Broken(11)

Despite the years that had gone by, the women who’d flitted in and out of his life, and his attempt to push her memory to the furthest corners of his mind, Cade still couldn’t forget her. How could he when he’d loved Jocelyn Winters since he was thirteen years old?

It had been the tail end of summer with the kind of heat that made your clothes stick to your skin and people retreat for shade the minute they stepped outdoors. Jocelyn was sixteen. She’d always been pretty, but in her mid-teens she was breathtaking, or maybe that’s when he’d really taken a good look at her.

With long, silky black hair that cascaded down to her waist and sherry-colored, almond-shaped eyes that gave away her Chinese heritage, she was Cade’s wet dreams come true. He’d spent hours thinking about her pouty red lips and dreaming of the day when he could finally kiss them. And that body. Hot damn, that body! She was short, but curvy in all the right places, reminding him of one of the girls in Stone’s dirty magazines. Cade and his brothers were taking a swim in the pond to cool off when Jocelyn came along. She had been like a big sister to him, but seeing her that day in a one piece clinging so tightly to her body, as the sun glinted through her hair like black gold, he’d grown uncomfortably stiff and made an excuse to leave before anyone else noticed.

From that moment on, he’d made a point of being wherever she was. Cade was sure she only saw him as a friend in the beginning, but on her eighteenth birthday, he’d made his move. He’d kissed her square on the lips and told her how he felt.. Jocelyn had laughed off the encounter, but the way her lips had briefly clung to his had given his teenage heart hope.

The time hadn’t been right for them then, but three years later, realizing he couldn’t go another day without making her his, Cade tried again. To his surprise and delight, she admitted to her feelings for him. He’d walked around the ranch with his chest puffed out, confident in the fact he’d finally secured Jocelyn’s love. They’d shared something special, or so he thought, until the promise of bright lights and city living seduced Jocelyn away from the ranch and away from him.

Cade might have dealt with the break-up better had it not been for the way she’d done it. In all the years he’d known her, he would never have believed she could be so cruel. But she was: ending all his dreams of spending the rest of his life with her. And for that, he could never forgive her. While he’d loved her with everything he had, she’d been laughing behind his back. She’d used him as her own personal boy toy and the humiliation of it still burned in his gut. He might have to sit through dinner with her tonight but if she expected him to pretend as if everything was fine and dandy, she could forget it.



Chapter Three

Jocelyn halted at the door of the old house she’d spent many hours of her childhood exploring. She couldn’t do it. He was in there. Though she’d tried her best to come up with a suitable excuse for not coming, she knew she couldn’t gracefully bow out of dinner without hurting Aunt Earlene’s feelings.

Kyla gently pushed her forward. “You’ll have to go in sometime, Jos. Standing here won’t change things.”

“I know, but it’s easier said than done.”

“Look, you thought things would be awkward between you and your father and look what happened? He was genuinely pleased to see you.”

Jocelyn didn’t bother to correct her friend on that particular notion. Yes, her father had been happy at their reunion, but over the last couple days there’d been a reserve in his manner around her. It was almost as if he didn’t know what to say to her. It was a bit sad considering how close they had once been. Her father was her best friend. There had been a time when she could go to him for absolutely anything. Theirs was the kind of father and daughter relationship television shows were based on. But she’d destroyed all of that. And this distance was a result.