Page 96 of Fierce-Jax

Gianna was playing in the family room with some things she’d collected at Jax’s job and Dillion was gathering all the ingredients for dinner out of the fridge and putting them on the counter.

Jax walked in and came over to kiss her.

“Burgers,” he said. “Yum.”

“You’re cooking,” she said. “I’m just getting it ready for you.”

He laughed. “I can do that. I’m going to change first. Do I have time to shower?”

“Go ahead,” she said. “I’ll get dinner started.”

“Nope,” he said. “You can get yourself a glass of wine and put your feet up.”

“Really?” she asked. “Seriously?”

He leaned down to kiss her. “Seriously. No work for you tonight. You had a long day by the sounds of it.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Considering I saw the sugary snack you collected earlier, I can figure it out.”

She left everything on the counter and watched him walk out of the room after yelling hi to Gianna. Her daughter got up to chase Jax, but she told her to stay down here for now.

The wine fridge was opened, she snagged a bottle out at random and opened it, poured the white liquid into a glass, and did as Jax had said.

She went to the chair at the island and climbed on it, her feet on the ledge not touching the floor while she curled and stretched her bare toes.

Her glass was half gone when he returned.

“Do you want a glass?” she asked, reaching for the bottle to add some more to hers.

“I’ll have one,” he said. She topped hers off and then filled one for him. “You don’t drink often.”

“I’ve got a child at home,” she said. “I don’t get a lot of time to not worry unless she’s not here.”

“Even when she’s not here, you don’t drink much. It had to be a long day for this. Or is there more to it?”

“More to it like what?” she asked.

He picked the wine up and took a sip, then opened the package of beef and dumped it in a bowl.

She’d set spices next to it and he grabbed them at random to add and mix up.

“Did you light the grill?”

“I followed your orders to the letter. Have a glass of wine and put my feet up. That’s all I’ve done.”

“That’s a no,” he said, laughing and turning to walk to the deck to light her grill.

He came back and finished making the patties.

“Do you want me to start the water for the rice?”

“I’ve got it,” he said.

She put her chin in her hand and watched him move around her kitchen getting dinner ready and then went to the deck to put the burgers on the grill.

Addy was right.

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