Page 3 of Bedded and Bred

“You don’t even know what I need.”

“I don’t need to know to know that whatever it is, I’ll take care of it for you.”

A soft gasp comes through the phone again. “You don’t seem anything like your nephew.”

And there it is. I groan harshly and run my fingers through my thick silver-shot, dirty blond hair. Jesse.

“What’s he done now?” I grunt. I know he’s family but he’s an idiot and I’ve been clearing up messes for him for the last five years. Ever since he left for college it’s been one thing after another. His father, my brother, died in the army five years ago and ever since then Jesse has been bound and determined to be the biggest pain in my ass possible.

“I-I went on a blind date with him. A friend set it up.”

“Some friend,” I mutter under my breath. With friends like that, who needs enemies.

I pick up a pen and run it through my fingers. A focusing tactic that my therapist taught me to keep from drifting off into nightmares with my eyes open. Now I do it automatically every time I’m stressed to keep my focus.

“Yeah,” she says softly. “Believe me. I’m never going to go on another blind date no matter who begs me.”

“Probably a good thing.” My inner caveman wants to thump his chest and drag her off to my home to claim her and I suck in a breath. I need to get my shit under control. I’m usually a lot more calm than this and it’s got me knocked off my feet.

“I went on one date with him and it wasn’t great so I told him that I wasn’t interested. Or I tried to. He didn’t take it well. Anyway….Jesse has been stalking me and I can’t take itanymore. He broke into my work the other day and I had to lock myself in the office. Everyone was gone and I had nowhere to go.” I can hear the tension and fear in her voice and it makes me want to find my nephew and beat the ever-lovin’ shit out of him.

“Where are you at, darlin’?” I live in Arkansas but wherever she’s at, that’s where I’m moving. I haven’t really settled in since I left the military a year ago. So I’m free as a bird. All I have is my rental house and this office and I’ll do anything to get to her.

“Wildwood…Colorado.” I punch in the information on my phone and I’m buying a plane ticket before she says another thing.

“I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Wait! You don’t have to do that! I was just hoping that you would talk to him. Can’t you call him?”

“It’s better in person. I’ll be there tomorrow. Where do you work?”

“Wildwood Library. I’m an aide here. I just finished and got my degree at college and got this job.”

So she’s young. Way too young for me but I don’t honestly think I care.

There’s something going on between us and I intend to follow it all the way to the church to marry her.

I know I sound crazy. Sight unseen and I’m wanting this woman but it’s a family trait. My brother fell for his wife as soon as he saw her and they had twenty amazing years before he passed away. He was only fifty but he was going to be retiring from the army soon. I’m only forty but that means that I’m probably almost twenty years older than this sweet thing.

“I’ll meet you at the library tomorrow afternoon before it closes.”

“You don’t know where it’s at or the hours we’re open,” she huffs.

“Trust me. I’ll find you. This is what I do.”

“Yeah. Private investigation. That must be very interesting work.”

“I haven’t been doing it long. I just got out of the military.”

“Just like Jesse’s dad?”

“Yes. We were both in the Army. Special Forces.”

“Wow. Are you retired?”

I don’t want to talk about this with her. Not just because I hate talking about why I left but also because retired makes me sound old and I don’t want to talk about this with her.

“I guess you could say that,” I grumble. “Can you send me a picture so I know who I’m looking for… for my files?”

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