Page 40 of My Fiancé's Brother 2

Me: What else did she say?

Jackson: She wants to enlist

Me: Into the navy??

Jackson: I was telling her that there are dogs in our unit

Me: You’re kidding

Jackson: That’s exactly what she said

Me: I’m going to have to talk to her about using my phone

Jackson: Please do. I think this obsession with me is borderline unhealthy

And then Igot the text that sent my heart into overdrive.

Jackson: You packed?

Me: Why?

Jackson: A house has become available. It’s a two bedroom. Available immediately

Me: Really?

Jackson: Really. You can ship your boxes asap

Holy shit. This was happening. I was suddenly inexplicably nervous.

Me: Okay

Jackson: I have the weekend off. I’ll come get you

Me: I can drive myself

My phone began to ring.

“Hello?”

“What do you mean, you can drive yourself?”

“You don’t need to come out here. I need to drive my car there anyway.”

“I don’t like the idea of you driving on the highway by yourself.”

“Well, it doesn’t make sense for you to come all the way here and then spend a day driving with me.”

“It makes sense if you’re safe. I get back to the base on late Friday afternoon. I can fly out there, and we can drive on Saturday.”

“I can be there on Friday before you’re even off work.”

Silence.

“Emily,” he said my name quietly. My heart raced with how protective he was. This is what got me into trouble in the first place. His constant need to take care of me. I loved it so much, and it made my heart do stupid things in my chest.

“I promise I’ll be so careful. I’ll have Chloe with me.”

More silence on the other side. This was in Jackson’s DNA. I had to remind myself that he was just a natural born protector. This had very little to do with me and was all about how he viewed the worldand his role in it. “I don’t want you to stop at any of those shit rest stops.”

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