Unbroken by Maisey Yates Page A

here?”
    â€œI spend a lot of time here,” Cade said. “I think, actually, that I’m the one who should be asking what
you’re
doing here.”
    â€œCan I come in?”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œI want to speak to Ray. Last I checked, it was his name on the mortgage documents.”
    â€œHis and Amber’s.” Cade crossed his arms. “And Amber said she didn’t want to talk to you about this.”
    â€œWell, she’s not the only one who gets a say, and that’s a fact. I want to talk to Ray.”
    â€œIf this property ever goes up for sale, you’ll know by the sign at the end of the driveway, and you can pick up a flyer like everyone else.”
    â€œI don’t really see how this concerns you.”
    â€œYou don’t?” Cade asked, and for a second, he didn’t either, so it was difficult to say exactly where he was going with all of this. He had no legal claim on anything. No call to kick him off the property. He wasn’t Amber’s family, or her husband or her lover. He was her friend, and he had nothing to back up what he was saying.
    But he knew he didn’t like Jim Davis being here, even if he didn’t know quite why it bothered him so much.
    And he knew he didn’t want him coming back. Not while Ray was here alone. Not while Amber was here alone.
    But he had no idea what he was supposed to do about that. How he would protect them both if Jim wanted to come again. And again and again. Because in Cade’s mind, it was all starting to look a little bit like harassment.
    The words that came out next came without him thinking at all. “I’m moving in soon. Which means there really isn’t a hope of you buying it.”
    â€œShe sold to you?” he asked.
    â€œNo,” Cade said, trying to sort through the different solutions wiggling around in his brain, trying to figure out just where he’d been going with it. He knew that he wanted Jim to understand the fact that if Cade had to, he’d stand in the gap. Between him and Ray. Between him and Amber. Ownership, someone like Jim would understand. Proprietary, male, territorial, chest-beating, that’s-my-woman stuff.
    â€œBecause, Amber’s mine,” he said, the words almost a growl. And that much he knew was true. She’d been his from the moment he’d first seen her in the halls at school, and every day since. She had been there for every bad thing. And he would damn sure be here for this, even if it wasn’t a big deal. Even if the kick in his gut that made him feel so uneasy about all this was an overreaction, he would just make sure. Because he had to. That made thinking of the rest of the sentence easy. “I’m her boyfriend, and I’m moving in with her.”
    Jim drew back, obviously shocked by the revelation.
    Cade heard the crunch of gravel and the sound of a truck engine, and he looked over Jim’s shoulder to see Amber’s truck rolling up to the house; then he heard the sound of Ray’s armchair.
    Oh, dammit all to hell.
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Ray asked, coming into the entryway. “And who’s this? Who’s moving in?”
    â€œSorry, Ray,” Cade said. He had to brazen it out now. Shit. “We didn’t have time to talk to you about it yet.”
    â€œYou’re planning on living in sin here with my granddaughter. And me?”
    â€œNot sin, per se. Depends on your particular . . . definition of . . . This isn’t the ideal moment to reveal all of that,” Cade said. “And I meant to tell you differently.”
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” Amber was standing at the bottom of the porch looking confused and angry and ready to jump on Jim Davis and take his throat out with her teeth.
    â€œI was just here to speak to your grandfather,” Jim said. “He’s a grown man, and I don’t think it’s fair for you to be