“In, wrap around,” Maddie said, trying to find the calm. “Pull out-”
The back door opened, and all three of them swiveled to look as Jax filled the doorway. He looked like sin on a stick in faded Levi’s, a long-sleeved graphic Henley, and-there went her pulse-that damn tool belt slung low on his hips.
Izzy was at his side, alert and panting happily until she caught the tension in the room. With a soft whine, she sat on Jax’s foot. Jax set a hand on her head as his gaze went straight to Maddie. “Problem?” he asked over the booming bass.
Yep, Maddie thought, more reading his lips than actually hearing him. A big problem, actually. Because whenever she so much as looked at him, no matter what was going on around her, her body got all quivery. Some parts more than others.
“No problem, sugar,” Tara drawled, a polite smile on her face as she slapped the power button on the iPod dock, forcing a sudden quiet over all of them. “Blueberry pancakes?”
With a sound of disgust, Chloe pushed her way to the door. “They’re both nuts,” she warned Jax as she passed him. “Freaking nuts. I’m going for a ride.”
Giving up the pretense, Tara wiped her hands on a towel, her dignity somewhat ruined by the sole blueberry left in her hair. “Me, too. I need to get out.”
Maddie handed over her car keys.
“Thanks, sugar.” And then Tara was gone, too.
Still covered in a sticky, wet combo of batter and soapy water, Maddie remained seated, carefully holding her knitting so it didn’t get dirty. To her left, the water was still running in the sink, bubbles rising high. Jax came toward her in that easy, steady stride of his. The singular intent in his gaze had her faltering on the next knitting stitch, partly because she couldn’t look at him and knit at the same time. Much like how she couldn’t look at him and breathe, either.
Two big, warm hands pulled the large plastic needles and yarn out of her fingers and set them on the counter in the sole clean spot left in the whole kitchen. “Want to talk about it?”
Which-that her sisters were crazy, and she might be, too? Or that she’d been dreaming about him, nightly fantasies involving a lot of nakedness with all his good parts getting intimately acquainted with all her good parts?
“I… it’s… No,” she finally managed. “Not really.” She looked down at herself. “I need to take another shower.”
Grabbing a chair, he spun it around and straddled it directly in front of her. He gazed at the batter and water splattered on her, taking his time about it, too. “Ford and Sawyer are never going to forgive me for missing the girl-on-girl fight. Can I at least lie and say I saw a little of it? And that you guys were all wearing tiny tank tops and panties?”
A reluctant smile tore from her lips, and, given the warmth that filled his eyes at the sight of it, that’s what he’d meant to happen. “Guys are perverts,” she said.
“Mmm-hmm.” He was busy watching a glob of batter make its way down the curve of her right breast, disappearing down the front of her shirt.
Maddie swiped at it with a finger, but before she could wipe it on a napkin, Jax took her hand and, still holding eye contact, sucked it off her finger.
At the strong pull of his warm, wet tongue, she shivered.
“You taste good enough to eat,” he said, eyes darkening as he watched her nipples pebble against her T-shirt.
“Shower,” she said out loud, reminding herself. “I need to shower.”
His fingers sank into her hair, his thumb gliding softly along her jaw. “I’m good in the shower, Maddie.”
She shivered again, heat swamping her. “Do you always say everything that comes to your mind, no holding back?”
“Usually, but I’m holding back right now.”
“You are?”
He nodded with eyes so hot they scorched her skin. “If I told you what I was thinking,” he said, voice low and seductive. “You’d probably run for the hills.”
She shuddered again. Strength… “Tell me anyway.”
“Maddie-”
“Tell me.”
Leaning on the back of his chair, he was so close now that when he spoke, his lips lightly brushed hers with every word. “I want to put my hands all over you. I want to…”
Her breath caught, and she felt herself go damp. “What?”
“Touch. Kiss. Lick. Nibble. And then-”
At that moment, the sink-still running-finally overfilled, and water splashed to the floor. Jumping up, she cracked her head on Jax’s chin. Staggering back, she held her head. “Ouch!”
Jax shut off the faucet. His boots squeaked in the water on the floor as he turned back to her, a red spot already blooming on his chin.
Staring at the spot in horror, she took a step backward out of sheer instinct. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry-are you okay?”
“Your head isn’t that hard.” Calmly, he crossed the room to her, not allowing space between them. “You have two choices.” His tone was light and easy, his hands going to her hips to gently squeeze. “You can kiss it better, or you can go take your shower.”
It was as if her body took over the decision-making process from her brain, because she went up on tiptoes and pressed her lips to the spot she’d hit. He had a little stubble going, just enough to feel deliciously male beneath her lips, and she slowly inhaled against him, breathing him in.
A low groan rumbled from his chest, and his hands tightened on her, just as Tara walked back in.
She took a moment to glare at Jax, who held her gaze with an even look of his own.
“Sugar,” she finally said to Maddie, grabbing the jacket she’d forgotten off the hook by the back door. “You can either fuck him or hire him, but you shouldn’t do both. That’s the advanced class, and you’re not ready.” She walked back out, and a minute later they heard the car start up.
Maddie let out a long, shaky breath. Tara was usually the voice of reason, but this decision was not majority rules. This decision was hers alone.
Jax was still in her space, quiet, watchful.
Sexy as hell.
Patient.
He wanted her. His body was tight with the wanting, but it was her decision.
Alex had made all the decisions. Maybe not in the beginning, but somewhere along the way with him she’d lost herself. She’d let it happen. That was another thing that was going to change. If she wanted something, she was going to get it. If she wanted someone, she was going to take him.
She wanted Jax. She wanted the oblivion, she wanted to feel good, she wanted…
To be wanted. And a little bit of ravishing and cherishing would be good. Love would be better, but as Tara had noted, she wasn’t ready for that. She was, however, ready for this, this one time. And even if she wasn’t, it didn’t matter. She wanted him.
Grabbing his hand, she pulled him with her out of the kitchen. Allowing it, he brushed his big, hard body up against her back.
In the small bathroom, she dug through Chloe’s bathroom bag on the counter and came up with a condom, which she handed to Jax, who hit the lock on the door.
She started the shower, then reached for the hem of her shirt. He took over, slowly pulling it off, tossing it to the floor. Then he repeated the gesture with his own shirt.
She found the tattoos, which made her weak in the knees. A tribal band around a biceps, another down one side from the top of his ribs to his oblique muscle.
She wanted to lick them.
“Maddie.”
She couldn’t stop staring at him, all hard and warm and delineated with strength. “I don’t want to talk,” she said.
Amusement crowded for space with the hunger in his gaze. “What do you want?”
“You. Now. Fast. Maybe hard, too.”
“You got me. But not fast, not hard.” He ran a long finger over the front hook of her bra. “Not our first time.”
“Our only time,” she corrected.