by C L Green
Rolling over to grab my IPhone from the bedside table, I am surprised to see it is already just past eight in the morning. I am normally an early riser, preferring to go for a run at six or just after. This is so I can take full advantage of the crisp morning air while I am still fresh. I find it hard to motivate myself to run in the evening when I am worn down and it is often too hot to run comfortably.
Realizing my running ship has already sailed for this morning, I roll onto my back to check my emails and text messages.
There is a text from Jen checking on me. I reply to this first. I also have a couple of emails, nothing important that needs my attention straight away. I decide to fling my phone down on the bed next to me and luxuriate in the softness of Jax’s bed just a little longer before getting up.
As I lie there, I become aware that I can hear the steady droning of a tractor or some other piece of heavy equipment outside. As I start to concentrate more carefully, I soon realize I can also hear thumping sounds and male voices rumbling to one another. It sounds busy outside.
This leads me to wonder about what Jax does for a living. Does he work here from home on horses or some other job? He has not told me what he does.
Is all the noise outside something to do with what he does?
On our rounds of the paddocks on Saturday, all the horses he had introduced me to were his own. It wasn’t like he had a paddock full of horses to train for other people so I think it unlikely horses are his main source of income.
Deciding it is time to find out what is going on outside, I roll out of bed and head for the en suite to brush my teeth and go to the toilet. While there, I see that Jax has already been to the other bathroom and brought back my toiletries bag, placing it on his bathroom vanity ready for me.
Once again I reflect that he is always thoughtful and always seems to be thinking of ways to make sure I am happy.
I wash my face and tie my hair up in a loose ponytail. Looking in the mirror, inspecting my bright green eyes carefully for signs of sleep dust, I realize I have another problem. I am only wearing a t-shirt and panties and there are unknown numbers of people wandering around outside Jax’s house and possibly, some may be inside. My clothes are all in the spare bedroom.
A fleeting moment of panic hits me. I head back to his bedroom thinking about whether I am going to have to find something of his to wear outside the bedroom when I hear a soft knock on the bedroom door.
“Are you decent?” I hear Ro call out to me. “I heard the toilet flushing so assumed you were up.”
Embarrassed much?
His mother knows I am in here? I may as well paint slut across my forehead considering she knows how long we have known each other.
“Um… Well… No… I’m only in a t-shirt and my suitcase is in the spare room,” I call back, staring at the door like it’s about to fly open and a deadly murderer is going to spring into the room.
Please don’t open the door.
To my relief I see the door stays closed and I hear Ro chuckle. “I’m surprised he didn’t think of that. He went and got your toiletries bag when I asked if you’d need anything but he clearly forgot you might want some clothes. Just sit tight my dear, I’ll go get it for you.”
Oh my god.
He’d even had a conversation with his mother about me being in his room before he’d left the building? Could this get any worse?
Ro returns quickly and I can hear the wheels of my suitcase rolling along the kitchen tiles as she approaches the sitting room between the kitchen and Jax’s bedroom. Without knocking this time, I see the door crack open and my suitcase pushes through before a hand retracts and the door closes again.
“I’m just starting breakfast for the hordes if you want to help?” Ro calls from the sitting room as she heads back to the kitchen.
Hordes?
“Sure. I won’t be a minute,” I reply and start to wonder what the hordes mean and what Ro is even doing here. I thought she mainly kept her visits to the fortnightly cleaning sessions. Jax has not mentioned she arrives to cook his breakfasts on weekdays as well.
After quickly rummaging through my suitcase and deciding on a pair of denim shorts and a loose fitting white t-shirt, I dress and then decide to make Jax’s bed. Once I’ve finished making the bed I can’t contain my curiosity any longer so I head over to the window and draw the curtains to see what all the noise outside is about.
I almost can’t believe my eyes when I draw the curtain back. This is because I see Trouble standing at his fence-line intently watching hordes of men working on various fencing jobs all around him.
Looking towards the driveway I see Jax’s dad driving a small, chunky bobcat that is digging post holes with an augur attachment. Luke is standing at the front of the bobcat lining up the augur at various points. I watch as they shuffle the small digger along between the corner of Trouble’s paddock and the front of the house.
I see Ryan, with another man I don’t know, going along behind Luke clearing out the dirt from each hole. They then quickly set hardwood posts in the holes before refilling and moving on.
There are also a couple of other men, again faces I don’t know, hanging a farm gate at the corner of Troubles paddock.
Jax is nowhere in sight.
Shocked at the productivity going on outside while I have been sleeping, I quickly turn tail and head to the kitchen to find Ro carrying a huge stack of plates out to the pergola. Heading outside to follow her, I am even more shocked to see that more fencing works have been going on at the back of the house.
Several posts have already been set. I can now see that they will essentially create a long fence running from Troubles paddock, all the way along the side of the house to the edge of the barn. With the existing fences for the horse paddocks on the other three sides of the house, I am guessing this fence will complete the framing for a fully fenced yard around the house.
Gob smacked at the revelation the foundations for a fence have miraculously appeared overnight, I hear the sound of Jax’s Silverado pulling up near the barn and turn to see him and Christopher jumping out.
My golden girls are all happily sitting up in the back of his truck, surrounded by half a dozen rolls of thick meshed chicken wire.
Christopher starts to make short work of unloading and carries the first roll of wire toward the front of house. Jax looks across and spots me standing under the pergola staring stupidly at the goings-on. He lifts his chin toward me and sets about helping the girls out of the back of the truck.
It is at this point that I feel a warm hand gently touch me on my arm and I turn to see Ro studying me thoughtfully. A soft smile is on her lips as she looks over to Jax and then back to me.
“He’s happier than I’ve seen him for years,” she states softly. “I haven’t seen him this full of action for a long time. I knew something was going on when he cooked for you. He hasn’t cooked a meal for anyone in such a long time. He used to love to cook, but then he stopped.”
I realize I must be looking at her like she is an idiot because I see her cheeky dimples pop and then she smirks. “You’ve got no idea what is going on do you?”
“Um… Well I think I do. But then again, I’m not sure. It doesn’t take too much to see that he is building a chicken wire fence.”
She turns and heads back to the kitchen leaving me to watch Jax helping Christopher unload the truck. She has only taken a couple of steps when I hear her mumble, “I’m not talking about the fence dear.”
I turn to frown at her back as I think about what she just said and decide it’s too hard to worry about her cryptic parting comment.
I then look back to Jax and notice my girls stick to his side like glue. They no longer care that I am their number one assigned deity. They’ve found a tall, red blonde movie star lookalike who takes them for joyrides to devote their attention to.
Traitors.
I follow Ro back to the kitchen and ask what I can do to help. She starts handing me large trays
loaded with piles of cooked bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast.
“Set these outside, I’ll grab the sauce and cutlery and we’ll call breakfast.”
She says this as she heads towards the front door to call on the hordes.
It seems like mere seconds after she exits the front door that I hear the bobcat shut down and see men filing past the back windows towards the pergola. They are hungry and so down tools to appear for breakfast quickly.
I hurry the trays of hot food outside and put them on the table. Luke appears with one of the men I don’t know and cheerfully greets me. It's not long before he introduces me to the stranger, one of the workers for David’s company and they head inside to wash their hands. They soon return to start loading their plates high with food.
Ro reappears with the sauce and cutlery and then organized chaos takes over as more men start appearing, cleaning themselves up and loading up plates.
I am introduced to another three men who work for David and I of course share greetings with David, Ryan and Christopher.
Jax does not appear straight away. When he finally does, he is flanked by his new golden followers. They are ignoring the fact there are massive piles of warm food available for inspection.
Putting their need to supervise Jax’s every move over an opportunity to scavenge warm food rings alarm bells in my head. I feel a warm gush of joy course through my body as I realize my girls like him. They like him lots and so do I.
What is it with this guy and animals?
Jax glances across to me and holds his hands up to show me how dirty they are. He shrugs his shoulders before he heads inside to wash his hands.
Having no choice but to wait for him outside, my golden girls finally realize that their new man God has left them to their own devices so they decide to recognize my existence and come to greet me.
I bend over to give each one a fond rub behind the ears.
Six soft brown eyes stare intently into my eyes, showing their adoration as they bask in the attention I give them.
I whisper quietly to them not wanting anyone else to hear me. “Now I know why you are called bitches, girls. First sight of a hot guy I am interested in and you abandon me and try to cut in on my turf.”
“Jealous are we?” I hear Jax chuckling behind me. I jump up and stiffen as I realize I have been sprung. Obviously I didn’t whisper softly enough.
“You could say that,” I mutter turning to face him. “What have you done to my girls and why are they sticking to you like glue?” I ask.
A big grin spreads across his face. “Trade secret.”
I spend a moment enjoying the view that is Jax. He’s wearing another pair of well-fitting blue jeans with brown leather boots and spurs. Today he has settled for a chest hugging black singlet that displays his bulging biceps off so nicely I almost swoon.
I instantaneously forget about my girl’s infatuation with him as I feel my pulse jump and I look into his gorgeous crystal blues. The world around me ceases to exist as I watch his eyes darken and he impales me with his gaze. He steps forward to quickly slide his hands around my waist and tug me roughly towards him. I feel flames ignite my body as am pressed hard up against his chest.
I barely have time to adjust my neck to look back into his eyes before his lips come crashing down into mine for the best good morning kiss I have ever had. His lips are warm and soft and he gently licks at mine to encourage me to open my mouth.
As I feel my lips parting, his warm tongue slides in to gently caress mine, flooding my body with even more warmth. I let out a small sigh as I taste the flavor of Jax and lean in harder against his body. With a small nip to my bottom lip he finishes the kiss and leans back to look into my eyes.
“Good morning beautiful,” he rumbles softly.
“Good morning to you too,” I reply breathily.
“You wanna come for a walk?” He asks quietly as one of his hands slides off of my back to take my hand.
“Sure,” I agree as he gives his signature tug on my arm and starts dragging me towards the side of the house.
I briefly register that I can only hear a couple of people talking and turn back as I’m tugged along to see Jax’s family all staring at us. Ro has a stupid smile on her face and David is nodding. Luke and Ryan look concerned.
I feel a rush of blood to my face as a blush burns my cheeks. I suddenly realize that everyone has just witnessed our little good morning.
Embarassing. Much.
Jax tugs harder on my hand and I am forced to drag my attention back to where we are headed. I decide I might skip breakfast. I don’t think I feel like facing his family today.
As we approach the area between the back of the house and the barn I decide to confirm what I already think is happening.
“Are you and your family building a chicken wire fence around your house to contain my dogs?”
“Yep,” he chirps, obviously chuffed with his works. “As you can see, by running a fence from Trouble’s paddock across to the barn, I only need one fence to complete the square.”
He points towards the front of the house. “I’ve put a farm gate in down there in case we need to drive in with vehicles. I’m putting a small access gate here. We can use this when we’re heading between the house and the driveway or the barn.
I figure you can put some dog beds under the pergola and they’ll feel right at home.
All of the gates adjoining the yard will be lowered. I’ll do this so they cannot squeeze underneath them. I’ll also hook a hot-wire at the bottom of each fence to make sure they don’t dig.
The new fence will be straight chicken wire but we will just attach the chicken wire to the existing single strand fences on the other three sides. Do you think we need anything else?”
Flabbergasted that he has already thought of everything needed to make his yard dog proof, I shake my head as I look around.
“How did you get so many people here at such short notice?” I ask.
“They all work for Walker Civil. Luke, Ryan and the other guys. Walker Civil is a big company so this is only a small crew that he has pulled off-line for the day. Dad wanted to help and we think with all the extra hands, we’ll have it all finished by tonight.”
Not seeing there would be a better time to ask, I decide to answer one of my main questions. “Do you work for your Walker Civil too?”
I watch his eyes darken and he physically winces. “Sort of.”
Realizing that I have hit a raw nerve I decide not to pinch it any more.
Clearly this is something big about this that Jax is not ready to talk to me about so I decide to let it go.
“Thank you. You’re amazing.” I say gently as I lean in to press a small, soft kiss to his lips.
I watch his face soften again briefly before his eyes darken off again to a lustful smolder. He drags me in for another mind numbing kiss.
“Thanks for staying,” he says breaking the kiss to look into my eyes.
I once again drown in his blue depths only to snap back to reality when I hear my stomach growl. I realize that I am getting hungry.
Jax smirks and looks at my stomach while lifting an eyebrow, “Time for breakfast.”
He turns us around again and we head back to the pergola to join everyone for breakfast.
*****
The rest of the day flies in a blur of industrious action.
Rebecca arrives shortly after we have all finished breakfast with little Caleb and her sixteen year old daughter, Melanie.
Teagan has delivered all the other children to their various schools on her way to work.
I soon learn that Caleb normally divides his time between childcare two days a week, and Ro and Rebecca the other three. Monday is not a child care day so today he will spend the day with us while the men build the fence.
Melanie is home from school because of a pupil free day for her year level while they write end of year school reports. School will finish for all students in the next week or two
as Christmas looms ominously on the horizon.
Agreeing to call her Mel, I instantaneously take a liking to Jax’s niece. Having inherited the crystal blue eyes of her grandmother and uncle, she also has the signature long red blonde hair of the family that hangs down to her shoulders in soft waves.
Dressed fashionably in shortcut denim shorts and a bright pink singlet with matching thongs on her feet, I can see some of the younger men working for Walker Civil already eyeing her off. I decide this is not good when she is only sixteen and allocate myself the task of spending the day scowling at them.
From the moment of her arrival, it also appears Mel has taken it on herself to be my chaperone for the day while Jax is busy supervising fencing works. We spend much of the day getting to know each other while we alternate between helping the men to clip chicken wire to the existing fences and preparing food with Rebecca and Ro.
I also got the distinct feeling that both Ryan and Rebecca are happy for their daughter to spend as much time as possible with me. This is to keep her distracted from the roving eyes of the workers as she flitters about the place, unaware of the interest she is gathering. My constant scowls at the young men do not go unnoticed by Ryan in particular.
We chat about a lot including her inherited love of horses and how she and her brother Christopher often come and spend the day with Jax. They both love riding with him out on the local trails for hours at a time.
We also talk about her school and we even get chatting enough for her to tell me about her love interests at school. This makes me feel that like I am making friends with someone in Jax’s family and I like the feeling it gives me.
It is as we are wandering along a side fence counting steps to ensure we are clipping off the chicken wire regularly that she knocks my equilibrium for a sixer. She does this by saying, “I liked Jax’s wife but I think I like you better.”
Stunned, I feel myself draw in a huge gasp of air that doesn’t fill my lungs. It feels like it burns a path down my air passage rather than providing life-giving air.
I feel both horror and intrigue that Jax has a wife that I don’t know about. Not wanting to alarm Mel too much, I slowly breathe in and out a couple of times before casually asking, “Jax has a wife?”