Thank fucking Christ.
Finally, the last burst of light is ignited and the crowd roars with excited yells and applause. Some of the spectators will file into the few bars up here on the mountain, while still more will drive down to town and party it up down there.
“That was beautiful!” Cara exclaims. “Why have I never come up here to watch this before?”
“Locals rarely experience all of the fun things in a tourist town,” Max reminds her.
“True,” Lo agrees. “We should do more of them.”
Jill turns in my arms and wraps herself around my torso, hugging me tightly, rubbing her small hands up and down my back soothingly.
“Are you okay?” she murmurs softly.
I kiss her forehead tenderly and take a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. “I’m fine, baby.”
She can feel the tension rolling through me and frowns up at me, but I shake my head and kiss her lips gently. “I’m okay. We’ll talk later, okay? Just enjoy the party.”
She studies me for a moment and then nods.
“I’ll go get us a couple of drinks,” I offer.
“Perfect, thank you.” She smiles widely as I walk into the kitchen to grab two fresh drinks. Jacob went all out for this small party. If I hadn’t met him, I would think it was just to impress us all, but I have a feeling it was purely for the convenience of having the food prepared, and staff on hand to help so he and Grace could enjoy their guests.
I can respect that.
When I walk back out to the balcony, I hear Jill’s laughter tickling the air, and my dick immediately hardens. Jesus, I have it bad. Just the sound of her voice turns me on. I survey the small crowd and find Jill and Max, their heads together, laughing loudly. Max wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her into his side in a half hug, and that’s it. The lack of sleep, the stress from the day, the fireworks, and now seeing Max with his hands on my woman all just push me over the edge.
I stalk over to Jill, glaring at my friend, and hand her her drink.
“Are you ready to go back to the room?” My voice is hard and distant. Jill’s eyes widen before she glares at me and props her hands on her hips.
“No, I’m not.”
“I think it’s time we have a talk, Jilly.”
Max shakes his head and mutters under his breath. “Zack.” His voice is low so he doesn’t draw attention from the others. “We were just talking about—”
“I don’t care,” I reply calmly, but fist my hands at my sides. “This really isn’t about you, Max.”
The other man shrugs and pats Jill on the back before walking away.
“What is wrong with you tonight?” Jill’s face is worried now, and I don’t know how to soothe her. Fuck, I’m just a jumbled mess, and I know that I’m done being in this crowd of people, and I need to get her out of here.
“I’d like to leave now, please.”
“Babe, are you . . .?”
“Let’s go, Jilly.”
She shrugs and we say our good-byes to our hosts and friends. Josh stares at me with questions in his eyes, but I just shrug and keep walking.
The walk to the room is quiet and tense. The valet delivered our overnight bags to the room while we were upstairs. When I close the door behind me and lock the dead bolt, Jill immediately turns on me.
“Tell me what’s going on.”
“Just drop it, Jill.”
“Fuck that.” She’s pissed now, her cheeks flushed with anger, her blue eyes burning with fire.
Good.
I prowl around the room as I peel off my vest and throw it on a chair.
“You’ve been in a pisser of a mood since you picked me up, and then you insulted both Max and me up on that balcony. What the fuck, Zack? Did you think we were planning a secret time to screw each other’s brains out and laughing about it?”
The thought of it sends me into a rage. I advance on her and take her shoulders in my hands and push her up against the wall, caging her. I’m breathing hard as I take in her gorgeous face, her hair, and I know I’m a fucking bastard for what I’m about to say.
“I know I’m not fucking good enough for you, Jillian. I get it. You deserve so much better than the likes of me. I’m just a broken soldier with a kid and a fucking bitch of an ex-wife, but God damn it, you’re mine. I’m not letting you go back to LA.”
Her mouth opens and closes and her brow furrows in confusion.
“What are you talking about?”
“I know that I can’t just run out and spoil you with all of those fancy things you love. We’re simple here, Jill. And I’m okay with that, but I see it eating at you. I heard you say that you miss LA.”
She pushes on my chest, and begins to pace the room when I back away from her, giving her space. The loss of her heat against me is painful.
“You think I want to move back to LA so I can go shopping?” she asks incredulously.
“I think—”
“You’re a fucking idiot, Zack King.” She props her hands on her hips and glares at me. “I’ve made it pretty clear that I want to be here, with you. So if that’s not what you want, you need to say so now and stop playing these damn games with me.”
“It’s not a damn game!” I pull her to me again, plant my hands on her ass, and lift her, wrapping her legs around my waist, then brace her against the wall so I can look into her eyes.
“Just tell me what’s happening! Talk to me!”