Reckless Faith

Elle hummed as the warm morning light crept over her face and everything from the night before slipped back into her memory. The shower. The things Jace had said to her.

He loved her. He’d loved her for a long time. She almost wanted to pinch herself to make sure this wasn’t a dream.

She rolled, hand feeling the other side of the bed, searching for him…only the sheets were cold.

Her eyes pinged open. The bed was empty.

With a frown, she pushed up. He wasn’t here. And by the look of the dark bathroom and walk-in closet, he wasn’t there either.

Slowly, she climbed out of bed and grabbed one of his shirts to throw over her body. It dwarfed her, but it also smelled exactly like him. It was a scent she wouldn’t even know how to describe, just deep and masculine and so infinitely Jace.

She stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room. No Jace. And he wasn’t in the kitchen or dining room either.

God, where was he?

She inspected every room, but when she didn’t find him, she climbed the stairs. She was halfway up when she heard it—quiet, repetitive thuds.

Were they coming from the last room at the end of the hall? It used to be a common room when they were younger, where he and his siblings would play video games.

Her footsteps slowed as she neared the door and quietly pushed it open. The room was completely different. The couches were gone. The TV unit with the video game sets were no longer there.

Instead, workout equipment was pushed against every inch of wall space, with a boxing bag centering the room. And punching that bag was Jace.

His back was toward her, but it did nothing to hide the power of his hits. The muscles that flexed across his gleaming bare back with every punch that sent the bag flying.

God, he’d be terrifying to an enemy. One hit and the person wouldn’t get back up.

For a moment, she just watched him, transfixed by the power and fluidity of his movements, as if he’d punched a bag a hundred times before. And maybe he had. Probably not this bag, but keeping active and maintaining his fitness had always been important to him, exactly why joining the Air Force had suited him.

He bounced lightly, and was sidestepping around the bag and half turning, when he caught sight of her. Immediately he stilled, his brows slashing together before he tore off his gloves, then took out his earbuds.

“Hey. How long have you been standing there?”

Her gaze lowered to his chest. Man, oh man, there was muscle upon muscle, and right now those muscles were glistening with sweat.

She swallowed, forcing her attention back to his face. “Not long enough. I could watch you do that for hours.”

One side of his mouth lifted. “You’d get bored.”

“I doubt it.” She stepped into the room. “When did you change this to a workout room?”

“It was the first thing I did after the master bedroom. I needed somewhere to work out.”

“Because you’ve been stressed?”

He inched toward her. “Because it took me too long to get my girl.”

A hint of a smile curved her lips. “Your girl… I like that.”

When he stopped in front of her, she ran her hands down his chest, not caring how sweaty or hot he was, just needing to touch him.

His arms immediately wrapped around her waist. “I can’t believe it took me so long to make a move on you.” His head lowered and he nipped her neck. “How I resisted for so long, I have no idea.”

A shudder rolled down her spine. “But we got here in the end.”

“Thank God.”

She cupped his cheek so that he looked at her. “When you were hitting the bag, you looked tense.” Tense didn’t even begin to describe it. But then, he’d looked tense for a while.

There was a flash of emotion across his face. It came and went so quickly that she couldn’t quite identify what it was. Then he smiled. “After last night, I’m better than okay.”

She frowned. That felt like an easy lie. But she didn’t want an easy lie. She wanted the truth, even if it was hard to hear or ugly.

He slipped a lock of hair behind her ear. “Did you mean it?”

“About loving you? Of course I meant it. I’ve waited a long time to say it, and now that I have, I want to say it over and over again.”

“Hm, and I want to hear it over and over again.” He lifted her quickly, then she was in his arms, her hands on his shoulders as his mouth collided with hers.

“God, I love you,” he said quietly between desperate kisses.

She smiled against his lips. “I should let you get back to your workout.”

“I’m done. What are we doing before work this afternoon?”

“Well, I was thinking about doing a Pilates class, but—”

“I’ll do it with you.”

She pulled back and frowned. “You want to do Pilates?”

“Yeah. Why do you say it like you can’t believe it?”

“Uh, because you’re into boxing and weightlifting and rappelling off skywalks. They’re the opposite of Pilates.”

He lifted a shoulder. “I’m always interested in trying new things.”

“Call me selfish, but I’m more worried about me. It’s a beginner’s class and I don’t know if I want you having a front-row seat to witness just how bad I am.”

“I’ve never done Pilates before, so I’m sure I’ll be worse.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “Jace, you’ve been physically gifted since you could walk. I doubt you’ll even break a sweat.” Whereas she’d probably leave the class looking like a sweaty newborn giraffe, barely able to walk.

“I think you overestimate me.”

She didn’t. But she wasn’t going to waste time arguing with him. “You can join me. But I want something in exchange.”

His brows flickered. “Anything.”

“More of those kisses.”

He growled and turned, pressing her to the wall and crushing his lips to hers.

Jace bit back his smile at the look of annoyance on Elle’s face. “You mad at me, Tink?”

“Yes!”

He chuckled and slipped his arm around her waist, tugging her closer as they walked to Sugar and Spice. “Why?”

“You know why. You’re good at everything. Everything! Without even trying. While I huff and puff like a pig, needing a break every two seconds.” She glanced up at him, brow pinched. “Statistically, girls are supposed to be better at Pilates than boys.”

“You were amazing.”

She scoffed, and the sound was so unladylike, he wanted to laugh a second time. “I was not good. I thought with this being a beginner’s class, I’d at least get through without feeling like I was dying. And yeah, it was easier than the last one, but it was still hard. My glutes are on fire.”

He looked at her ass. “It looks pretty perfect to me.”

She hit his chest playfully. “Charmer.”

He lowered his mouth to her ear and quieted his voice. “Besides, I wasn’t that good. I was very distracted.”

“Distracted?”

“Mm-hmm. By this beautiful gray-eyed woman. She was wearing these skintight leggings that showed off all her curves, and this short top that made me want to march right over and tear it off her.”

Elle’s cheeks tinged pink. “Jace, everyone was wearing leggings and a sports bra.”

“I didn’t see a single one of them. I only saw you.”

“Stop.”

“It’s the truth.” He kissed the top of her head as they stepped into Sugar and Spice.

Cody and Harper stood on one side of the counter talking to Sadie, who was behind the display case.

Sadie smiled at them. “Hey, guys!”

The women hugged each other while Jace approached his brother. “Here for a coffee?” he asked.

“Yeah. And a cupcake for Harper.”

Harper scoffed. “He pretends it’s for me, then proceeds to eat half of it.”

“What can I say—they’re good.” Cody grinned.

“Did you guys just come from a workout?” Sadie asked, inspecting their clothes.

“Pilates,” Elle said.

Sadie gripped her chest playfully. “You went without me?”

“Uh, yeah, because I needed a beginner’s class and you did not take me to one.”

“Hey, it was still a good class though, wasn’t it?”

“I couldn’t feel my legs after!” Elle protested.

“Pfft, who needs legs?” Sadie said with a laugh.

While the women talked about Pilates, Cody asked, voice hushed, “You hear anything on Boyd or the woman in the rental car? Alice, was it?”

Immediately, his muscles tensed. He was trying not to think about either, but the second he’d woken up this morning, it was all in his head. That, and what Casper had said to Elle. Exactly why he’d needed to get up and move. To exhaust his body and try to forget, at least for a moment.

“Eastern hasn’t reported finding anything yet.”

Cody gripped his shoulder. “He’ll get there.”

Jace knew that. His brother never left a case unsolved. But his question was…when?

He was just glancing toward the window when two guys passed outside the bakery.

One of them was Casper.

The words the asshole had said to Elle yesterday came back to him. The hurt in her voice when she’d finally told him. The way a part of her had believed what he’d said.

Jace was moving before he could stop himself. Storming toward the door, ignoring Cody calling his name.

He stepped outside and shouted, “Casper!”

The guy was a few shops down, but he turned, a stupid fucking grin on his face. “Jace. Hey. What can I do for you today, old friend?”

He closed the space between them. “Elle told me what you said to her.”

“What I said?” The frown on his face was the fakest fucking thing Jace had ever seen.

“You told her that I’d leave her?” Jace growled. “Made comments about the way she looked in high school.”

“Oh, yeah. You know, I don’t see a problem with anything I said. You were best friends, then you left her basically without a word for years. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to think you’d leave again.” Casper lifted a shoulder. “And she wasn’t exactly a stunner in high school. People like her always put the weight back on. I can’t see you sticking around if she looked like she used to.”

Jace swung without pause, nailing the asshole in the face.

Casper’s friend gasped and stepped back as Jace peeled Casper off the ground and shoved him against the nearest building. “Either you’re stupider than you look, or you can’t take a fucking hint. I’ve told you more than once, you don’t talk about her like that.”

Casper grabbed his face, blood pouring from his nose. “You broke my fucking nose!”

From his peripheral vision, Jace saw Cody running toward him, but he ignored everything but the asshole in front of him. “The next time you say something like that to her—shit, the next time you so much as look at her, I will do a hell of a lot more than break your nose.”

“I’m gonna charge you for assault, asshole!”

“Jace. Let him go,” Cody growled.

Jace leaned in so close that he could see every fucking pore on the guy’s face. “You stay away from Elle.”

Casper’s eyes narrowed, his hand dropping from his face. “Or what? What’re you gonna do? Kill me? This isn’t the fucking military, Jace. You lay another hand on me and you’re done!”

Cody grabbed his arm. “Jace! Step back.”

Jace remained exactly where he was. “I can do a hell of a lot worse than kill you. Stay. Away. From her.”

He shoved Casper hard before stepping away and storming back to Sugar and Spice, where Elle and Harper were now standing out front watching.