Page 75 of The Last Second Chance
Colby came around the corner carrying a broken feed scoop. “Oh, hey, Jax. I didn’t know you were…” he trailed off, looking back and forth between them.
“You were looking for me?” Joey asked a little too sharply, ruining the nonchalance she was going for.
Lolly chose that moment to stick her gray spotted head out of the stall and nibble at Joey’s hair.
Joey jumped out of her skin and into Jax’s arms. Lolly tossed her head, enjoying the game.
“Everyone okay?” Colby asked, concern weighed on his tone.
“We had sex.” Joey blurted out the words. “Jax and I. Last night. Had sex.”
Colby and Jax’s faces wore twin expressions of shock.
“Jesus, Jojo.” Jax covered his eyes with his hand.
“Um. Okay then. Congratulations?” Colby looked more embarrassed than Jax.
“Yeah. Thanks. Okay, now we can all get back to work.” She nodded.
“Do you know where the other feed scoop is?” Colby asked holding up the mangled scoop. “Apollo got bored and decided to eat this one.”
“Feed room, second shelf on the left,” she said, jerking a thumb toward the open door behind them.
Colby nodded. “Okay then. I’ll just go get it.”
Jax was intently studying the toes of his work boots. Joey cleared her throat. “So… that happened,” she drawled.
He looked up, a grin on his face. “I thought it would take me months to talk you into going public.”
“I didn’t go public. I told Colby, who walked in on us mauling each other in the middle of the aisle. Besides, look what happened to Carter and Beckett when they tried to be all sneaky about their relationships.”
“So we’re in a relationship,” Jax said, stepping in closer, a hunter scenting prey.
“No. We’re having sex,” Joey corrected, backing up a step.
Lolly took the opportunity to go for her hair again. “Jesus, Lolly!” Joey shoved a peppermint treat at the horse.
“Are we having sex with other people?” Jax asked.
“No!” The word flew out a little more forcefully than she’d intended. “We’re not having sex with other people,” she corrected more calmly.
“Then we’re in a monogamous…” he took a step toward her. “Committed. Relationship.”
Joey shook her head back and forth so hard she felt her teeth rattle. “No. Uh-uh. We are casually enjoying each other’s…” she waved her hand in front of Jax’s crotch. “Bodies.”
“We’re dating.”
“Absolutely not. Why do we need a label, anyway?”
“Because if we don’t say what it is we’re doing, someone else is going to label it for us and you don’t want the Beautification Committee renting a wedding venue for us, do you?”
The damn Beautification Committee and their damn plan to match Jax with Moon Beam.A shiver of nausea slithered around Joey’s stomach. Whatever black magic they weaved, they always got their couple. Maybe she didn’t want to be in a serious relationship with Jax, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see him in one with someone else. Certainly not with a Moon Beam Parker-type whose sticky sweetness attracted men like flies to a flystrip, sapping them of their free-will and spending money. Once sated, she got bored quickly and moved on to her next victim.
The Beautification Committee be damned. She was saving Jax from a Moon Beam future.
“We are seeing each other.” She slapped a hand on his chest when he took a joyful step forward, hands slipping around her waist. “Casually.”
“I can live with that,” Jax said, nibbling his way down her throat. “For now.”
