Page 22 of Lone Star Target

For the briefest of seconds, his cool blue eyes met hers. “I’m not involved with anyone, and that kiss was for show. It doesn’t count.”

He was right about the show part. But for Kit, it still counted since it was a reminder of what they’d once had.

Correction: what they still had.

Though it was possible the heat was one-sided and that Jace hadn’t felt it the way she had. He glanced at her again. Causing her to amend that thought.

The heat was not one-sided.

And that meant it was quickly going to become a huge problem. A distraction that neither of them needed.

She stewed about that while Jace drove out of the city and into the Hill Country. Both rugged and beautiful. Here, homes were built on towering chalk bluffs amid the sprawling ranches that dotted the area. Her father’s estate was in the Hill Country as well, a place he’d bought the year after Kit had left for college.

“I always figured you’d live in the city,” she said. After all, he was born and raised in San Antonio.

“I did when I worked at SAPD, but I bought this place after I started working for Ruby. Several of the Maverick Ops team live out here.” He paused and took a turn off the main road. “I wanted a fresh start. Lots of memories in the city,” he added in a murmur.

Kit thought he meant more than just their brief marriage and annulment. His mom had been a heavy drug user, and with his father never in the picture, Jace had ended up in foster care after she’d overdosed. Jace hadn’t talked a lot about that, but Kit had gotten the feeling that foster care hadn’t always been a good situation. That had changed with the last one when he’d met Angel and Presley, and they’d become as close as brothers.

With Angel following right behind them, Jace took several more turns until he reached a metal security gate, and she saw the ranch stretch out behind it. Acres of pastures, all surrounded by a high wooden rail fence. There were wide enough gaps in the slats of the fence for her to spot two horses grazing around a tree-shaded pond.

“Definitely not the city,” she said, taking it all in.

“No,” he agreed. “Ruby had several houses built out here. Several places built in the city, too. And she sells or rents them to her operatives. I wanted to buy,” he tacked onto that.

Jace used a voice command on his app to open the gate, and they drove through just as a text flashed on the dash from Angel.

“Peeling off now,” Angel messaged. “Call me if you need to leave.”

“Angel’s place is just up the road,” Jace let her know. “He opted to buy as well.”

It didn’t surprise her that they had chosen to be neighbors. For them, brotherhood wasn’t about blood lines but rather the lives they’d forged together in foster care.

“My father’s isn’t too far from here either,” she pointed out because she thought it was something he should know.

Jace frowned. “I figured as much when you were talking about Marvin’s attack on his girlfriend at your father’s estate. You mentioned Bandera Bluffs and the town’s only about six miles away.”

She could tell he would have preferred more distance between his place and Ramsey’s. Kit couldn’t blame him. But six miles was still plenty, and she doubted her father would be dropping in for an impromptu visit.

Jace gave the command to close the gate and drove about a hundred yards to a log and white limestone house.

“Wow,” she muttered, taking it all in.

The place looked like something straight out of an architectural magazine. Good for him. He deserved this.

What he hadn’t deserved was the hell she’d put him through with their marriage. Or the hell that her father was trying to dump on him now. She only hoped her father wasn’t able to get back at Jace in some way.

All those years that she’d spent staving off the threat could be for nothing if Ramsey still found a way to ruin Jace.

Or kill him.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said, pulling into a garage. He closed the garage door but didn’t get out. “A lot of money went into this place. But I’m waiving my fee for this job. For you,” he amended.

“Um, that wasn’t what I was thinking.” However, she was glad he hadn’t guessed what had indeed been on her mind. “And you’re not waving your fee. You’re putting yourself in danger to keep me safe, and you deserve to be paid.”

He undid his seatbelt and turned to her so fast that it startled her. Kit let out a little gasp of surprise. A gasp that was quickly covered up when Jace took hold of her, pulling her to him as much as her own seatbelt would allow.

And he kissed her.

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