Free Tracked by Trouble (Bad Boys Need Love, Too #3) by Calinda B

lips.
    “Jace Savage.”
    “Ooh, I always wanted to get with him.”
    “And his wife and baby.”
    She stared at him like he’d turned into a lizard, her face wrinkling in some disgusted countenance. “You guys,” she said, swishing her hand in front of her face. She turned and stalked away.
    “Us guys,” Zed said, mimicking her hand movement. “Us guys what?” Zed felt instant relief nothing had ever really happened between them except lukewarm sex. He strode over to the truck as Jace pulled into the designated dirt parking next to the house.
    “Wow, big party, huh?” Jace said, stepping from the cab. He opened the smaller back door to his passenger seating in the roomy super cab.
    “Unca Zed!” Marni exclaimed, an eager smile on her pretty face. The green ribbons tied in her curls bobbed and her matching green dress rustled as she wiggled.
    “You look so pretty,” Zed said, reaching for her.
    “Her pretty dress will be covered with dirt, her ribbons will be gone in, I’d say, fifteen minutes tops.” Zoé brushed at nothing on the child’s dress, as if in anticipation.
    Marni pushed her hand away. “No. My dress.”
    The word dress sound like “dess.”  Zed chuckled.
    “Yes, your dress,” Zoé said with a sigh. “We’re in the terrible two phase.” She smiled at Zed, then rolled her eyes. “Where’s your scary brother?”
    “Not here yet. Wanting to make a late appearance, no doubt. Looks like I see him down the road.” Zed squinted at the dark, glossy green Jeep Wrangler barreling up the one lane street like a bullet flying through the trees. He flinched.
    One partygoer yelled, “Here he comes!” and everyone started to gather as if a celebrity was making his way up the road.
    “Wow, the guy stirs the crowds, huh?” Jace said, grabbing a beer for himself as the attendant walked by. “Hey, not so fast,” he told the tense looking guy as he walked away.
    The young male did an about face. “Huh?”
    “My wife.” Jace pointed to Zoé. “She needs one, too.”
    “Oh, sorry.” He hustled over to Zoé and handed her a frosty brew.
    “You’re doing fine,” Jace said, smiling.
    The young guy smiled gratefully, squared his shoulders and stepped through the crowd.
    “Thanks, honey.” Zoé smiled up at her husband, twisting off the top of her beverage.
    “We’d better not over-do on the booze before training,” he said to Zed.
    “How much qualifies for an over-do?”
    “I’ll keep you posted, depending on how the day progresses. This looks to be fun.”
    “Define fun,” Zed said before pulling from his bottle of amber ale. His gaze trained on the tall, military-cut male emerging from the Jeep to cheers and salutations. Clad in uniform, he looked like that cartoon character, Buzz Lightyear, complete with huge, square jaw. The only thing missing was his spacesuit. “The king has arrived.”
    “What the hell did he do to make you despise him?” Jace asked.
    “Oh, it won’t take long to see how everyone fawns over him, especially my mom. Ever since dad died she’s taken this unnatural regard toward him. And…” He hesitated, not sure how much he should reveal.
    Jace cocked his head and studied Zed. “And what?”
    “And we had a rather unpleasant incident last year when he was on leave. Look, I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay? It’s family stuff.” He didn’t ever want to talk about it, if he had his way. It was the one thing that had him considering a life of chemical dependency after the accident.
    Zoé came up and put her arm around his waist. “We’re part of your family, now, too.”
    “True enough.  I do spend a fair amount of time with you two since me and Jace made up.”
    “Want me to take him out for you?” Jace flexed one of his impressive muscles.
    Zed scoffed. “No, Waldo don’t need no bodyguard,” he said in a half joke.
    He managed to avoid his brother for most of the afternoon, as everyone ate, drank, oohed and ahhed over his