Texas Cowboy's Protection by - (best book clubs .txt) 📕

clicked closed a second later. Too tired to think anymore, exhaustion claimed her. She surrendered to the current and drifted off in a matter of minutes.

A noise startled her awake. She sat straight up and looked around. Fear seized her. She heard the shower going so she must not have been out for long. She also realized the sound came from in the bathroom.

Gina threw off the covers, snapped up the real estate between her bed and the bathroom in a few quick strides and knocked. “Can I come in?”

“Yes.” Isaac’s voice was husky.

She tiptoed in and sat on the folded towel on top of the commode. “A noise woke me. I guess my nerves are still on edge.”

“Understandable, given the circumstances.” The water turned off and she was suddenly very aware of the naked male presence in the shower.

She didn’t want to focus on today’s events anymore. She’d done that enough. So, she turned the tables. “Mind if I ask a question?”

“Go ahead. Mind handing me a towel first.” She did and he thanked her.

“What do you think T.J. wants? You said he requested for you to come back.”

“Good question. I’ll never figure that man out if I live a hundred years.”

“If he hadn’t asked you to return, would you have?”

“Probably not. Which doesn’t mean I’m not happy to be here. I’ve always believed we make our own destiny. After what I’ve seen and some of the things that have happened to me that saved my life in the nick of time I’m changing. Maybe life isn’t just a whole bunch of coincidences bumping into each other. Maybe some people were meant to be in our lives.”

“Like serendipity?” She liked the thought because it sure as hell felt like Isaac was supposed to be in hers.

“Yeah. Something like that.” He stepped out of the shower with the towel wrapped around his waist. Damn. The sight of him bare chested was enough to distract her from her train of thought.

She stood and had to lean against the counter to get around him. She was careful not to focus too much on his tanned skin and ripples of muscles. Was it even possible for muscles to have muscles? If so, Isaac’s muscles had them.

Gina sat on the edge of her bed and hugged a pillow. She desperately needed to get her thoughts back on track. “You’ve kept in touch with your brothers.”

“For the most part. Being overseas didn’t give me a lot of time to stay on top of family news. Noah and Eli have done a great job handling ranch business without needing my input.” It was easy to forget Isaac came from one of the wealthiest cattle ranching families in Texas. He was one of the most down-to-earth people she knew. That, his intelligence and his wicked sense of humor were the things that had first attracted her to him.

“You said you didn’t plan to come home. Where would you have gone if not here?”

He stood in the doorway, both hands on the doorjamb and she was eclipsed. “I hadn’t figured out my next move. I’d been thinking about Colorado. Liam’s there and I’m starting to worry about him. And I have a buddy who moved there after he was medically boarded out of the military. His name’s Ash Cage. Last I heard he’d adopted a retired military dog. But he fell off the grid, so I thought I’d try to find him.”

“You mean to check on him?”

“Being off the grid in this country is something we dreamed about in Afghanistan.”

“The day I found out you’d signed up with the military I’d never been prouder to be your friend.” The mix of sadness that followed was understandable under the circumstances.

A slow smile spread across straight white teeth. That cocky grin was back. The one that had been so good at drawing her to him. “We were more than friends.”

“Until we weren’t.” She couldn’t resist getting in the dig. Being in the same room with a shirtless, pants-less Isaac made all her defenses melt. All she had left was a snappy comeback.

“You’re welcome.” He referred to her gratitude.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said—”

“It’s okay, Gina. It was a long time ago. I was a different person back then. Too wrapped up in my own shit to be there for anyone else. Because of it, I let the best thing that had happened to my young life get away and probably caused you to marry someone else in the process. Someone it doesn’t seem like deserved you.”

“Those were my choices. None of it rested solely on your shoulders.”

“Which is why it’s good that we can talk to each other now. We’re grown-ass people. We both made mistakes in our past.”

“Some people think that’s the best way to learn.”

“It taught me I never wanted to feel that alone again. I held in my anger back then. Everyone in town thought we lived a charmed life growing up a Quinn. Our lives couldn’t have been further from the image. I realized that I could give up and give in to my anger, or I could do something about it.”

“That why you signed up to serve?”

“It was one of many reasons. I had to get out of here. I would’ve gone crazy if I’d stayed. And, yeah, I had a lot of anger to get out. I was ready to fight the world, figured I’d start with my country’s enemies.”

Gina did her level best to hide the mix of hurt and betrayal that she was sure showed in her eyes at his admission.

“Not because of you. Believe it or not, you were the reason I kept some level of sanity in the mixed-up world of T.J. Quinn I lived in. Being on the ranch became a prison for me. Two of my brothers were able to make peace with it even back then. I’ll never understand how either had the maturity.”

“Eli’s the oldest. He probably felt responsible for you guys. If he took off, where would that have left the others?” Gina’s gaze dipped, following a bead of water as it rolled down his neck toward his chest. This time, she didn’t immediately redirect her eyes. And when she really looked, she saw scars.

“Did he do that to you? Your father?” She walked over to him to get a better view at the damage. She ran her index finger down a scar that ran from the center of his collarbone to the front of his shoulder.

“Not directly. No. But he sent a kid to do a man’s job. I racked up a few scars along the way but I damn sure figured it out.”

“I had no idea.” She caught his gaze. “I’m sorry, Isaac. I had no idea any of this was happening behind closed doors.”