“Well, this job pays the bills. Romance doesn’t.” Karlie was already over the conversation, ready to start her day. She’d worry about the flowers later.
The bell rang shrilly, startling both of them.
As she backed out the door, Bailey said, “Make sure you look that up. Inquiring minds want to know.”
Karlie waved her off and pasted a smile on her face as students in her first period started to walked in. She fielded multiple questions about the flowers throughout the morning, struggling to keep her student’s attention on the upcoming state test and not on the admirer she acquired over the weekend. By the time lunch rolled around, she was exhausted and collapsed into her chair. She had forty minutes to regroup before gearing up for her one afternoon class, which would probably go about the same as her morning ones.
“Jesus Christ,” she muttered as she wiggled her mouse to wake her computer up.
Pulling the browser up, Karlie searched for rose meanings and clicked on the first link. Jax sent her pink, white, and salmon roses. She smiled as she saw their significance. Pink symbolized admiration and sweetness. White represented new beginnings and charm. Well, she was certainly charmed by the flowers.
She blushed as she read the meaning for the salmon roses since it meant not only energy but desire and excitement. It would seem Jax was sending her a message with the flowers.
Needless to say, Karlie’s feelings matched Jax’s. She was pleasantly surprised by how much she enjoyed the date with him, and she looked forward to seeing him the next weekend.
The sharp trill of her room phone ringing jerked her from her thoughts.
“This is Ms. Stewart.”
“Have you looked the meaning up yet?” Bailey asked, chewing loudly into the phone.
“Must you eat while talking to me on the phone?”
“When else am I supposed to eat? I know you’ve looked that stuff up.”
Karlie rolled her eyes.
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me,” Bailey said, taking a particularly loud, crunchy bite of something.
“Jesus, what are you? Psychic?”
“Yep. Fess up.”
Karlie shook her head and looked at her screen. “Fine. White is new beginnings and charm. Pink is admiration and sweetness.”
“What about that orange-colored one? What color would you say that is? It wasn’t quite orange.”
“I agree,” Karlie said, not wanting to give away more than necessary.
“Well, what color is it?”
“Salmon.”
“And what does it mean? Are you always this difficult?” Bailey slurped her drink.
“Only when someone is smacking in my ear.” Karlie was growing more and more annoyed with Bailey’s food noises.
“Keep trying to dodge the question and I’ll come to your room to smack in your ear.”
“Salmon means energy, excitement, and desire,” she said in a rush.
She squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for Bailey’s response. She really hoped Bailey wouldn’t say anything about that last word, but her hopes were soon dashed.
“Desire, huh?”
“Yep.” Karlie turned to look at the flowers again.
“Well, guess since you felt that hardness the other day, you already knew that one,” Bailey joked.
Karlie snorted. “You’re crass.”
“And you love me.”
“I do, unfortunately.”
“Don’t say things like that, you might hurt my feelings,” Bailey said.
“Don’t make me laugh,” Karlie quipped.
“Fine, whatever, be rude to your best friend. Enjoy the rest of your day hussy.”
The phone clicked and Karlie laughed. Trust Bailey to help lighten her thoughts. She glanced at the clock and realized she needed to heat her lunch if she wanted to finish it before her students came rushing in.
The rest of the day passed in a blur, and before she knew it it was 5 o’clock, and she was home, collapsing on her couch, completely worn out. Just like her morning students, her afternoon ones had been incessant about the flowers. It was all Karlie could do to keep from screaming. If she’d known the flowers would create such a stir, she would have stashed them in Bailey’s office.
The ringing of her cell phone pulled Karlie from the couch and to her purse, which she frantically pawed through as she tried to find it before it stopped ringing.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Jax.”
Karlie smiled. “Hey, how are you?”
“I’m great. You? Did you get my flowers?”
Karlie nodded and turned to look at her dining room table where they were displayed. “I did, thank you. They’re beautiful.”
“Did you look the meanings up?”
“I did. How’d you figure them out?” He didn’t say anything, which prompted her to ask “Jax?”
“Yeah?”
“How’d you know what the flowers meant?” she asked.
“My mom.”
She furrowed her brow. “Your mom?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “My mom gardens and I helped her as a kid. She used to quiz me on flower meanings.”
If she was a betting woman, she might have thought Jax sounded embarrassed. But that didn’t gel with the person she was used to seeing. “Multi-faceted, aren’t you?” she joked.
“Yeah, I guess.” Jax sounded uncomfortable.
Karlie took pity on him and decided to change the subject. “So, what’s up?”
“I know it’s early, but I wanted to go on and see about this weekend. The weather is supposed to be nice and I was wonderin’ if you wanted to go to the beach.”
Karlie thought about his proposition. She hadn’t been to the beach yet this spring, and normally she was there quite a bit on the weekends. She loved going and had planned to go in a few weeks with Bailey once testing was done. Going with Jax would mean she could ogle him though.
“Yeah, that sounds awesome,” she said with pleasure in her voice, unable to keep the wide smile from spreading across her face. Now that it was suggested, Karlie couldn’t wait to go. Blue skies, warm sand, and crashing waves sounded like the perfect second date.
“Great! I’ll text you later this week and we can work the details out?” Jax sounded pleased as well.
“Yeah, that works for me.”
“Awesome. I’ve got to run, but I’m glad you like the flowers.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Karlie collapsed back onto the couch and couldn’t stop the grinning. She was glad she had decided to give Jax a chance.
Chapter Eight
Jax
Jax knocked on Karlie’s door and glanced around, rocking on his feet a bit while he waited. It was finally Saturday and he was definitely looking forward to spending an extended amount of time with Karlie. Dinner was nice, but it hadn’t really allow them to get to know each other. A day together would certainly test their ability to spend time with each other. He felt a small twinge of worry as he thought about spending all day with Karlie and suddenly realized a whole day together might not be the best thing to do.
What if their dinner the other night was a fluke?
The door unlocked, jerking him from his thoughts, and Jax turned as Karlie pulled the door open.
“Hey, come on in.”
With a smile, he stepped inside and closed the door behind him while she went into a room to the right of the living room. Left to his own devices, he took in what he could see of her house. She had a gray couch that begged to be sat on. It was overstuffed and looked like it would cradle you while you used it. There was a matching armchair next to it. Both had colorful throw pillows.
On every flat surface, there were framed pictures. He picked one up from an end table and saw that it was Karlie with an older couple he assumed were her parents. Another one revealed her with Bailey and Harry when they were in their late teens. She had others that were either family or friends and what looked like original art on the walls.<
br />
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said as she rejoined him. She was wearing a cover-up and had a large tote on her shoulder. He wondered what she was wearing underneath as he raked his eyes over the exposed flesh.
“You have a lot of photos.” He grimaced at how lame that sounded.
Karlie glanced around and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I do. I just like to surround myself with memories.”
Jax nodded and asked, “Ready to start our road trip?”
“You bet. I hope your musical choices on this trip live up to expectations.”
“Expectations?” he asked as he brushed past her out the door.
“Yeah,” she said as she turned to lock the door. “I mean, you’re in a band. That means you better not have shitty personal taste in music.”
Jax laughed as they walked down the steps. “I can tell you that I don’t listen to shitty music.”
“Are you saying that because people have told you this or because you think that?” she sassed, and he chuckled.
“Don’t worry, your ears won’t bleed.” He held the passenger door open for her.
“Hmmm,” she said, settling into the seat, “I’ll be the judge of that.”
Jax slammed the door and rolled his eyes as he walked around to the driver’s side. He cranked the engine and Creedence Clearwater Revival blasted from the sound system. He turned it down a few notches and raised his eyebrows at her. “This shitty?”
She pursed her lips. “It’s only one song. For all I know, you’re trying to lure me into a false sense of security.”
“Jesus, woman,” Jax muttered as he pulled onto the street. “No faith.”
“You just have to prove it.”
For some reason, Jax felt like there was more to what she was saying, but he didn’t pursue that line of conversation.
“What beach are we going to?” Karlie pushed her sunglasses on her face once they pulled onto the highway.
“Surf City.”
“Oh, I love that place!”
Jax shot her a grin before turning back to focus on driving. “Awesome. I used to come with my parents every so often as a kid. I loved it. We’d hit Minnesott, Topsail, Emerald Isle, and Wrightsville too. But Surf City was always my favorite. I think it’s because the pier always had an ice cream stand on it or near it.”
Karlie laughed. It was a light sound and Jax swore he’d try to make her laugh more. “Such a guy, thinking with your stomach.”
Jax shrugged. “And? I think it’s a great thing to let lead you through life. Besides, the ice cream there is killer.”
They bickered back and forth about other things to use for making decisions, such as the brain according to Karlie, and before he knew it, he was pulling into the large gravel lot by Hot Diggity Dogs in Surf City. Jax glanced around the lot and was pleased to see they had arrived early enough that it wasn’t too crowded. That meant they should be able to get a decent spot on the beach.
While Karlie gathered her bag, Jax popped the trunk on his car and pulled out two beach chairs he had stashed in there earlier. He hadn’t planned on bringing anything but his towel, however, after talking to his mom, she said he should plan a bit more. Thus, he'd found himself at Walmart last night looking at the beach chairs, trying to pick ones that would be comfortable.
He then helped Karlie out and took her bag from her. That, his own beach towel, and chairs in hand, they slowly made their way to the beach access.
“I can help you carry something. Give me my bag,” she said, trying to grab it from him.
“Nope, don’t worry about it. I got it.”
Karlie huffed and Jax smiled. Making her huff might be his second favorite thing to do. It was so easy to rile her up. Upon reaching the sand, Jax paused and glanced at Karlie. “Anywhere in particular you want to go?”
“Not really.”
With a nod, Jax led the way through the beachgoers, sinking slightly into the sand, looking for a spot that was close enough to the access but wasn’t on top of a family or anyone else.
“Here?” he asked, pausing at an empty spot.
“As good as any.”
He dropped their things and helped her open the chairs. After draping his towel over the back of his chair, he reached behind him and pulled his t-shirt off, leaving him in just his Carolina blue swim trunks. He balled his shirt and dropped it beside his chair then stretched his arms up and smoothed his hair back, thinking he should have brought something to tie his hair up.
Karlie started coughing and he turned to her. “You okay? Do you need water?” he asked, worried about the red hue of her face.
She shook her head and sucked in breathes. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve got some water in my bag.”
She reached in and pulled out a bottle, shaking it at him before opening and taking a healthy sip.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“Yep, I’m perfect.”
“All right,” he said dubiously. “Do you have sunscreen? I forgot to grab mine.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.”
She handed him the tube and he smiled his thanks. He slathered it on and paused when he finished, realizing he couldn’t get his back. A slow grin spread across his face. This was the perfect opportunity to get her hands on him.
“Hey, think you can get my back?” he asked.
It was hard to tell through the sunglasses on her face, but it looked like Karlie’s eyes widened at his question. Her eyebrows definitely rose, though.
“Yeah, sure. Kneel in front of me.” She sat forward and scooted to the edge of her chair.
He did as she asked, presenting her with the sunscreen. She squeezed some on his back and he flinched from the cold.
“Sorry,” she whispered as she started to rub it in.
“It’s cool. I just forgot how cold it can sometimes feel.”
As her hands worked on rubbing the sunscreen onto his back, Jax found himself imagining her rubbing something else. He felt himself stir and concentrated on not letting his erection grow. Popping a tent in his swim trunks wasn’t at the top of his list of things to do, especially not when there were so many people around.
“All done!” she said.
“Thanks.” He stood and turned to face her.
“No prob. Think you could help me?” she asked with a smile.
“Sure.”
She stood and whipped her gauzy black cover-up off, tossing it into her bag. Jax almost swallowed his tongue. She was wearing a modest bikini but it didn’t matter. So many inches of her creamy flesh on display was making Jax lose the battle with his arousal. She was wearing a top that acted like a push-up bra, pressing her breasts together. The bottoms also had a higher waist than most. While she wasn’t showing an indecent amount of flesh, it was enough for him to lose the battle with his erection.
Karlie held the sunscreen out to him. “You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he choked out, clearing his throat as he took the tube from her.
She turned and he stifled a groan as her ass came into view. Though her bottoms covered everything, they cupped her just right and he could see an impression of her crack. Her ass looked so firm and begged to be touched.
Shaking himself free of those thoughts, he squirted sunscreen onto his hand and started working it into her skin. She shivered as he rubbed and he shuffled a bit, trying to readjust himself discreetly. He only hoped he was affecting her half as much as she did him. He watched the gooseflesh rise along her back, and when he finished, he asked, “Need some help on the front?”
She spun around and snatched the tube from him. “No! I got it!” she exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.
He raised a brow but didn’t say anything. He sat and watched from the corner of his eye as she rubbed more sunscreen in, trying not to focus on the gentle sway of her breasts as she rubbed vigorously.
By the time she sat back down, he had lost his battle with the lower half of his body and was clearly pitching a tent. He needed to cool off.
&nb
sp; “I’m going to hop in the water.” He stood abruptly as he spoke and cupped his hands in front of his clear arousal.
“Okay.”
He quickly walked to the lapping waves and hoped like hell no one noticed his predicament. He waded out until he couldn’t touch and dove under the waves, swimming a little before moving closer to shore and scanning it for Karlie. He found her sitting where he left her, staring right at him.
He swam for a few more minutes before getting out and walked back to where they were sitting. As he walked closer, he scraped his hair back and slicked the water off his head. He grabbed his towel and swiped it over his body, trying to get as much water and sand off himself before sitting down.
When he draped the towel over the back again, he noticed Karlie looking at him with her mouth open.
“You good?” he asked, dropping into his chair.
Her mouth snapped shut. “Yeah, I’m great.”
He snorted but didn’t call her on it.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before she asked out of the blue, “What’s with your tattoos?”
He glanced at her and she seemed sincere. More often than not, women asked him about his tats to start a conversation, not because they were actually interested in them.
“Well, June is my mom.” He pointed to the name in flowing script on his left pec. “I think the musical notes are self-explanatory.”
He then showed her his left forearm which had the phrase “deeds, not words” inked in thick, dark letters.
“You know that was the saying for suffragettes, right.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, and? It’s pretty applicable to my life.”
“How so?”
He gazed at the water as he ordered his thoughts. It was hard to explain why that phrase meant so much to him. “It’s hard to say. Words are pretty damn important, but I think deeds say more than words ever can, you know?”
She nodded. “Got any others?”
He pointed out some song lyrics he had, mainly lyrics from songs he played with his parents growing up, as well as a bouquet of different flowers.
“Flowers?” Karlie shot him a confused look.
“Yeah, remember, I told you my mom likes to garden?”
Jax (Southern Sands Book 1) Page 7