Free Seeking Love in Salvation by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

them.
    “Yeah, well, showing up on her run, telling her you were stalking her because you’re claiming her wasn’t too smart. Obviously,” Ridge teased.
    “You didn’t see her. She was hugging the tree, bent over crying and trying to hide it,” Sparrow told them. That seemed to get Jace and Ridge’s attention. Jace stared at him.
    “Crying? Why?” Jace asked.
    “Don’t know, but that doesn’t seem like a normal occurrence for a woman like Valentina,” Ridge said.
    “Did you call Ford or Gunny?” Jace asked.
    “Ford knows we’re keeping eyes on the women. Gunny just gave me some information that explains where Valentina, Lois, and Kenny run off to multiple times a week,” Sparrow said to them. He wasn’t sure he was going to tell them. It would just bring about more questions, and Valentina was keeping her distance. She’d placed this month’s rent in the mailbox in an envelope.
    “Well, what did he tell you?” Beck asked.
    They were all listening to him and had stopped working. Jace leaned on the handle of the shovel and Ridge chewed on a piece of hay. Beck crossed his arms in front of his chest.
    “They go outside of Salvation to the medical center and law offices. Lois and Kenny are in counseling.”
    “Counseling for what?” Beck asked.
    Sparrow shook his head. “Don’t know, and if Gunner knows, he didn’t say a word.”
    “We should call Helena,” Beck suggested.
    “And say what? We have the hots for her best friend? I don’t think so. Maybe it’s a sign, a reason we shouldn’t let down our guard and take a chance on some woman we don’t even know. A woman who has baggage, apparently,” Ridge added.
    “He’s got a point. None of us are exactly commitment types, and it seems to me a woman like Valentina would want and need commitment. You guys didn’t even ask her out on a date or over for dinner. You kissed her in the woods when she was crying and vulnerable,” Jace said to them, shocking Sparrow. So it seemed his brother Jace did have an interest in Valentina. after all.
    “You sound jealous,” Beck stated.
    “Fuck that. I’m not jealous. I could have kissed her.”
    “With a gun to her throat? Yeah, that sounds about right and your way of getting a woman in bed. Gunpoint,” Ridge teased him and they chuckled.
    “She and I don’t even get along,” Jace added.
    “You both get under one another’s skin and neither of you are willing to admit to an attraction. You’ll remain stubborn and so will she,” Sparrow said to him.
    “Then what’s the point?” Jace asked.
    “The point is that we’re all in this together. We share women. We’ve done so in the past, and we felt content, just not fully into the woman. This is different. We all feel an attraction to Valentina. We’re concerned over her well-being and even her sister and nephew. That, right there, is more serious than any other relationship we’ve had,” Ridge said to them.
    “What we had in the past weren’t relationships. They were weekend and week-long love affairs, wild times. We’re too old for that shit. At least, I’m too old for it,” Sparrow told them.
    “I don’t think I’m in on this. It’s already too complicated and we haven’t even taken her to bed. Seems like trouble to me. A damn disaster,” Jace said, and they mumbled in agreement, but Sparrow looked at Beck and Ridge.
    “We got time, let’s see what happens. We’re not going anywhere and neither is Valentina,” Ridge said, and they agreed.
     
    * * * *
     
    It had been four weeks since Valentina started the part-time job at the business center. She was working for the Texas Rangers, helping investigate issues of violent crimes. It was the overflow of information the Rangers needed investigated. It also involved interviewing victims to gather more information.
    Valentina wasn’t too sure if she would like it at first. She was required to be law enforcement, to be trained and have some counseling experience, which she did.