by BJ Harvey
“You think he’s got that much will power? If the sex was that good, I doubt either of you will be able to stay away.”
“I guess I’ll soon find out. Talk soon. Love you, Gilly bear.”
“Love you too, Ronnie bear,” she says, smiling at our lifelong nicknames for one another. “Make sure you talk to him,” she says, in her best big-sister-knows-best voice.
“Yeah, yeah. I will.”
“Good. Then you can give me a full report afterward.
“I—”
“Byeee,” she says before hanging up on me.
Driving along the freeway, I see April and Jamie’s off-ramp coming up. Making a snap decision, I indicate and shift lanes before turning off.
I bring up April’s cell number on the car’s display screen and push send, listening as the call tries to connect.
“Hello, Aunty Ronnie. How are you?” my godson, Axel, says, answering the phone.
“Hello, Axel Williams. I’m good. How about you?”
“I’m good. I’m trying to talk Jamie into taking me to the beach this weekend.”
“It’s January, baby cakes. It’s a bit cold.”
“That’s okay. I’m big and strong, and so is Jamie. We can handle it.”
“Axel, baby, have you heard of what cold water does to boys?”
“What does it do?”
“It makes you shrink.”
“What do you mean?” he asks, sounding puzzled. I bite my lip to stop myself from giggling.
“I’m going to stop by in about five minutes. How about you wait until I get there and then ask Jamie what happens?”
“Okay…” he says slowly, like he doesn’t believe me. “I think you’re lying. Jamie is so big and so are his brothers, and I bet they’ve been to the beach in January.”
“Next time we have a BBQ and all the boys are there, we should ask them, too.”
“Okay,” he says, sounding bubbly. “Are you coming for dinner? Mommy is making tortellini.”
“That’s sounds yum. I’d love to have some if your Mom says it’s okay.” It’s also what happens at the beach in January, I don’t say. “Okay. See you soon, Ax.”
“I’ll wait outside for you,” the little charmer says.
“Maybe wait until I arrive, baby.”
“Alright.” Then he hangs up on me.
I realize my mistake as soon as I turn into April and Jamie’s small cul-de-sac because sitting at the curb outside their house is Jax’s motorcycle, and standing on the front porch, both bundled up in coats and scarves, are Axel and the man I didn’t think would be here.
Is this what karma feels like?
Axel is waving his gloved hands at me before I’m even out of the car. I park behind the motorbike and get out, making my way to the sidewalk.
“Aunt Ronnie,” Axel says, waving excitedly. He jumps down the stairs one by one before running toward me, crashing into my legs when I reach the end of the path.
“Hey, baby. How are you?”
He looks up at me, his beaming smile worth any awkwardness that’s bound to come with Jax.
I meet his knowing gaze. “Hey, Jax.”
“Hello, Veronica,” he says, his eyes crinkling, his expression matching the amusement in his tone. “Fancy seeing you again.” The slight smirk curving his lips spells trouble and my stomach flips at the payback that might be heading my way.
Deciding to fake it until I make it, I grin as Axel leads me up the stairs and through the front door, Jax following behind us.
“How was your day?” I ask, hedging my bets. Part of me wants to push him, see whether he just comes out and says something. He doesn’t disappoint.
“It was enlightening. I had my first photography class at Bry’s university.”
“Really? That’s funny; so did I.”
His eyes glitter with amusement, and somehow I know he’s going to try and get me alone. Note to self: keep Ax close.
Unfortunately, Axel lets go of my hand and runs ahead, leaving me alone with Jax in the entryway.
I take my coat off and hang it on a spare hook, Jax doing the same beside me. I turn to walk down the hallway, but his fingers wrapped around my bicep stop me in my tracks. He brings his body flush to mine, his chest to my back. I don’t even try to hide the shudder traveling through me at his touch.
“Did you like the class?” he asks.
“Yes,” I reply breathlessly. I can’t help it. His heat causes my brain to misfire. All I can think about is Saturday night and the feel of his naked skin sliding against mine.
His mouth is right by my ear now. My body feels ready to explode with the need to do a hell of a lot more than just touch him. “How was the teacher?”
“Extremely fuckable.” I turn my head to meet his now heat-filled eyes.
“And did you know I was your professor on Saturday night when you seduced me?”
My lips twitch. “I think the seduction was totally mutual.”
“Touché,” he says, lowering his mouth to the apex of my neck, his lips softly brushing against my skin. “But you still didn’t answer my question.”
I turn around and look up, locking my eyes with his deep brown ones, trying—and failing—not to get lost in them. I’ve seen them guarded. I’ve seen them intrigued. I’ve seen them roll back in his head as he poured himself into me, and right now, if it was at all possible, that’s exactly how I’d want to see them again.
As if he can hear my thoughts, his gaze drifts down to my lips just as I bite my teeth into them. A wry smile quirks his mouth as he stares at me once more.
“We could both get into a lot of trouble if we follow this path,” he says.
“What path?”
“The one that leads you right back to my bed. Only this time, I wouldn’t let you lock yourself in the bathroom again.”
I tilt my head to the side and smirk. “I was accused of being a sex fiend.”
“You can be my sex fiend in secret. No interruptions allowed. Especially not from my mother.”
We stand there just watching each other. Letting the words and imagery sink in.
“Just so you know,” I say quietly, seeing April come toward us, “I submitted a statement advising the college that I had an existing relationship with my professor. So any trouble we may or may not get in to will have nothing to do with any policy you think we might be breaching… although, the thought of a secret rendezvous…”
He nods, his eyes flashing. I can’t tell whether he’s impressed or turned on, or which one I want it to be. Is it possible to be impressively turned on? Or turned on impressively? Regardless, it seems anything Jax does when he’s turned on is impressive.
“What are you, a lawyer or something?” he says, his smile widening. I swear I get a little starry-eyed; that look of his making my knees weak. This man is dangerous, and knowing just how good he looks and feels beneath those clothes is making it hard to think straight.
“Or something,” I say with a sly grin. I lift my hand up, walking my fingers up his chest. “Do you want to play lawyer/client one day? I’m sure we can have fun with a little interrogation…”
A low groan escapes his throat. His tongue darts out to wet his lips, and I swear my vagina moans too. “We’ll be talking about this when we leave,” he growls, low and deep and orgasm-inducing.
“We leave? We can’t leave together. Nobody knows what happened on Saturday except you, me, and—”
“My mother? She thinks you’re a modern, forward-thinking woman who had a need and dealt with it herself.” His lips twitch. “She doesn’t know it was her son who made sure any needs you had were well and truly met and satisfied… so…” His gaze drops to my mouth and his head moves toward mine.
Two can play at this game. “What if talking isn’t what I want to do?” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “It’s safe to say there is unfinished business to discuss,” he says, his lips curving up into a knowing smirk. I lean in, his breath fanning across m
y skin, everything about him drawing me closer.
It’s then I catch the curious gaze on April’s face as she slowly walks towards us. Saved by the bell—or by my best friend.
“Hey, babe. Did Ax tell you I was coming over?” I ask her.
“He did…” she says, switching her eyes from me to Jax. “And Jax arrived just before you did. Isn’t that interesting?”
Jax looks down at me, his back to April, his smile turning wicked as he winks at me. “To be continued, little menace.” He turns to face his future sister-in-law. ”Hey, gorgeous. I’ve come to steal you away from my brother,” he says as he picks her up and twirls her around.
“Stop it,” she shrieks, giving him a playful smack on the arm. “He’s not even here to rile up.”
Jax lowers her back down to the ground. ”Well, then. I can stop pawing at you and go raid your kitchen. It’s no fun unless he’s here.”
“I’ll try not to be offended by that. Besides, Ronnie and I have some things to discuss.”
“If it’s about her being my student and not telling me, we’ve totally cleared all of that up,” Jax calls out, walking away from us. April’s eyes bug out at me.
“I’ve just got to show her something,” April says, pulling me up the stairs and—unfortunately for me—right into the same damn guest room I christened on Saturday.
“What?” I gasp. “What’s so important?”
“So how was it?” Oh fuck, here we go.
I bite my lip, not wanting to meet her eyes. I’m not embarrassed… just unsure of how much of it I should share, or exactly what ‘it’ she’s referring to. ”Um… how was what?” I ask, choosing to hedge my bets.
“Class. Jax being your teacher. Was it awkward? Easy? Normal? Weird?”
I let out the breath I was holding, releasing a quiet—and hopefully not that obvious—sigh of relief. “It was fine. The first class is always an information dump. Next week we’ve got to bring our cameras so it’ll get more interesting from there on in.”
“Good. I was just worried it might be weird, with Jax and all.”
“It’s fine,” I say, smiling over at her.
“Okay then. So why was my future mother-in-law acting weirder than normal on Saturday after she came outside?”
My head jerks back. “What do you mean?”
Her eyes narrow on mine. “Mmm-hmm, and then ten minutes later, Jax came storming down the stairs, tugging on his shirt and looking a mixture of frustrated and confused before waving goodbye to his brothers and pulling a disappearing act, despite having told us earlier that he was going to sleep in the guest room.”
Oh, shit. If ever there was a time when I wished the universe would intervene and stop a conversation, now would be it.
Seriously, any time now.
“Jamie!” Axel shouts, heavy footsteps running the length of the house.
“Hey, buddy. Where’s your mom?” Jamie’s deep voice rumbles. Thank God for that.
April turns her head toward the open door and downstairs before looking back at me. “There’s a story here that you’re not telling me, right?”
I nod, comfortable in the fact we don’t have time to delve into exactly how my plans for Saturday night went from me being well-laid to everything else being waylaid.
“Right. Then the first chance we get, you’re gonna tell me because if anyone has your back, it’s me. It’ll also help me smooth the road if there are any obstacles standing in your way…” She quirks a brow at me, her eyes soft and meaningful. “Okay?”
I lean forward and kiss her cheek. “Yep. But you might not want to know the dirty details about how I’ve already christened this room for you. Jamie might not like that.”
April’s head drops forward, her shoulders shaking as a giggle escapes her lips. “Deal. Now let’s go downstairs and see what trouble the boys are getting into.”
“Right. Can I ask one favor?”
“Always,” she says.
“Don’t leave me alone with Jax. Send Axel in or something; bribe him with money. Just let me have tonight without Jax cornering me and making me want to jump him.”
“Oh honey,” she says, hooking an arm around my waist and leading me out of the room and toward the stairs. “That seems to be a Cook man’s M.O. Jamie does that, and I completely lose my head.”
I snort and shoot her a questioning look. “Just your head?”
“Nope. That’s the problem.”
“Doesn’t sound like a problem in my book,” I mutter.
“You don’t have an almost eight-year-old thinking his new house must be haunted because he heard moaning last night.”
“Oh my God, he doesn’t.”
She nods, and I bite my lip to stop myself, but it doesn’t work. I burst out laughing, bending over at the bottom of the stairs to try and recover.
“Hello, lovely.” Jamie’s voice fills the entryway. Then there are kissing sounds behind my back that I’m totally glad I can’t see.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asks.
“Moaning walls,” is all April says, and soon all three of us are laughing.
“And on that note,” I say, straightening and moving toward the living room, “I’ll go check on the kids.”
“I can hear you,” Jax calls out. “And us kids are fine.”
“Yeah, we’re good boys,” Axel adds, earning a new round of laughs.
Kids. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Big kids, like Jax, I can’t damn well resist, and after almost a year of watching and waiting, I don’t want to resist anymore, and I definitely don’t want him to hold back either.
I just need to tell him that.
5
Jax
I’m starting to think Ronnie is a woman who avoids conversation—in particular, talking to me—because as soon as we’ve finished dinner at April and Jamie’s house, she rushes out the door.
April must know something about what’s gone down because she shoots me a knowing look when Jamie and Axel take the empty dishes into the kitchen.
“Your best friend has a habit of disappearing,” I say nonchalantly, leaning back in my chair and lifting my wine glass to my lips.
“She has a lot of habits. That’s just one of them.”
“Is it some deep-seated love of avoidance?”
“Something like that,” she says, her lips twitching. “But if anyone can nail her down, I’m thinking it’ll be you.” She smirks and takes a drink. “Anyway, how was your day?”
“Interesting.”
“She didn’t know until last Friday… in case you were wondering.”
“I was, but I was hoping to find that out from her myself.”
April lifts her fingers to her lips and pretends to lock them shut. “Message received.”
“It’s not that I won’t be drilling you for information. But in the same situation, would you have wanted me to tell you that Jamie is a grumpy, tunnel-visioned son of a bit—”
“Swear jar!” Axel and Jamie say in unison, walking into the room. I lift my butt and pull out my wallet, thumbing two twenties and handing them to Axel. “Put me in credit.”
April’s gaze drifts up to Jamie. “Yes. It’s always helpful putting the jar in credit.”
“I’ll prove the reasons why later,” my brother says, bending down and kissing her head. I make fake gagging sounds while Axel sighs.
“Why won’t they ever stop kissing?” Axel asks me, sounding exasperated. “I mean, Justine Cage kissed me at recess, and it was gross. I don’t know why adults do it so much.”
We all laugh and I reach out, putting a hand on his little shoulder. “In a few years, I’ll remind you of this conversation.”
“Why?” he asks, tilting his head to the side. “I don’t want to stick my tongue in anyone’s mouth.”
“Axel!” April gasps. “Where did you see that?”
He shrugs. “On TV.”
“That’s it. No more television for you.”
“W
hat? That’s mean, Mommy.”
Jamie chuckles and squats down to Axel’s level. “How about, no unsupervised TV so we can make sure no one is going to kiss.”
“Okay. That’s good. Because it’s sooo gross.” He shakes his head and takes another load of plates out, Jamie following him.
“So, exactly how long have you liked my best friend?”
“How long has it been since you introduced her to us again?”
Her mouth drops open. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
“And how long has she liked me?”
April looks around the room, an avoidance tactic if ever I saw one.
“April…”
“Since the same day, okay? Jeez. What is it with you Cook men interrogating me?”
My lips quirk up. “Let’s just say my dad taught us a trick or two about dealing with difficult women.”
“I’m not difficult,” she shrieks.
We both turn our heads at the sound of his chuckle. He’s leaning against the doorframe, watching us. “How much of that did you hear?”
His brows bunch together. “Just my fiancée screeching like a banshee. What did you do?”
“He called me a difficult woman, the same as your mom. Apparently, your father taught you all some coping mechanisms.” She sits back and crosses her arms over her chest. Jamie’s eyes scan her pose before he laughs again, stalking toward her. “And so far,” he says, grabbing her chair and leaning down so his face is an inch away from hers, “They’re working quite well.”
“What?” she gasps.
“Spunk. . .” he says, kissing her cheek. “Sass.” He kisses the corner of her mouth. “Feisty.” He takes her lips hard and fast before standing up and stepping back, grinning down at her.
“And you,” she says, pointing Jamie’s way, “will be sleeping on the couch.”
“The day I sleep on the couch will be the day we have the house to ourselves, and you’re lying there with me…”he leans in. “And you definitely won’t be sleeping,” he whispers loudly, before he grabs more dishes and heads back toward the kitchen, laughing when April huffs her displeasure.
I love their back and forth. They’ve always been like this. Sniping at each other in a good-natured way. I’ve never heard them fight for real but knowing Jamie, if they did, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from shutting her up in other ways. It’s exactly how Dad told us it works with Mom—gross but true. It seems to work every time.