Page 36 of Burning Love (Looking For Love #7)

CAN HANDLE IT

“ F uck me!”

The last thing he expected hours later while he tried to figure it out was the arrival of two vehicles in his driveway when he shut his saw off.

He’d hoped it was Talia when he heard the car door since he texted her an hour ago. She hadn’t replied yet.

They’d never gone this long without talking and he knew he’d have to take that first step.

He was willing to do it.

Instead it was six men climbing out of the SUV and truck in his driveway.

The Carlisle brothers.

He held his ground.

This was his fear all along.

She was avoiding him. She obviously told her family and now they were going to come and threaten him.

It wasn’t happening.

West moved forward, the other five walking close with him.

He looked at Elias, didn’t get the friendly smile he had before, then shifted to West.

He’d address the leader of the family.

“Do you know why we are here?” West asked.

“I can guess,” he said, stiffening.

“What are your intentions with our sister?” Braylon asked.

Not how he thought it was happening. “What do you know?”

He wasn’t going to volunteer the information about the baby. Maybe they didn’t know.

He doubted it, but they could speak it first.

“I know you knocked her up,” Rowen said sarcastically.

Good thing he’d seen pictures of the guys to know who each was.

He’d thought that brother was the most chill, but you wouldn’t know it looking at him now.

West put his hand up to stop the younger man from saying more. “Talia is pregnant. We are aware.”

“Does she know you’re here?” he asked, his eyes shifting over the six of them.

No one answered. He looked at Elias and saw the slight shake of the head.

Interesting. That was something at least.

It meant she hadn’t sent her family after him.

“You didn’t answer Braylon,” Elias said. “What are your intentions?”

“I asked your sister to marry me. She said no,” he said.

West and Braylon frowned.

“When?” Foster asked.

“A few days ago,” he said.

“Why did she say no?” West asked

“Beats the shit out of me,” he said. “I asked her to move in and she didn’t want to do that either. I’m telling you right now, I’m not giving up my child.”

For some reason every word of that conversation with Talia slammed into his head now that it was clearer.

Fuck. He never asked. He told her.

Nelson’s face turned red. “It’s not your decision. It’s hers.”

West turned to the youngest of the group and frowned. Rowan and Nelson didn’t have the restraint the other four had.

“It is my decision to be a part of my child’s life and it’s going to happen. If you want to know what is going on, you’re talking to the wrong person. I texted her over an hour ago and haven’t heard a word.”

West pulled his phone out of his pocket. Jace heard it ringing while it was held in front of the oldest brother’s face. Talia’s voice sounded seconds later.

“Hi, West. What’s going on? You never call me on video. Is Abby okay?”

The phone moved around so Talia could see all her brothers together, then it showed them in front of Jace’s house. “Get your butt here now.”

The phone went dead and back in West’s pocket.

Braylon was laughing along with Elias.

“What the hell was that about?” he asked.

Now he understood why Talia always got mad. West was ordering her around rather than asking her nicely.

Jace supposed it was not much different than he had done four days ago when he told her they should get married or for her to move in.

He wasn’t about to admit that to her brothers.

“She’ll talk now,” West said. “I know my sister better than you.”

“I don’t think I know her at all,” he mumbled.

“Do you love her?” Elias asked. “I’m the only one who has spent any time with you. I saw what no one else has seen.”

“Yes, I love her.”

“Have you told her that?” Foster asked.

There was some laughter to that question and he wasn’t sure he understood why.

“That’s personal,” he said.

“And there is the root of the problem,” Braylon said. “Looks like Foster isn’t the only idiot standing here.”

“I don’t appreciate the insult. You’re on my property.”

West smirked. “Do you think you can kick us all off?”

“I can damn well try. I don’t care how much money you donate to this city. I’ve got a lot of friends here that would back me.”

“Does anyone even know you’re dating our sister?” Nelson asked. He still looked pissed. “Because I’ve got friends in this area, the same as Rowan, and not one person has said a word. It’d make the rounds if it was known.”

“We’ve kept it quiet,” he said. “The same with the pregnancy. Obviously Talia didn’t adhere to us not telling anyone.”

“Our mother figured it out,” Braylon said drily. “There is no hiding anything from her for long.”

“Do you want to marry Talia?” Nelson asked.

“I do.”

“You’re going to need all the help you can get then,” Rowan said, laughing.

He didn’t like they were busting on the woman he loved.

“I can handle it.”

“If you could handle it, you wouldn’t be wondering why she told you no when you asked,” West said.

“I know,” he said.

“Or did you not ask?” Braylon asked, grinning. “Could be you’ve got some traits of West here and give orders?”

He held his silence.

“Guess he’s not that slow of a learner if he’s figuring that out,” Elias said, smirking.

West looked at his watch. “She should be here in five minutes. Want to show us your house?”

“So you can judge it?”

“No one is judging anyone,” Elias said. “Got any beer left?”

“Yeah.”

There was no reason to tell them no. They were at least getting Talia here.

Not that he wanted them to witness this, but beggars couldn’t be choosers either.

They followed him into the house, where he gave them a tour.

At least the first floor was done.

He was working on the upstairs when they arrived.

He opened his fridge and told them to help themselves. West and Braylon were the only two that didn’t take one.

“You do good work,” West said.

“Thanks.” He hated feeling awkward in his own home.

“What are you working on now?” Elias asked.

“The hall bath upstairs. The one for the baby. Then I’ll do the baby’s room next.” Might as well put it out there.

His front door opened and Talia came marching in. “What are you all doing here?”

“Did you speed getting here?” Jace asked. “What did I tell you about being careful and not taking risks?”

“Easy for you to say on that motorcycle,” she threw back at him. “You won’t let me on it anymore, so you can’t either and I know you’re riding it because I saw it at the firehouse yesterday.”

Which meant she was still thinking of him if she was checking on him.

“You’re riding a motorcycle,” Rowan said. “Does Mom know?”

“No,” she said and turned back to Jace. “And your job puts you at risk every time you show up.”

He frowned. “You’ve never said you were worried about it.”

“Of course I’m worried. I lost my father and now I’m afraid our child could lose you. It’s hard to say that.”

“You open your mouth and talk, Talia,” West said. “Something you’ve struggled with for years when it matters.”

“Don’t you lecture me. None of you.” She was waving her hands around wildly. “You all struggled in one form or another in your relationships. Mom had to get involved...” She stopped and stared at West. He lifted his eyebrow. “Nooooo. She set me up.”

“She set us all up,” Nelson said. “Sneaky to get us here.”

“I knew,” West said, shrugging.

“What the fuck?” Foster said. “Then why did we all have to fly here for this?”

“Because that is what family does,” Jace said. He was trying to wrap his head around the game going on. At least Talia hadn’t been aware her mother appeared to orchestrate it. Hadn’t she said her mother did this before?

“What is going on?” Talia asked. “Are you all bonding or something? I thought for sure you came here to give Jace shit.”

“We did,” Rowan said. “Or I thought that was what was happening. Seems that maybe you two should talk.”

“Jace said it all,” she said, her lips tight, her head nodding.

“No,” he argued. “I didn’t. You’re the one that never wants to talk. You’re the one putting up walls and then walking out to let the materials dry before I can change the design.”

Her lips twisted some when Nelson laughed and pointed his finger. “You’ve always done that.”

“Out. All of you,” she said. “Go see Mom. She wanted you all here and she got you. Go so Jace and I can talk.”

“We’ll see you at Mom’s,” West said. He tilted his head and all the brothers followed, got in the two vehicles, and left.

“Why haven’t you replied to my text?” Jace asked.

“I just saw it when my phone rang,” she said. “I was sleeping.”

He walked toward her quickly. He wanted to hug her but didn’t think she’d let him.

“Are you okay?” His eyes were searching her face.

“I’m tired, but otherwise fine. It took you long enough to reach out to me.”

“I figured you were waiting for me,” he said, nodding. “And what it was you needed.”

“What is that?”

“You want me to tell you I love you,” he said gently.

“Not if you don’t mean it, Jace. And if you don’t, I understand. If you never do and we end up being friends, then that is what happens. But I would never, ever take our child from you. It was extremely hurtful you thought that.”

Her eyes filled with tears and it killed him to know how much he hurt her with his words and actions.

She all but laid it out what she wanted and he hadn’t seen.

Should she have communicated better? Yes. But so should he have.

He moved closer and pulled her into his arms to hold her.

“First, I love you. I didn’t know what love was. You’re right. I’ve never committed before and was afraid to. But I met you and that fear started to vanish. I went to talk to my mother today. I had to take the steps to put it behind me.”

“I love you too,” she said. “Even as scared as I am about your job, I still love you.”

“Why haven’t you told me? This is one of those things we have to talk about, Talia.”

She sighed. “Because you can’t be who you aren’t.

I wasn’t trying to make you be someone else.

My mother always had the fear with my father, but she’d never change him either.

You don’t do that to someone you love. You take the steps to accept those things and I’ve been doing that. It’s on me, not you.”

“You’re right. But I’m in line to be an Assistant Chief. Hopefully in less than two years. I won’t be on the front lines fighting fires anymore once I’m there.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.”

“Because we didn’t talk about it. Again, you never brought it up. I could have relieved your mind.”

“Sometimes I don’t want to talk about things if I worry I won’t get an answer I’ll like. I need time to prepare for it.”

“And you thought I didn’t love you and that is why you didn’t want to talk about it?” he asked.

“I did. It was wrong of me to not say it a few days ago. I gave you hints and you didn’t get it. I even told you that you wanted those things for the baby. I wanted to be wanted for me, not because I was pregnant.”

“I’m sorry I told you rather than asked. I’m sorry I didn’t see what you wanted me to. You didn’t say it to me either. I love you. I wasn’t positive what it was, but I know now. I shouldn’t have judged you by what my mother did. That was wrong and I’ll apologize.”

“Thank you. It was all you had to go by and that is hard to not let it sway your opinion. I’m guilty of that in my life too.

There are so many things we have to work through together.

It’s not going to be smooth sailing. I know and I don’t expect it.

I just want you. I want you to support me and be there for me.

I’ve always known you’d be there for our baby. ”

“I’ve been showing you that the best way I know how,” he said.

“I realize that now. You were willing to meet my family. You went to the doctor’s appointment with me. You want to go to them all. Some of it is your honor, but the other was you doing what felt right to you even if you didn’t know it was love.”

“That’s it,” he said. “Come here. I need to hold you more.”

“I need it too.”

She went into his arms. “You had no idea your brothers were coming?”

She snorted. “No. And when I saw West was calling from here, I jumped in the car and raced over to give them a piece of my mind. I thought they were going to intimidate you. Or try to. Then I feared you’d think even more I’d take our child away. They were only going to make it worse.”

“Looks like everyone got played by your mother,” he said drily.

“Yeah. I should have realized that too. She’s horrible that way. But she gave us the push we needed.”

He kissed her on the forehead. “West said he knew.”

“He did. She would have told him and he would have been able to round up the troops and keep everyone in line at the same time.”

“Your family loves and supports you. Big brothers today, not fathers. I could see it.”

“Me too,” she said. “Are we good now? The last four days waiting for you have really sucked.”

Jace laughed. “They have. We’ll be good in a minute.

I love you. I want you to move here. I want you to marry me.

Not because of the baby, but because of our love.

If you’re not ready for it, then I’ll wait.

But I’m not going anywhere. I’ll ask you when you’re ready, but I’m expressing my wants as openly as I can. ”

“I’m ready,” she said. “I just needed to hear the words and know that you were saying them for the right reasons.”

“I’m holding all the reasons in my arms. Will you marry me?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you!”