Page 6 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

RUTHIE

I had been living with Jack for nearly two weeks now. The Christmas holiday had passed and we hadn’t killed each other, so I considered that a win.

Ellie had mentioned to me that it had been a few years since she and Jack had been able to spend the holidays together because he was often overseas, and I wanted them to be able to have that.

Jack and Ellie had celebrated with Wade and his family, and while I had been invited to go with them, I’d decided to decline and go celebrate with my granddad instead.

Since I still couldn’t drive, Jack had driven me over to Granddad’s house to drop me off and offered to pick me up when he left the festivities with Wade and Ellie .

When we had arrived at my granddad’s house, Jack had gotten out of the vehicle too, letting Dash out of the back seat.

“Dash wait!” I yelled to him as he took off.

“He’s good,” Jack replied, coming over to stand behind me while I got situated with my crutches. “ He’s headed straight for Hank at the front door.”

Jack began to follow me as I made my way to the front porch.

“You don’t need to help me all the way to the door, Jack .”

“I know, but I want to,” he replied and continued behind me all the way. “ Merry Christmas , Hank .”

“Same to you, boy. Thanks for bringin’ her.”

“Not a problem at all. I’ll swing by when I leave my sister’s thing. If y’all aren’t done, then I’ll just chill and hang out here for a bit.”

And he had. He came back and hung out with the two of us for another hour after he returned because I wasn’t ready to leave. I’d appreciated that kind gesture, especially because I’d known he hadn’t had to do it.

The biggest issue I had with Jack was that he hardly let me do anything due to my “condition,” as he called it, but that only made me feel guiltier.

It wasn’t like I was trying to move furniture or anything.

I just wanted to help out. Jack was renovating his house, and there were definitely things I could lend a hand with since Jack’s new house was a fixer-upper.

A little over a year ago, Archer had found an old horse ranch not far from Ranger Shield’s home base that was being sold.

It sat on eight acres, so he and his cousin Vince planned to split the property and give themselves roughly four acres each.

They would be close but still have plenty of privacy.

Archer had already begun construction on his home and was hoping to have it finished by the summer. Vince had wavered back and forth on the design, so his house likely wouldn’t be ready for another ten months or so.

The property had also come with the original house, which was a small Craftsman -style ranch.

It was an additional acre of land closer to the main road but still had enough privacy.

Jack had wanted something with good bones that he could fix up but was in decent enough shape that he could move into it right away.

So it made sense for him to buy that one.

He had hired out for the plumbing and electrical work, but he had wanted to do a lot of the other stuff by himself—some of which I could easily help him with.

He’d finally relented today by letting me remove the baseboards in the third bedroom.

It was easy since I could sit on the floor and just scoot myself along as I made progress and didn’t put any weight on my right foot.

I also painted the cabinets that were going into the laundry room.

It wasn’t much, but it made me feel better.

After my projects were done, I made my way into the kitchen to make us some dinner. It was a cooler day out, so chicken pot pie sounded good. I had just pulled it out of the oven when Jack came into the kitchen.

His hair was damp, so he had obviously just showered. He had on a long-sleeved black henley with gray sweatpants. He looked like someone who modeled clothing for a living. I was glad I had already set the hot dish on the counter, or I would have burned myself as I stared at him.

He smirked at me, telling me he saw me looking at him. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of catching me drooling, I pretended I was looking at something else.

“That shirt looks a little too small for you,” I told him as I took off the oven mitts and reached into the drawer to grab a serving spoon. “ I can teach you how to use a washer and dryer properly so you don’t mess up any of your other clothes.”

Ha! Take that, Mr . Smug Face .

“Don’t know,” he replied, shrugging. “ It seems the ladies can’t keep their eyes off me when I wear it.”

His quips were funny, but I didn't want him to know that. A guy like Jack would let it go to his head.

“Alright, Captain Confident . There’s a mirror in the hallway if you’d rather go look at yourself for a while, but I’m going to eat dinner.

” I scooped up a large portion and put it into my bowl.

Dash was sitting by my feet, hoping I would drop some for him, but no such luck.

I did, however, fill his bowl with his own dinner so he wouldn’t bother me while I was eating mine—at least not too much.

Balancing myself on one crutch, I turned around to grab my bowl, but Jack scooped it up. “ I’ve got it. You grab your drink. We can sit on the couch and watch a movie while we eat.”

As much as I didn’t want to sit next to him on the couch, at least I wouldn’t have to talk to him if there was a movie playing.

Halfway through the movie I had to use the restroom, so Jack paused it while I hobbled my way out of the room.

When I came back, Jack had brought out bowls of movie snacks and refilled our drinks.

God …why did he have to be so nice sometimes?

Also , how was he still hungry after we just ate like an hour ago?

I waited a little longer before I dug into the trail mix. As any normal person would, I picked all the chocolate candies out and ate them, then set the rest of the bowl back on the table.

“What are you doing?” he asked me as I was setting the rest of the bowl back on the coffee table.

“Trail mix is made up of two ingredients— M & Ms and disappointment,” I explained to him. “ I’m saving myself from heartbreak and regret by only eating the pieces I want.”

A smile tugged at his lips, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter and amusement. He clearly thought I was weird, but he just turned back to watch the movie.

After the credits started to roll, Jack turned to me. “ What did you think of it?”

It was a Marvel comic action movie, which wasn’t really my jam, and I told him as much.

“I’m more of a comedy, rom-com, and animated movies kind of person.”

Nothing against other genres, but I preferred movies with happy endings and lots of feel-good moments.

“Animated movies?” he asked. “ You mean like Disney princess kind of ones?”

“Hey, Beauty & the Beast is a classic, and Belle is the best. Don’t knock it unless you’ve seen it,” I shared.

“I’ll just take your word for it,” Jack replied. “ I’m more of a historical war movie buff, like Saving Private Ryan , Pearl Harbor , and The Patriot kind of guy.”

Those were all too gory for me. The action movie we just watched at least had a happy ending, but it was mostly intense thrills and adventure moments—not my style.

“Archer said you drive like a bat out of hell, so I just assumed you liked action movies,” Jack said, and I instantly got defensive.

“Archer drives like a grandma, so his opinion means nothing,” I countered. “ And , yes, I’ve seen some action movies before—like all the Fast and Furious movies—because, well…eye candy…duh. It just isn’t my go-to movie category.

“Eye candy, huh?”

There was that cheeky smirk of his again.

“So?”

“What’s your definition of eye candy?” he asked, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped together, which caused his muscles to flex and possibly my ovaries to spasm. “ What kind of guy does it for you, Ruthie ?”

You. Happy I hadn’t actually said that out loud, I realized I needed to get out of here before I did accidentally open my mouth.

“I’m going to bed,” I said, reaching over to grab my crutches and stand up. “ Good night, Jack .”

“Good night, Ruthie .” I didn’t need to see him to hear the humor in his voice and know he was smiling at me when he said it.

I made my way to the kitchen to let Dash out one more time and tried to clean up some of the dishes while I waited for him to do his business.

Dash didn’t have a very thick fur coat, so he often went out, did what he needed to do, and then came right back in when it was chilly out at night.

I had just let him back in and was turning to head to my bedroom when Jack walked by, carrying his dishes to the kitchen.

Just after he passed me, he spoke up. “ Hey Ruthie . Just so you know, my eye candy type is usually tiny blonde women with whiskey-colored eyes, a killer body, and feisty attitude.”

Oh. My . God .

Not wanting him to see me blush, I kept walking as fast as I could hustle in my crutches and closed the door once I made it to my bedroom.

Stay strong, Ruthie . This man is just a temptation.

A really sexy, charming temptation. I was going to need all the resolve I could muster if I was going to make it through these next several weeks of staying in his house.

Because if I gave in to Jack’s temptation, I wasn’t sure I would ever recover.