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Livie didn’t have time to get into whatever verbal sparring match those two had going on. She headed down the hall and found Jax in the bedroom, pulling off tape from the trim around the windows. Piper sat in the middle of the floor playing on her father’s phone.
“Did you completely overtake this project?”
Without turning to face her, he replied, “You seemed in a hurry to get this place ready to put on the market. Tanner, Cash, and I all had a few free hours so I coordinated a team.”
Something about the way he seemed so matter-of-fact about her leaving didn’t set well with her. It wasn’t that she was eager to put the house on the market, but . . . okay, fine. She was ready to sell it and have one less headache, but she didn’t like how this entire situation made her feel.
How could she be so torn when she’d had the perfect detailed plan all lined up before she ever stepped foot back in Haven? And now she was all a mess. Between sleeping with Jax, and loving every delicious moment of it, and his pulling in his cousins to help, she wasn’t sure what to think or how to feel.
Livie examined the room, which had gone from a pale purple to a homey shade of slate gray. With the old hardwood floors, this place would catch the eye of some young couple who was just starting out. It was perfect with the extra bedrooms and close to the park.
A niggle of guilt slithered through her at the thought of never coming here again. Once it sold she’d have no reason to. Granted, she hadn’t been back since she’d graduated, but the place had been here and in the back of her mind she knew she could’ve.
Maybe that’s what helped her keep distant for so long. She always knew she could come back on her own time if she was ready . . . and now she’d run out of time. That old life, the good and the bad, were gone. The little girl who ran through these halls, the rebellious teen who pushed her father away at her mother’s coaxing . . . all gone.
Seeing the fresh coats of paint cut through the defensive shield and pierced her heart. There was no other way to say it because it was almost as if she were erasing every memory from every room. That’s what she wanted, though, right? She wanted to be done in Haven.
Well, except for the airport she jointly owned and the hunky man moving about the room. Would she ever be done with him? Not on a business level, but personal? Would they ever be able to just go their separate ways after they’d been intimate?
Sleeping with someone wasn’t something Livie took lightly. She had to care about someone before giving herself to him. And as much as she didn’t want to, she deeply cared for Jackson Morgan. Damn that man for making her want things and confuse her even more.
Raised voices came from out in the hall and Jax finally shot a glance to Livie. He quirked a brow and she merely shrugged.
“Sounds like Uncle Tanner isn’t happy,” Piper stated as she continued her game on the floor without a care in the world.
Livie stepped out into the hall and saw Tanner’s back in the doorway of the bedroom at the end of the hall . . . Melanie’s bedroom.
“I’ll get my stuff out of the way later,” Mel told him. “I wasn’t aware this room was going to be painted so soon.”
“I can help you move it and we’ll be done here.”
Did her friends simply not mesh at all with Jax’s cousins?
“I’ll handle it later,” Melanie insisted. “Besides, this is Livie’s call and she didn’t tell me to remove anything. We don’t even have paint for this room.”
“We bought the same shade for all the bedrooms,” he replied, then crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you still angry over the ticket I gave you? You really should be more—”
“I’m not angry about that,” she growled. “Would you get out of my personal space? I can’t breathe.”
“Sounds like a lovers’ spat,” Jax whispered in her ear, making her jump.
Livie glanced over her shoulder, finding her mouth so close to his. So, so close. She turned back to the entertainment at the end of the hall.
“Melanie won’t be pushed around by men, no matter how minor the situation is.”
“Want to share that backstory?” he asked.
Needing to get away from his touch, which muddled her mind, Livie turned and went back into the room. She squatted down and picked at the edge of the blue tape running along the baseboard.
“Not my story to tell.”
“I love stories,
” Piper chimed in. “Daddy tells the best ones at bedtime.”
Yes, Jax was the epitome of fantastic father. He rocked that job just like he did everything else. The man was too damn perfect and she was having difficulty finding fault with him.
Oh, wait. He drove her out of her ever-loving mind and made her question her sanity and her future. So apparently, he did have some epic flaws.
