Page 5 of Love’s Patient Journey (The Relinquished #2)

Jenna needed to borrow a pair of Karlie’s jeans for the evening since every pair she had was either ripped or had stains.

She was running out of time before Ryan was to be at her house with pizza.

Zac had fallen asleep for his nap late in the afternoon, throwing off her whole schedule.

The one thing she hated was being off schedule since her life revolved around it.

If just one part of her day was off, it felt like her whole life was.

Zac was still sleepy, sucking on his sippy cup of apple juice.

“Mmm,” he smacked his lips together, “Good juice.” He smiled at Jenna in her rearview mirror. She couldn’t help but laugh. Her boy certainly loved his food and his juice.

“You want to go see Jem, Zac?” At the mention of his cousin’s name, he threw the cup to the floor of her SUV and started clapping and cheering.

“Yeah, Jem. I see her.” He was looking out the window of the backseat, trying to figure out where Jem was, causing Jenna to laugh again.

“Jem no here.” He put his little hand up and shrugged his shoulders.

“We’ll see Jem in a minute, baby. We’re almost to Aunt Karlie and Uncle Drew’s house now.” This news had Zac cheering and clapping again. God, she wished she had his energy and resilience. She’d be so much more productive and positive during the day.

She pulled into Karlie’s driveway, not paying too much attention to the black truck parked on the side of the road in front of the house.

She pulled a very happy, squirming toddler from his car seat and set him down.

He took off for the house, and she could hear his shouts of delight when he found his cousin.

Jenna grabbed his diaper bag and turned for the house, running right into Ryan’s arms.

“Ryan!” God, why did she sound so out of breath? “You scared me,” she tried to recover.

“Hey, honey, sorry I didn’t mean to upset you. I came out to see if you needed any help.” Yeah, that was sweet. It took everything in her not to sigh and melt in his arms, which were still around her. She tried to move, but his arms seemed to lock her in place, pulling her closer.

“Zac,” she tried to look around Ryan for her son. But that was like trying to look around a building. He was so big—his shoulders were so wide and strong, that she suddenly found herself wondering what he looked like with his shirt off.

Ryan smiled down at her, “Honey, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you just undressed me with your eyes.” She squirmed, trying to get out of his hold, but his big hands just moved to her ass, hauling her in closer to his body. She couldn’t help her moan and even snuggled in closer.

Now, it was Ryan’s turn to moan. He dipped his head and took her mouth in a deep, hard kiss.

Honestly, she didn’t know which one of them seemed hungrier.

They were both devouring the other. His tongue swept over hers, and her knees buckled.

She even dropped Zac’s diaper bag to the ground so she could wrap both arms around Ryan.

“Mama,” Zac’s little cry brought her back to reality, and she slowly broke their kiss, backing away from Ryan. She didn’t trust herself; being in his arms seemed to cause her brain to stop working.

“Mama, I need one!” Zac was standing in the front door with Jem and Karlie, who was grinning like a madwoman.

Jenna did her best to get herself together.

She was staring up at Ryan, and he looked just as frazzled as she felt.

Yeah, she needed to get it together and go take care of her son.

She picked up her bag, and Ryan took it from her.

“I can get my own bag, Ryan,” she spat, sounding angry.

In truth, she was mad at herself for forgetting her responsibilities over a kiss.

An awesome, toe-curling kiss with a man that she had fantasized about since she was thirteen years old.

A man that she knew was way out of her league.

How could he want her? She had nothing to offer.

She was a divorced, single, twenty-two-year-old mother.

She could barely take care of herself, let alone a two-year-old.

What Ryan saw in her was a mystery. Maybe he just wanted a quick fling before he shipped back out. God, that would kill her.

Watching him walk away from her two years ago just about gutted her, and they were just friends then.

She wasn’t as torn up about her marriage ending as she was about Ryan walking away.

Ryan's leaving ripped her heart out because he’d given her hope.

She wanted someone like him, but he could never be her forever; his Navy career as a pilot was his life.

So, she told herself to stop dreaming about him, stop hoping for him to be hers.

Telling herself to forget about Ryan was easier said than done, especially watching her sister fall in love with and marry his brother.

Their relationship made her want Ryan even more if that was possible.

She was right last night—Ryan was a bad idea.

She yanked her diaper bag back from him and pranced, angrily, into Karlie’s house. She kissed her sister’s cheek and picked up Jem, tickling the squirming toddler, making her giggle, as she kissed all over her little face.

“Mama, I want one,” Zac said again, pulling on Jenna’s shorts. He didn’t like it when Jenna paid attention to Jem. He was used to having his mom all to himself.

“What do you want, baby?” Jenna handed Jem to Karlie and picked up her son.

“He wants a cookie,” Karlie looked guiltily at her sister. “Sorry, I know you don’t like him to have too many sweets, but I made chocolate chip cookies. He found Jem while she was eating one, and I told him he needed to ask you before he could have one.”

Jenna looked at Zac’s pleading eyes. The little stinker knew that she couldn’t say no to him when he made that face at her.

She was such a pushover when it came to her son.

Karlie was the same way with Jem, but Drew seemed to balance Karlie’s need to give in to Jemma.

They worked as a team with their daughter.

Jenna wished she had that with someone. Sometimes, she worried that she was spoiling her son, trying to make up for him not having a father figure around.

Her dad was great with him, but he was Zac’s grandpa, not his dad.

She knew that Zac was better off without Jake being his dad.

She would never let Jake near her son; he was toxic, and she knew that he had no interest in being a father to Zac.

“Okay, baby.” She set Zac down, and he went running to Drew in the kitchen before she could even finish her sentence.

“I have one!” he shouted to Drew, causing the adults to laugh.

“Me, Me?” Jem pleaded with her mom, patting Karlie’s bare legs, leaving chocolate from her fingers all over Karlie’s shorts and skin.

Karlie laughed, “No, baby girl. From the amount of chocolate, you just wiped on me, it looks like you had enough.” Karlie picked Jem up and headed to the kitchen to clean her hands and face.

“So, Jenna—” Karlie began cleaning herself up, as Jenna and Ryan walked into the kitchen, “what brings you here?” Jenna glanced back at Ryan, and he smiled and winked at her.

She could feel herself blush, and he actually laughed.

She looked at her sister and Drew, and they were both grinning at her.

“You can all just stop!” Jenna pouted. “I don’t need any of you laughing at me.

I’m here to borrow a pair of jeans.” She stared at Karlie, silently pleading with her sister not to ask why she needed the jeans.

Unfortunately, Karlie didn’t seem to pick up on Jenna’s telepathy skills.

When they were kids, they would try to read each other’s minds, but it didn’t work then either.

“Jeans? Why do you need my jeans?” Karlie was grabbing a paper towel to clean a very chocolatey Zac up.

He squirmed and started crying when she used a wet one to wipe his face.

Zac hated having his face cleaned. Ryan chuckled, causing Jenna to turn around.

He was looking at Zac and seemed to enjoy her son’s antics of trying to get away from his aunt.

Karlie finally gave up, and Zac ran right to Ryan, wrapping his arms around one of his big, jean-clad legs.

“Hey buddy,” Ryan reached down, pushing the toddler’s long hair out of his eyes. “Was your cookie good?”

Zac looked up at Ryan, straining his little neck, and smiled, “Good.” He nodded his head. “Want more cookies?” He was working the pout, asking Ryan if he could have another cookie. Jenna would have just given in, but Ryan soothed Zac, picking him up and tickling his little belly.

“No, buddy. You had a cookie. We’re going to have pizza soon. Do you like pizza?” Zac looked so serious, trying to decide if he wanted to be upset over not getting another cookie. Jenna braced herself, ready for a fit.

After a few seconds, Zac nodded his head, “Pizza!” He started clapping his chubby hands at the news about having pizza. He squirmed to get down, and Ryan complied. Zac ran over to Jem and grabbed her hand.

“Let’s play, Jem.” He looked up at Drew, causing him to bark out a laugh.

“Come on, guys, we’ll get the blocks out and build a fort.” Drew led the two very excited toddlers away to the playroom.

Ryan pulled Jenna into his arms again, and she went willingly. What about him made her want to just give in? “I’m gonna go and play with the kids too. I love to build forts!” Jenna couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of the two big guys building a fort while the kids watched.