Jason (Blue Halo Book 2)

“So, tell us about this woman.”

Jason smiled at Sage’s question. She sat in the back of his vehicle, with Mason in the passenger seat beside him. They were halfway to the property where they were camping and his sister had already asked a hundred and one questions about his life in Cradle Mountain. He had a feeling they were just going to keep coming, right up until she left.

“Her name is Courtney and she runs the local coffee shop, The Grind. She’s vibrant and funny and dyes streaks in her hair.” And she’s goddamn beautiful.

“How often do you see her?”

Lately? Every day, and it still didn’t feel like enough. “Often. I get coffee from her shop regularly.”

Sage leaned forward. “You like her, don’t you?”

“Sage…” Mason growled her name, but there was an air of amusement to it.

“What? I just want to get as much information as possible before we meet the woman. So I understand.”

Jason cracked a half smile. His sister was inquisitive by nature, probably why she’d become a doctor, but when it came to him, she was a damn bloodhound. The woman didn’t stop. “I do.”

Sage clapped her hands. “This trip just keeps getting better.”

This time, Mason chuckled. “Good luck, brother.” He muttered the words under his breath, just loud enough for Jason’s ears.

“We’re not dating.” They’d kissed. Once. But if Jason had his way, it would be the first of many.

“Why not?”

Mason sighed. “Sage, maybe we should just leave it.”

“Because we’re still new,” Jason said quietly, spotting their next turnoff ahead.

“So maybe soon.” She sounded hopeful.

“Maybe.” Definitely. He turned off the highway. “We’re about half an hour away.”

Sage sat back in her seat. “So, this is your friend Flynn’s property?”

Jason almost sagged in relief. Although he liked to think about Courtney, talking about her to his very perceptive sister, when he hardly knew where they stood himself, wasn’t his idea of fun. “Yep. The property has been in his family for years. It’s huge, and even has a river that goes through the forest with a small waterfall.”

She sighed. “Oh, dang it, I didn’t bring my swimsuit.”

Mason shook his head. “Sweetheart, the water is freezing. You’d turn into a block of ice.”

“But then you’d warm me back up again.”

He turned and gave her one of his exasperated smiles. There was also a hint of something else in his face. Heat.

And this was why, even though Jason missed his sister like hell, there were moments he wasn’t so sad about the distance.

Stupid dang no-good instructions.

Courtney was following the directions on the page exactly. Like, to-the-T exactly. But nothing seemed to be working for her. Nothing! It had taken her a solid twenty minutes to fit all the tent poles together, and now she was struggling to fit those poles into the right sections of the cover.

Who had written this thing? Clearly not a woman, because a woman would have color-coded everything. Wasn’t that the logical thing to do?

Letting out a huff, she lifted the page for the hundredth time. Why the heck were there no pictures on this thing? Didn’t whoever wrote the instructions know that, like, sixty-five percent of the population were visual learners?

She felt Logan and Grace’s gazes on her again. They’d come over a dozen times already to ask if she needed help, but she’d refused each time. Because she could do it. She was a modern, independent, hands-on, learn-new-skills type of woman.

Smoothing her features, she lifted one of the poles. She would not let this tent beat her.

Courtney was just reading the instructions yet again when a hand pressed to her shoulder.

“Logan, I told you, I’ve got this. It’s just taking me a bit longer than I anti—” She stopped abruptly when she looked over her shoulder. “You’re not Logan.”

Jason grinned. “I’m not. I’ll never have his bone structure.”

Ha. If Jason’s bone structure were any more perfect, he’d have been sculpted by a master. “Did you, ah, just arrive?”

“I did. With my—”

“Hi!” Suddenly, a short blond woman who looked nothing like Jason stood beside him. “I’m the twin sister, Sage.”

Okay, was someone punking Courtney? This woman couldn’t be his twin. She was short and delicate and fair, whereas Jason… wasn’t. “You guys look nothing alike.”

Sage chuckled, the sound light and lyrical. “I know. I got my dad’s fair features and Mom’s height, while he took after Mom in everything but height.”

A man approached Sage, wrapping an arm around her waist. He had intense black eyes and was just as tall and muscular as Jason and his teammates. Holy heck, where did all these big, dangerous men come from?

“Hi, I’m Mason.”

She smiled. “Courtney.”

He pressed a kiss to Sage’s temple. Cute!

“I’m so looking forward to spending the weekend with you,” Sage said, before glancing toward Grace and Logan. “I’ll catch up with you again after we’ve put up our tent.”

“Sounds good.” Courtney frowned at Jason once his sister was gone. “Are you sure she’s your twin?”

“Unless there was a switch up at the hospital, I’m absolutely sure.” He shot a look over her head. “Need some help?”

Yes, dammit, she did. “These instructions are setting me up to fail, but you should get yours up first, and if I’m still a bumbling mess of tent poles and curse words when you’re done, I might ask for your help.” With her luck, she’d be in exactly the same position then as she was now.

“Or here’s another idea. I help you, then you help me.”

That was almost comical. “I can’t even put my own tent up, Jason, what help could I offer you?”

“Four hands are better than two.” He reached out, covering her hand with his own.

Her skin tingled, a light tremor rocking her spine. “Okay.” To be honest, any words could have come out of her mouth just then. His touch turned her brain to mush.

He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it and taking the sheet from her other fingers.

“There are no pictures, in case you’re as utterly clueless with written instructions as I am…” Her words trailed off when she saw his lips twitch.

He winked as he started attaching a pole to the body of the tent. The guy looked like he’d done it a hundred times before. Now she just felt incompetent.

Over the next few minutes, Jason took the lead on the tent construction. He was good at giving directions. Calm. Patient. Two things a lot of people would not have been, had they been working with Courtney and her slow-to-process brain.

He glanced over at her. “You doing okay? You seem a bit distracted today.”

Was it that obvious? She opened her mouth to tell him about her visit from the FBI agents last night, but quickly closed it again. She hadn’t told Grace or Logan either. She didn’t really know why. Maybe because she couldn’t stop thinking about her dream. About the possibility that Jessica’s death had been at the hands of her no-good boyfriend… and Courtney had done nothing to prevent it.

Besides, did it really matter if she told them? It wasn’t like she was going to see the agent again.

“I’m fine. Just not a practiced camper like you.” She reached for the gem hanging from her necklace. Touching it always made her feel closer to them. Closer to Jessica.

Jason pushed a peg into the dirt. “I wouldn’t call myself practiced, but I’ve definitely slept in worse places.”

Courtney attempted to push her peg into the dirt. It moved about an inch, maybe less. “Oh yeah, like where?” She tried again, this time putting more of her body weight into it.

“Aircrafts, on the beach. Hell, during field training, I slept outside in sub-freezing temperatures.”

Maybe that was why she’d never considered enlisting. Ha. Along with about a dozen other reasons. “The beach doesn’t sound so bad.” More weight on the peg. It didn’t budge. Not even a little bit.

“Trust me, it sounds more comfortable than it is. Especially when you compare it to a warm bed.”

She chuckled. “Nothing beats a warm bed. Especially your own.”

Suddenly, heat pressed against her side moments before he was bending down beside her. She hadn’t even heard the man rise.

His hand slid over hers, pushing the peg into the ground. When he looked at her, his eyes were… darker. Deeper. “I’d have to agree with you.”

Courtney forgot what she’d said. Every thought slipped out of her mind except thoughts of him. Jason touching her. His mouth, his lips, so close to hers.

“Even though you’re not a practiced camper, I’m glad you agreed to come,” he said quietly.

Every word he spoke had more hot breath slipping through his lips and brushing against her own. Sweet Jesus, but the man was affecting her.

She nodded because any words would probably be simple and stuttered. For a moment, she wondered if he was going to kiss her again. And if he did, would it be as earth-shattering as their kiss last night?

Her heart gave a little kick at the thought. Her lips separated in anticipation.

“Jason, can you—” Sage stopped mid-sentence. “Oh, sorry!”

The moment was lost.

A long breath whooshed out of Courtney’s chest as she cast her gaze down. Jason stood slowly, but his hand went to her elbow, helping her up with him.

His lips moved to her ear, his words barely a whisper. “Next time.”