by Lucy Score
“Eventually. We’ll probably have to add on. I’m thinking a nice, big sunroom off the back with another bedroom and office upstairs. But we’ll talk about that later.”
“You’re insane.” Joey shook her head.
Jax dumped his haul on the floor and yanked off his boots. He set them in the tray next to the door to contain the drips. Snowflakes as big as nickels clung to his head and shoulders. He shrugged out of his coat and hung it on the hook next to Joey’s.
“It smells like heaven in here,” he said, coming into the kitchen to investigate.
He dropped a kiss on her cheek as he peered over her shoulder at the stove. “Chili? And what’s this? If you tell me that’s cheesy cornbread, I’m going to marry you.”
“Then no, it’s definitely not cheesy cornbread, it’s boiled Brussels sprouts.”
“Liar. I’m totally marrying you,” Jax turned her around and put his hands on her hips. “Hi,” he said softly, before bringing his lips to hers.
It was a soft, warm kiss. The kind that melted Joey’s insides like chocolate over a low flame. Decadent, delicious.
“Hi, yourself,” she said, when he pulled back.
“You taste like beer and beautiful,” he told her.
“What does beautiful taste like,” she asked, arching an eyebrow at the line.
“You.”
“Oh, boy. The snow brought me Mr. Smooth,” she teased.
“Do I have time for a shower before dinner?” he asked.
“Sure, help yourself,” she said, giving him a one-shoulder shrug before turning back to the stove.
“Care to join me?”
“I already had my shower. Why don’t you take a beer up there to keep you company, while I finish dinner?”
“Have I told you that I love you?”
“Get out of my kitchen,” she ordered, rolling her eyes.
Jax grinned and helped himself to a beer from the fridge. She pointed at the bottle opener on the wall before he could ask.
“I’m serious about that marriage thing,” he said, taking a swig from the bottle.
“I’m serious about the you getting out of my way thing,” she said lightly.
He pressed a quick kiss to her neck. “I guess we’ll see which one of us gets our way.”
* * *
Jax tossed the dog beds into Joey’s spare room and took the beer with him into the shower.
Usually only a summer ritual, the shower beer seemed appropriate enough for tonight. His body was sore from the physical demands of the day, while his mind revved from the sense of urgency he’d worked under.
He cranked the hot water and let it pelt his aching shoulders and neck. Joey’s shower was a marvel, neutral stone tile walls with jets aplenty. There was room enough for two, possibly more in the walk-in. He felt like he was standing under a tropical waterfall as the water steamed and sluiced its way down his skin.
He was never leaving. He would stand under this water until his body dissolved and flowed down the drain.
He helped himself to a swig of beer and then began to peruse Joey’s bath accessories. He’d been in bathrooms of women with thousands of dollars of bath products, shelves crammed full of bottles that claimed they would tighten, soften, soothe, or protect.
Not Joey. No, Joey’s bathroom had a bottle of two-in-one shampoo and conditioner, a loofa, and a bottle of generic body wash. He sniffed it, making sure it wasn’t some froufrou, cloying floral scent before dumping some onto the loofa.
He could deal with smelling like “cool morning cucumber.”
He stayed under the showerhead until his body forgot about the cold of the day and his beer was empty. Twisting off the water, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed one of the two neatly folded towels on the vanity and dried off. He strolled naked into the bedroom where he found Meatball snoring on his duffle bag.
“Sorry, bud. You’re gonna have to move your ass. I need pants for dinner.” He pushed and prodded Meatball until the beagle reluctantly got off the bag, and wandered off grumbling.
He pulled on a pair of flannel pants and an old t-shirt, dug out his laptop and charger, and followed his nose back downstairs.
Joey was ladling the steamy chili into a pair of hand-thrown bowls he recognized from Purely Pottery in town. She glanced up at him and proceeded to dribble chili onto the counter.
Jax knew when a woman was interested in him. He’d seen the look in others’ eyes, but it had never been as gratifying or as punch-in-the-gut exciting as when it was Joey looking at him like she was right now.
It hit him fast and bright, how much he loved her. How much he’d always loved her. Being with her in this homey scene sharpened the keen desire he had to make this their everyday.
“You’re staring,” she said in her husky voice.
“Same goes.”
Her mouth curved up the slightest bit and she went back to ladling chili.
Drawn to her—and the kitchen scents—Jax followed his heart and stomach into the kitchen so he could crowd her.
She topped each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and cut thick slices of cornbread to float on top.
“Drinks?”
Joey nodded toward the fridge. “How does dinner on the couch sound?”
“Almost as good as what we did on the couch the other night,” he quipped, holding up two beers. “Did the dogs eat?”
“I fed them all while you were in the shower. That’s some detailed list of instructions Summer left.”
Jax laughed. His brother and sister-in-law had left a long, step-by-step thesis detailing the dogs’ daily routines and medications and the timing thereof. “Yeah, we have to give Meatball his thyroid meds tonight.”
“Already done. I think he’ll eat anything that’s wrapped in cheese,” Joey said, leading the way into the living room.
He followed her to the couch where he stepped in to coax Valentina off of it so he and Joey could claim it for their dining pleasure.
Valentina looked devastated for half a second before climbing onto an armchair and attempting to curl up on the seat.
Jax and Joey settled side-by-side on the leather couch, both propping their bare feet on the coffee table.
“She does realize she’s one hundred and twenty pounds of hugeness, right?” Joey asked, eyeing the dog.
“She’s a delicate one hundred and twenty pound Great Dane flower,” Jax said. All coherent thoughts immediately left his brain with the first bite of chili. “Sweet Jesus, woman. This is the best chili I’ve ever had in my life.”
Joey laughed and blew on her spoon. “I’m surprised you didn’t scald the taste buds off your tongue. Didn’t your mother teach you not to inhale hot food?”
“Caution must be thrown to the wind when something that tastes like this is in front of me.”
“I feel you reaching for a euphemism here,” Joey told him.
“You know me well.”
Joey frowned over her bowl. “Actually, no I don’t.”
“Jojo, you’ve known me since kindergarten.”
“I knew you until senior year. After that you’re a mystery,” she countered.
He wished more than anything that she could just forget. Forgive and forget without an explanation. Because that explanation, that why, would result in someone being cut out of her life forever, and Jax was no longer sure it would be just him. He couldn’t tell her. He couldn’t take that risk, not yet.
“What do you want to know?”
She arched an eyebrow at him. He knew she wanted the “why.”
“Besides that. Ask me anything and I’ll tell you.”
“Anything? I like the sound of that.”
His stomach unclenched when she shifted her focus to lighter things.
“How many women did you sleep with after me?”
Jax choked on a piece of cornbread and guzzled down some beer to unblock his throat. “Jesus, Joey.”
She threw her head back against the cushion of the couch and
laughed. “Your face was priceless. Do not answer that by the way. I don’t want any numbers, just like you probably don’t want mine.”
Jax was back to queasy at the thought. And, of course, now he could think of nothing else but the guys who’d...Was he having an aneurysm?
“What was your house in L.A. like?” Joey’s question ripped him out of a waking nightmare imagining Joey screaming someone else’s name in the throes of passion. “Oh, Lester. Yes, Lester.” Where the hell did Lester come from?
“Sorry, what?”
“What was your house like?”
“My house? Uh. I don’t know. Hollywood-ish I guess. Everything out there that hasn’t been bulldozed and rebuilt by incredibly rich, fickle people hasn’t seen a facelift since the seventies.”
“Unlike the incredibly rich, fickle people,” Joey quipped.
Jax grinned. “Exactly. My place was built by some semi-famous architect in the late sixties. Huge windows with a hilltop view, sunken living room. The front yard was a cliff face. I bought it furnished with this very artsy, very uncomfortable furniture.”
“So is that the new Jackson Pierce? Artsy, uncomfortable, rich, and fickle?”
Jax shook his head. “That was a waypoint. I bought it mainly as an investment, which will have done quite nicely if the closing happens next month.”
“You’re going back?” Joey asked.
She’d kept her voice neutral, but Jax saw the way the spoon paused halfway to her mouth.
“Actually that’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” he began, his tone serious.
She set her bowl down with a hard clank on the coffee table. “You’re moving back to L.A.?”
Jax was about to point out that she was shouting, but he didn’t have to as three dog heads all lifted from various positions of slumber to investigate.
“What about the brewery and the breeding program?” she demanded.
“You do care,” he grinned depositing his bowl next to hers. “You like me!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You should see your face.”
“I’m about to punch a hole in yours,” she said, anger shimmering off of her. Waffles stretched lazily and wandered over to sit at her feet.
“I’m not moving back. I’m flying back for a weekend to settle on the house and to go to a lame premiere.”
“And then you’re coming back to Blue Moon?”
Jax nodded and grabbed her hand. “I want you to come with me.”
She still looked pissed. “What the hell would I do in California?”
“Me, for one. And you could put on a long, sexy dress and go to a party with me. Not to mention visiting any of the several racing stables and riding academies in the state. Plus, there’s Disneyland, the Getty Center if you’re into art, hiking in the canyons...”
She was staring at him like he was a lunatic.
“It’s sunny there. And warm.”
“Tell me more about this strange place that isn’t under nearly a foot of snow already,” Joey demanded, her lips twitching.
Relieved, he told her about some of his favorite things to see and do.
She shook her head. “It’s just so crazy to me. None of this sounds like the Jax that left all those years ago. You have a tailor.”
“Lots of people have tailors.”
“I bet you own a tux, don’t you? Normal people just rent them, you know. But I bet you had your fancy tailor make you a fancy tux.”
Two actually, but he wasn’t about to admit to that.
“I’m still the same guy you loved in high school, Joey.” And maybe that was the problem. “Look, just say yes. Come with me. We’ll go out, have a great time, laugh about how weird Hollywood is, and then we’ll come home.”
She was considering it. He could tell. “I don’t know if I can get away from the farm,” she said slowly.
“Joey.”
She looked at him, cocking her head to the side.
“What do you think all this is?” he asked, circling a finger in the air. “We’re babysitting the farm during a Mach seven blizzard while Carter, Summer, Beckett, and Gia gallivant around and have sex. We have a free pass.”
She bit her lip in a way that he found so sexy, Jax had to stop himself from leaning over and dragging her to the ground.
“A free pass, huh?”
He nodded.
“And we’d only be gone a couple of days?”
“Three. Four tops.”
She bit again. “Okay, let’s go to L.A.”
“Seriously?”
She shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
She didn’t even see the hug tackle coming.
21
Joey wasn’t sure how they made it up the stairs, but she did know there was a trail of clothing marking the path and a pile of disappointed dogs on the other side of the bedroom door that Jax had kicked closed. He backed her up against the bed and her fingers flew to the fly of his pants.
“Wait,” he whispered against her lips.
But she wasn’t interested in waiting. She tugged his drawstring free and shoved her hand inside, wrapping her fingers around his straining shaft. His groan of surrender brought flutters of excitement to her stomach. She loved the power she had over his body.
His hands slid up to cup her already bare breasts and she lost her breath.
“God, yes,” he murmured, his lips moving over her hair and forehead. She shoved his pants down his legs until he was completely naked, bared to her.
“You ever think about becoming a model?” she teased breathlessly.
He tossed her down on the bed on her back. “Funny.” His fingers dipped into the waistband of her underwear and with a swift pull, they slid down her thighs. “Mmm.”
Jax’s approval drove her even closer to crazy. His long fingers skimmed over the curve of her hips and around to the backs of her thighs. He knelt between her legs, her heat seeking the fulfillment only he could offer her.
When he leaned over her, Joey let her knees fall open, welcoming him to her. He adjusted his hard-on so the smooth crown coasted over her slick folds. She gasped when the hot, smooth head teased her.
She could see his pulse in his neck as he leaned closer, his mouth nibbling at her lower lip. She bridged her hips, welcoming another teasing thrust over her growing wetness. He moved his hands to her shoulders and she accepted his weight as he changed the angle and skimmed his mouth down to take a nipple between his lips.
His tongue darted out and stroked the straining tip until it budded in his mouth. He closed over it and began to suck. Joey’s hips reflexively shot off of the mattress just as his cock parted her folds and slicked over her sensitive nub.
“Jax!” The contact at her breast and between her legs was enough to shove her into a fast, edgy orgasm.
“My God. I love how you respond to me,” Jax groaned. He switched to her other breast and replaced his erection with his fingers. He slid two of them inside her to catch the last tremors of her release.
Everything he did to her felt even better than the last touch, the last stroke. With his fingers inside her, Joey felt her orgasm spiral on and on. She lay rag-doll limp on the bed basking in the pleasure. But when his mouth released her breast and coasted lower she found her bones again.
“Uh-uh. It’s my turn,” she said, shoving him over and onto his side with her leg.
She reversed their position, pushing him down on his back and kneeling between his thighs. She lightly kissed and bit her way up the inside of his thigh toward her target and delighted at the tensing of his muscles.
He let her play, but she could tell from his tense muscles that he wouldn’t let it go on too long. She lowered her lips to the base of his shaft and pressed a soft kiss there on the hot, smooth skin stretched tight with desire.
His breath came out in a whoosh when she let her tongue dart out between her lips, forging a trail from base to crown.
Jax muttered something unintel
ligible and violent. Joey responded by taking him into her mouth with no preamble.
She could have sworn that he levitated right off the bed. His hands fisted on the comforter under them. Joey felt strength and restraint coiled in his body, muscles and energy begging for release. Still, he let her play and taste and stroke.
She gripped the base of his shaft and, on the next slide of her mouth, used her hand to stroke. Over and over again, her lips parted to take him to the back of her throat.
Having Jax helpless beneath her was thrilling. It made her feel powerful, strong, alive. Having him at her mercy was intoxicating.
He was fighting the pleasure so hard, she wasn’t surprised when he sat bolt upright and yanked her up his body. They rolled, tangled in bedding and each other, the urgency coursing through both of them like a drum beat. She needed him inside her more than she needed oxygen.
Their mouths met in a desperate collision of heat and need. Joey’s foot caught on one of the nightstands and she heard the heavy thump of something tumbling to the floor. She shoved Jax toward the middle of the bed to save other poor defenseless home décor from a similar fate.
They met in the center of the bed on their knees where Jax used her ponytail to gain leverage, tugging her head back. He trailed greedy kisses down her neck, teeth scraping skin. Her nails raked over Jax’s strong shoulders.
“I can’t wait anymore,” she whispered to him.
Jax spun her around to face the headboard and she sensed danger. He pressed against her back, hot skin, sinewy muscle holding her in place. “Are you okay like this?” he asked, brushing his lips gently against the nape of her neck.
Joey shivered and nodded. She was okay with whatever as long as the pace was fast and furious. As long as he was inside her and she was no longer aching.
“Sure?”
“Jax, stop stalling!”
She heard his husky laugh behind her and then his hands were closing her fingers around the iron bars of her headboard. “You’re gonna need to hang on.” His voice was gravelly and strained in her ear. Every nerve in her body was on high alert so that even his breath against her earlobe had her shaking with anticipation.
God, yes.
He forced her legs a little wider with his knee and she barely managed to stifle a gasp when she felt him against her. The smooth head of his cock probed with the lightest pressure against her primed center. His hands closed over hers again and in one sure thrust he was sheathed inside her.