don’t think I’m good at co-anything,” Jace said.

“You’re a lot warmer and fuzzier than you think.” She leaned against the side of the house, her damp hair curling adorably around one cheek. Her T-shirt was soaked through, and it clung to every curve of her body—hugging the smooth roundness of her breasts and the flat plane of her stomach. She wore a bikini underneath, and the floral fabric showed through the semitransparent cotton.

Jace averted his gaze and concentrated on Truffle. The dog did not seem to enjoy the running tap and tried to squirm away, but they had to get some of the dye out. Otherwise Truffle was going to be returned to Eugenie, either looking like a Barbie accessory or with a brand-new buzz cut.

“Aw, he doesn’t like it.” Angie held her hands up to the side of the sink to stop Truffle from scrambling out. “Funny how he’s fine with the beach and yet he hates the tap.”

Truffle’s nails scratched against the side of the sink, but Jace finally got him under the spray, and the water turned pink beneath him. The dye ran, and Jace gave his back a little massage, trying to dislodge as much color as he could from the fur. That seemed to settle Truffle down, at least a bit.

“How are you enjoying your first Walters family event?”

“It’s great,” Angie replied. “Your family is so lovely for letting me come. The games are fun, although everyone is pretty darn competitive.”

“Story of my childhood.”

“You keep up fine.” She reached out and tucked a wet strand of hair behind her ears. “Despite what you think.”

“And what do I think, huh?” He turned to look at her for a moment. Water dotted her cheeks and nose, and a trail of it ran down the side of her face from her wet hair.

She looked like a sprite—or some kind of water fairy sent to put him under a spell. And he was, totally and utterly under her spell. Annoyingly under her spell. Her warm brown eyes were like handcuffs around his wrists, and the way her full lips parted was a whispered invitation to spin.

“You think you’re so different than these people that you don’t belong. But they love you, Jace. Different isn’t bad.”

Wasn’t it? Sometimes it felt that way, like his needs bothered people. Like he was a bother.

“I happen to like different,” she said.

“Do you?”

She bit down on her lip and nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

Jace admittedly was the world’s worst at reading social cues, but there was no mistaking the look in Angie’s eyes right now. For some unknown reason, she wanted him.

Question was… What did he plan to do about it?

…

Um, what the hell was she doing? The plans for today did not include hitting on Jace—no matter how delectable he looked in his board shorts and that clingy white T-shirt.

His skin was glowing from the sun—beautifully bronzed and smooth, like a sculpture. His muscled arms looked strong enough to carry the world, and yet he handled Truffle as though the little guy was made of glass.

There was a gentleness to Jace that most guys didn’t have. Kindness and softness beneath the undeniably honed, masculine exterior. And for a girl who’d grown up with men who were sharper than nails and harder than granite, she was deeply, deeply attracted to the parts of Jace that he seemed not to like about himself. Or at the very least, the parts he assumed others judged him for.

In fact, it was that perfect balance of hard and soft that was doing funny things to her insides, making them flip and twist and squirm.

Jace leaned in, and it felt like someone had lit a match inside her. Everything flickered and glowed, the pleasant warmth spreading through her limbs, and all he’d done was incline his head toward hers.

But up close, she could drown in the details of him—the strange little ring of gold that made his light-blue eyes totally unique. The tiny little scar that intersected the top of his lip and was barely visible unless you were close enough to kiss. The scent of soap and sea air and sun-drenched skin that grabbed her senses and squeezed, holding her totally and utterly captive.

His arms slid around her waist, tightening and pulling her close. Most guys went straight in for the kill—confident and sure—but Jace took his time. His was a slow seduction, like being lowered into a warm rose-petal-filled bath.

“You feel good.” His voice was low and meant only for her. Like a secret.

She relaxed into him, totally aware of the heat charging the air. Of his hard arms around her, of the sturdiness of his thighs pressing against hers. Of the tiny flame of desire that was catching and spreading.

Who knew such a little flame could turn into an inferno?

She tilted her head up to look at him, to try to read him. His face was incredibly close to hers, the intensity of his stare melting her defenses. Warming her. Opening her.

He brushed a hand over her hair, sweeping it back from her face and tracing the shell of her ear with his thumb. Blood rushed in her ears, drowning out the sounds of the world. For a moment, everything shrank to them and only them.

Her lips parted because she felt the need to say something—anything—but no words came. Instead, his mouth dropped down to hers in a blissful contact that made her blood sing. His tongue drew a gentle line over her lower lip, a prelude to what they both wanted. What they’d both been dancing around.

When his tongue pushed inside her mouth, she tasted the mint on his lips, felt the tightening of his hands in her hair and the intensity of him seeping into her. When she kissed him back, it was with all the emotion she’d pent up inside her, all the fear and loathing and regret and desperation.

“Jace,” she gasped into his mouth as her hands smoothed up his T-shirt. The hard ridges of his abs made her fingertips burn even with the layer of cotton between them. She wanted to touch him everywhere, to confirm that he was real and she hadn’t spun out into some parallel world.

“You taste good,” he murmured against her lips. “So sweet.”

His hands dropped down to her back, sliding over the curve of her butt until his palms found purchase there. Fingers kneading her, he pressed her closer. Lined her up against the hard ridge of his erection.

Then Truffle let out a high-pitched yelp, startling them apart. Angie released her hold on Jace’s T-shirt suddenly, as though he were a hot pan and she was about to get burned.

“I, uh…” Angie blinked, trying to right herself as the world swam beneath her feet. “Hmm.”

“You’re speechless,” he said, a smile playing over his lips. “I didn’t think that was possible.”

“I didn’t, either.”

Jace. The quiet guy. The strong, silent, good guy who wasn’t supposed to be right for her.

But God, if this wasn’t right, then she had no sense of the word anymore. No sense of black or white or up or down. Because every cell in her body was screaming affirmations like this was where she was supposed to be. Not on a date with Elijah or Theo or Trent. Not looking around at every other man but the one who really lit her fire.

The one guy who’d made her feel like this place was home.

There wasn’t much space between them. It would be so easy to step back into his arms. To step into his kiss. But she needed to think, needed to get her head straight because they had a lot of pain between them. A lot of baggage.

“I need a minute.” She stepped back and cringed at the look of hurt sweeping across his face. But it was gone in an instant.

He turned and raked a hand through his hair, which looked considerably more mussed than it had before. Had she been tugging on it? Oh my God, she had. Angie rubbed her hands up and down her thighs as if trying to get the feeling of him off her skin. But judging by the throbbing heat that filled her body, forgetting that kiss wouldn’t be so easy.

Then, like a coward, she turned and fled back to the party happening in the backyard.