He’d discovered it was a lot more fun.
“If all goes well between us on this trip, I may well do that when we return,” Ellen replied serenely.
“May well…” Mack swivelled in his seat to stare at her, his face alight. “No shit?”
“No…um—”
“Fooling, I meant to say.”
She sputtered a laugh. “Sure, you did. And yes. No fooling. We’ll see how well we come through three weeks of intensive travel together. If we survive that, we can probably survive anything life throws at us.”
“Piece of cake. Hell, we’ve already survived Jax. Everything after that is gravy.”
Okay, Jax thought benevolently, so the old bastard was having as much fun as he was getting his licks in. Treena said Mack would come around, but he wasn’t holding his breath. Still, he sort of hoped so, because he admired the guy for the way he looked out for Treena and Carly. And you had to empathize with anyone who loved his woman as desperately as Mack loved Ellen. Jax knew what that was all about.
“And what is it with you two, anyway?” Mack demanded. “You’ve been shacked up now for three weeks. You gonna get hitched or are you just going to keep living in sin?”
“I vote for sin,” he replied coolly, just to see the other man’s eyes flare.
Treena reached across the table and patted Mack’s hand. “Don’t listen to him. Jax has been pushing for marriage daily. I’m the one who wants to give it a month or two before we rush into anything.” She grinned at Ellen. “You understand what I’m saying, right?”
“Yes, I do, darling. It’s men who are impatient, always wanting everything tied up nice and legal with big red satin ribbons.”
“Exactly. What happened to the good old days when they only wanted one thing?”
“What the hell is he doing here?”
Carly’s voice only went that antagonistic over one person and sure enough, following her hostile gaze he saw Wolfgang Jones, standing motionless and unsmiling, as he listened to two people arguing at one of the roulette tables.
“Uh, he works here, Carly,” Treena said carefully.
“Well, I don’t like it,” the blonde replied flatly.
“Hey, there’s a big surprise. Far as I can tell, you don’t like him breathing the same air you do.”
Carly shrugged. “And your point would be? For God’s sake, look at that hair. Who does he think he is, a punk rocker?”
Jax choked, but the rest of the table went dead silent, and Carly pulled her attention away from the big, lanky blonde across the room to look at them.
“What?”
When Treena, Mack and Ellen didn’t say a word, Carly turned demanding eyes on Jax. He shrugged. “I hate to break this to you, babe, but you and Jones are sporting the exact same haircut.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” She ran her palm over her own spiky blond hair. “We are not.”
“You could be twins.”
She looked to the rest of them to dispute him. “Somebody tell Jax he’s full of shit.”
“Oh man, I can’t tell you how much it pains me not to jump on that bandwagon,” Mack muttered.
“I’m afraid he’s right, darling,” Ellen said.” Your hair is a little longer and it’s feathery around your face where Mr. Jones’s is more blunt-cut. But basically it’s the same look.”
“Oh, my gawd.” Carly patted both hands all around her hair. Then her chin came up. “Well, that does it. I’m growing mine out.”
“So, Jax.” Mack cleared his throat. “When are you gonna quit living off Treena and get your butt back to work?”
“Dunno. She’s happy to still be employed, and I’m enjoying this life of leisure.” He bared his teeth at the older man but it was just for drill; he simply couldn’t take this newest shot personally. Mack had built a solid little family of friends with the women at this table, and the guy was merely diverting attention away from Carly to give her a second to recoup.
Forearms braced on the table, Jax leaned over his hands, which were loosely cupped around his beer bottle. “Actually, there’s a tournament coming up in L.A., so I might commute between here and there for it. Or maybe I’ll stay there the nights Treena works and come home on her days off. We haven’t really worked out the details yet.”
She looped her arm through his and leaned into him, hugging his biceps to the side of her breast. “Can I tell them our news?”
He got lost looking into her excited face for a second, then shook his head to clear it. “Sure.”
She grinned at her friends. “Jax is going to take me to the tournament in Monte Carlo in November if I can get the time off work. How smokin’ is that?”
Mack gave her a tender smile, and Jax realized his popularity index with the older man had just shot up for making her so happy. “Very cool news, indeed,” Mack said, and Ellen, beaming, agreed.
Carly, on the other side of Treena, butted shoulders with her friend. “Sounds like your lifelong dream come true to me,” she said.
“I know.”
The past three weeks had been the best of Jax’s life. Even his and Treena’s differing opinions regarding his father couldn’t dim his happiness. They were slowly finding their way to a middle ground where they could discuss their opposing views without rancor. So far she’d abandoned the idea that Big Jim could do no wrong; he’d retreated from his position that his dad could do no right. Someday he might even be able to appreciate his father for the man she had known. And Treena’s repetitive assertion that his father had been proud of him soothed the deep ache he’d carried inside of him for far too many years.
Then there was the “family” stuff. It was all new to Jax, but he liked it. He liked the way the three women and Mack had built a tight little unit that supported and looked out for its members. Admired the way they celebrated each other’s successes and were quick to be there with consolation when one of them had a setback.
And he really liked that he was part of it now. Part of their lives, in on the minutiae that formed their daily existence. He belonged.
Knowing it drenched him in so much pleasure it was embarrassing.
Unmanly.
But still…
He turned his head and pressed his lips to the top of Treena’s head in a fierce kiss.
She smiled at him.
“Thanks, honey,” he said huskily and bent his head to give her a quick kiss on the lips.
“You’re welcome,” she replied and caught the back of his head to hold him in place while she returned the kiss with one that lingered just a shade longer than his had done. When she pulled back, she cupped his face in her hands and looked into his eyes, her own full of love. Then she said with utter seriousness, “I’m not sure what for, precisely. But Jax, my love, you are welcome.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5612-9
SKINTIGHT
Copyright © 2005 by Susan Andersen
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