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Jack

“ I don’t want to hear it,” I growl as I climb into the SUV.

Nate laughs. “I wasn’t going to say a thing.” He mimes zipping his lips.

I glare at him, because we both know that’s a lie. The shit-eating grin on his face when I opened the passenger door was all I needed to see. “Whatever, man. Let’s go. We have shit to do.”

Still laughing, he starts the car and pulls away from the curb. Our office isn’t far from Gisella’s condo building, maybe ten minutes without traffic. A fact I’m grateful for today, because I do not want to be stuck in the car with him for very long. I would like to avoid the grilling I know is coming. I can’t imagine how my interaction with Gisella looked to an outsider, but it felt downright sexual to me while I was experiencing it. Everything about that woman turns me on.

My brain lost most of its blood flow as I inhaled her sweet floral scent and watched her curves sitting in my vehicle. I had never been into car sex before, but being there with her was giving me all kinds of ideas. Even hearing her saying my name for the first time had me fighting the urge to kiss her.

After a few minutes of silence, Nate asks, “So, you want to tell me what the deal is?”

I clear my throat of the lingering desire strumming through my veins. “Nothing to tell. Tyler rear-ended her yesterday. I had her car taken to Sampson to fix, and I couldn’t leave her without a car.”

“And your brand-new G-Wagon was the only option?” Nate asks incredulously. “You couldn’t have taken her to one of the million car rental places around Nashville to get a Honda Accord? Or hell, given her one of the company cars?”

Honestly, none of those options even crossed my mind. A weird part of me wants her to be in something that belongs to me. I have a Toyota Tacoma that I’ve been driving for the last seven years, so I don’t need the G-Wagon. It was a recent, slightly impulsive purchase. I always wanted one and finally decided I should enjoy the money I worked hard for. And now, Gisella will be in it until hers is repaired. I love that, but I have no idea why. I go with the only somewhat plausible excuse I can think of. “If something happens while she’s driving it, it’s on my insurance, not the company’s.”

Nate laughs but doesn’t argue.

He pulls into the parking lot and parks at the end of the row filled with our other company cars. Our office is in the West End area of Nashville, in an older office building where we rent the entire top floor. We walk into the building in silence and take the elevator to the sixth level.

When we get off the elevator, Tyler and another of our employees and friends, Ian, are lounging on the couch in the reception area, talking with our soon-to-be retiring receptionist, Alice. She’s been with Nate and me since day one of this company and is like a grandmother to all of us. We’re all going to miss her. She told me she didn’t mind returning occasionally to help but was ready to travel and spend time with her grandkids. I definitely can’t blame her for that.

“Hey, hey, bosses,” Ian calls out as we walk over. “I thought we had a meeting this morning. But Alice informed me you both had to run some secret errand.”

He’s maybe three inches shorter than my 6’2”, but what he lacks in height, he makes up for in bulk. He spends hours in the gym every week, and it shows. He’s usually easygoing, but his trigger is razor thin. He’s a mean son of a bitch when he needs to be. Besides Nate and Tyler, Ian is who I’m closest to. Nate and I own the company, but Ian might as well be a third owner, given how much work he puts in.

“It wasn’t a secret,” I say pointedly, directing a scowl at my receptionist. She just laughs and waves her hand dismissively as she wanders away from the group.

Nate seizes the opening I’m sure he was waiting for since I climbed into his vehicle. “Yeah, it wasn’t a secret. We just had to drop Jack’s brand-new G-Wagon off to his Gisella, who he definitely wants to…” He mouths the word fuck while sending a glance in Alice’s direction. She’s used to working with a bunch of men who make inappropriate jokes and talk about their sexual escapades, so she isn’t fazed by much, but we do try to be respectful .

“Gisella? Who the hell is Gisella?” Ian looks between Nate and me with a confused pinch to his brow.

Tyler enters the conversation and explains, “She’s the lady I rear-ended yesterday. But I think she likes to be called Ella.” Adding thoughtfully, “I thought something seemed off with you when you met her, so that makes sense.”

“Nothing was off, and I don’t want to do anything with her except get her car fixed,” I say with clenched teeth as I stomp to my office. I don’t have time for this shit.

Plus, the longer I stay, the more obvious it’ll be that I’m lying.

A few comments like “ Yeah, right,” “I don’t believe you,” and “You’re full of shit” follow me into my office as I settle behind my desk, straightening the stack of papers Alice haphazardly left on the corner.

Usually, there aren’t this many people in the office on a Saturday, but we have an important client meeting today, and I wanted to have some of the guys and Alice here to meet them. Even though this business is 24/7, I try to ensure the guys get their weekends off unless they’re on a job requiring them to work. Nate and I are the exceptions since we own the company. It seems like we’re at the office almost every day. Ian is here with us most days as well.

When I got out of the military, I spent a few years doing mercenary work. But soon, I grew tired of never being in one place for long with the constant travel. Once I finally quit, I moved to Nashville to be closer to my cousin Becky, who’s Tyler’s mom, and Tyler.

Nate and I have been friends for years. I met him a few years after I enlisted, and even when we were stationed in different places, we kept in touch and saw each other when we could. When I found out he was discharged, I convinced him to follow me here, and we started Nash Security. We’ve spent the last six years launching and growing our company.

It wasn’t long after we started Nash Security that Ian contacted me when he was discharged, and I convinced him to work for me. I’ve known him almost as long as Nate, despite the two never meeting while we were all enlisted. It didn’t take long for the three of us to become inseparable.

I’ve only read through a handful of emails when someone enters my office. I don’t need to look up to know that it’s my meddling business partner and best friend.

“So…” Nate drawls as he drops into one of the chairs facing the front of my desk. He’s keenly staring at me, his elbows on the armrests and his fingers steepled in front of his mouth. After a few moments, he drops his hands to his lap. “You want to tell me about the girl?”

I lean back in my chair, mimicking his stance. “She’s thirty-five, so not exactly a girl.” With a shrug, I continue. “I find her very attractive, and that is about the end of the story.”

Nate snorts his disbelief. “You were practically eye-fucking her on the sidewalk.” He lifts his eyebrow. I’m not going to deny it because I know I was. “And from what I saw, she was doing it right back at you.”

That makes me take notice. I can’t stop myself from asking, “You think so?”

A huge grin spreads across his face. “Yeah, man. I think so. I also think that you should ask her out.”

Even as much as I like the answer that she appears to be into me, too, I’m already shaking my head before he finishes his sentence. “I don’t have time for that shit. Gisella seems like the type of woman who wants a relationship, which is the last thing I need.”

Nate sighs. “Jack, you’re forty-one. You’re not getting any younger. You have busted your ass for years. You deserve to find someone to make you happy and spend your life with. You should give her a chance.”

I level him with a hard stare. “Speak for yourself. I don’t see you settling down.”

He gives me a pitying look. “One day, I will. When I meet my person.”

Nate has always been the romantic out of the three of us. Ian and I usually give him shit about it, but there have been times that I’ve wondered if he was onto something. There’s something comforting about thinking that everything I’ve done in the past wasn’t for nothing. That I somehow earned happiness and I don’t have to be alone anymore.

After years of being in the military, I’ve built a small, tight-knit group of people around me. Mostly friends, since the only family I have is my cousin, Becky, her husband, and Tyler. But when I leave them and go home alone, I can’t deny there’s an aching loneliness in that solitude that I’ve begun to resent.

Since moving to Nashville, I’ve only had one semi-serious relationship. I pretty much knew my ex was not someone I could be with long-term, but she happened to meet me at a particularly weak moment, and before I could know what hit me, we were in a relationship.

Despite having reservations, I stayed with her for longer than I should have. I finally broke things off when Nate told me she had treated Alice horribly when she stopped by the office to see me. There’s no way I could be with someone who treated anyone, let alone someone I care about, like that.

When I don’t reply, Nate continues. “All I’m saying is that I think you should consider it.”