Page 35 of Tee’d Up For Trouble

The developers would now come to the farmers and those who owned land around here with big pots of money. Everyone had bills to pay, lives to lead, kids to send to university, and debts to pay. They’d take the money, and slowly but steadily, Ballybeg would disappear. I wouldn’t be able to hang on to the pub, not without customers, and why would fancy golf resort people come to a rundown Irish pub where we served the country stew with the champ?

The wind had been knocked out of me.

Every late night I’d spent organizing, every argument I’d had with villagers reluctant to sign the petition—it all felt meaningless now.

Connor looked at me, his voice unusually gentle. “You’re not beat yet, Dee. Ballybeg’s not the kind of place to go down without a fight.”

I wanted to believe him. I really did. But right now, all I could see was the black and white of that letter, spelling out the beginning of the end for everything we’d been trying to protect.

The pub door creaked open behind me, and we all turned to see Jax come in. He was drenched in sweat, coming straight from the gym. He saw the look on our faces, and his usual grin faltered.

“What happened?” he asked, coming straight to me, his hands cupping my cheeks, gently wiping away the tears I hadn’t even realized were falling.

I took the letter resting on the bar counter and handed it to him. His eyes scanned the page, and he looked back at me, his expression dark.

“Damn, greedy, short-sighted dickwads,” he raged.

I chuckled and then sniffled. He did some creative cursing, I had to give him that, almost like an Irishman.

“Dee, baby, it’s going to be alright, okay?” He leaned down, his blue eyes sympathetic and kind.

“Nothing’s ever gonna be alright,” I choked out from a throat that felt too tight.

He pulled me up and held me close. I leaned into him and heard the kitchen door closed and then the front door. Connor and Ronan had left me alone with Jax. Did they feel it, too? How he comforted me as no one else could? That I let him?

He pulled away from me and kissed my forehead. “I want you to take the day off.”

I scowled. “And who’s gonna run the bar?”

“Me,” he said simply.

He grabbed my hand and before I could protest, led me upstairs. He took me to his room.

Fine, I thought. Yeah, sex would be an excellent distraction. Sure, we could have sex. I wanted the man, and I knew he wanted me.

He left me sitting on his bed and went into the bathroom.

He came back out. “Come on, beautiful. I’m running you a bath.”

I didn’t have a bathtub. I took the rooms with the shower cabinet so guests would have nicer bathrooms.

“What?”

“I think you need to rest, relax, take a bath, and then a nap.”

I raised both eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“First, bath. Then, breakfast. Then a nap. I doubt you’ve been sleeping well.”

It was disconcerting how good it felt to be taken care of. No one did this for me. I was the one who ran baths and told people I’d do their work for them so they could rest. But I was so tired—so very exhausted—and maybe that was why my eyes filled with tears again.

“Ah, darlin’.” Jax sat next to me and pulled me back into his arms. “I promise, Dee, I’m going to make this better.”

He couldn’t, I knew that, but it didn’t matter; I liked that he at least wanted to. Ballybeg looked at me to fix this—and I didn’t know how to any longer. I had lostagain. I had lost Maggie and my parents, and now I was going to lose my home, my village, and everything that mattered to me.

CHAPTER13

Jax

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