Page 76 of Traitorous Lies
“Three feet? That’s going to be one huge fire pit,” Monique said, taking in the marks on the ground that indicated where they were going to be digging. “Looks like it’s got about a five-foot diameter.”
“Jax said it had to be perfect for you,” Becca told her with a grin that shifted between her and Jax.
“Perfect, huh?” Glancing up at Jax, she saw him watching her with a soft, tender expression. It felt so real, and she wanted to believe it was so badly.
“You deserve only perfection,” he told her as he grabbed a shovel from Jake and together all of them began to dig.
Together. And it felt wonderful not to be alone.
Chapter
Twenty
November 13th
11:47 A.M.
He was gaining momentum, and things were starting to look up.
Jax couldn’t be more pleased.
There was still a huge distance to travel until he was anywhere close to convincing Monique not just to forgive him but to give him a second chance, but he now had hope that it was possible.
Because he knew if he gave her time to stop and think, he could undo all the progress he’d made, Jax was ready for the next step in his plan to win Monique back.
Still, he was a little anxious as he approached the library where Monique had headed after breakfast. He’d wanted to follow her as soon as she left the huge dining room where they’d all eaten together—minus the Delta Team guys—but she needed a little space, and he needed to get things set up.
Now nerves fluttered to life in his belly as he reached for the closed library door. Dating girls had always been easy, not that he’d done a whole lot of it as a teen. He’d been twelve when his stepmom and dadwere accused of being traitors, so he hadn't had a normal adolescence. Those years had been taken over by him and his siblings working with their limited resources to try to find proof that their parents hadn't betrayed their country.
But when Cade, then Jake, then Cooper and Connor all graduated from high school and left home, he had to do something to fill the empty void. So he’d taken to dating. As many girls as he could. He was loyal in a relationship, but no one could ever accuse him of being invested.
Not even once he became an adult.
Training for the SEALs had been hard, and between that dominating his attention and then his family’s quest for answers, there just wasn't enough time in the day to commit to another person.
Monique had changed that.
For the first time in his life, he wasn't just invested, he was all in.
Something he just had to convince her of.
Refusing to allow his nerves to drive him away, Jax knocked on the door so he didn't startle her, and then pushed it open and walked inside. Like every other part of this enormous Gothic mansion, the library looked like it was straight from the set of a movie. For men with a skill set that involved knowing dozens of ways to kill someone, the Delta Team guys were certainly good interior designers. Not what you’d expect from them. Those six men exuded strength and a barely contained danger.
Cross them and regret it.
Not that he had any intention of crossing them. And like they’d done everything in their power for him and his family, Jax knew they would all return the favor if the Delta Team guys ever needed it.
“Hey,” he said softly when he spotted Monique curled up in an overstuffed armchair by the fireplace, a book lying open on her lap.
“Hey,” she returned just as softly.
Holding up her coat as though it was somehow magic and would convince her to come with him when he wasn't entirely sure that she would, he took a few steps closer. “Would you like to go for a walk with me?”
“A walk?”
“Out in the woods. I know how much you love the peace and tranquility of being surrounded by nature.” As much as he’d been afraid for her life when they’d been in France, Jax was so glad that those days wandering lost in the forest had given him so much insight into who Monique was. Now he realized that maybe there were things he needed to still learn about himself. Like that he had a tendency to say things he didn't mean when he was scared.
“I … would it be … just the two of us?” she asked as her tongue darted out to nervously swipe along her bottom lip.
