“Ungrateful?” Reese asked.
“Yes. That is the word. He should be happy he no longer has to worry about money for dinner. And that he’s safe from being forced to work for the cartel anymore. Instead, he is moping. When I told him he should study English, he agreed, but he hasn’t actually started any lessons yet.” Isabella bit her lip in worry and sighed. “I do not know where the sweet little brother I raised has gone. It’s like I do not even know him.”
“He’s still a teenager,” Reese soothed. “I mean, I don’t have kids, but from everything I’ve heard from friends, they get like this. I know he’s basically an adult, but he’s been uprooted and taken away from everything he knows. I think the longer he’s here, the more he’ll settle. And being in Kansas City will be good for him. It’ll be a little bit more familiar since it’s very busy, a faster pace. There isn’t a lot to do around here, so I can understand why he’d be out of sorts.”
“I hope you are right. I worry about him. But at the same time, he is an adult. I’ve spoiled him, given him everything I could simply because I didn’t have the same things when I was a child.”
Reese wasn’t sure what else to say. She wanted to help both Isabella and Angelo, but wasn’t sure how to go about doing so.
Isabella took a deep breath. “Enough of that. Thank you for coming with me today and for everything you are doing to help with my wedding. I am so happy to be marrying Woody. I would not care if we went to the courthouse and had a simple ceremony, but he is insisting on giving me a wedding.”
“I’m thinking Woody wants the ceremony as much as, or more than, you do,” Reese told her. “Don’t tell him I said this, but when he was little, he used to pore over our parents’ wedding album. He was obsessed with Mom’s big poofy dress, and I think—no, I know he wants to have the same memories.”
The two women shared a smile.
“My badass special forces brother can be a sappy fool sometimes,” Reese teased.
“I love him,” Isabella said seriously. “He is so good to me. I don’t know that I would’ve gotten through the last few years without his support. Being with him is a dream come true. I never expected him to come down to Colombia when I told him I was scared, and yet he did. I will do everything in my power to make him happy.”
“You don’t have to do anything for him to be happy, just being with you does that,” Reese said.
Isabella smiled shyly. She looked over at the grocery store, then back at Reese. “You and Spike seem happy together.”
“He’s amazing,” Reese said, not reticent at all to talk about Gus. “I’ve never been with a man who’s so…attentive.”
“Maybe it is the special forces part of them,” Isabella suggested. “They have seen so many bad things, they go out of their way to protect and look after us because they know the evil that is in the world.”
Reese thought she probably had a good point. “But are they with us because of who we are, or because they’re clinging to something good in an otherwise evil world?” she blurted. She probably never would’ve asked that question to anyone other than her brother’s woman.
Isabella remained quiet for a moment, which Reese appreciated. She wasn’t immediately answering with what Reese longed to hear. She was honestly thinking about the question.
“I believe with all my heart that Woody is with me because of the connection we have. There is no reason for him to have waited for me. We had a long-distance relationship of sorts for years. At any time, he could have said it was too hard. Given up. Found another woman to protect and treat like she is the most important person in his world. But he did not. He kept emailing, calling, and video chatting with me. When I was sad, he cheered me up. When I was angry, he listened to my complaints. When I was lonely, he was there to keep me company.
“I do not believe Woody, or your Spike, would date a woman simply to be with someone. While I love your brother, he is not the most patient man in many ways. The fact that he waited for me proves that he is with me because he loves me. Not because he wants to forget the bad things he has seen and done.”
Reese nodded and closed her eyes in order to keep her tears from falling. She wanted to believe Gus was with her for the same reasons. But they didn’t have the history Isabella and Woody did. Yes, they’d known each other for years, ever since he and her brother were on the same Delta Force team, but they hadn’t been together until recently.
When she felt Isabella’s hand on her arm, Reese opened her eyes.
“Spike looks at you like Woody looks at me. His eyes follow you when you are in the same room but not together. You are sleeping in his cabin. He could have found another arrangement for you, but he did not. He is not thinking about the evil in his past when he is with you. He is with you because of who you are, Reese. And why would he not? You have been kind to me and my brother, you are generous, beautiful, smart, and you make him laugh. What else could he want?”
Reese smiled. “You’re good for my ego,” she said softly.
“I am not…what is the phrase…putting butter on you. I am serious.”
Chuckling, Reese said, “Buttering you up is the phrase you’re looking for.”
Isabella blushed. “I know English, but there are many sayings that make no sense, which I am still learning how to use.”
“Your English is amazing. I’ve never understood why people who have learned English as a second language are so hard on themselves. English is a seriously hard language, and anyone who speaks it when it’s not their native tongue has my utmost respect.”
“See? You are kind,” Isabella said. “Not everyone thinks the way you do. They are impatient and get irritated when they hear anyone with a non-American accent. I think Spike is not stupid. He has seen the amazing woman you are. I believe he is surprised that you are still single. He’s not wasting time in making you his.”
Reese loved hearing that. So damn much. “I want to make him mine too.”
“Sex,” Isabella said. Her cheeks reddened, but she kept speaking. “It is the way to the heart.”
Reese laughed. “I still don’t want to talk about you and my brother having sex, but…really?”
“Yes. Men, they like it. A lot. And they can more easily express their emotions during intimacy. I had the same fears about Woody, about being with him. And now we are getting married and planning a family.”
“Because you had sex?” Reese asked skeptically.
“Because we have very good sex,” Isabella said with a small, secret smile.
“So you’re saying I should put my reservations about moving too fast aside and jump Gus?”
Isabella frowned. “Jump on him? No, that could get you or him hurt.”
Reese giggled. “Another English phrase. Jump him means have sex with him.”
“Ah, then yes, you and Spike should jump. He wants to. It is obvious.”
“Yeah?” Reese asked.
“Yes. You have a cabin to yourselves. You should invite him to your bed. It is more difficult with Angelo in the same cabin as Woody and me, but we still have found a way to have time for ourselves.”