Page 6 of Always Been You

"Or maybe he's just trying to stay in shape," Ali, sweet Ali, countered, giving him the benefit of the doubt. She was wrong, but he sure did appreciate it.

Jess's only response had been an indiscernible sound of disagreement before diverting the conversation to "happier subjects."

The truth was, he wasn't doing it to piss her off, but he sure did like knowing that he could get under her skin.

By the time he made it to the corner of her street, he heard the engine of her Dodge Charger start up behind him. He counted down in his head...five, four, three, two,...

When he got to one, she sped by, doing thirty-five in the twenty-five zone. Just like she was always fifteen minutes late, she also always drove ten miles over the speed limit. In his official law enforcement capacity, he'd pulled her over several times and given her warnings. He'd never actually cited her, but he'd threatened to.

Not that she took his threats seriously. Ethan Steele had always been by the book, no nonsense, and no excuses except when it came to the people he loved. Then he was the biggest pushover on the planet. Thankfully, the list of people he loved was pretty short. Otherwise, he'd be in big trouble.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he answered it on his Bluetooth headphones.

"Steele."

"Hey man, you got plans for dinner tonight?" One of Ethan's oldest friends Kade McKnight asked.

Yeah, he did. It wasn't delivery, it was DiGiorno. Since he'd joined the U.S. Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Task Force a few months earlier, he'd been living off of frozen food. Between his regular duties at the sheriff’s office and his new role on the task force, his schedule was so erratic that buying groceries that could go bad only ended up with rotten food and a smelly kitchen.

"No."

"Good. Meet us at Lanterns at seven."

"Us?" Ethan smirked. His friend had only been back in Whisper Lake for a couple months, but he sure hadn't wasted any time in becoming an "us." He'd gotten engaged a few days earlier.

"Us," Kade repeated. "Me and Ali."

"And Jess." Ethan heard Ali's voice pipe up.

Jess.

“And Jess," Kade repeated.

"I'll be there," Ethan replied.

The call ended and he wondered if Jess knew that he was going to be at dinner. She tended to avoid him in social situations. In a town the size of a postage stamp, that wasn't always easy to do. And now that her best friend Ali was marrying one of his oldest friends Kade it might be damn near impossible.

Ethan smiled at that thought.

Jess was an enigma and the greatest challenge in his life. Ethan had always gone after what he wanted. He wasn't a man that sat around waiting for things to happen, he made them happen. Except for when it came to Jess.

They shared undeniable chemistry and the attraction between the two of them was indisputable. He would’ve initiated a relationship years ago, but she'd made it clear that was not on the table. So he'd waited.

He'd thought that part of her reluctance to give them a shot was because her health had been so precarious for so many years. But she was two years out from a heart transplant, and from all accounts the healthiest she'd ever been and she still acted like he was a fly at the picnic of her life.

She was always swatting him away, and if it were any other person, he'd take the hint and move on. But this was Jess, and she had a habit of lashing out when she felt unsure or out of control. He knew that she had to feel something for him. He saw it in the way her eyes dilated and her skin would flush whenever she saw him. He felt it in the way her eyes would seek him out whenever they were in the same place, which he orchestrated more than once. He had zero interest in the ballet, art festivals, or movie nights on the lake, but if he knew Jess was going to be somewhere, he went. And as much as she acted like she didn’t like him being there, there was always a moment of disappointment in her baby blue eyes when he said he was leaving.

He lived for that moment.

His phone buzzed again.

"Steele."

"Why do you always answer the phone like that? If people are calling you, don't you think they know your name already?"

His smile widened at the other woman in his life that could get away with murder. "Hi, Nana!"

"Am I interrupting something? You sound out of breath." His grandma's voice sounded hopeful as she stage-whispered, "Are you with someone?"

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