by Lee Kilraine
He handed over her dress from who knows where and they each attempted to struggle back into their clothes.
“Wait—let me just—yikes, what did I just hit?” Her elbow had slammed into something as she’d slipped the dress over her head and down.
“My windpipe,” he wheezed.
She pulled one leg into her chest, supporting herself with her arms against Paxton’s legs, attempting to swing over and onto the seat next to him. “I feel like I’m playing a game of Twister.”
“Oof. Left hand blue there, darlin’.” His voice was strained enough for her to know exactly where her left hand had landed.
“Sorry! I need to find my panties and get some fresh air.”
Paxton stretched forward, grabbing her underwear from the pocket on the back of the driver’s seat. When she looked at him, he said, “Tucked them in there for safekeeping.”
“Quick thinking.”
“Honey, if you thought I was doing any thinking at that point, you’re dead wrong. The blood drained from my brain and traveled south on a high-speed train the second the spotlight lit you up onstage. Panties on yet?”
She lifted her hips, wiggling and shimmying her panties back on. “Almost.”
“Jo, I swear to God, you keep that up and I’ll have you naked and laid out across the dashboard for round two.” Apparently he wasn’t kidding, as his breath had sped up.
“I’m just—okay. Done.” As soon as she said it, Paxton threw the side door open and helped her out with a gentle lift on her ass.
He followed right behind her, straightening up with a groan. Once he shook the cricks out, he buttoned up his shirt and tucked it into his slacks with precise, efficient motions.
Jo bit her lip, remembering just moments ago unbuttoning his shirt and touching his hard body. She would happily move on to round two, even if it meant she’d end up with an Explorer logo permanently pressed into her butt cheek. Down, Jojo. Focus. She tried to play it casual, like sex with Paxton hadn’t just given her a new, expanded experience much like a linguistic conjugation creates new derivatives.
She leaned her butt up against the car and shook the wrinkles from the skirt of her dress. “So . . . we’re talking again?”
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Okaaay. He wasn’t helping here. So maybe she needed to start. “I want to say I’m sorry. I never meant to put you in the middle of that situation with Mr. Pope. I truly didn’t.”
Paxton shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at her long enough that she was afraid he was done with her. As in, thanks for the good time in the car, but I’m out. She stared down at her sandals rather than watch him walk away. Thank God he started talking.
“No. You were right. I pressured you to get my way. I knew enough about the puppy that I shouldn’t have insisted we take him out.” His eyes brimmed with sincerity. Plus that lopsided, one-dimpled smile set off a flutter in her chest. “I was a jerk and I hope you’ll accept my apology.”
“Yes . . . you sort of really were a jerk. Apology accepted.” She stood in front of him slightly bewildered. If someone had told her a month ago she’d have hot sex and an apology—both from Paxton Cates—she’d have called them delusional.
“What I don’t get is, why you didn’t just tell me? I know you didn’t trust me in the beginning, but—”
But? Her head jerked up so her eyes could look into his.
“But later, I thought we’d been building something together these last few weeks.” His green eyes glittered at her across the warm summer night.
What? What did he think they were building? A relationship?
His head cocked. “I thought we’d begun trusting each other.”
Oh. He’d gone with the trust bomb. “We were. We are. It’s just I was focused on protecting Maggie.”
“I know Maggie.”
Right. Chloe. “Her boyfriend talked her into breaking into the shelter to rescue her dog—so I told her I’d get him if she went home.”
“Ah.”
“Look, she’s a bright girl, but she’s made a few bad choices this year. She couldn’t afford to get into any more trouble.” Jo plucked at her skirt. “Anyway, I’m sorry if it’s ruined your whole plan. The good news is, there are plenty of other women out there who would be happy to help you.”
His whole body went still and his gaze intensified on her. Walking the few feet toward her until he stood only inches away, he shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I’m stuck with you.”
Stuck with her? “Gee, thanks. You make the prospect of hanging out with me so exciting.”
“What’s not exciting about that?” His lips slid into a sexy grin and he placed his hands against the vehicle on either side of her, closing her in. “No, I mean there’s no other woman for me.”
“What?” Jo’s heart skipped a beat before it fell down somewhere around her knees. Had he just said that? “Why?”
“Because if I showed up with a new girlfriend after introducing you around, I wouldn’t look very stable or committed.”
“Oh, right.” Her gut twisted and she told herself it was from lack of food and not disappointment. “That would mess up your whole take-the-legal-world-by-storm plan.”
“You say that as if it’s a bad thing to have high goals and go after them.”
“No, it’s just so . . . single-minded. I mean, there’s more to life than a career.” Or a reputation, her inner wild woman hissed from the closet into which she’d shoved her.
“For some people, I agree. Not me, though. Not right now. I’m giving everything I have to get what I want.” He nibbled and kissed his way along her jaw, across her cheekbone, and then finally, finally, to her lips, where he loitered slow and sexy . . . persuasively. “Are you willing to stick with me and help?”
His kiss went to her head and short-circuited her brain. She lost her capacity to think straight. Surely the correct answer here was no. But his lips, hard and warm, moving against hers and blazing a trail across her skin, seemed too good to turn down. Plus, she’d given him her word. Signed a contract. She owed him to see this through. Sighing against his lips, she said the only thing she could say: “Yes.”
“No more surprises?” He stroked his hands down to her behind and pulled her up hard against him as his teeth took a soft bite at the sensitive spot under her ear. “Any other buildings you’re thinking of breaking into? Pools you’re planning on diving naked into?”
Her breath hissed sharply through her lips when his hips rolled into hers until she was pressed between the car and his hard strength. “No, no, and no.”
“Can you spare me the weekend? The bar association is having the weekend-long kickoff-the-summer fund-raiser with an all-day tailgate on Friday and then the big gala dance on Saturday night.”
“Mmhmm.” When he kissed her like that, she’d probably say yes if he asked for a kidney.
“By the way, not to get all caveman on you, but you can’t dance here again.”
“Okay. Whoa, wait.” She slipped her hands between them and pushed him away, peeling his lips from where they were nibbling along her neck. “Who says?”
“I say. Did you not notice all those men in there drooling over you?”
“Not a one. It was dark.”
“What if some other man had been hanging out here when you came out here? Things might have ended differently.”
“You’re right about that. I wouldn’t have had sex.”
“That isn’t what I mean and you know it.”
“I think it’s adorable that you care.” Jo decided she didn’t want to get into it with him, not when they were finally talking again.
“Not adorable,” he said and laid a punishing kiss on her lips.
It hurt so good.
Chapter Sixteen
“Look at your bad self,” Georgie said, not even five minutes on the road back to Climax.
“What?” Jo flipped down the visor, lighting up th
e small mirror, looking only long enough to see her still kiss-swollen lips and tangled hair before flipping it back up. “I’m a mess.”
“No. I mean you look happy. Really happy.”
“Aren’t I usually a pretty happy person?” She felt darn happy. Turned out hot sex and patching up a promising friendship had that effect.
“I used the wrong word. You look satisfied—and I’m not just talking about the sex you had in the backseat of my car.”
“Oh my God! How did you know? I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll have your car detailed.”
Georgie laughed out loud at that. “Stop. Don’t apologize, dummy. I’m talking about the dancing. And the sex.”
“Oh, yeah.” Jo smiled. She’d been happy after stepping off the stage. Making love with Paxton had turned that happiness up a few notches. “They were both good.”
“Only good?”
“No. More like amazing. It felt so wonderful being up on that stage. To perform, but also just to dance. Like getting a part of myself back.”
Something close to a growl spilled from Georgie’s throat. “Your mother should never have asked you to give up dancing in New York.”
“Well, she was scared.” Jo voiced the same reason she always did about the abrupt end of her promising dance career. “Dad too. You remember how crazy it was around my house when Darlene took off. Mom couldn’t handle losing us both.”
“She wasn’t bloody losing you.”
Uh-oh. When Georgie started cursing like a Brit, it meant she was really, truly angry. Georgie wasn’t even British; she simply believed their language expressed her level of pissed-off-ness in a way American English couldn’t.
Georgie’s hand hit the steering wheel. “It also wasn’t bloody fair. And your dad was a wanker. He should have stood up for you and told your mother no.”
“I used to think that. The older I got, the more it felt like my parents looked to me to make up for her. Like Darlene skipped class again, but oh look, Jolene has perfect attendance. Or Darlene failed three classes; thank goodness Jo got straight As.”
“Why do I hear a but coming?”
“But now I think this has been my deal—my problem all along.” She held her hand up at Georgie’s shocked face. “I think I should have learned to listen to my heart and stand up for myself.”
“Well, that’s a very mature, adult response, but let’s not forget you were a teenager when this started.” Her gaze latched on to Jo’s for an extra second to make her point. “When the Darlene shit hit the fan, the adults in your life should have managed adult responses too.”
“I should have been more like Darlene.”
“What? You mean so selfish that she did whatever she wanted no matter who she hurt?”
“No! Except... a little bit, yes. The things I wanted wouldn’t have hurt anyone, not really. My mother would have learned to handle it—but I never tried. I just always did what kept the peace. Like you said, I was the anti-Darlene.” It was like a sock to the stomach, hearing it. Admitting that the fault for this couldn’t be laid at someone else’s feet. “And that’s on me.”
“Well, I’ve been telling you that for years. Since middle school even.”
“I know.” Wrapping her arms around herself and shivering, Jo recalled the many times Georgie had prodded her to stop trying to make up for Darlene and do the things she wanted to. “I should have listened to you.”
Georgie shot her a look.
“Hey, I can start now, right? Start living the life I want instead of the one everyone expects?”
“Absolutely. Just be ready for a bit of pushback,” Georgie warned, pointing a finger at her. “People are used to good-girl Jolene. They may be a little shocked when you start tapping into that free-spirited girl you’ve had locked in your closet forever.”
She bit her lip. “You think?”
“Yes, but who cares? She’s fun, creative, and a little in your face. They’ll get used to her.” Georgie reached over, giving her a light punch on the arm. “I like her.”
“Maybe.” Jo bit her thumbnail, thinking it over. “Here’s the problem . . .”
“I thought we just solved the problem.”
“New one.” She sucked in a big breath of air and said, “I think I really like Paxton.”
Georgie arched a knowing eyebrow. “Think?”
Right. She rarely snuck one by her best friend. “Know. I really like him. And here’s the kicker: I think I always have.”
“Damn, Jo, when you have an epiphany you go for it.” She grinned. “Of course great sex helps you see the world through new eyes. So now that you and Paxton have kissed and made up, what’s the plan?”
“We’re full steam ahead with the six-month relationship.” Maybe it was a cowardly way to go about it, but she thought she might as well see if what was going on between the two of them could turn into something real. Yep. She was going to treat their relationship like the real thing and see what happened. And maybe she’d even be brave enough to tell Paxton. Eventually.
“You mean the fake one?”
“Okay, yes. But from here on out, I’m going for it. I just figured I could use this fake one as a springboard into something real.”
“So you’ve told Paxton about the new you?”
Busted. Jo looked out the window at the red taillights of a passing car. “No, but it’s not like the new me is going to go streaking down Main Street. Or . . . or . . .”
“Having sex in the backseats of cars?”
“Car. One car. I doubt we’ll repeat that anytime soon. My point is, living my true life doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be getting in trouble or calling negative attention to myself. I can still help Paxton with his goals.”
“My point is, he thinks he’s getting the Goody Two-shoes Jo, but I’m thinking that Jo is gone forever. You should talk to him.”
She knew she should. But they’d only just settled on a truce after their falling-out. Everything was too new. Too fragile. And there was that one lingering doubt.
“Unless you’re afraid the Goody Two-shoes Jolene is the one he really wants,” Georgie said.
Yep. That doubt. That was the one.
* * *
“Have you ever thought you knew someone and then suddenly they aren’t anything like you thought? At all?”
“No, I can’t say that’s happened to me before.” Kaz shrugged, nursing the bottle of homebrew in his hands. “But I’m not usually as emotional as you are.”
“Is that your way of saying I’m judgmental?”
“No, although you are, but as a lawyer that isn’t a bad thing. I’m saying unlike many of us men who sometimes have trouble expressing our emotions—you never have.”
“So you’re saying I’m like Tynan?”
“No again. Tynan shares what he’s thinking—often with no filter. You share what you’re feeling, often without fear.” Kaz stared into the crackling fire pit before turning his head to Pax. “That’s a compliment, by the way. It’s something I have to consciously work on now that I have Mira.”
Taking a long swallow from his beer, Paxton watched the sparks jump and shoot into the air above the fire while he thought over the events of the night and how it had ended. Damn. Him and Jolene. Who would have thought? Sure as hell not him. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he’d just had the best sex of his life with his sworn enemy.
“Who’d you misjudge?”
Paxton huffed out a breath of air, tilting his face up to the night sky. “Jolene Joyner.”
“Ah.”
“Ah? What the hell does that mean, ah?” Paxton and his brothers were close, but he and Kaz had always had a special bond. Twins, yes, but also they were the two nerds in the family. Because they’d had each other growing up, they’d embraced their nerd-dom. Sure they’d been bullied and picked on for it, but not as much as one would think. Not with three other brothers looking out for them.
“What do you want it to mean?” Kaz’s face
was the picture of serenity.
“Hell, I can just as well go over to Tynan’s and take his crap.” Paxton sat up, leaning his elbows on his splayed knees and frowning at Kaz. “I’m not in the mood to play grasshopper to your Master Po. Just elucidate, please.”
“You two weren’t always enemies. Think back to elementary school. Every year at Valentine’s, when Mom made us sit at the kitchen table making those homemade cards—”
Laughter barked out of Paxton’s throat at the forgotten memory. “Crap, that was painful.”
“Agree, but whose Valentine did you make first every year?” Kaz’s dark gaze drilled into him.
He actually closed his eyes and put himself back at the table, grabbing for the girl-colored construction paper and a fat crayon . . . well, damn, what do you know; Kaz was right. “Jolene’s. Every damn year.”
“Yep. And remember when we’d all walk home from school together? No matter how late Jo was, you made us wait for her. I remember that because those were the days I missed watching Bill Nye the Science Guy.”
How had he not remembered that? Although it was coming back to him so easily, it must not have been buried too deep. “Shit, are you saying I’m like Quinn and I’ve been in love with her since forever?”
“Not saying that, no. Not love. I’m saying you always liked her. Up until freshman year.”
Right. The Sadie Hawkins dance. That was when everything changed.
“For what it’s worth, I’ve always liked her,” Kaz said. He picked up the poker, stirring the dying fire to new life. “Is there trouble in fake-dating paradise?”
That had Paxton spewing out the sip of beer he’d just taken, straight into the fire, making it sizzle and hiss. How the hell had Kaz found out? Well, when in doubt, plead the fifth. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Ah.”
Paxton loved his brother, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to punch him sometimes. Like right now. “Don’t ah me again. Just fucking tell me. It’s been a long night.”
Grinning, Kaz kicked up his feet on the stone rim of the fire pit. “This is just a hunch now, but I’m guessing your fake relationship got very real. And that’s freaking you out.”
