Ivory's Addiction

by Teirney Medeiros

  “They’re making me take leave.”

  Jax turned to look at his commander and friend. Luke had put on most of the weight he’d lost in captivity, but his once perfectly straight nose was crooked now, and a scar ran down his left cheek bone. Luke’s black hair had been sheared off to put a few stitches in his forehead, but they were gone now as well.

  Luke’s amber eyes crinkled at the corners when he grinned. “I think you need take to leave. It’s an order. You’re going to burn out, Jax, if you don’t.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Oh, and what’s this the men told me about then? Ivory?”

  Jax would throttle each and every one of their necks. “She’s got my niece, that’s all.”

  Luke held his hands up in surrender. “Technically, you still have to take care of that family business, now that the mission has been aborted. We’re all getting a little time off. Figure out what to do with Ashley, and Ivory, and come back ready to kick ass and take names.”

  Jax returned his stare to the window. Army hospitals looked like every other hospital, except for the pea-green walls. They sucked, and they depressed him. He longed for Ivory’s fresh scent and soft hair. Dreams of her tight lithe body ravaged his nights, and during the days, he often found himself thinking about what she might be doing. If she dated, and who. That line tended to make him see red, so he avoided it, in general.

  “Not like I have a choice, right?”

  Luke clapped him on the back, momentarily jarring his side, and Jax hissed in a breath. The tissue had grown shut on the surface, but internal pains still bothered him. “Now you get it.”

  A week later, Jax found himself on a flight back to the States, headed for Boston. He had orders to check himself into a hospital should anything happen with his injury, and to see an internist at least once while on his six-week medical stay. Early December was beautiful in Manchester, snow on the ground, the skies bright blue.

  Jax couldn’t wait to see the look on Ivory’s face when he rang her doorbell.

  Chapter Eleven

  The Christmas tree sparkled in the dim light of the living area. The fire roared behind the live Aspen. Ivory questioned the safety in Nana’s decision, but it was Nana’s house. Nana’s rules. Ashley started to crawl. Her little body wiggled as she reached one chubby pink hand out to grab at the lights as they blinked red and blue. An angel held vigil over the small get together, her heavenly light the brightest in the room.

  Ivory hung an ornament with Mickey’s name on it beside Nana’s, which read Irene. Nathan poured eggnog into little china cups, passed the hot brew to her as she sat on the floor with Ashley. Presents in gold and white wrappers were scattered beneath the tree. Ashley wasn’t old enough for Santa Claus yet, so Ivory decided to just put them out with hers and Nana’s.

  Ivory sipped the eggnog, then cringed. Alcohol. She couldn’t have alcohol.

  “How is it?” Nathan asked from his seat on the couch, a pile of presents in his lap.

  Ivory held her cup up in salute. She hadn’t told Nathan about the baby yet. She didn’t want to lead him on, and at the same time, she didn’t want to get too serious with him. He’d hurt her once before, and Ivory wasn’t keen on getting hurt again.

  Mickey sat on the floor with her. The older man had lost weight since Nana cooked for him now. So much fast food cut out of his diet, and Nana’s constant errands left him looking healthier and healthier by the day. Not to mention, Ashley was on the move, as well. Her little arms and legs carried her as fast and as far as she could get before being caught. “Well, this little one should have a nice Christmas,” Mickey cooed, tickling Ashley’s stomach. “Can’t wait till your Mama sees what I got you.”

  Ivory felt heat creep up her cheeks when Mickey called her Ashley’s mother, the simple endearment held close to her heart. The baby started to flutter around in Ivory’s stomach, her first real sense of pregnancy other than the morning sickness. It felt like bubbles, and at times, she would burst out laughing as the sensation tickled.

  “So, what are we going to do?” her nana asked.

  Ivory leaned back, her hand subconsciously going to her stomach. “I think we should play some Scrabble or watch It’s a Wonderful Life.”

  Nathan raised his eggnog. “I like Scrabble.”

  “Let’s watch a John Wayne movie,” Mickey chipped in.

  Ivory rolled her eyes. The more she got to know him, the more she loved him. Just as Nana set up the Scrabble game, the doorbell chimed throughout the house. “That must be Jenny.” Ivory got to her feet, and made her way to the door. When she pulled it open, Jenny burst through in a flurry of fur and presents.

  “Sorry I’m late,” she said from somewhere behind the colorful boxes. “Got caught up in traffic. I can’t stay long tonight. Tanya’s got an early flight out tomorrow.”

  Ivory relieved her of a few boxes and finally saw the other woman’s doe eyes. “There you are.”

  “Sorry, I just went crazy when I went to get Ashley something,” she said, shrugging. “It happens.”

  She started to follow Jenny back into the living area with the rest of the guests, but another chime at the door stopped her in her tracks. Now who could it be? Everyone she knew, well, besides Claire, was sitting on her floor. She tucked the two large presents beneath her arm, and pulled on the door. When it swung open, Ivory dropped the packages, the boxes clattering to the floor.

  Her head grew light, and her vision swam. Bile climbed the back of her throat, and she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. She reached out blindly for something to hold onto and stumbled into the wall. She stared at him dumbly, her mouth open.

  The porch light cast an otherworldly glow on him, touching on his brown locks, lighting the shadows beneath his eyes. He carried a large bag in one hand and a Poinsettia in the other. No smile for her, no explanation. Just Jax and his bevy of gifts. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Where’s Ashley?”

  Ivory straightened herself, finally gathering her wits, and crossed her arms. “You could have called first. We have company.”

  “I’m aware of that, Ivory.”

  She stepped back, letting him in the door. The small foyer of Nana’s house was too small to contain his virile presence. She got the first whiff of Jax, and her libido roared to life. Parts of her anatomy that went silent at his departure suddenly dripped with excitement, begging for attention. She felt the sensuality of her changing body, fuller breasts as they grew heavy. He stared down at her, a dark promise in his eyes. Ivory snapped out of it, commanding her wayward hormones to calm down.

  “Well, come on in,” she said. She gathered her neglected presents and followed Jax into the living area. She knew the moment they’d noticed the newcomer because all went silent. Ivory stepped around him, careful to keep their bodies separate. If she touched him, she might go up in flames. Her addiction had returned with ferocity, and a taste would doom her to dependence.

  Mickey spoke up first. “Fuck-nut!”

  Nana squabbled. “Mickey, don’t you say that around this baby.”

  Ivory placed the presents with the majority and shot Jenny a look. The other woman, too, stared at Jax, though. In the light of the living room, dim as it was, Ivory studied Jax. God, he was beautiful. He seemed leaner, thinner. His eyes held more shadows. She acknowledged her relief to see him alive and well and in Massachusetts again. She let her inner-woman rejoice, but after a minute of Jax’s silent appraisal of the crowd, she had to be a mom first and foremost.

  “Hello Mrs. Black, Mickey. Nathan. Jenny.” His voice came out a slow, deep purr as if, though you couldn’t see it, he felt happy. “I’ve brought Ashley a few things, as well as Ivory.”

  Nana, ever the perfect hostess, fussed around Jax, took his burden, handed it off to Mickey, and helped him remove his coat. Ivory pressed fingers to her lips at the expression on Jax’s face. His eyes never left hers.

  Suddenly, the simple red sweater and black slacks s
eemed like she’d underdressed. Still in shock from his sudden arrival, Ivory forgot all about the child in her belly. Panicked, she wondered if he could tell, if he would notice the difference to her body. Her face hadn’t changed, nor her size, much, but Nana picked up on it before Ivory did when she’d missed her period.

  Could men tell those kinds of things? Well, Nathan obviously couldn’t. Her mind raced with confusion, her thoughts chasing each other as the conversation level topped off in the room. Everyone welcomed Jax as they passed out presents and eggnog. Scrabble went out the window, and Ashley held court with Mickey, Jax, and Jenny.

  Ivory huddled in the corner by the Christmas tree.

  “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you so quiet,” Nathan said to her.

  Ivory jerked, swinging her gaze to his. His blue eyes sparkled with mirth. Obviously he couldn’t see her distress, and Ivory grew thankful for the spiked eggnog. “I’m just shocked. I haven’t heard from him in nearly two months.”

  Even though she’d whispered, Ivory looked up to find Jax’s gaze scorching her, the heat intense, his expression almost primal. She swore at any moment now he would growl a warning at Nathan to back off his property. When Jax went to sit down on the floor with the baby, Ivory caught the slight wince that passed over his expression.

  “Jax? Can I talk to you?” Ivory asked.

  Irritation flickered in his eyes, but he managed to climb to his feet again with a slight awkwardness. Ivory knew Jax to be a fluid, graceful predator. She picked her way over paper, boxes, and the baby to get to the door. She led him toward the downstairs spare bedroom, the one Mickey occasionally used. Once the door was shut behind him, she narrowed her eyes, motioning for him to raise his shirt. “Let’s see it,” she said.

  “What?” he growled.

  “The injury you’re obviously suffering from.”

  Jax moved closer, his gait as liquid as ever, slow and silent. “It’s nothing.”

  Stalemate. He wouldn’t share, and she dare not touch him for the sake of her sanity, and her babies. He moved closer, intent on cornering her. “Do you know how many times I’ve thought about you over the last two months?”

  Ivory’s breath hitched, catching somewhere between her lungs and throat. “You didn’t call.”

  Jax’s body heat drew closer, and Ivory felt the flush of her body grow warmer, the folds of her sex moisten. “I said I wouldn’t be able to.”

  She braced her hands against the small dresser he’d pushed her into, his body so close she white-knuckled the edge of wood to keep from reaching out for him. She thrust her chin out, her hair swinging back. “You also said it was over.”

  Jax brought a hand up to her face, his finger stroking along her jaw, down her neck. Despite adamant decision to remain remote, her body betrayed her. Again. A delicious shiver followed in the wake of his gentle touch. He flexed his hand around the curve of her shoulder, his palm making her skin sizzle. Unerringly, she leaned into his touch.

  “And now I’m saying it’s not.”

  Ivory jerked away from him, grateful for the reprieve. What did he hold over her? Her body belonged to him, her babies belonged to him, but she didn’t. She reinforced her self-confidence with a straightened backbone and squared shoulders. “And you can’t just show up at my doorstep, flash a few gifts and get back into my good graces.”

  She heard Jax utter something, but didn’t bother to look at him. She quickly learned her addiction to Jax could be triggered simply by the heat in his gaze. The knowledge he’d come off mission, his body so close and primed sent heat waves coursing through her loins, the folds of her core growing slicker with each exchange. What a perverted way of foreplay. She rubbed her hands down her face. She had to remember her child. Its life had priority in hers.

  “All right, it’s Christmas Eve, you’ve just got back. We’ll go see Ashley and enjoy a round of eggnog. Have a family fun night.”

  Jax grabbed her arm, jerking her back against him, and her body collided with his, his hard body the polar opposite to her feminine curves. She remembered each contour, dip, and plane, the way the muscles bunched and flexed beneath her touch. He tilted her chin up, one finger on the pressure point behind her ear. “I missed this,” he breathed out just before his mouth crashed down on hers, his tongue sweeping in before she could protest.

  The protest died in her throat as the drugging taste of him filled her. She stood on tiptoe, pressing her body closer. She felt his hands snake around her back, slide down her ass, molding her to his pelvis. She whimpered at his insistence, his relentless plunder. He nipped at her lip, suckled her mouth. The fresh taste of peppermint invaded her senses, leaving her reeling.

  When he came up for air, Ivory broke from him, her chest desperately trying to fill her lungs with oxygen. “Don’t do that again. Unless I ask you to,” she whispered and fled the room before he could say another word.

  * * * *

  Jax pressed down on his raging dick. Not a peep from the thing in months, and now, it screamed bloody murder. He winced as the painful swell rubbed against zipper teeth. His blue jeans suddenly felt too tight. He ran a hand back over his head. The stitch in his side pulled, and he grimaced. Shit, the fucking thing still hurt.

  When the poker in his pants went to sleep, Jax rejoined the festivities. Ivory looked like an angel descended from heaven to pry his soul from the mouth of hell. Her blue-black hair swung around her shoulders, a little longer than the last time he’d seen her. Her sky blue eyes glittered as she watched Ashley try to steal part of Mickey’s coffee cake.

  Her figure seemed fuller, but it didn’t bother him. The soft, suppleness of her breasts yielded to his chest, and Jax couldn’t wait to fill his mouth with their fullness. Her wide, plump lips were wrapped around the edge of a glass, and he couldn’t stop the image of her sucking his cock into her mouth out of his head.

  If he didn’t stop imagining what he would do to her once he got her alone, he’d give the whole room a show. Jax sat down on the ottoman, careful to keep the bulk of his weight in his thighs so as not to break Nana’s furniture.

  Jax studied Mickey. The old man looked a helluva lot better than last time he saw him. The fact he sat and talked with Nathan and Ivory like old friends revealed their recent closeness. He wondered if it had anything to do with Nana.

  Ashley had grown, not by much, but enough Jax noticed. Her little blonde curls fanned around her ears now, and the once sallow cheeks were replaced with rosy apples when she grinned. Being in the house with a normal family, on a normal holiday, Jax felt like an intruder.

  Remnants from the mission randomly played through his head, and every time his wound acted up, Jax felt the heat of the fire, the rip of the bullet, and saw Luke’s broken face. When he realized he no longer saw real time before him with the pleasant family scene, and rather felt the chopper’s wind on his neck, Jax shook the thoughts away.

  Sweat pooled on his upper lip and beneath his arms. He blinked away the hallucination, and focused on Ivory’s soft laughter, dancing eyes, the sweep of her brow, and flow of her short hair as it kissed her cheeks. As long as he kept his eyes on her, the darkness stayed away.

  “Hey, Jax,” Nathan said. “You look a little lost.”

  “Still the pig?” Jax asked, his hands braced on his knees.

  “Yep. Still a soldier?”

  “Always.”

  “It’s good they let you come home for Christmas,” Nathan said.

  Jax bared his teeth, the reminder running amok in his head, the rip of the bullet through flesh, the pain. The hasty retreat. Jax expelled the bad breath of air he’d taken, and drug fresh oxygen in. “They didn’t let me come home.”

  Jax could tell Ivory was listening by the way she’d slightly cocked her head.

  Nathan couldn’t take the hint and just kept on asking. Usually when a man gives one word answers, it’s the most polite way to say fuck off. The bastard sniffed around Ivory like a dog hungry for a bone, and Jax knew all about wanting th
at bone.

  “How long you here for?”

  Jax drug his gaze away from Ivory at Nana’s question. “I’m home for six weeks. Finish things with Mickey and Mary’s business.”

  Mickey piped up. “We don’t talk about work on Christmas Eve, boy. Didn’t your daddy teach you better?”

  The reminder of Cliff Morgan made Jax’s chest ache. “Yeah, he taught me better,” he said through a tight throat. And then it hit him. He hadn’t spent Christmas with a family since his parents died. The pure reality of it nearly broke him.