Wild Card (North Ridge #1)

“So are you,” I point out. “Apparently.”

He smiles over his glass. “I’m trying. I got to say, and I know it’s hard to hear but maybe you understand better than Fox and Mav because you never got to know her as well but…Vernalee is the first woman since your mother that I’ve felt any part of me come alive. Shit. It’s been twenty-six years and now, only now, am I finally ready, finally moving on.”

“It’s worth it, though.”

“I think it is. It’s never too late to learn to use your heart, son. That’s what I keep telling myself.”

“What on earth are you two knuckleheads yammering about, eh?”

We both look behind us to see my grandfather standing in the doorway, his white hair all wild from sleep, pulling his robe closed just in time. Thank god.

“Just watching the stars, grandpa.”

“Well can you both watch the stars with your mouths shut? Walls are thin, you know.”

And with that he turns around and walks back into the house.

Dad and I exchange a grin. I laugh.

We both start looking for shooting stars.



The next morning Rachel finally calls.

The surgery was successful and Vernalee is doing fine.

I decide to be brave. I tell her I miss her.

She tells me the same thing right back and it sounds as real as that sun in the sky but I can’t be sure, not yet. Words mean some, actions mean more.

A week later, after Vernalee’s stint in the hospital, the two of them arrive home.

Home.

Because how can my heart not be her home?

“They’re here,” Delilah says, staring out the front windows.

Everyone is over, including Fox who is back in town for a few days before he’s sent out

again.

Hank heads out and I follow as Rachel brings the Ford Tempo to a stop in front of the house.

She gets out and grins at me so big, it steals my heart and breath, then she quickly goes to the other door to help her mother out.

We join in. Hank reaches in and helps her to her feet and she leans on both Rachel and my father for support.

She looks weak, frail, but she’s smiling.

“I know I didn’t have cancer long enough to know, but damn this sucks,” she says. “Barely survived that car ride with all that terrible music Rachel listens to.”

Rachel manages a smile. “The driver gets to choose. Next time, when you’re driving, you can listen to Céline Dion and Michael Bublé all you want.”

Vernalee wrinkles her nose in disgust and I laugh. She’s an old country lover, through and through.

We help her into the house, set her down in grandpa’s chair and everyone starts running all over the place, fetching her stuff. Del brings her lemonade, Maverick offers up magazines like Redbook and Good Housekeeping, and I can only imagine how embarrassed he would have been buying them at the grocery store, especially when he’s always hitting on the checkout girls. Fox brings her a blanket, making sure she’s comfortable. It’s a sweltering, stuffy day, the kind that hinges on a thunderstorm, but even so, Vernalee seems cold.

When everyone is settled and Vernalee starts singing the praises of the nurses at the hospital to Grandpa, I take Rachel by the arm and pull her out onto the porch.

I’m pretty sure everyone here knows we’re back together but even so, I like to keep it quiet and just between us. We just aren’t a sure thing.

Yet.

Maybe never.

Maybe…

“Hey,” I say to her, wanting so badly to hold her in my arms, to feel every soft inch of her. I’ve been craving her so badly, an addict in front of his fix. “How are you holding up?”

“Good,” she says and smiles. She looks good, more at peace now than when she left.

“How was she? Any complications?”

“Well, she might be saying wonderful things about those nurses and doctors now but I tell you a few days ago she was pretty close to issuing them death threats.”

I laugh and then wipe the smile from my face. “That bad, eh?”

“You better believe it. A bit of cabin fever. She was drugged for the first few days too. Every time she saw the breathing tube she started freaking out. Thankfully it wasn’t in there for long.”

“And how are you both? I mean, are you okay now, did you talk?”

She nods. “Yeah,” she says quietly. “We had a good talk.” She pauses, licks her lips. “Before I leave…” And my heart fucking sinks at those words. “My mother and I are going to file a police report.”

I frown. “What happened?”

“Against my father. You know, that closure I needed? It wasn’t just from you. It was because he got away with it. And now, finally, we’re not going to let him.”

“Rachel,” I say with a sigh, relief coursing through me. “That’s amazing. Seriously. This is going to be so good for you.”

“We won’t mention what happened with you, what you did.”

“Even if you did, I’ll handle it. The point is, you need this. More than anything.”

“I do. I really do. And then, then I can move on. My mother can move on.”

I grab her hand and hold it tight. “Want to hear something funny? Maybe it’s no longer a family secret but…it turns out my father is in love with your mother.”

She lets out a sweet laugh, her eyes dancing. “I know. And I know she feels the same way. They just need to fess up to it. They don’t have all the time in the world.”

“No one does.”

“Yeah.” She looks away, smiling shyly.

“Let’s hope they don’t get married though. Or we’d be brother and sister.”

“Shut up,” she says, pulling away playfully. “Hey, is your house empty?”

“That’s a strange transition,” I say, letting her lead me off the steps and into the grassy path toward my house. “But yes it is.”

We head inside and I open the windows, trying to move the hot stuffy air. It’s another scorcher, stifling and thick.

She stands in the doorway to my bedroom and wags her finger at me.

“Come here,” she says, backing up until she’s at my bed.

I raise my brows. I don’t know what I was expecting but I don’t think it was this.

“Your wish is my command,” I tell her, discarding my hat on the dresser and following her in.

She grabs me by the back of my neck and pulls me down to her mouth.

My legs feel weak. I kick off my shoes, my mouth still pressed to hers, kissing her hungrily.

“I’ve missed you so much,” I whisper to her. “This last week has been unbearable without you.” My hands slide down her sides, feeling the fabric of her sundress, wanting it off so I can see and touch and lick her warm, bare skin.

I want more. I want her every day, all the time, until she leaves.

God, please don’t leave.

“I’ve missed you too,” she says and her throaty tone makes my cock stiffen, hot and thick and pushing against my jeans. She stands on her toes and kisses my jaw, then my cheek, then my mouth. Her lips open against mine, and I slide my tongue in, tasting her.

“Oh, my raven girl,” I murmur, running my thumb over her breast as she arches back, her body begging for more. “I might lose my mind if I can’t get inside you right now.”