AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Without a bucket you can’t score.
Jax stared at the pretty blonde sitting next to him, his lips still tingling from the touch of hers. He wondered what made her choose him, then decided it didn’t matter. He’d chalk it up to him being one lucky SOB.
Women like Milly usually didn’t spare him a second glance, preferring the safer of the twins, Lucas. But she was looking at Jax like he was just her type—and, man, that did something to his insides.
“So, Mr. Darcy, huh?” he asked.
“I didn’t pick them out,” she said with this enduring shyness to her voice. God, she was cute. “They were a gift. And, according to my sister, mandatory Ghost-lorette Party attire.”
It was the first time she’d brought up her sister since earlier that evening. He didn’t know the whole story and would never pry, but he could relate to losing someone too early. Although her loss was clearly still fresh.
He remembered her sister, Zoe. They occasionally hung out back in the day—partying, getting into trouble, giving their parents gray hair. Not his mom, but Peggy and Kent.
Looking back, Jax was shocked that the Carmichaels let him stay there at all. Without a dad, and their mom either drunk or at work, Jax and Lucas had been left to their own devices. Left to themselves, Jax had done some stupid-ass shit. Sneaking out, partying, pulling pranks—he ran with a wild crowd.
He still remembered the first time he’d been caught sneaking out—Brynn had been the weak link blabbing to her parents the moment Jax slipped out his bedroom window. He’d come home to find a worried Kent and Peggy waiting on his bed for him. They didn’t get angry or yell, but they did lay down some ground rules:
1.If he’d been drinking, call—no matter the time. They’d pick him up no questions asked.
2.If he snuck out again, he’d be on dishes duty for the next month.
3.They loved him no matter what, but love was an action that went both ways.
Most teens would have rolled their eyes, but Jax had found it almost comforting. When he was at his mom’s, there weren’t any rules—or maybe there were but she just never enforced them. So when Jax wanted to party into the night he crashed at Cindy’s place.
“Well, my undies are just black, so I guess I’d be kicked out of the party,” he said.
“It’s a girls-only kind of thing anyway.”
“Girls only? My kind of party.” His eyebrows shot up in amusement and she laughed. Damn, she had a beautiful laugh. Honest, real, and unabashed. While Jax lived his life with honesty, he wasn’t used to a whole lot of real in his world, and tonight’s unexpected date was refreshing as hell.
And when Jax had trekked down to the lodge’s bar and grill he had been dreading being lectured by Nolan on why he still hadn’t reached out to Lucas since yesterday’s family dinner. Instead, he was sitting across from a stunner of a woman who had this sweet nature that got to him.
He normally wasn’t into sweet or shy; he went for edgy and cocky. He knew what to do with that. But Milly? She was a mystery to him.
Gone was the padded snowsuit from the other day, and in its place was a little black dress—emphasis on the little. Her golden blond hair was down and in shiny, slightly tousled waves that hung just past her shoulders. Her lipstick was slightly smudged, reminding him of their kiss. Scratch that: kisses—plural. Then there were her eyes, these gorgeous, dark-cocoa doe eyes. He’d never used the term before, but on her it was fitting.
“Although, I’m enjoying this party of two.” He swiveled her stool so that it was facing him.
“Same.” She bumped his knees with hers, looking up at him through her cute glasses.
Jax wasn’t a master at nonverbal communication, but her go signal was impossible to mistake. So he rested his hands on her bare calves, his fingers sliding sensuously behind her knees, then tugged her forward until their legs were intertwined.
It was an idiotic move because flirting with Milly was a bad idea. She was clearly still healing from her sister’s passing, which made her vulnerable. And if there was one thing Jax didn’t touch, it was vulnerable. Especially since he was leaving in a less than a week and she wasn’t a catch-and-release type of woman. Yet he couldn’t seem to reel things in.
“How’s the cocoa?”
“Delicious. But you didn’t have to make it yourself. Tim could have handled it.”
“Tim doesn’t know Peggy’s secret recipe.” And Tim was a little too interested in Milly’s neckline for Jax’s liking. Not that he was jealous, he didn’t mess with jealous—it never turned out well.
“Secret, huh?”
“It’s the shot of chocolate schnapps. Not just any schnapps, but Godiva chocolate liqueur.”
“I thought it was secret.”
He leaned in close enough to graze the curve of her ear and, damn, she smelled good. Like a summer bouquet. “I think her secret is safe with you,” he whispered.
