Looking For Trouble (15 page)

Someone cleared their throat behind them,
and Wade pulled back reluctantly, breathing heavily, then turned
toward the door. Jazzie stood there in a huge t-shirt that fell
below her knees, with a sleepy smile on her beautiful face, then
said, "The smells coming from the kitchen, weren't going to let me
stay in bed anymore. It's all your fault I'm standing here...sorry,
if I interrupted." Her smile widened then she turned toward the
kitchen and left them standing there.

Jess's face turn red, and she flitted around
him nervously, putting pillows on either side of Angel on the bed,
then she walked right past him out the door, without another word.
Wade figured that was his cue to go take that shower, because he
needed it more than ever now, so he followed her out and then went
to the bathroom.

With Jazzie's eyes burning a hole in her
back, Jess went into the kitchen and fiddled around arranging the
toast she'd made on a plate. She hoped her friend didn't ask
questions about finding her kissing Wade, because she sure didn't
have answers. It was just he'd been so damned nice to her, and
sweet to Angel, since they'd been here...and he was so damned good
looking he set her panties on fire every time she looked at
him.

Resisting him, hating him, when he was being
an abrasive, overbearing ass, was easy, but when he was nice and
charming, she had no hope against the magnetism that tugged her to
him. Memories of the night they'd shared a year ago, and how damned
good it had been between them, taunted her every time she closed
her eyes now. And there was not a damned thing she could do to make
it go away, short of repeating the experience, which was something
her body was definitely on board with, but her mind resisted.

Putting the toast on the table, Jess told
Jazzie, "I'm going get Angel cleaned up and dressed, go ahead and
eat." When it looked like Jazzie was winding up to fire questions
at her, she hurried toward the bedroom.

Before she made it to the hall, Wade came
out of the bathroom, shirtless and still damp from the shower, his
jeans riding low on his hips, and all the moisture in her body
flooded south. Lord have mercy, that man was hot enough to scorch
her eyeballs, she thought, then in a squeaky voice, she told him
the same thing she'd just told Jazzie, and fled to the bedroom
locking the door behind her.

Most likely, being in this confined space
with him was the problem here, she tried to convince herself. Maybe
once they found a house and she and Jazzie moved there, and she
could put some distance between them, she could get her head back
on straight.

Getting closer to Wade physically or
emotionally right now, would lull her into trusting him, and Jess
couldn't afford to trust him. If she made him mad again, he could
try and alienate her totally from her daughter. He'd gotten the
custody order, without a second thought, and he now had the power
to do more. Until she could hire a lawyer to get the whole custody
thing settled, Jess wasn't letting down her guard.

Jess put some of the blame for his actions
on herself too for taking off, but Angel was her daughter, and she
had called the shots, so she had every right to leave. If she took
off now though, he could have her arrested, and take Angel
permanently, so she wasn't going anywhere. She would do things his
way for now, until she could hire a lawyer.

The little angel shorts set was on top of
the stuff in the diaper bag, and she pulled it out and tore off the
tags, then wiped Angel down with a wet wipe and changed her diaper.
After she put it on, she stood back and admired how truly beautiful
her daughter was with her daddy's black hair and her green eyes.
Jess kissed each cheek then put a little red barrette in her hair
that matched the outfit, and little yellow shoes.

Wade was going to love it, she thought,
their baby girl did look just like an angel. Jess already knew he
loved Angel, it was evident in every thing he did for her, from
feeding and changing her, to playing with her to make her smile.
There was fierce and blatant love in his eyes when he looked at his
daughter.

Although that pleased Jess, her heart
squeezed and oddly a little twinge of jealousy shot through her,
when she saw them together. Sharing her baby's love was something
she'd have to get used to, but the jealousy she felt wasn't all
because of that...she wanted someone to love
her
like that,
unconditionally.

Jess knew she was stubborn and hardheaded,
and had enough issues to fill a magazine subscription, so it would
take a special man to love her warts and all. She wasn't going to
settle for less than that though, so it would probably be a long
time before she found that man, if ever. How could she not have
issues though?

Growing up, although she knew her parents
loved her in their own way, they hadn't exactly been great role
models. Her father had been more concerned with his lifestyle and
making money off of her singing, than he had making sure she,
Travis and their mother was happy. He'd given up his job when they
moved to California, and the family depended on him getting gigs
for her to sing, so they could contribute to the commune. Jess had
gotten experience, and honed her singing and songwriting skills,
and although she appreciated the opportunity, it hadn't been her
choice, it had been forced on her.

Then after she left when she was eighteen,
Ray, her on and off older boyfriend, the one her father had tried
to make her marry to satisfy the communal leaders, had gone with
her to Dallas calling himself her manager, and she'd let him. He'd
controlled her money, her gigs and her personal life to the degree
that he'd taken all the songs she'd written since she was fourteen
and copyrighted them in her name, then sold them to the highest
bidders, as her manager, without her knowledge.

The only reason she found out, was because
she happened to hear one of her songs on the radio one day, being
sung by someone else, a big name country singer, and she'd told
Jazzie, then they did some digging and figured out what he'd
done.

Although he'd deposited the money into her
account, he had quickly funneled it out again. When she contacted
an attorney, he told her there wasn't a damned thing she could do
about any of it. She had made him her manager, she had allowed him
the control he had, and she had put him in charge of her money.

By the time the dust settled, she was flat
broke, after working her ass off, since she was fourteen. Three
years ago, she'd parted ways with Ray, and from that day on, she
vowed that
nobody
, except her, was going to control her
life. And she'd kept that vow...until now.

Jess huffed out a frustrated sigh, then
picked up Angel and walked to the door and unlocked it. Shoring up
her backbone, she headed up front to eat breakfast herself, then
she'd get ready to go too. Thank god, Wade had put on a shirt by
the time she walked back into the kitchen, and he was sitting at
the table, refilling his plate. She smiled and walked around the
table to sit down on a bench with Angel on her lap, then grabbed a
plate to dish up some eggs.

Wade put down his fork, then got up from the
table and walked around to her and said, "Here, sugar, let me take
her, so you can eat," then held his arms out for Angel.

Jess looked over at Jazzie at the end of the
table, and her friend gave her a big goofy grin, then looked down
at her plate and took a bite of eggs. Hell, from the way Jazzie
acted around Wade, she'd almost think her best friend had a crush
on him. That was all she needed, Jess thought. That would really
complicate things, not to mention it would really piss Jess off.
Wade was with her first, and they had a baby together, Jazz needed
to back off, if that's where her head was.

She lifted Angel up and handed her to Wade
with a smile, "The outfit you got her is adorable...thanks. She's
about outgrown all the newborn stuff, except for the t-shirts,
because they stretch."

"Well, we'll just have to go shopping, won't
we baby girl," he said then chucked Angel under her chin with his
finger, and Angel cooed. Wade groaned and looked up at Jess with a
smile. "Never thought I'd hear myself say I'd voluntarily go
shopping with a girl," he told her then laughed, and Angel giggled,
then put her hand up on his chin.

"Eat up, darlin', then we're going house
hunting," Wade told Jess, then walked around the table and sat back
down, but now his daughter held more interest for him than the
seconds he'd dished up on his plate, or her. Wade's eyes didn't
leave Angel, who was staring up at him in fascination.

Jess swallowed down the stupid jealousy that
pushed up inside of her, then finished making her plate, and ate
without saying a word. When she was done, she announced she was
going to take a shower and change, and would be ready shortly.
Nobody seemed to notice, because Jazzie was staring at Wade
intently, and Wade was staring at Angel intently. Grabbing a
garbage bag to cover her cast from under the sink, Jess went to her
bedroom to get fresh clothes, then headed for the shower.

Since Travis had taken the truck to go pick
up Mike and the rest of the band from the hotel, and bring them to
the bar to get settled in, she didn't really have to hurry getting
ready. They'd have to set up the instruments he and Wade had loaded
in the truck, so that could take a little while. Tomorrow would be
their first night playing at the bar and in spite of her
reservations, Jess was excited. The arrangement Wade had worked out
for them really was a good one for their forced hiatus.

But living here at the bunkhouse wasn't
working for her...and one way or another, she was moving out
soon.

Once Travis got back, they met the real
estate agent at the first house he had to show them, which had been
the start of an all day ordeal that had them both frustrated
several hours later. They'd looked at five houses, and none of them
fit with what Wade was wanting them to have.

The house was either too small, or the lot
was not big enough for a swing set for Angel, or it was too old and
had peeling paint that could be lead-based in his mind, which he'd
read could be harmful to small children. There was only one that
was a maybe, a cute three bedroom cottage, with a big fenced yard,
but it was too far away from the Double B for him.

She could tell he was aggravated and so was
the real estate agent, who told him that there weren't anymore in
their price range available. He told the man to go back the drawing
board and find acceptable houses, not price ranges, then he'd
stormed out of the last house and got back in the truck and they
headed back to town.

"That last one was really nice, Wade...you
should think about it," she told him, because she didn't want him
to break the bank trying to find them a house. He'd done so much
already, the clothes, the groceries, setting things up for them, he
needed to take a break from it and breathe for a minute.

"It was nice, but it was too far out, too
rural. If something happened, ya'll wouldn't be close enough to a
doctor or hospital...and forget cell phone service, or getting the
police out there quickly."

"C'mon, Wade...every place we looked at had
something
wrong, according to you. We really don't need
much! I don't want you going into mountains of debt, there's no
need for it!"

"Luke offered me a parcel on the back side
of the Double B to build a house, and I'm thinking that would
probably be for the best, now."

"Really? That's an idea, but it would take
months to build something right?" God, she couldn't imagine having
to live with him in the bunkhouse all that time, but maybe she
could deal with it. A new house, near people who could help if
something happened, sounded pretty damned good, from a practicality
standpoint. And it would be convenient for Wade if he had to stay
at the house, when she was on the road.

"Probably at least four or five months,
unless the contractor can bring in pre-fab panels or
something."

"Are there some models we could go look at
or something?" she asked him hopefully.

He looked over at her, his brown eyes
curious, "You think that's something that might work for you?"

"Hell yeah, that sounds perfect...if we do
the pre-fab thing and own the lot, we could probably get more house
for the money too."

"Okay then, I'll talk to Luke and the
contractor and see what they can come up with," Wade told her with
a grin that caused that damned dimple to pop in his cheek and her
heart kicked in her chest.

Jess looked up in the rearview and saw
Jazzie sitting there with her arms folded under her breasts,
looking out the window. Her friend had been awfully quiet through
the whole house shopping adventure, not really offering any kind of
opinion, while they looked. Since Jazzie
always
had an
opinion, her quietness worried Jess. She'd have to find out what
was up with her friend later, when they were alone. It wasn't that
she was pouting or anything, she was just...neutral...not
engaged.

"I wonder if we can get into the bar before
it opens and do a little practice session," Jess said then turned
in the seat to look back at Jazzie. "I think we need one, don't
you?"

"Yeah, that would be good," Jazzie agreed
but didn't look away from the landscape outside the window.