“You have a nice place. I like it.” The sizzle of beef wafted into the air as he put the steaks on the hot grill. After taking the potatoes from her, he said, “Take a seat. Talk to me.”

“About what?” She smoothed the skirt of her sundress and sat on the bench to the picnic table. The flowers planted in and around her landscaping drew bees. Chickadees flitted in and out of the birdbath. A light breeze kept the hot, muggy air moving.

“In the car, when the BMW ran us off the road…” He seasoned the steaks with salt and cracked pepper. “You were shaken up for only a few seconds.”

The evening had turned sultry and ultra comfortable. Alani didn’t mind making admissions of her weakness, not to Jackson. She slipped her feet from her sandals and wiggled her toes. “Actually, it almost stopped my heart.”

“No way.” Letting the steaks sizzle, he stepped to the side and crossed his arms over his chest. “You looked cool as a cucumber.”

The things he said waffled between outrageous and hilarious. “Not me.” Wrinkling her nose, she confessed, “I’m a terrible coward.”

He pointed a big fork at her. “If you’d ever dealt with a real coward, you’d know better.”

“I suppose you have?” She’d envisioned him going up against the cruelest villains, facing off with practiced criminals, trading fists with killers—and walking away triumphant. But she’d never thought about him engaged with a coward.

“Plenty of them. Deep down, most of the people I encounter on jobs are chickenshit. They love to bully and abuse because it makes them feel more powerful. But when they know they’re busted, they resort to pleading real quick.”

“That makes them cowards?”

“The worst kind. And I can tell you, you don’t fit the bill. You kept your head, and our cover, today. After the crazy way that car came after us, a lot of women would’ve been rattled and blubbering.” He rolled a shoulder. “Some men, too. But you hid your reaction and smiled at me.”

“I didn’t want the others to see me upset.”

He shook his head. “Bet they were as impressed as me.”

When he turned back to the grill to check the steaks, Alani thought about what Dare had told her.

Should she confide in Jackson? She didn’t want him to have a false impression of her. She’d done her fair share of blubbering. Sometimes, when the darkness closed in around her, she cried still.

“I…I sometimes go into panic mode.”

Alert to her changed tone and the gravity of what she said, Jackson set aside the fork and gave her his undivided attention. “You mean, since the kidnapping?”

She nodded. “For the longest time, my life seemed charmed. Nothing bad could happen to me.” She’d been so naive. So dumb.

“You lost your parents.” Jackson sounded too solemn. “Nothing charmed in that.”

“I know.” Her smile fell flat, but she still mourned the loss of her mother and father, and talking about them always left her wistful at what could never be recovered. “After they died, Trace seemed determined to insulate me from anything negative. Not just sad feelings, but…life in general. He never wanted me to be gloomy or insulted or disappointed about anything.”

“I know he’s protective.”

“Somehow, that word doesn’t quite cover it.” This smile was more genuine. “Trace has always watched me so closely, probably more so than our parents would have.”

“Because he was afraid of losing you, too.”

Alani nodded.

“That had to be tough on a young woman.” He teased her, saying, “How could you cut loose with Trace’s eagle eye on you?”

“Exactly.” For her, there’d been no acting out, no cutting loose. Not until she’d gone to the beach—and then she’d been taken… She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hey.” Jackson put the steaks on a plate and closed the grill. Straddling the bench beside her, he enclosed her in his arms.

Softly, Alani said, “I let Trace take responsibility for me. It was so much easier than being responsible for myself.”

“And because he was all you had, too.”

“I didn’t want to disappoint him.”

Using just his baby finger, he eased a few strands of hair away from her cheek. “I don’t think you could.”

She half laughed at that. If she hadn’t disappointed Trace, she’d more than disappointed herself. “But you know Trace. You know that he excels at everything he does. For the longest time, he was the biggest, strongest, smartest, most capable guy I knew.”

“A regular superhero, huh?” Jackson glanced down, then back into her eyes. “I guess no other guys measured up?”

“They seemed wimpy in comparison, and just plain uninteresting.”

“Shit.”

Restraining her smile, Alani leaned into him. He felt good, and smelled even better with the way the humidity had warmed his skin and hair. She loved the softness of his cotton T-shirt over firm, pronounced muscles. “But then I got taken….”

“And retrieved.” He kissed her temple.

“And then I met you.”

His hand moved over her back, stroking, caressing. “So I measure up?”

Anxious for a lighter tone, Alani stood. “I’ll let you know after I taste my steak.”

JACKSON WAITED until her eyes closed in pleasure and she made a purring sound of contentment. Damn. She even made dining sexy. “Good?”