Prologue
Five years earlier ...
Jonas got out of Wade’s truck and stared at the white ranch-style house. It was big, but not ostentatious. Wade’s family home, Jonas reminded himself. He clenched and unclenched his fists, wishing for the hundredth time that he’d kept his big mouth shut when Wade had asked if he’d had plans for the day.
It was Saturday, and the only thing on his agenda had been getting in a good, hard workout at the gym. He was man enough to admit that the uncomfortable feeling skating down his spine now was fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. Jonas was damn tempted to get back in the truck and get the hell out of Dodge.
Wade and his big idea to introduce him to his family. Christ. Although, he couldn’t blame his buddy entirely. Curiosity had gotten the better of Jonas and he’d caved. Wade always went on and on about his fabulous family. The brother with the new construction company, the little sister who’d just graduated from nursing school. Hell, even Wade’s parents intrigued Jonas. They were wildly in love even after thirty years of marriage. In Jonas’s family, a loving marriage was an oddity, considering his own parents barely tolerated each other.
Now, as he stared at the house, his palms started to sweat. Shit. Why had he decided to torture himself? He could be at home, drinking a beer and watching a game. Any game.
As Jonas stepped onto the porch, he turned and stared at Wade. He’d become like a brother to him. They’d met a few years before in the army, during basic training. For some reason that Jonas couldn’t recall now, he’d called Wade a pussy. Of course, Wade had responded with an uppercut to Jonas’s jaw. They’d been buddies ever since.
“Are you sure about this, Wade? I mean, I don’t want to crash your family get-together.”
“Don’t be such a pain in the ass,” Wade said as he slapped Jonas on the back and tried to push him through the front door. “You’ve been trying to get out of this the entire way over here. Jesus, you’re getting on my last nerve!”
Jonas still didn’t budge. “Why’d I let you talk me into this? It’s a family picnic, Wade. I’m not family. I don’t know a damn thing about families, much less family picnics.”
“Blah, blah,” Wade said as he rolled his eyes.
Several voices filtered through the screen door. “Who’s in there anyway?”
“My parents, my brother and sister, some cousins. Uncles and aunts. You know, family.”
Yep, Jonas definitely wanted to make a break for it.
Wade sighed. “Trust me. Everyone will be glad to finally meet you.”
Jonas quirked a brow. “Finally?”
“I’ve talked about you in my letters,” Wade admitted. “Mostly about what a dumbass you are. So, naturally they’re curious.”
Jonas chuckled. “You wrote about me? How romantic.”
“Quit stalling,” Wade growled.
“Fine, but I’m not staying long.”
“Yeah, yeah, families give you hives. I get it. Now go.”
Jonas grunted and stepped over the threshold. The house was bursting with activity. A petite woman with shoulder-length, dark brown hair sprinkled with gray looked toward them and grinned. “It’s about time you showed up.”
Wade closed the distance and enveloped her in a big bear hug. Jonas took a step back, all but ready to dart through the door as he watched the warm display. Wade’s mother? As Jonas pondered the identity of the woman, several others surrounded the pair. Jonas felt a pang of envy toward his friend. Hugs and kisses? Yeah, right. Jonas’s parents didn’t operate that way. The day Jonas had left for the army, his dad had awkwardly patted him on the shoulder and his mother had simply stood by, impatiently waiting and checking her watch. She’d been more concerned about being late for a business meeting than seeing her only child off to the military.
“Hey, Jonas,” Wade shouted. “Come over here and meet my mom.”
As Jonas shoved the shitty memory to the background, he realized everyone in the room was staring at him. He grimaced. It was going to be a long day.
“You look like you’re having a root canal.”
The warm, bedroom voice tore Jonas’s attention away from the bottle cap he’d been mindlessly spinning on the picnic table. The first thing to catch his gaze was the hourglass figure encased in a black one-piece swimsuit. Damn, talk about built! Jonas let himself enjoy the slow route to the woman’s perfect oval-shaped face. Long, wind-tossed, dark brown hair, ruby-red lips, and sexy brown eyes gave Jonas some seriously dirty thoughts.
“Things are definitely looking up.” He dropped the cap and stood. “Jonas Phoenix and you are ... ?”
“Deanna—and I’m late.”
Jonas froze when he heard the name. “Deanna? As in, Wade’s little sister?”
“Not so little, but yeah. You’re the friend from the army, right?”
He’d heard about Deanna quite often. Wade had talked about his sister, who’d recently graduated from nursing school. The pride and love his friend felt for Deanna had come through loud and clear. Jonas had never once imagined Deanna looking anything like the hot, curvy woman in front of him now. “Uh, the army, yeah.”
She nodded and pushed a heavy section of hair behind her shoulder. “He’s talked about you.”
“All good stuff, I hope.”
She winked and Jonas wondered if maybe he was drooling. “Mostly good. He told us you’re a whiz on the computer. I confess, I expected you to look a bit more ... geeky.”
“Let me guess, you figured I’d be wearing a tie, a pocket protector, and maybe a pair of thick glasses?”
She laughed and Jonas couldn’t help grinning. Christ, even her laughter went straight to his groin. “That’s pretty close, but you actually look more like the guy in that movie I saw recently.”
Jonas cocked his head to the side. “Is that good or bad?”
“Good. The actor played a sniper out for revenge on the gang who’d killed his wife.”
He stepped closer, his voice lowering to a more intimate level as he said, “You don’t look a thing like I imagined either, Deanna.”
She quirked a brow at him. “Oh?”
“Actually, you—” A hand slapped Jonas on the back, and he wanted to curse the interruption.
Just barely tamping down the urge to search out a more private spot to continue their conversation, Jonas turned to find Wade and his brother Dean. Jonas immediately put some space between himself and Deanna. Christ, had he really just been flirting with Wade’s baby sister? What the hell had he been thinking?
“Don’t you own a cover-up, Dee?” Dean asked, frowning at his siste
r.
Deanna gave herself a once-over before looking back at Dean, color staining her cheeks. “Uh, yeah, but I didn’t really think I needed it.” Her gaze shot to his as she said, “It was nice meeting you, Jonas.”