“It’s nice to meet you,” Gage and I said at the same time.

“It’s such a pleasure to meet the two of you. And what was that I heard about you making food for us? Darling girl, that is too sweet of you.”

“Really, I wish there was more we could do, but unfortunately all I’m good at is cooking.”

Isabella laughed softly. “Oh, my dear, I have a feeling we would get along very well.”

“Hey, Jesse, mind if I talk to you for a minute?” Gage asked, and when I tilted my head up to look at him with a worried expression he squeezed me tightly and kissed my forehead. “Talk to Isabella for a bit, darlin’, I’ll be right back.”

“Be nice,” I whispered so only he could hear.

Gage flashed his dimples at me. “Promise.”

I watched them walk outside but didn’t have any time to worry; Isabella patted the couch and told me to “talk food” with her.

GAGE

“HEY, MAN, I can’t thank you enough. Ma was an amazing cook—her parents owned a restaurant in Italy up until they passed—but she can’t do anything anymore, and honestly I have to be the worst cook ever. I can heat up soup and that’s about it, so what y’all did is really amazing. Thank you.”

“Like I said, it’s all Cassidy. I understand what you mean though; me and the guys would starve without her.” I laughed and he cocked his head to the side.

“Her name’s Cassidy? That fits her; I like it better than just Cassi.”

I cleared my throat as my earlier irritation with his obvious affection for my girl came back. “Yeah, I agree. But hey, I wanted to talk to you about something, and I want you to keep an open mind. Cassidy doesn’t know about this; I went to the other room to make the call while she was cooking some of the stuff. I figured if you want to tell her, that’s your business. Also, I don’t want you to take this as me thinking you aren’t capable of—”

“Just spit it out, man.” Jesse’s head was still tilted to the side, but now his brows were drawn down and he looked hesitant.

“All right. My family wants to take care of your mom’s medical bills, as long as y’all—”

“No.” His body straightened and his face grew tense. “No way.”

“Jesse, just hear me out.”

He leaned close and spoke through clenched teeth, his voice soft but harsh. “No fucking way. I don’t need your help and I’m not gonna be some charity case for your family.”

“Y’all wouldn’t be charity. Jesus, Jesse. I get where you’re coming from, but don’t be so stubborn that your mom has to suffer even more watching you beat yourself up as you struggle to take care of her.” That may have been a little harsh. I cleared my throat and tried to calm my voice. “Look, my sister Amanda’s best friend died suddenly when we were younger. She was sick, had cancer, and her family didn’t tell anyone. Why? I have no idea, but they didn’t have the money or the insurance to go through chemo or anything like that, so their doctor suggested natural, alternative treatments. By the time even my mom started to notice something wasn’t right, Kasey was gone. Everyone in town flipped out over the issue, and Kasey’s parents moved away suddenly. Amanda was . . . she wasn’t okay for a long time. She was so sure if they had told us, we could have done something. Well, now we have an opportunity to do something. Dad and I, as well as Cass, think what you’ve done for your mom already is incredible, and I respect you for it. But you shouldn’t have to take on a second job while you’re going to the police academy, or even while you’re trying to get on at a department. You need to spend your time with her, not worrying about making enough money to keep you guys afloat. We want to take care of all of her current and future medical bills, as long as y’all need it. Also, if this house isn’t paid off, we’ll cover the mortgage too. It won’t be charity, we want to help.”

Jesse’s eyes were glossy again. “I can’t, I can’t.” His voice gave out on the last word and he turned so his back was facing me.

“If you want, you can think about it for a while, but I really want you to consider this. It could help y’all out a lot, and you wouldn’t have to stretch yourself so thin. I know you want to take care of your mom, but it’s not bad to ask for help. It doesn’t say anything against you.” We both stood there silently for a couple minutes and I decided to leave him alone for now. I clapped a hand on his shoulder and turned to walk inside when his arm snuck out and clamped down on my shoulder as well.

“You don’t understand what this means to me, and what it’ll mean to her. After my dad took off, there was no one left, just me and her. I’m not naïve; I know she doesn’t have long. She stopped responding to all meds and treatments months ago, so being able to spend more time with her and not be so stressed would—it would just really mean a lot.”

“I’m glad. We’re more than happy to do it. If you don’t want Cass knowing, I’ll give you my number and we can set up a time when I can come by and we can go over the bills and start getting them paid off. So if over the next few days, you’ll get them together, I’d appreciate it.”

He nodded and his eyes seemed to get even darker when he looked back toward the house. “Cassi’s more than welcome here too.”

My jaw clenched and I couldn’t hold back anymore; my voice dropped low. “I’d appreciate it if you stopped checkin’ out my girl too. I waited a long time for her, and I’m never letting her go.”

“I got you.” Jesse tried to laugh and shook his head. “Earlier it didn’t bother me one bit to know she had a boyfriend; I wasn’t going to stop.” His hands went up in surrender. “You have to know how sexy and sweet she is. But hell, Ma had y’all pegged the second she saw you together; that changes everything. She had a shitty husband, but she would have married anyone after what happened to her when she was younger. Guess she’d had this guy she’d grown up with; they both always knew they were going to be together forever and the night before their wedding he was killed. After that, she knew she’d never find someone to love again and agreed to marry the first guy who came around. But Ma’s got this sixth sense when it comes to couples. She takes one look at them and she knows if they’re the real deal, so if she says it, I’m not about to mess with it. You’re safe when it comes to me.”

I wasn’t sure if I was more relieved with what he said or pissed at his admitting he was about to go after her even though he knew we were together. Deciding not to dwell on either, I said, “Your mom’s had it rough, so let’s make this time as stress-free for her as we can, yeah?”

The teasing left his face. “Yeah, thanks again. I don’t even know how to begin to thank your family.”

“No need, just spend time with her.”

“GOOD GOD, ARE y’all ever just hanging out anymore when we get here?” Adam called from the front.

Cassidy gasped and jumped back and off the bed, grabbing for her clothes. “Did they even knock this time?!”

“I have got to get that key back from him.” I pulled her back to me after I had my jeans on and kissed her roughly. “You almost ready . . . or not?” I deadpanned when I saw she had a different jersey in each hand. I chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Good luck with that one.” Plucking my shirt off the floor, I headed out.

“It’s about time!” Grant bitched as he flopped onto one of the couches. “It’s rude to keep your guests waiting.”

“Kinda rude to just walk in. Adam, swear to God, you do that one more time I’m takin’ my key back from you.”

“Where’s Cassi? I’m hungry,” Jake grumbled, and looked hopelessly toward the bedroom door.

“You’re grown, get your own damn food! Y’all should be happy she makes you food anyway, and that we let y’all come over every Sunday to watch whatever games are on.”

“Well, where else are we supposed to go for the game, you have the biggest TV!”

“Your own place? What if Cass hated sports, or better . . . what if she hated y’all?” I smiled and dodged a pillow Adam threw at me.

“Well, thank God you don’t have a stuck-up bitch. At least you have . . .” Jake paused as Cassidy walked out of the bedroom with the most gorgeous blush covering her face. “That.”

I looked at my girl. God, I was one lucky son of a bitch. Her hair was loose with its natural wave and was somewhat mussed up from the heated session we’d just been having. Those honey-colored eyes were bright and full of promises for later, and I watched as her cheeks got even darker. Looking down over her body, my travel stopped short and I laughed. “Guess you chose? Wrong choice, darlin’. You’re in Texas; don’t forget that.” She’d been flipping out all day over which jersey to wear; she only owned two, both of which were basketball jerseys. One was a Lakers jersey, Lamar Odom’s, and the other was a Spurs, Tim Duncan’s. Both teams were playing each other today and, according to Cassidy, that “just wasn’t allowed.”

“This isn’t fair!” She pointed at her gold jersey. “They’re my team, I can’t just abandon them . . .” Her lips stretched into a wide Cheshire cat grin and she lifted the gold jersey up to her chin to show off her white jersey underneath. “But Tim Duncan is my all-time favorite player and the only man I’d ever leave you for, so I decided to keep him closer to my heart.”

My eyes rolled and I held back a laugh as Ethan spoke up. “You can’t cheer on both teams, Cass. Pick one or the other. And remember what Gage said: you ain’t in California anymore, baby girl.”

“But it’s so hard!” She stamped her foot. Actually stamped her damn foot.

“Darlin’ ”—I couldn’t hold back my next laugh—“did you really just stamp your foot?”