A Diamond in the Dark (17 page)

It was a statement, not a question for her to respond to. If he hadn’t just told her that he loved her, she may have been worried that he was thinking that their age difference should be a problem. Her tummy rumbled, and a smile broke across his face.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Starved.”

He carried her in his strong arms and placed her on the bed before leaving to make them a snack.

They sat on his bed to eat the sandwiches and sliced fruit he’d brought upstairs. Axton smiled at her, probably over the way she shoveled down two whole sandwiches before he had even finished one. Once they had finished their midnight snack, they laid down to go to sleep.

“Ax, I’ll stop calling him Uncle once he knows about us,” Tia whispered against his chest.

His breathing had deepened to that of pre-sleep. Her own eyes grew heavy, but she was positive she heard him say something about having a plan to do just that.

Chapter 11

Tia woke up slowly. At first she couldn’t remember where she was, then Axton’s scent hit her from the pillow she rested her head on. She couldn’t feel him in the room. She wasn’t worried that he had run off, because she knew he always had something to do.

Reluctantly, she got out of bed. The bedside alarm told her it was only seven-thirty in the morning, but living on a ranch meant she’d slept in. Just because it was Sunday didn’t mean it was a day of rest. It didn’t matter how much money you had, there was always something to be done. Animals to tend and fences to be fixed.

When she made her way down to the kitchen, she was shocked to find Ethan sitting at the kitchen island, drinking a cup of coffee. Thank God she had thrown on one of Axton’s shirts before she walked out of his bedroom.

“Where’s Ax?” she asked in lieu of a greeting. She had no idea what else to say. They hadn’t discussed telling anyone else yet, and after Jimmy’s reaction yesterday, she wasn’t in any rush to see how the family would feel about their relationship. She hadn’t even mentioned it to the girls yet, and they’d known for years that she had a thing for Ax.

Instead of saying anything, Ethan stood up and handed her a piece of paper as he poured her a cup of coffee.

Hey baby,

I didn’t want to wake you.

If I did, I wouldn’t have been able to leave. You looked so fucking sexy lying naked in my bed, your hair spilled across my pillow and curling around your nipples.

Okay. I’m gonna have a boner for the rest of the day, just from that image.

Anyway, one of the mares went into labor so I had to head over to help Luke out.

I fed Thunder for you. Will try and catch up with you sometime today. If not, I’ll call you later.

Love you, baby.

Axton

She could feel her cheeks turning red as she read the letter.

Curiosity rose. “Did you read this?”

Ethan just nodded.

Okay, that was embarrassing. The note was far from sweet and innocent. Instead of saying anything else, seeing as Ethan wasn’t, she sat down to drink her coffee.

After what felt like forever, but was more like five minutes of the most uncomfortable silence, she asked, “So, what are you doing here instead of helping out with the mare?”

“Thunder.”

One word.
He gave her a one word friggin’ answer.

“What about him?” It was too early in the morning to deal with Ethan being all cryptic.

“Well, ya see now, when Dad was out tending to the mare, he noticed Thunder wasn’t in his usual pasture, and seeing as how you were supposed to be at Mara’s, he asked me to go find him. It wouldn’t be the first time he got out. So imagine my surprise when I rode out this way and found him in Axton’s small pasture.”

“I really don’t know what to say, Ethan. Apart from thanks for looking out for Thunder.”

“What’s going on T’T?” Ethan’s voice had lost its curtness and taken on a softer tone.

When she didn’t answer, he placed his finger under her chin, raising her face so she was looking him in the eyes.

“I rode up here to ask Axton if he’d seen Thunder. He was walking out toward the barn and didn’t see me sitting under the tree. But I saw him feeding Thunder.”

Tia just blinked at him. She had no idea what to say. To Tia it seemed like he just wanted to talk to her. She was trying to think of something to tell him when Ethan spoke again.

“I haven’t seen Axton as happy as he was this morning in a long time. And after a conversation I had with him a while back I had a feeling I knew the answer to why he was looking like the sun had just risen for him alone. But I’ve gotta say I wasn’t prepared to find you naked in his bed. I need you to tell me what’s going on, Tia. You’re like a little sister to me, and I need to know that Axton’s not using you.”

When Tia went to speak he placed his fingers over her lips. “Don’t deny that there’s something going on.”

Tia took his fingers away from her mouth and held them tightly between her own. “I wouldn’t do that to you, Ethan.”

“That letter he wrote you is the only thing that stopped me from hunting him down. But I need to know if you’re happy, T’T. Are you?”

She nodded. “He is my everything, Ethan. I love him, is that so wrong?” She couldn’t stop the tears that started to leak from the corners of her eyes.

“No, there’s nothing wrong with loving him, and I can see from the note he loves you too.” Ethan kissed her on the forehead. “Why haven’t y’all told anyone? Speaking of which, how long has this been going on?”

“Since we both went to Houston. I kind of seduced him.” Laughing at herself and turning a little pink with embarrassment, she continued. “We’re planning on telling y’all, we’re just enjoying each other without the pressure of everyone trying to talk us out of it.”

She sighed, because this was something that she wasn’t really prepared to talk about. Even though she was sick of the sneaking around, this little talk with Ethan had her heart beating out of her chest. Tia was all for putting off telling the rest of the family now. She wished Axton was there, because his presence would have supported her.

Getting up from the island, she walked over to the coffee machine that would have any barista singing a tune, and poured them both another coffee.

“Do you want some toast?” she asked as she put a few slices of bread in the toaster for herself. God, she loved this kitchen, everything was top-of-the-line.

What the hell was she thinking? She was standing in the middle of Axton’s kitchen wearing one of his shirts, Ethan had just found out about her and Axton, and she was thinking about stupid appliances.
Fucking hell.
Her emotions were all over the place. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Ethan walk up behind her. He pulled her back into his chest and hugged her around her shoulders. The kiss on the top of her head confused her. She didn’t know whether to take it as sympathy or support.

“What makes you think we’d try to talk you out of being together?”

Turning toward him, she looked at his handsome face, so much like Axton’s, yet so different. “Are you truly okay with this?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s good, I suppose. But seriously, Ethan, think about it! How is your dad going to take this? He’s raised me as if I’m his daughter. Don’t get me wrong, I love your dad, and I always will. But do you honestly think he isn’t gonna have a problem with me sleeping with his brother!” She was crying now. She’d cried more in the last couple of weeks than she had in years.

What had she and Axton been doing? She loved him more than anything in this world, but she also loved Jack. She couldn’t handle it if Jack didn’t want anything to do with her after he found out what was going on between her and his brother.

Ethan pulled her back into his arms, patting her back in a soothing motion. “It’s going to be okay, T’T. Dad may be shocked at first, but as I told Ax a couple of weeks back, one of the things he’s always wanted in life is for all of us to be happy. And if Axton makes you happy and vice versa, he will come to accept it.”

“Please don’t tell him, Ethan. This is something Ax and I have to do.” She didn’t care if he could hear the pleading in her voice. He had to understand that this was something they needed to do.

“Okay. But don’t leave it too long. You don’t want him busting you like I did. He’ll handle it better if you tell him. I can’t imagine how he would have reacted if it had been him this morning rather than me.”

“You’re right. Soon. We’ll tell him soon.”

“Now, how were you planning to get back to the house without causing suspicion?” he asked as he wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Shit! I hadn’t even thought about that.”

* * * *

Forty minutes later she and Ethan rode the horses up to the front gate of the ranch. Ethan had suggested that she should walk in, that way if anyone asked, she could say Mara had dropped her off at the gate. Luckily, she had ridden Thunder bareback yesterday. If she hadn’t, Ethan would have had a hard time explaining why Thunder was fully saddled. The bridle could be easily dismissed, but a fully saddled horse that was meant to be roaming free was something that couldn’t be.

Tia was having a morning of near misses. As she was entering the house the phone rang, and she picked it up just as Uncle Jack walked out to answer it. That wouldn’t have been a problem, if it had been anyone else calling. But imagine her surprise when the voice on the other end of the line was none other than Mara, her alibi for last night. Pretending Mara was Shelley, Tia told her she’d call her back in a minute, hanging up to greet Uncle Jack before she headed up the stairs.

She would have felt more guilty about answering Jack if his question had been more specific, but seeing as he had only asked how her night had been, she didn’t feel too bad in saying it was great.

Her cellphone rang this time, just as she reached the top of the stairs. “Hel—”

“What the hell, Tia? You hung up on me and called me Shelley. I love the girl and all, but I sound nothing like her.”

Tia pulled the phone away from her ear. Mara was a passionate person at the best of times, but when pissed her voice became a little high-pitched.

“Calm yourself, you freak.” Tia laughed. “I couldn’t talk at the time, and seeing as how I was supposed to be with you last night…well… Were you just calling to say howdy, or did you want to talk about something?”

“Yeah, I need some advice, but after we talk about my problem we are so going to discuss where you actually were last night, ’cause I know it wasn’t with me.”

“Okay.” Tia was a bit hesitant, but she also couldn’t wait to tell one of her best friends about her and Ax.

“Well, there’s this guy at work, one of the bartenders, he keeps asking me out, and I don’t know what to do.” Tia could hear the anxiety in Mara’s voice. Not only did the poor girl have a prick of a father, she also had an asshole of an ex-boyfriend.

Thomas had been Mara’s high school sweetheart. He’d been three years ahead of them at school, and they’d had a blissful eighteen months together. It was after Thomas graduated that Tia had noticed the changes in him. He had started hanging around the wrong crowd, getting into drugs, and not long after that he’d started hitting Mara. It wasn’t until he had broken her arm that Tia and Shelley stepped in. They’d known that everything wasn’t roses in the relationship, but they hadn’t realized it had gotten so bad. Tia had stood over a drugged-up Thomas while Shelley kicked the shit out of him...literally. They had never seen the dickhead again.

Tia could understand Mara’s fear. The poor girl had the worst luck with men. She had tried to date after Thomas, but had ended up with a string of deadbeats and losers. And it didn’t help that her father was a drunk who wouldn’t protect his daughter if it meant he would miss out on his next beer.

“Sweetie, I can’t tell ya want to do. If you like the guy, go out with him. One date does not a commitment make.”

“But I have to see him at work all the time. What if he gets clingy or something? What am I suppose to do then, Tia?”

“How ’bout you tell him that you’ll meet him for coffee as a friend? That way you can get the feel for things without the stigma of it being a date. You must like him, hun, or you wouldn’t even be asking me about it.”

“Well, he is really cute. So I think that’s a good idea. Okay, now it’s your turn. Spill the beans, woman. Why were you lying to Uncle Jack about where you were last night?”

Tia flopped back onto her bed and proceeded to tell Mara everything. From how they had gotten together in Houston, to getting her tattoo done—which she couldn’t believe she hadn’t told them about already—everything up until, and including, that morning.

“So what did Ethan have to say about it? I’m happy for you, by the way, but I have known for years that you’ve had a thing for Axton.”

“It’s not a
thing
, Mara. We’re in love with each other.” Tia huffed at Mara’s blasé attitude about everything, but then what she said was true.

Mara didn’t seem shocked that Tia had finally gotten Axton’s attention. Mara and Shelley had spent many a drunken night cheering Tia on and giving her advice on how to get Axton to notice her. Tia had never done any of the things they’d suggested, because....well, drunk advice wasn’t always a good thing.

One night the girls had stripped her down to her underclothes and wrapped a big bow around her. They’d been all set on delivering her to Axton’s front door until they realized that none of them could drive. Hadn’t Tia silently rejoiced that fact in the morning!