I text everyone to let them know Sam is coming and we all figure out the driving situation. Hunter and Sam are taking their own car today in case she gets spotted and they need to make a quick exit. I don’t know how they deal with having to hide constantly, now that Nina has given me a chance it's like I want everyone to know I’m with her.

I get dressed and the head over to her apartment to pick her up. When she opens the door she is wearing jeans that hug every inch of her. The pink shirt she has on looks great against her tan skin, and her long blonde hair is down, framing her face. I pull her to me, needing to touch her. I was determined to have her but with as much as she fought me I didn’t know if it would actually happen. “You look beautiful,” I whisper in her ear, loving the way she trembles beneath me.

“Thanks,” she says as she pulls away and starts to walk to my car. This is what she does. She lets herself be vulnerable for just minute then catches on and tries to distance herself. I know that kind of behavior is a defense mechanism. She’s trying to keep me at arms length, thinking that she can remain detached and then not risk getting hurt. I wish I could tell her I heard what she said at the cemetery but I know it would freak her out. She would run.

I follow her to the car, get in and pull out of the lot. “So last night you got to grill me for information but you never gave up any of your own.”

I look over at her and smile. “There isn’t too much to tell. My mom and dad are still living in the same house I grew up in, I don’t have any siblings. I joined the Army and that’s where I met Mason, Brian, Hunter, and our friend, Ryan. I don’t think you’ve met Ryan yet, he’s a cop so he doesn’t have as much free time to hang out with us. We all realized that we lived within a half hour of each other. When we got out of the service, we all went our different paths but stayed local. They are like the brothers I never had.”

She nods. “Friends can definitely become a part of your family. That’s how I feel about Sam in a way. We got close the first year when I worked with her. Then when she decided to move and asked me to come with her, I guess I said yes because she was the closest thing I felt I had to family. When she told me where she was moving, I couldn’t believe the coincidence. I grew up about forty-five minutes from here.”

I wait to see if she will tell me more, about her family or her sister. When she doesn’t I just grab her hand, letting her know that it’s okay to talk about it. I meant what I told her that day in her room. I will protect her, I’ll be whatever she needs me to be. I don’t want to push her too far but I dare to ask another question. “What about your parents?”

She’s quiet for a minute before she shifts uncomfortably in her seat. “My mom and dad split up when I was seven. My dad moved across the country for work and I haven’t seen him since. He used call every once in a while but after a few years the calls just stopped. My mom remarried and I gained a stepbrother. He was okay, he always seemed a little weird but I think it’s because we were all teenagers and none of us could ever agree on anything.”

“Since I was an only child I had always wanted siblings. I used to tell my dad if he and my mom had more kids I could be fighting with my siblings instead of them.” I laugh remembering the look he used to give me.

We pull up to the orchard, and I park the car. As we walk toward our group, I grasp Nina’s hand. I want her to feel more at ease with me. Let her know that she can relax, that it’s okay to let her guard down. When we reach the group, we say our hellos to everyone and Grace attaches herself to me immediately.

When her mom was dying, I promised her that I would help Mason. That I would be there for Grace whenever she needed me. Mason doesn’t have family, so we are her family. “Unkey Jake, I want a reallllllly big punkin!” She forms her arms into the largest circle she can manage. I laugh and promise her that we will get the biggest one we can carry, which I might end up regretting later.

“Everyone ready for the hayride?” Jules asks, her son Christian holding her hands and bouncing on his heels from excitement. He is about a year younger than Grace, and another integral part of our group. The kids run toward the hayride and Brian speeds up to keep up with them. I wrap my hand around Nina’s waist as we walk with everyone.

“You’re really good with her.” She looks over at me.

“Grace? It’s not as hard as I thought it might be when everything happened. She’s a great kid.” Nina leans in and kisses me on the cheek. When we reach the hayride, I climb on first then offer her my hand, but she hesitates. “You okay?”

“Yep, just having a little bit of PTSD. I think you scarred me for life.” She gives me her hand, and we laugh as I help her up. I sit down in the hay, pulling her close to me like I did last night. Her head rests against me as the hayride slowly pulls away. “If anything jumps out at me, I will kill you.”

I tighten my arms around her. “You’re good this time, I promise.”

The hayride takes us past the witches’ house, where the witches hand out Halloween cookies and tell jokes to the kids. After that we end up in the pumpkin patch. The kids start to sprint, running around looking for just the right one. Nina and I don’t get up. I’m enjoying having her in my arms like this so much that I’m almost scared to move.

“Unkey Jake! I found a big one!” Grace shouts from the field.

I laugh before Nina starts to get up. “Sounds like you’re being paged.”

“Yeah, I’ll probably regret the whole ‘we’ll get one as big as we can carry’ thing.” We get off the hayride and find Grace standing by a pumpkin that is absolutely enormous. “This is a really big one.”

“Yeah, but you strong. You can do it!” I’m such a pushover that I lug the huge bastard back to the hayride. This thing is going to cost fifty dollars. It’s worth it though, just to see the smile on her face.

I turn back to her, and see Nina giving her a piggyback ride. I can’t help but watch the scene in front of me. She looks so happy, they both do.

I will work my damnedest to make sure she is happy every day.

Chapter Fifteen

Nina

I lay on the floor of the gym feeling like I might actually die. I look over at Tina. “Isn’t working out supposed to get easier?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t care who you are, these damn classes will never be easy.” Tina and I have been coming to the classes for a little over a month now, and aside from getting to see Jake more, they suck. “Come on, girl, we need to get home and start getting ready for work.”

I stand up groaning loudly from the tightness of my muscles. When I look around to find Jake and say goodbye, I see him talking to Jaimie. That bitch has been giving me dirty looks every time I’m here and is just plain rude. I haven’t brought it up to him because I don’t want him to think I’m jealous or irrational but her very existence bothers me. The only pleasure I have in this whole thing is that I have him and it pisses her off. I walk up to them wrapping my arms around him.

“Hey, babe, you leaving?”

“Yes, I just wanted to say goodbye.” He leans down, placing a kiss on my lips and giving me a hug. “Bye, Jaimie.” She gives me a fake smile and wave.

I walk out to Tina’s car and we head home. Jake and I have been doing great. With each day it feels like I get more and more comfortable with him. He is breaking down my walls and it’s starting to scare me less and less. He’s been so patient with me and the way he touches me is so gentle. I even let him sleep over last night. We haven’t done anything physical beyond kissing yet, I know he wants to I’m just hesitant. Half of me wonders if I’ll be bad at it. He is so much more experienced than me and it’s intimidating.