Page 3 of Love Unbound
“But you weren’t then!” Free argued, then rolled his head across his shoulders in frustration. When he brought his eyes to hers again, Jodi could see the torment in them. “Whether you realize it or not, what I did to you that night… wasn’t okay.” Jodiwatched him for several seconds, their eyes never wavering.
“You didn’t do anything to me that I didn’t want,” Jodi whispered, her eyes never leaving his.
“That still didn’t make it okay,” he whispered back brokenly. He dropped his gaze and snapped, “Stop looking at me like that, dammit.”
“Like what?” Jodi snapped back.
Ignoring her question and standing, striding away from the table, he muttered, “I left to keep you away from me. To keep you safe. I was supposed to protect you from guys like me.”
“I didn’t need a babysitter!” Jodi said heatedly, standing too. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much.”
“Like you did with Will?” Free shot at her and planted his hands on his hips.
Jodi forced herself not to lose the temper she unfortunately shared with her hot-headed father. When she spoke, she strained to keep cool and collected. “I am not a child anymore, Freeman, and I won’t be treated as such. I have made plenty of mistakes, yes. Like any other human on the planet. He was a college-aged prick and I was an idiot for not seeing it until it was too late.” A character flaw that seemed to have followed her into adulthood, she thought to herself wryly.
“That’s why I left!” Free said heatedly and scrubbed his hands over his face in frustration. “I made a mistake, too. When I caught you in that car with him, I lost my temper because I was crazy with jealousy, not only because I was being protective. What he did was…inexcusable, but at least he wasage appropriate, Jodi.” His eyes drilled into hers hotly. “Then I kissed you and I never wanted to stop. I left seven years ago because I needed to protect you from me. I’d made a mistake and I needed to fix it.”
Jodi’s breath blew out in shock, hurt making her angry. “So kissing me was a mistake?”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Free muttered and flung one hand out in aggravation. He blew out his breath and squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head. “Dammit. This definitely isn’t the way I wanted this to happen.”
“You had to know if you showed up here, we were going to talk about this at some point, Free,” Jodi whispered, crossing her arms over her stomach in an effort to hold herself together. “You can’t kiss someone like that then leave for years.”
“People do it all the time, kid. They’re called one-night stands.” He cringed as the words left his mouth, as if regretting them instantly.
“I wouldn’t know; you left before that happened,” Jodi muttered bitterly then snapped, “and quit calling me kid!”
“It’s a damn good thing I did leave!” Free shouted, spreading his arms wide. “Your dad would’ve skinned me alive and probably would have you in a damn chastity belt for the rest of your life!”
Through her frustration and anger at him, Jodi couldn’t help but laugh at the mental picture he’d painted. Her laughter melted his anger, too, and he chuckled.
“I missed you,” Jodi whispered earnestly after a long moment. Her heart pounded against her ribs so hard it hurt. Her confession had taken all her courage.
Free sighed and smiled sadly at her. “I missed you, too.”
“Are you home for good?” she asked quietly.
“I’m just home for the wedding,” he said softly. He picked up his cowboy hat and fidgeted with the brim. “I’m the best man.”
“Oh,” Jodi said, disappointment making her heart sink to the pit of her stomach. “So, you’ll be headed back to Texas soon then?”
He nodded brusquely before sighing heavily, and murmured, “I uhh— I really need to get going. I haven’t even seen Shane yet.”
“Yeah, of course,” Jodi said and smiled, though it was forced. She hated that they had already had a fight. Jodi walked him to the door and followed him out onto the covered front porch. He took a couple steps down the porch stairs and stopped, turning to look at her. “It was nice to see you, Free,” she said awkwardly, one corner of her mouth tilted up in a half-hearted smile.
She had stopped at the landing of the stairs, and they were almost eye to eye. He took one step back up and her breath hitched, those damn butterflies taking flight again at having him so close. He stood so that his face was just a few inches above hers, and mere inches separated them. She swallowed hard; her eyes never leaving his.
Reaching up, he brushed the soft curls framing her face. His fingertips skimmed the soft skin of her cheek and she closed her eyes, leaning her cheek into his open palm, the movement involuntary on her part. She let out a soft, almost silent sigh and opened her eyes to look into his.
His eyes searched hers for a long moment before he dropped his hand. “Bye. Thanks for the beer.”
“Bye,” Jodi whispered back as he turned and sauntered down the remaining steps, pulling his cowboy hat back onto his head. She touched her cheek where his hand had been. He climbed into what she recognized as Shane’s white Chevy Silverado and the engine rumbled to life. He waved out the window as he pulled out of her driveway. Covering her aching heart with her hand, she swore succinctly under her breath before turning to walk back into the house.
Chapter 3
Freeman Thorp climbed into the cab of the truck that Shane had left at the airport for him when he’d arrived and started the engine, waving, all while watching Jodi out of the corner of his eye as he pulled away from the house. In the rearview mirror he watched as she finally turned and walked back into the front door, closing it behind her.
The truck bounced and rumbled back down the long, dirt paved driveway. A wood rail fence lined one side of the drive, and he followed it back to the road. Turning left, he started down the familiar roads toward his brother’s home.
