by Lucy Score
Jax dragged her back a few steps. “What did you do?” Joey hissed at him.
The stamping and snorting escalated from the front stall in the trailer. Joey heard a well-placed kick strike the wall and wondered if there was anything left of the little driver.
But a moment later, she saw spectacular smoky black flank grudgingly emerge at the top of the ramp. A silky black tail swished in irritation.
He was huge. And pissed.
Sixteen hands at least and all lean muscle and attitude. He picked his way down the ramp with a delicacy that belied his twelve hundred pounds. The second all four feet were on the ground, he tried to rear up. The driver kept his head and his grip on the bridle, expertly wrangling the beast.
The stallion tossed his head and pawed at the ground.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re a big deal. We know,” he said, swatting at the horse’s nose when he tried to take a bite out of his shoulder.
He certainly was a big bastard. A big, beautiful bastard. Joey was already in love.
But damn it. There was a budget. A plan. Maybe a decade down the road they’d be able to invest in a horse like this. Not now. Not with Jax’s bank account.
“Meet your stud. This is Apollo,” Jax said, stepping in to take the lead from the driver. Testing, the horse started to rear, but Jax stood his ground and had the stallion chomping apple slices out of his hand in thirty seconds flat.
“Apollo, huh?” Joey said approaching the horse. Brown eyes followed her and he tossed his head when she reached up to stroke his neck.
“As in ‘Apologies,’” Jax said with a wink.
“I’m going to murder you, Ace,” she told him succinctly.
Phoebe was too busy cooing over Calypso to hear Joey threaten her son’s life.
It was cruel, taking over her dream, shoving it along. Seven figures of horseflesh stood before her and he called it an apology. That was a hell of an investment to make for an ‘I’m sorry.’
She took the lead rope from Jax, let Apollo smell her. He stamped once and then nudged her with his nose, nibbling at the sleeve of her jacket.
God, he was spectacular.
She wouldn’t accept. Couldn’t accept. No matter how much she wanted them. And oh, did she want them. But it was too much, too outrageous. And it put her in too vulnerable a position. She wasn’t going to have Jax fund her dreams.
The horse nudged her again, this time in the pocket with carrots. She fished out a carrot and held it, palm flat. Apollo nosed her palm delicately. But rather than take the treat, he swung his head up aiming instead to take a chunk out of her shoulder. She blocked him easily.
“You are a bastard, aren’t you?” she whispered to him.
His big, black head lifted as if in agreement before swooping in to take the carrot.
She shook her head. “Put them back on the trailer.”
“Don’t be stubborn,” Jax warned.
“You think I’d actually accept a huge chunk of your bank account in the form of horseflesh?”
“If you don’t, you’re a stubborn idiot,” he said mildly.
“Starting to piss me off.”
“Back at ya, baby. Would you really turn these two away just to spite me?”
This wasn’t the plan. She was going to start this on her own. From scratch. Small, selective. Build slowly to establish a reputation for quality. The program would be her baby.
And now Jax had his fingerprints all over it. She didn’t need him, or his flashy gifts. She felt her temper kick into a rolling boil.
“I’m not accepting them,” she snapped.
Jax handed over Apollo’s lead to Carter. “Get them bedded down,” he told his brother. “I’ll handle her.”
“The hell you will!” Joey thought she caught the glimpse of Phoebe beaming at them like an idiot as Jax dragged her inside the stable and into her cramped office. He kicked the door closed behind him and crossed his arms, ready for the fight.
“Let’s have it.”
Happy to oblige, Joey launched into the argument. “You can’t just come in here and run things,” she said stalking back and forth keeping the shabby metal desk between them.
“Who says I’m trying to run things?”
But she was too wound up to converse. “You’re either trying to manipulate me into sleeping with you, or you’re trying to weasel control away from me.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say, Joey. And I’ve known you since you were a kid.” He was fired up now. “You forget that I know you. That means I know there is nothing under the sun that a man could buy you to make you feel obligated to fall into bed with him.”
He had her there.
“So you bought them to run things and just generally drive me crazy?”
“They’re in your name, Joey. You own them.”
She slammed a hand down on her desk. “Bullshit. I didn’t pay for them.”
He shrugged. “It’s your name on the bill of sale.”
Joey yanked off her wool cap and threw it against the wall. No. No. No. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.
“You were pissed because you thought they were mine. Now you’re pissed because they’re yours. Who was going to buy them in your plan?”
Carter. Well, the farm. The farm of which Jax was one-third owner.
She didn’t answer him.
“This gives you more control, Joey. Take it.”
She watched through the glass as Carter led Apollo to an empty stall. The stallion put up quite the fuss as he pranced past. Why wasn’t anyone listening to her?
“I can’t accept them,” she said firmly.
“Why the hell not?”
Because her dreams of independence, of success, would be funded by the man who abandoned her. Her success would be his. Just another string binding them together.
“Because, Jax, normal businesswomen don’t go around accepting gifts like this!” She shoved her hands into her hair just to give them something to do besides strangling him.
“Yes. They do. It’s called an investment and that’s what I’m doing. I’m investing in you.” He snagged her hand and dragged her out from behind the desk. “I believe in you. I believe in your plans. I believe in your ability to get shit done.”
He pulled her closer even as she fought him.
“This gives you total control. You deserve it and you’ll see that as soon as you get this hissy fit out of your system.”
“Hissy fit?” she gasped.
“I keep expecting you to bite me like Apollo. Two peas in a pod,” Jax smirked.
She prodded him in the chest. “I don’t want you to be tied up in my goals.”
His smile faltered. “I know you don’t, Jojo. And I’m hoping that someday you’re going to let me get tied up with you in every way imaginable. But this isn’t just about you. Ask yourself what these two are going to mean to the farm. We almost lost this place after Dad died.”
Joey’s eyes widened. She’d known there was trouble. Knew there was a rough patch after John’s death, but she hadn’t know how close it was.
“If you do what I know damn well you’re capable of doing, you’ll be putting the lean years behind us for good. You’ll ensure the future of this farm for the next generation, maybe more. Carter and Summer’s kids. Evan and Aurora. But we can only do this with you.”
She ran her tongue around her teeth. He was going for the jugular. Damn it! Was she going soft in the head? He was starting to make sense.
“It’s not just about you. Hell yes, I want to be tied to you in every way I can be and I want to see every dream of yours come true, but I also want what’s best for this place, for our family—because they’re as much yours as they are mine—and it just so happens that this works out for everyone. But it doesn’t work without you. I need you. We need you.”
She could have pushed him one more time, but his voice had thickened with emotion. With love for this place, for family, for her.
; Still she balked. He stepped in on her, crowding her against the desk.
“Uh-uh. No way!” She slapped a hand to his chest. “Do not kiss me right now.”
His slow grin thawed her edges despite her resistance.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s not how you close a business deal.”
He framed her face with his big hands. “Are you closing this deal?”
Grudgingly, Joey shoved her hand between them, held it out. She waited until he let go of her face and took her hand in his.
“I’m paying you back. No matter how long it takes.”
“Whatever,” he said flippantly. “Can I kiss you now?”
“No! Maybe later…shut up.”
Carter saved her from doing something stupid by poking his head in. “My turn?” he asked.
Jax squeezed her hand, his grip strong and firm. “She’s all yours. For now.”
As soon as he released her, Joey swiped her hand over the seat of her jeans to disrupt the tingles firing through her palm.
Jax slapped his brother on the shoulder and headed in the direction of the stable’s new tenants.
“You got a minute?” Carter asked, sinking into the scarred metal chair in front of her desk.
Joey returned to the desk chair and flopped down. “This feels oddly official.”
Carter propped his work boots up on the corner of the desk. “Better?”
Joey kicked back in her chair, her feet joined his on the battered top. “Much.”
“I have a proposition for you,” Carter began.
“I’m not sleeping with you either,” Joey quipped.
Carter looked pained.
“Sorry, couldn’t help it,” Joey smirked and reached for the dredges of her cold coffee.
“Funny. We want to make you a partner.”
The coffee lodged in her throat like a brick before shooting out of her facial orifices.
She was still gasping when Carter handed her a paper towel.
“What did you say?” Joey choked out, pressing the towel to her face.
Carter moved the coffee mug out of her reach. “We’ve decided to make you a partner in the stables.”
“I’m…not sure you’re speaking English. Or if I’m awake. Or having a stroke. This is a family farm, Carter.”
“You’re family. Always have been, always will be. Regardless of who you are or aren’t sleeping with.”
Joey slapped a hand to her forehead. This had Jax’s fingerprints all over it.
“Before you say it, this was my idea,” Carter said, reading her like a billboard.
She closed her mouth with a snap.
“I pitched it, my brothers were on board.”
“Simple as that?” Joey asked.
Carter nodded. “Simple as that. You want it?”
She wanted it more than the box of candied bacon she’d squirreled away in the bottom desk drawer. Joey took a slow breath, let it out. “That depends. You swear on the lives of your twins that Jax didn’t put you up to this? Because if you lie, you’ll be punished with hellion children.”
“It’s me and Summer, we can only create hellion children,” Carter cracked.
“Har har. Swear?”
“Swear. But Jax is obviously in favor of it. He told me it was ‘about fucking time’ and then went horse shopping.”
Her father’s words chose that moment to cycle through her head. You’ll never be anything to them…
But she was. She was a solid, fucking investment, a friend. She was family. She had a bright future. Here, with the Pierces in her corner and she in theirs.
“Okay.”
Carter grinned. In it she saw the likeness of John, of Jax. Men she had loved. She couldn’t predict how this would go, but it was worth the risk.
“Now let’s talk compensation.”
9
That evening, Joey found herself on Gia and Beckett’s wide front porch, clutching a bag of fresh applesauce muffins and Waffles’ leash. She felt like an idiot.
But this was what you did with good news when you had friends. You shared it over baked goods and coffee.
Joey stabbed the doorbell with her finger and listened as little feet and paws pounded toward the front door. Giggles and barks met her when the door swung open.
Diesel, the floppy, fluffy puppy tripped over his fat feet in his bid to sniff Waffles’ butt. Aurora, looking like a five-year-old version of her mother, danced in place on the threshold.
“Hi Waffles! Hi Jo!” She was wearing orange and pink leggings and a teal hooded fleece with cookie crumbs smeared all over it.
“Hey, Roar,” Joey said in greeting. “Your mom around?”
“She’s in da kitchen wiv Bucket. Dere puttin’ a hole in da door.”
Of course they were. In Joey’s opinion, marriage made people do weird things. She sighed and stepped inside, bringing both dogs with her, and shrugging out of her fitted down jacket.
Diesel and Waffles continued to play, weaving in and out of her feet, while she shucked off her boots.
“Yeah? Well, maybe next time you should consult me before you go and add two members to our family.” Gia’s voice carried as she shoved open the kitchen door and marched down the hallway toward her. “Don’t even think about it, Diesel!” She may have been dressed in cozy leggings with hearts all over them, but there was steel in her voice. Gia’s command was delivered with a stern point of the finger at the puppy that had one of the boots Joey just discarded in his mouth.
The puppy dropped the boot and flopped over on his back, tail wagging. Gia rolled her eyes and rubbed the fat little belly. “You need to behave yourself,” she said sternly. “Or I’ll send you to Puppy Siberia.” Diesel thumped his tail, immune to the threat.
“Hi,” Gia said, finally shifting her focus to Joey. She gave her a hug before reaching down to scratch Waffles behind the ears. “See? This is what a good boy looks like,” she crooned. “I bet you don’t pee all over your mama’s yoga clothes, do you?”
Joey wisely hid her grin and let Gia usher her into the parlor where a fire crackled cheerfully in the hearth. Here she could see the melding of Beckett’s traditional tastes and Gia’s eclectic style.
The room itself was an eyebrow raiser with its high ceilings and ornate woodwork. Thick carved moldings and wainscoting in a sedate navy were complimented by shimmering gold and silver accents that picked up the tones in the fleur de lis wallpaper.
Kitschy and antique finishes topped tables and filled shelves. Two overstuffed tangerine floor pillows occupied the space between the fireplace and the low, square coffee table.
Candles flickered golden in a trio of cracked glass holders on the mantel already crowded by family photos. Gia and Beckett on their wedding day. The kids with Franklin and Phoebe at Christmas.
A bluesy song poured from a docking station tucked between leather bound volumes and trashy romance paperbacks on the built-ins flanking the fireplace. Joey made a mental note to browse Gia’s library to see if they could make any trades.
“Nice,” Joey said, handing over the muffins.
“Thanks.” Gia surveyed the room with pride. “This is my sanctuary. No kids, no pets, no Beckett, unless specifically invited.” Aurora and Diesel chose that moment to scramble in. The little girl supermanned onto a footstool while the puppy attacked the fringe on the cream colored throw tossed over the arm of the sofa.
“Uh-uh,” Gia said. “You take your furry friend here and go bother Beckett in the kitchen.”
“But, Mama!” Aurora’s eyes were wide with the pain of rejection. “I want hot chocolate!”
“If you stop the whining this second and promise to take Diesel outside to do his business before your brother comes home, you can have hot chocolate.”
“Yay!” Aurora jumped up, fueled by enthusiasm and the promise of liquid sugar.
“In the kitchen,” Gia finished. She kept her expression stern while her daughter’s shoulders slumped.
&
nbsp; “Deal or no deal?” Gia asked.
Aurora sighed pitifully. “Deal,” she pouted.
“Good. Now go take your four-legged monster to see Beckett.”
“C’mon, Diesel,” Aurora said, hefting the roly puppy in her little arms.
Waffles, sensing a possible eviction, curled up quietly next to the fire.
“Don’t give the puppy any hot chocolate,” Gia called after her.
“Awh.”
Gia yanked the pocket doors closed. “You and I will be enjoying adult hot chocolate laced with booze,” she announced.
“Are you sure tonight is a good time for you?” Joey asked, skeptically.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Aurora said something about a hole in the door and you seem a little insane.”
“The hole is for the cat door so poor Tripod can escape to the basement when Diesel torments him too much. The insanity is just a side effect of raising children and being married,” she grinned, looking much happier than her words suggested.
The doorbell rang. “That should be Summer,” Gia said, sliding one of the doors open. “Or half of the town council. You never know, living in this house.”
She reappeared moments later with a bundled up Summer in tow. The pocket doors slid shut and Joey wasn’t certain but she thought she heard the snick of a lock. Summer started shucking off layers starting with a purple knit cap and her buff-colored Uggs. She had a white fleecy sweater stretched tight across her rounded belly. The cheery scarf around her neck was next. “I’m so glad you guys called. I spent all day in the office and then all of dinner I divided my time between arguing with Carter and ignoring two sets of beggy eyes.”
“What are you two fighting about?” Joey asked.
“Oh, no!” Summer wagged a finger at her and Joey wondered if the commanding finger was some kind of maternal trait. She’d have to ask her own mother. “I want to hear your news first,” Summer said, easing herself down on one of the armchairs.
There was a thump from the rear set of doors.
“Hold that thought,” Gia said. “Hot chocolate’s here.” She slid the doors open to reveal a tray-wielding Beckett. “There’s my handsome butler.”
He was still in his office attire. Neatly pressed gray pants and a light blue button down. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. “The two mugs on the right are the good ones,” he said, dropping a kiss on Gia’s cheek.
