Free Desire (Montana Dreams Book 3) by Cait Jarrod

him?”
    “No, my back took a beaten on that save. The guide rope hooked to my belt saved me from falling.”
    Bradley whistled. “Travis, the rescue man. You can take the man away from the job, but you can’t take the protector out of the man.”
    “Ha! Something like that.”
    Matt cleared his throat until he and Travis eyed him. “I built Divine for Trina. Build it and she will come.”
    “I remember that movie,” Bradley said, “ Field of Dreams .”
    “Montana Dreams,” Matt offered.
    “That woman has you whipped.” The corners of Travis’ mouth moved out and up, twitching, and his cheeks bulged. “Tough military guy talking spank.”
    Bradley eyed his brother-in-law, remembering the day he first saw the fake leg. He and Travis went to the footbridge along the Potomac River in Virginia, the secret place Trina would meet Matt, to inform him of Trina’s accident. Matt had passed out drunk on the bridge while his leg lay below, along the water’s edge. “You’re doing great getting around,” he said without thinking. Usually he kept his thoughts about the injury to himself. He didn’t want Matt to relive the explosion that had stolen the lives of fellow Marines and ripped off the lower half of his leg from the knee down.
    “Yeah. It’s a slight inconvenience.” Matt rubbed the spot above where the prosthetic hooked into place. “I don’t think about it much. So, what about you? What have you done to impress the girl?”
    “Matt, you got to have a girl to impress. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t.” He wished the opposite, wished that he had Cadence, and wished his head was on straight to see through the darkness engulfing the intimacy he and Cadence once shared.
    “That’s not exactly right,” Travis said. “You got one. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be in knots. ” His gaze went distant, as if his thoughts drifted into the clouds that now hovered between the mountains. “Don’t ever be so self-absorbed—”
    “That you don’t see another’s pain,” Matt finished. “Our dad’s philosophy.”
    “Profound.” Now he was catching on to this confession game. “You tracked me to probe about the girl.” No doubt, Travis’ search and rescue training had helped to find him. “Did your wives put you up to this?”
    “Hey, now!” Travis tossed a stick over the ledge. “I can think for myself.”
    Matt snorted. “Sure you can, Grandma.”
    Bradley hadn’t heard Matt call his brother Grandma in years, not since they were teens and Travis was acting father, mother, and brother. Listening to them tease each other lifted the heaviness. Each guy went through struggles to get to this place in life, one where a person smiled just because. He wanted that. He wanted it with Cadence, and darn if he was gonna let a confused woman’s past actions discourage him.
    Cadence didn’t have the best upbringing. Her parents worried more about how to put money in their bank account than investing time in her, not unlike his childhood. He and Trina had been there for Cadence, but there was one major difference in her situation. Cadence went home at night to a loveless house. Bradley and Trina had each other. They’d meet in the kitchen late at night to snack on cake, or grab a bottle of wine and go to the rooftop outside of Bradley’s window. Cadence never had a go-to sibling to unite forces with against her parents. Her challenges were confronted alone.
    A tight band clenched his chest as adrenaline shot through his veins, bolting him off the ground and mounting Cimmerian. He had to get to Cadence as quick as possible. With her reckless behavior lately, he didn’t trust that she wouldn’t seek out some joe-blow to take away the pain. The same shit she’d been doing. He knew this. Why in the hell did he leave her alone? “Selfish prick,” he muttered, condemning himself before shouting, “Gotta go!” over his shoulder.
    ****
    Gravel crunched under the wheels of Cadence’s car. Every noise since