Page 29 of Cowboys & Navy SEALs

Jaxson grunted. “It’s always the same. You don’t give a crap about Lemon. You never did. You just want her because I do.”

Lemon blinked. Jaxson wanted her? A ray of sunlight broke through the dark curtain of her mind. She wanted Jaxson too. She always had.

Lucas’s face boiled red, the vein in his forehead pulsing. “You know, cousin, everyone talks about how smart and savvy you are, but in reality, you’re dumber than a box of bricks. You wouldn’t know true love if it bit you in the butt.” He shook his head. “You accuse me of ruining your relationship with Lemon, but you did that all on your own.”

The words came at Lemon like bullets. She tried to sort through them to decipher their meaning. “I don’t understand,” she stammered, eyeing Lucas. “What do you mean? How do you fit into this picture?”

“That’s enough!” Jaxson warned, giving Lemon a worried glance.

Lucas’s head swung back and forth as he stood. “Forget it,” he said dully. “It’s water under the bridge.”

“No!” Lemon’s voice cracked through the room as she glared at them. “I wanna know what happened.” She ground her teeth together. “Tell me!” A whisper of something enveloped her. It was right there on the edge of her consciousness, but for the life of her, she couldn’t quite grasp it. Had she and Lucas dated? He was handsome, charismatic. He’d probably turned a lot of heads. Had he turned hers? The answer came with a jolt—an unequivocalNo. For her, it had always been Jaxson. She felt a stroke of victory at having unearthed a quiver of a memory without unleashing another panic attack.

“Good to see you, Lemon. I hope everything works out for you.” Lucas’s voice was impersonal, stilted.

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

He and Jaxson locked gazes like gunslingers at high noon, facing off for a duel.

“Seriously?” Lemon cut in. “Y’all are family. You work together. It’s about time that you learned to get along.”Sheesh.“Whatever happened is in the past. Don’t you think it’s time to move on—forgive and forget?”

Silence.

“Or maybe not,” she snipped, rolling her eyes. “Talk about stubborn mules,” she fumed.

Lucas cleared his throat. “What do you wanna do about the feeder?”

Jaxson took in a breath. “Call Vance Bryant over at Machine Works. He’ll take care of it.”

“Will do,” Lucas clipped as he strode out, closing the door behind him.

“You wanna tell me what that was all about?” Lemon began.

“Not really.” Jaxson stared straight ahead, his jaw set in stone, the dimple in his chin more pronounced.

She eyed him for one long moment. “Fine,” she huffed, “keep your secrets.” She shifted gears. “Okay, you’ve got two choices here.”

He turned to her, a faint amusement simmering in the depths of his sable eyes.

“Either you call Doctor Jepson and tell him about your fall or else I’m calling an ambulance to take you to the hospital.”

He smirked. “You don’t have a phone, remember?”

“No, but I have two legs and feet. I’ll leave this minute and walk up to your daddy’s house.” She lifted her chin. “I’m sure when he hears that you fell, he’ll either call the doctor or an ambulance.”

Jaxson’s lips twitched around the corners. “You’re a demanding little thing, aren’t you?” He turned to her. The affection in his eyes gave her cause to hope that all was not lost between them.

A smile tugged at her lips. “I can be demanding, when the situation warrants.”

He sighed in defeat. “Okay.” He leaned back and fished his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call Daddy and get Doc Jepson’s number.” Challenge zinged in his eyes. “Will that do?”

“Yes.”

As Jaxson made the call, Lemon’s thoughts went back to everything that Lucas had said. Questions were picking at her brain, demanding to be answered. She couldn’t keep hiding from the past forever. It was becoming clear to her that she would need to face the darkness sooner rather than later. A shiver slithered down her spine as she hugged her arms. She wasn’t ready yet, but hopefully, she would be soon.

“Daddy said he’d call the doc.”

Lemon nodded. “Good. Now we need to figure out dinner.”

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