His sister? She thought he only had brothers. She put a hand on his arm and squeezed it. “I had no idea, Jax. I’m so sorry.”
Brief flickers of sadness played around his eyes before he erased all evidence and gave her another Hawthorne smile. “It’s okay. It’s been almost two years, but Harper was a terrific aunt. She loved Maizy, and Maizy loved her. She was the only female influence in her life, and even though she was only four when Harper died, she remembers her. She misses her—she misses doing girl things, which is why when you met me for the first time, I had a barrette in my hair. I try. But there are areas I suck in. All I can think is, Harper would know what color to paint the bathroom. She’d know how to situate the silverware drawer. I’m sort of drowning here. All the girls talk about is how good you are at stuff like this, how you know all the places to go for good deals. That’s why I originally asked you to help in the first place.”
Her heart squeezed tight in sympathy for Maizy. Maizy’s mother was obviously gone, and now to find out her aunt was, too? How had so much tragedy befallen one small child of six?
She wouldn’t ask. It was none of her business, but all Maizy had were three men at the helm and a house that, if Jax’s description of the interior was accurate, looked like a bomb had gone off. There was little convincing needed as far as Em was concerned. “I’m in. No further explanation required.”
Jax smiled then, changing the color of her world in an instant. “So when?”
“When what?”
“When do we, you know...”
“Make whoopee?”
He laughed all husky-hot. “For someone who’s allegedly not very good at this, you’re pretty direct.”
Huh. She was. When had that happened? “It’s the stern teacher in me. How’s tonight—after dinner? My boys are with Clifton’s parents tonight and tomorrow night. Can you sneak out after Maizy’s in bed?” Anticipation welled in the pit of her belly.
“I can. You bet, I will.”
“Then tonight. Nine or so, providing Maizy’s in bed by then? You can text me at any time to call it off.”
“Nine it is. I’ll bring the heater and my body.”
“One more little thing. Condoms. I can’t buy them at Brugsby’s unless I want the whole world speculatin’ about my private life.”
“But it’s okay if they speculate about mine?”
His comically astonished look made her laugh. “You’re a man. You don’t care what they speculate about.”
“Point,” he growled in her ear, rubbing his nose along the side of her neck until she almost purred. “I’ll get them. Now, I’ve got a couple of things to clear up here if we’re going to do this. So you, sexy lady, have to go or I won’t get a damn thing done with you distracting me.”
When was the last time someone had told her she was distracting because she was sexy? Chattering too much, maybe, but never sexy. It made her feel desired and giddy. Jax kissed her again before popping open his office door and pointing to the hall. “Hurry, or I make no promises things won’t get sweaty.”
She giggled then straightened, squaring her shoulders when she realized anyone in the office could see them. She smoothed her skirt and cleared her throat. “Um, thanks for the loan of the pen, Jax. G’night.”
Jax rolled his eyes at how forced and ridiculous she sounded, but tonight, she didn’t care.
She was going to have sex with the hottest man in Plum Orchard.
And the first thing she wanted to do was tell Dixie and the girls about it.
But they’d just remind her what no strings attached meant, and then they’d fret over her emotional state.
No. This was her secret to keep. To take out of her fantasy box when no one was looking, and that’s how it would stay.
A secret.
Ten
“What the hell are you doing, Jax?” Tag asked, scaring the shit out of him.
He scrubbed a hand over his face and palmed the condom. He forced himself to act like he hadn’t just been caught stealing birth control from his brother. “Looking for the nail clippers.”
“In my tackle box? Who’re you kiddin’, friend?”
Shit. Caught. Tag kept condoms in his tackle box. Gage kept them in the front pocket of his duffel bag, and he used to keep them in his gym bag. When they’d all lived together in a small apartment, if any one of them ever needed protection, they always knew exactly where to look. Usually, they did it more discreetly than Jax had. His secret spy skills were sorely lacking.
He’d let lust—his unbelievable, ball-clenching lust for Em—make him sloppy. But he wasn’t capable of clear thought where she was concerned. She was soft curves, warm eyes, good smells. Those attributes sucked up all his clear thoughts and left him with a brain made of oatmeal.
Putting a cheesy grin on his face, Jax turned around. “My nails are a total mess.”
Tag’s mouth went flat. “You’re a mess over Emmaline Amos.”
Fair assessment. Mess wasn’t quite accurate. Unsettled by her was a better way to put it. “Who?”
Tag jammed his shoulder with the heel of his hand. “Stop. She’s why you’re digging for condoms, buddy.” He crossed the wide floor of his bedroom to the big walnut-stained armoire he’d made back in high school and opened the cabinets. “Think fast.”
Jax caught the box with ease. He made a big deal out of looking at it like it was a foreign object. “What are these? I was looking for the nail clippers.”
“Are you keeping your mad crush on her a secret?”
He didn’t have a mad crush on Em. A mad crush he’d done. Mad crushes were off the table forever. “No. I have nails that are out of control. That’s what I have.” He held up his hand to show Tag.
But Tag was in one of his moods, and that mood wasn’t in the mood to joke. “Okay, so nail clippers is the new code word for condoms. Question is, why’s it a secret?”
“Because she doesn’t want anyone to know.” Damn. Cat was out of the bag. Repeat, cat’s out of the bag. Their relationship used to be so easy—their communication even easier—the words slipped out of his mouth before he thought about it. These days, he still forgot to measure his words with Tag.
Tag crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes almost hidden by his black knit cap. “Because?”
Because we’re just doing each other. That sounded wrong with Em’s name in the mix. Dirtier than it really was. “You never heard me say that. I said nothing.”
“So what I didn’t just hear you say was she wants to keep you a secret. Like you’re not respectable enough? I don’t like the sound of that shit.”
Respectability—a Tag hot button. You could never take back the press of the hot button. “It has nothing to do with respectable. It has to do with discreet. And that’s how it stays. One word about her or me—if you even use our names in the same sentence together, I’ll kick your ass.”
Tag held his wide palms up. “First, dream on. Second, this is a no-strings-attached thing, isn’t it?”
“So?”
“So you’re just not that kind of dude, Jax. When you go, you go deep. Remember Reece? Which reminds me—with all the shit going down with her all of a sudden calling you, why are you adding something else that could complicate the hell out of your already-complicated life?”
Because I’m sucked in. Because there’s something about her that fits me. Something I can’t define, won’t define because it goes no further than the bedroom. He’d thought about her proposal all weekend long after the dinner party. He’d thought about how unlike her it was. He’d thought about how she’d gone out on an unfamiliar limb to proposition him. Then he’d thought about her some more.
Still, Tag was right.
Just sex for a longer period of time than just one night wasn’t like him. Even then, one-night s
tands weren’t much like him. He’d had a few, but with Maizy in the mix, he generally avoided them. You could never be too careful when you had a child, and the world was full of nuts.
Yet, he was a big boy. He could do what he wanted. The notion he couldn’t made him defensive. “It’s just sex. Not a damn engagement, Tag.”
“Secret sex. Got it.”
Jax didn’t like his sneering tone. The suggestion Em was anything other than a good human being pissed him off. “Don’t make it sound so shitty and cheap. You’ve done it.”
He thumped his chest, hardening his gaze. “And look at me now.”
“Where’s your comparison coming from?”
“Your life fell apart just like mine. That’s the comparison. You wanna do that again?” he yelled, that hard mask he wore around everyone but Maizy firmly in place.
Jax was in front of him in a flash. “Look, I’m all grown-up. I don’t have to explain anything to you. I can do what I want when I want.” Way to sound like you’re ten.
Tag’s jaw went harder. “You absolutely can. I support grown-man things. Go have some sex.”
“Stop damn well making it sound like I hired a hooker!” he accused, using the two inches he had on Tag to lord his intimidation over him.
But Tag was always looking for a confrontation as of late. He reared up on his toes and yelled right back, “I’m just looking out for you. Someone has to, Jax. You forget too easily.”
“Or maybe it’s time to finally forget? Let go? Or should I let what happened with Reece define everything I damn well do?”
“No. You should let it teach you a lesson.”
Lessons he knew. He’d had plenty of lessons. “Reece is the past.”
“Not if she’s calling you. She’s your present, and you’d be wise to remember that she’s out there somewhere, lurking, looking for a way back in.”
Jax clenched his jaw hard enough to make it hurt to keep from slugging his brother. “She can look all she likes. My life shouldn’t stop because Reece is back.” Somewhere.
“Heeeey!” Gage bellowed, pushing his way between his brothers. “What are you two morons fighting about now? Jesus Christ. I feel like a damn referee lately. Maizy’s going to be back from her playdate soon. Do you want her to come home and hear you assholes going at it like you’re mortal enemies? Quit this shit already. We’re family. Could we start acting like it again, please?”
There’d been a time when nothing could have torn them apart. Now it took next to nothing.
“Sorry,” Tag muttered. “I was just looking out for our big brother. He’s having sex.”
Gage gaped at them. “With what? His inflatable doll?” Then he looked down at the condoms in Jax’s hand. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. A whole box worth? Hasn’t it been a long time since you nailed anything other than your hand with a hammer? Maybe a whole box is wishful thinking.”
Jax glared at his little brother. “Maybe you should mind your business.”
Gage grinned. Easily the prettiest of the three of them, and the one who looked most like their mother, Elizabeth. “So who is she?”
“Emmaline Amos,” Tag supplied smugly.
Jax was back to snarling again. “Shut your mouth, Tag. Don’t damn well say her name like that.”
Gage whistled. “Hold on. You’re having sex with the hottie from Call Girls? The one with the dark hair and the husband who wears heels?”
Thinking about Clifton Senior made him irrationally angry, and there was no explanation for it. “Ex-husband, and I said, it’s none of your business. Don’t talk like that about her ex-husband. It’s shitty.”
Gage’s brow furrowed. “He does wear heels. So what? That’s not shitty. That’s the truth. And why is it Tag’s business and not mine? You two are just like you always were when we were kids. Always leaving me out of the good stuff.” He held a finger up at Jax. “But wait. Hold that thought.” Turning his gaze to Tag, he said, “Why are you all in an uproar over him having sex with Emmaline? Shouldn’t we, as the same gender, be supporting that?”
Tag flicked his fingers in the air in a gesture that said he gave up. “Forget I ever said anything. I’ll go downstairs and wait for Maizy.” He stalked out of his room, the heavy thunk of his work boots clunky and loud.
Gage shook his head, driving his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “What the hell is wrong with him lately? I know he’s been through some shit, but he’s always up someone’s ass barking. You should have heard him bitch out that high school kid he hired to help with the framing in the spare bedroom. He made a simple mistake, but you’d think he’d blown the house up. I had to shut Tag down before the poor dude cried. He’s on a serious tear these days.”
Jax sighed. Tag was touchy, on edge and raw—and they were dealing, but sometimes he wanted to put him in a headlock until he just got it all out. Got everything out. Talked about it—made an effort to get to a place he could live with what he’d been through. “It takes time to get your footing after what happened.” It was a feeble excuse, but what else was there to say? Everyone healed in their own way. Some maybe never did.
Gage’s face twisted into a scowl. “We all miss Harper. He doesn’t get to claim missing her more.”
“His experience was different, Gage. You know that.”
“You sound like those counselors we went to see with Maizy.”
“Maybe I learned a thing or two.”
Gage’s pretty face went smiley. He flashed his teeth before saying, “So forget Tag. What’s going on with you and the hot lady who works for a phone-sex company? Bet she knows a thing or two.”
“Stop being twelve.” Why did it offend him to hear her referred to in anything but the highest regard?
“Well, I’d be thirty-four, if you’d let me. But it seems I can’t get out from under little-brother mode.”
Jax clamped a hand on his little brother’s shoulder and squeezed. “Sorry. Instinct.”
“Tell me about her.”
His lips lifted in a stupid smile before he could stop it. “You already know she’s incredibly hot. But she’s also smart, and funny, and when she’s excited about something, she gets a little chatty. But it’s cute.” And when she said his name with that light Southern drawl of hers, it made him hard. “She’s also a helluva mother.”
“And she makes you smile. That’s nice. So why’s Tag pissed about her?”
“Reece.”
Gage’s head bobbed. “’Nuff said. You heard from her since she called last week?”
Gage attempted to tread lightly, but his eyes zeroed in on Jax’s while he waited for an answer. “Nope. I called her back. She called me back, but didn’t leave a message. Haven’t heard from her since.” Hope to never hear from her again.
“I’m just gonna say this and then I’ll shut it. Unlike Tag, I liked Reece. I liked her a lot. I was an idiot. That said, do what you can to keep her away from Maizy. Hire some fancy attorneys with your buttloads of money. Take Maizy to Africa and hide out in a hut. Whatever. Just know, I’d cover for you.”
“You’re a good little brother.”
“I’m the damn best. So I take it this thing with Emmaline’s a secret?”
“How’d you guess?”
“The two of you screaming it at each other was a huge help in solving the newest Hawthorne mystery.”
“Keep it under wraps.”
“You bet. And now I’m out. There’s a game and a six-pack of juice boxes waiting for me downstairs in the parlor—or whatever we’re calling that half-assed room with a huge flat screen and a pathetic beanbag chair.” Gage grabbed him up and bumped shoulders with him before leaving him with his thoughts and an entire box of condoms.
Wishful thinking, my eye.
* * *
Wow. It was dark. Inky blackness engul
fed Em when she closed the door of her car with as much care as possible. She’d parked by a stump about five hundred feet away from Destination Dirty so prying eyes wouldn’t see her car behind Jax’s.
She winced when she crunched her way over a pile of dead leaves while following the sound of the creek running alongside his house.
If they were going to make his guesthouse their lair of business makin’, Jax was going to have to leave her a trail of bread crumbs or something so she’d be able to find her way in. Especially if she wore heels this high and a ridiculous trench coat she’d thought was so mysterious and sexy when she’d dug it out of her closet an hour ago.
She checked her phone again, her stomach on full tilt when she reread Jax’s text. Get here now.
If she didn’t need her hands to feel her way around in the dark, she’d fan herself with the notebook of ideas she had for Jax’s redecorating. There was an urgent tone to his words that made her feel desirable—sexy, maybe even wanton, a word that had once reminded her of soup, but now had a whole different meaning. His text made her feel as if she were the only woman in the world capable of fulfilling his need.
That’s plain stupid, the voice in her head, the one that said she was headed into murky waters, blared. Those aren’t the thoughts of a woman about to embark on a no-strings-attached rendezvous. Rein it in.
Her phone vibrated in her hand, sending her eyes to the screen.
You okay?
She smiled at Jax’s text. Strangely, she really was okay. She wanted Jax. And she’d said so. In easy to understand words and with a directness she was coming to like about herself.
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