Page 76 of The Last Second Chance
She growled low in her throat. “God, you drive me nuts.”
“Right back atcha, baby,” he said. “I need you.”
“Tack room?” Joey suggested, suddenly desperate for more than just stolen kisses.
He half-dragged, half-shoved her across the aisle to the door of the tack room.
“Wait,” Joey said, putting her hands on his shoulders. “What about Chuck?”
“He’ll wait,” Jax said, impatiently pushing her through the open door.
“Shit! What about my parents?”
Jax actually spun around to look behind him. “Are they here?” he hissed, reaching down to adjust what looked like an uncomfortable bulge in his jeans. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“No! They’re not here. But if we’re casually seeing each other I have to tell them or face the consequences.”
“What kind of consequences are we talking here?” Jax reached for her again, but she slapped his hands away.
She shook her head. “Who knows? This could be worse than the Silent Treatment Thanksgiving of ’93 or the baby christening when Mom’s cousin Drew showed up an hour late because of a flat tire. He was shunned from family events for a year.”
“Shunning doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It was bad enough that they heard from someone else about the partnership. I can’t let Blue Moon do the dirty work again.”
“They need to know, Joey. No matter how badly it goes, you need to tell them.”
“Just checking, but should we compare notes on why we both think telling my parents would be horrible?” Joey asked. She knew what her reasons were, but wasn’t clear on Jax’s fears.
“I think it’s best if we leave that one lie,” Jax advised. “Rule No. Two in our relationship, neither can speak ill of the other’s family.”
“That seems fair. We each can still speak ill of our own family, right?”
“Yeah. Definitely a requirement.”
“Is not sleeping with other people while we’re sleeping with each other Rule No. One?”
Jax nodded, the heat returning to his gaze.
“Wipe that look off your face until after I call my mother,” Joey warned him. She began backing away from him down the aisle toward her office. “Just hold that thought. And if you get a chance, go find Colby and feed his phone to Clementine before he can post on Facebook that we had sex.”
“Oh, geez. You guys had sex?” Carter said from behind her.
“Jesus! Did everyone around here start taking ninja classes?” Joey slapped a hand over her thudding heart. “You can handle this one,” she pointed at Jax and hustled into the office for her cellphone before she blabbed to anyone else that she was having sex again.
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“Is everything okay, Joey?” Her mother’s voice was laced with panic on the other end of the phone.
“Everything’s fine, Mom,” Joey said, biting back a sigh. Her parents’ tendency to overreact over anything out of the norm was a constant stressor for the entire family.
“You don’t usually call in the middle of the day.”
“Yeah, well, I had some more news I wanted to share with you.”
“Oh my God, wait until I sit down.”
“Mom, it’s not sit down news.”
