Page 30 of For the Promise (The Raider Brothers #2)

“Note to self. Always bring an umbrella if you’re meeting the Raider brothers.” ~ Blossom

Blossom

“W e don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Jaxon says as he drives toward his parents’ house for Sunday lunch.

I gasp. “Of course, I want to go. How else am I going to learn all the embarrassing stories about you as a child?”

He frowns. “You won’t learn them from my mom or Stuart.”

My brow wrinkles. “I get Stuart didn’t come into your life until recently but surely your mom has some juicy stories about you getting caught trying to sneak into the house after being out all night with your girlfriend.

How about the time you came home drunk and threw up all over the front porch after trying Smuggler’s Hideaway moonshine for the first time? ”

“I’ve never thrown up on the front porch before.”

“Aha! But you do admit to throwing up after the first time you tried Smuggler’s Hideaway moonshine. ”

He grimaces. “Everyone throws up after the first time they try Smuggler’s Hideaway moonshine.”

“I didn’t.”

He glances over at me. “Really?”

“Yep.” I grin. “Paisley forced me to drink a gallon of water after each shot of moonshine. I had to pee every thirty minutes for two days but I didn’t throw up.”

“Two days? The liquid should have—”

I place a finger over his lips to stop him. “Exaggeration was for entertainment purposes.”

“I understand.” He captures my hand and places it on his thigh. “My brothers are excellent at exaggeration.”

“Do you get together every Sunday at your mom’s house?”

“Not every Sunday.”

What I wouldn’t do to have a mom’s house to gather at every Sunday with my siblings. But Jaxon’s face reminds me of a convict on his way to the death chair.

“Can I ask why you don’t want to go?”

“I didn’t say I don’t want to go.”

“You didn’t have to. Your face says it all.”

He sighs. “It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with my family. But I’m worried what prank my brothers are going to try and pull since we’re in the middle of this prank war.”

My brow wrinkles. “Your mom is okay with them playing pranks at her house?”

“Mom can’t complain.”

“What do you mean? In my experience, moms can always complain. ”

“Forget I said anything.”

“Nope. I am not forgetting anything.”

“We’re almost there.”

I motion to a side street. “Pull over and explain yourself.”

He scowls but does as I said and pulls over. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel for a few long seconds before finally admitting, “I don’t want to disparage my mother. Not in front of you considering your history.”

I grasp his hand to stop the drumming. “Jaxon, I…”

I cut myself off when I realize I nearly said I love him. I don’t love Jaxon. Am I falling for him? Yes, I admit I am. But I haven’t known him long enough to love him.

I clear my throat and try again without dropping any accidental love bombs.

“You can say whatever you want or need to say about your mom or dad or brothers or the ghost of Smuggler’s Hideaway.

I don’t want you to hold back from sharing with me because of my past. How am I supposed to get to know my husband if you hold back? ”

“Ghost of Smuggler’s Hideaway?”

I shrug. “There must be a ghost somewhere on this island.” I squeeze his hand. “Stop stalling. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

He blows out a breath. “Nothing in particular is bothering me.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“It’s just… Well, Mom throws these Sunday meals for us every month as if we’re this tight-knit family, but while I was growing up, she was never around.”

“Why was she never around? ”

He lifts his glasses up and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Dad left us when I was fourteen. We had this great party for Eli’s sixteenth birthday at Prohibition Beach, but two days later, he was gone and never returned.”

“What an asshole.”

“We never heard from him again, which left Mom all alone to raise six kids by herself.”

My nose wrinkles. “He never paid any child support?”

He purses his lips. “No. He disappeared. Mom worked two jobs, but it wasn’t enough. So, Eli got odd jobs to help her pay for the bills, and Rhett helped out with raising us since Mom was never around.”

From what I’ve seen, Eli and Rhett are still looking out for their younger brothers. Eli founded the distillery for them, and Rhett tries to keep them in line. He fails. But he does try.

“To sum up, you feel you’re not a close-knit family because everyone in the family pulled together when you were a teenager to make certain there was food on the table and homework was done.”

He groans. “You make me sound like an asshole.”

“No. No. No.” I squeeze his hands. “I’m merely pointing out there’s a good reason why your mom wasn’t around when you were a teenager. Sometimes the memory of our hearts doesn’t align with the memory of our mind.”

“What?”

“Your heart remembers your mom not being around. Even though your mind knows she wasn’t around for damn good reasons, your heart doesn’t let you forget about how much you missed your mom.”

“Huh. This is a very good way of explaining it.”

“I’m glad you approve. I’ll write my therapist a thank-you note.”

“You have a therapist?”

I roll my eyes. “Duh. My parents died in a car accident on their way to visit me for Christmas because my boyfriend refused to visit them. I’ve been paying the guilt police ever since.”

“You can’t blame yourself. It was an accident.”

“My mind knows this. My heart doesn’t.”

His mouth drops open. “Oh.”

“Hold on.” I dig around in my purse.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking a picture of the moment I rendered Jaxon Raider, the brilliant master whiskey distiller, speechless.”

“You think you’re funny.”

“Wrong.” I giggle. “I know I’m funny.”

He palms my neck and draws me near until our lips meet. His scent of whiskey and ocean and something undeniably Jaxon surrounds me and I sink into the kiss. Our tongues meet and we duel for supremacy.

Jaxon growls and his hand on my neck squeezes as he deepens the kiss. I dig my—

Honk! A car whizzes past and blares its horn at us, startling us apart .

Jaxon’s glasses are all fogged up and his face is soft as he smiles at me. There’s no denying it. I am totally falling for this man who struggles to understand his emotions.

My phone alarm beeps. “We’re late.”

He chuckles. “You are obsessed with time.”

I shrug. “I make no apologies.”

He puts the car into gear and we drive the remainder of the way to his parents’ house. He glances around as he parks in the driveway.

“What’s wrong?”

“None of my brothers are here.”

“Is it a problem if they aren’t here?”

“My mother will ask you a million questions.”

I pat his hand. “Don’t worry. If I can handle her nerdy son, I can handle her.”

I open the car door and—

Splat!

A water balloon hits my chest and explodes.

“First point for me!” Kai shouts.

Jaxon shoves me behind him. “No throwing water balloons at my wife.”

“We’re pranking you,” Zane says.

“This isn’t a prank,” Jaxon declares.

“Why not?” Miles asks. “We shocked you and Blossom.”

“Surprising us is not a practical joke.”

Zane smirks. “But it is mischievous.”

Jaxon sighs. “I’m never going to win this prank war. ”

Wrong. He has me on his side now. I’ll help him win the prank war with his brothers and show him it’s okay to have fun. You can be a serious person with a serious job and still have fun. Life doesn’t have to be about work all the time.

Jaxon doesn’t realize how lucky he is to have married me.

He lifts his t-shirt up to wipe water from his face and exposes miles and miles of toned, tanned skin. Correction. I’m the lucky one.