by Lucy Score
“Morning,” Franklin greeted him from the center of the chaos.
“Morning. I thought you’d take a few hours off this morning to recover from the festivities last night.” Not only had he walked Gia down the aisle, but Franklin also sang a convincing Sinatra tune with Fran’s band.
“I’ve been thrown out of my own house,” he lamented with a chuckle, signing the delivery slip. “Eva and Emma commandeered Phoebe and the kids.”
“Poor Evan,” Jax said, thinking of Gia’s twelve-year-old son trapped in a house full of women. “I’ll have Beckett swing by and pick him up before he comes in this afternoon.”
“My grandson will be eternally grateful.”
“Yeah, especially if I let him hang out with Joey for a while today,” Jax said, whipping out his phone and firing off a quick text to Beckett.
Franklin chuckled. “He’s got good taste. Seems like you do, too.”
“All of us Pierce men do,” Jax said evasively.
“Do what?” his older brother Carter said strolling through the downstairs door.
“Have good taste in women,” Franklin grinned.
Carter lit up as he always did at the thought of his wife. “You know, I seem to recall Jax and Joey disappearing from the reception right around the same time,” he said stroking his beard.
Franklin’s eyes sparkled. “That’s right. The photographer was looking for you two for the countdown to midnight.”
Jax looked at his feet. He sure as hell wasn’t about to give his family any ammunition over him and Joey, not when he finally felt like he had a shot.
“What are you doing here so early?” Jax asked Carter, ignoring his brother and Franklin’s speculation. “Shouldn’t you be hovering over Summer for launch day?”
Carter shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “She kicked me out. Said I was driving her nuts. She’s being eerily calm.”
The brothers knew from experience that a calm Summer was a dangerous Summer. It meant she was burying all her stress and pretending everything was just fine. Jax decided then and there that he’d swing by Summer’s office a little later in the morning to see for himself how close to the deep end his sister-in-law was.
“We still on for the celebratory dinner tonight?” he asked Carter.
“Yeah. I was thinking maybe we should have it here? Kind of a family-only grand opening.”
Jax nodded. “I like it.”
* * *
After helping with the feeding and turning out the horses, Joey was feeling marginally better. Not good enough to tackle the thirty pounds of paperwork that had piled up while she helped Gia and Summer wrangle wedding plans—did anyone really care what color the napkins were on the damn table? You were just going to smear food on them anyway. So as long as storm cloud gray absorbed cake the same way pewter did Joey couldn’t understand the fuss.
She decided to pay Summer a visit to see how the launch was going. Joey found her friend in her office on the second floor of the farm’s smaller barn. Clad in leggings and a thick sweater, she was obsessively hitting refresh on her screen.
“Load, damn you!” Summer yanked her blonde hair back into a low ponytail with a frown.
“I was going to ask how the launch is going, but judging from your angry face, it sucks and you’re going to have to find a day job.”
Summer snorted. “I’m just trying to look at the web traffic stats and the idiotic, moronic, freakishly perverse page won’t load.”
“I’m glad to see you’re handling stress so well during your pregnancy,” Joey quipped.
Summer shoved back in her chair and took a deep breath. “Fine. We’ll try patience and see where that gets us. Now, distract me from my obsession.”
“You can take me to pick up my truck this afternoon,” Joey offered.
Summer came out of her chair awfully fast for a woman nearly six months pregnant with twins. “Did you go home with someone? Oh, my God! Did you go home with Jax?” She paused and Joey could see her wheels turning. “Wait, Jax was home last night. Did you go home with someone who isn’t Jax?”
Joey rolled her eyes at the interrogation. Summer was famous for weaseling information out of reluctant people. “Jax drove me home after I got slightly shit-faced.”
“Damn it. I was hoping we could all exchange hot sex stories from last night.”
“Don’t rub it in,” Joey sighed. It had been too long since she had a hot sex story to share.
“I wondered where you disappeared to. Did he at least make a move on you?” Summer asked.
The dredges of her hangover came racing back and she dropped down into one of the vibrant floral print chairs in front of Summer’s desk. “There was a move,” she confessed. “But Jax didn’t make it.”
“What?” Summer shrieked.
A disheveled red blur dashed through the door. “There’s screaming! What did I miss? What’s the traffic look like?” Gia demanded.
Joey and Summer blinked. Gia’s hair was falling out of the sloppy knot she’d shoved it into. She was wearing pajama bottoms and one of Beckett’s law school sweatshirts. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright.
“Jesus, I can almost smell the sex on you,” Joey groaned.
“My husband is insatiable,” Gia grinned wickedly. She took the seat next to Joey. “Now fill me in.”
“Well the page with the site stats won’t load and Joey here went home with Jax last night after she made a move on him.”
“Have you tried contacting tech supp—” Gia’s head swiveled so fast in Joey’s direction that Joey was surprised she didn’t hear a snap.
“You and Jax? On my wedding night?” Gia’s slim hands fluttered. “This is the best, most amazing—”
“Hold your horses,” Joey cut her off before Gia could start levitating with joy. “I had too much to drink.”
“And?” Summer prompted.
“And I kissed him.”
“Where and where?” Summer demanded resting her chin in her hands.
“Don’t you have some numbers to freak out over?” Joey asked her.
“Nice try. Now answer the questions.”
“Yeah, did you get to see his meat stick?” Gia jumped in.
Joey’s jaw dropped. “Married to Beckett for five seconds and look what happens,” she said, ignoring the fact that she’d asked Gia that very question about Beckett early on in their relationship. “You used to be so polite and reserved. Now you’re shoving your nose in places it doesn’t belong.”
“I’m a Mooner now,” Gia reminded her. “Nosiness is a town ordinance here.”
“Joey, quit stalling,” Summer ordered.
“I should have kept my big mouth shut,” Joey lamented.
“You mean, of course, when you kissed Jax? Did you use too much tongue?” Gia teased.
“These questions and this hangover are making me hate you two. I need to make some new friends.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. After you spill you can start auditioning new BFFs.” Summer waved away her threat.
Joey let out a tortured sigh. “Fine. I lured him outside and I kissed him. Happy now?”
“Yes!” Gia crowed.
“Nope.”
Joey glared at Summer.
“You are shockingly light on details,” her friend said. “When you say lured…”
Joey reluctantly recited a high-level overview of the kiss.
“Wow,” Gia said, fanning herself when Joey had finished. “Did your underwear melt off at that point?”
“Almost. But it would have unmelted immediately after he got done turning me down.”
“He turned you down?” Gia and Summer shouted the question together and Joey wondered if there was a surgery for reinserting eyeballs after they catapulted out of their sockets.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Summer said it fast, holding up a finger.
“Jackson Pierce turned you,” Gia waved a hand in front of Joey’s face and chest, “down?”
“Yep.”
“That son of a bitch,” Summer muttered, rubbing her rounded belly.
“Thank you!” Joey jumped out of her chair and started to pace. “Exactly! He just waltzes out of my life after promising me a future and then he has the nerve to show up here and lay one on me like I should be happy about it?” She was in full-on rant mode now.
“And then he gets in my face for six months. Six months! Hinting and flirting and looking at me like he wants to take a bite out of me. And then when I offer him a night of no-strings fun, he’s all Mr. Thanks But No Thanks?”
“I believe what I actually said was that I’d take a rain check.”
Joey froze mid-pace. Judging from the expressions on Summer and Gia’s faces, the amused tone from the door belonged to Mr. Thanks But No Thanks himself. She whirled around. Sure enough, Jax was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, enjoying the show. He shoved away from the door and crossed to her.
“You were drunk,” he said when they were toe-to-toe. “Phoebe Pierce didn’t raise boys who would take advantage of that. And April Greer didn’t raise girls who would threaten to go get what they wanted from someone else when they didn’t get their way.” Those gray eyes were anything but icy now.
Joey crossed her arms and set her jaw to ward off the shame. Summer and Gia whistled innocently and avoided eye contact.
“Let me make one thing clear,” Jax said, slipping a hand behind her neck. His voice dropped to a low, commanding whisper. “When it does happen. When I’m touching you. I want you to be completely present, stone sober. Because there’s nothing that’s going to come between us. And there will be no regrets.”
She fought him, but Jax used the hand gripping her neck to drag her in for a hard kiss on the mouth.
He pulled back and grinned. She stomped on his foot. “Stop doing that!”
He released her and turned his attention to her friends. Jax threw an arm around Gia’s shoulders. “Welcome to the family, sis.”
Gia grinned up at him, totally falling for his Pierce charm. Joey rolled her eyes. Amateur.
“And as for you,” Jax said, pointing at Summer. “I know what you’re up to.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Summer asked innocently.
“You’re freaked out about this launch, worrying about how it’s gonna go and what it’s gonna mean. So you kick Carter out so he doesn’t worry about you worrying and then you try to drag your friends in here as distractions.”
Summer’s pretty face was working its way into a frown.
“Don’t even try it,” Jax warned. “You didn’t fool Carter either. He’s just legally required to tip-toe around you.”
Gia snickered.
“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at the site traffic so I can report back to my brother before he paces a trench in our nice new floors at the brewery.”
Summer sighed. “The page wasn’t loading.”
“Well, try it again,” Jax ordered, leaving no room for discussion.
“I see all Pierce men inherited the bossy pants gene,” Gia said, from the safety of the sidelines.
Joey smirked. That was certainly true. The funny thing was, the brothers didn’t get it from their father. The brothers’ unwavering loyalty, their love of land and family, that was John’s influence. But their tenacity and hard-headedness was all Phoebe.
Summer punched a few keys and quiet descended on the room.
“It’s loading,” she murmured, squinting at the screen.
Joey flopped back down in the chair and tapped her fingers on her knees. She didn’t make time for things like stats and technology. The traffic she worried about was the four-legged kind as it trotted around the indoor riding ring. But she knew this launch was important to Summer and that made it important to her.
Summer’s eyebrows skyrocketed up.
“Well?” Joey demanded, leaning forward.
A sound like a beach ball deflating emanated from behind the monitors.
Gia’s fingers dug into Joey’s arm.
“Twenty-three thousand.”
“What?” Gia’s voice was an octave higher than usual.
Summer was frozen halfway out of her chair. “Twenty-three thousand visitors.”
“What?” Gia was shrieking now.
“If you get any louder, I’m going to lose an ear drum,” Joey warned her.
“Twenty-three thousand visitors and its only eleven!” Summer was all the way out of her chair now and yelling. She came around the desk and there was more yelling and grabbing and some jumping.
“Are you allowed to bounce? Won’t the babies fall out?” Joey asked, grabbing Summer’s shoulder to keep her grounded. Carter and Beckett burst in. “What the hell, Jax?” Carter yelled over the noise and made a grab for Summer. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Summer threw herself into her husband’s arms. “Twenty-three thousand, Carter!”
“Don’t let her start jumping again,” Joey warned him.
Beckett, wearing sweatpants and a big, fat smile, pulled Gia in to him. He tucked her head under his chin and held tight. It was such an intimate moment that Joey had to look away.
Carter was still searching the room for a threat. “Twenty-three thousand what, honey?” He brushed her hair back from her face.
“That’s how many people have been to the site so far today. We were hoping for maybe fifteen thousand all day.”
“Holy shit!”
There was more jumping and yelling and even Joey bounced a little in her riding boots. She snuck a glance at Jax and found him watching her. Summer grabbed for Joey and Gia, pulling them in for a hug before dragging the brothers in.
“We’re really doing this, guys.”
Carter dropped a sweet kiss on the top of her head and closed his eyes in the bliss of pride and love.
3
Cold and a little cranky, Joey dragged her boots off and left them on the porch. She pushed her front door open and dropped down in front of the fireplace in the living room. With the push of a button, the gas fire wooshed to life. She leaned in, determined to absorb every degree of heat the flames threw off.
January in Blue Moon meant long, frigid days. The barn and indoor riding ring were warm enough, but she’d spent the last hour and a half fixing fences in the northern pasture. The winter wind had meticulously picked apart her defensive thermal layers until her ass was officially frozen.
She glanced up at the clock on the mantel. If she wanted to make it to the brewery’s grand opening tonight, she was going to have to drag her frozen ass away from this very cozy fire and into a hot shower upstairs. At least she was a few days removed from her New Year’s Eve hangover, so the thought of a beer didn’t make her want to vomit.
She’d begged off from the Pierce family dinner celebrating Summer’s magazine launch, but she knew there’d be no missing the brewery opening. The Pierces were meeting at 4:30 for a private toast. She was going to have to choose between washing her hair and shaving her legs. She was just trying to talk herself into prying her ass off the floor when her cellphone rang.
Mom.
The familiar wave of guilt, as comfortable as an old pair of shoes settled over her. She heaved a heavy sigh. Joey had been busy or ignored the last two calls and if she dodged again, she’d have her parents showing up on her doorstep in a panic.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Well thank God.” Her mother’s voice filled with relief. “Your father and I were getting worried.”
“Everything’s fine. I’m fine,” Joey said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her tone. Ever since the accident, they’d been overly protective, easily concerned. Thank God for her sister’s kids. Otherwise April and Forrest Greer never would have moved away from Blue Moon. When she’d waved off that moving van two years ago, it was the first deep breath she’d been able to take in Blue Moon since before the accident.
She’d spent every day since the hospital trying to distance herself from the pain and the pity.
Sure, in the ensuing years, she’d had friends—well, acquaintances—and there had been other men, carefully selected so as not to puncture her shiny new armor. But she’d spent her time in college and since building a private, independent life. She made the decisions, and she was responsible for the outcomes. It was a quiet existence, but that’s how she wanted it.
“How was Beckett’s wedding?” Her mother was asking, but she plowed on ahead without giving Joey the chance to answer. “Your father was so disappointed you couldn’t spend New Year’s Day with us.”
“Tell him I’m sorry I missed the festivities,” Joey said, rolling with the guilt trip. Her mother always played the “your father” card. That relationship had been strained years ago when Joey accepted Carter’s job offer. They had never quite recovered. In Forrest’s hardheaded mind, his daughter working for Jax’s family was Joey choosing the Pierces over her own blood. He’d spent every interaction since trying to convince her to move on.
“How is Dad?” Joey asked.
“Oh, you know your father,” her mom said airily. “Are you seeing anyone?”
Joey leaned over the island and put her forehead in her hand. “No, Mom.”
“I just wanted to check. Jax has been back for a while now. And I didn’t know if you two—”
“I’m not seeing Jax. I’m not seeing anyone, Mom. I don’t have much time for a social life these days.”
“Those Pierces work you too hard. They take advantage of your work ethic,” a deep voice bellowed from the background.
“Hi, Dad,” Joey said, cursing her parents’ use of speakerphone.
“Oh, Forrest. Don’t start picking,” her mother sighed.
“All I’m saying is you could have your pick of jobs if you’d be willing to leave Blue Moon. Hugh’s son works for the place that owns the horse that came in second in the Preakness last year. What was his name?”
“Joel?”
“No, not the son. The horse.”
“Sunday Squall.”
“That’s the one.”
April ignored their conversation and plowed ahead with her own. “So listen, sweetie, since you missed Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day with us …”
