Page 114 of The Last Second Chance
Joey took a hesitant sip and then looked at the cup. “Hey, this is kind of really good.”
“I had a feeling you’d like it.”
“So back to Didi—”
Jax cringed. He felt like a jerk. If it had been one of Joey’s exes, he’d probably have punched the guy out the second he swooped in to kiss her hello. “I’ll call her and tell her there’s been a change of plans. I’ll get us out of this somehow. I’m so sorry.”
“I think an apology would only be necessary if Didi was a grade A bitch. She actually seems pretty nice.”
“She is. She’s just a lot of work.”
“Speaking of work—”
Jax shook his head and put his sunglasses back on. “Do not ask me that question. We aren’t discussing the anatomy of former significant others.”
“They’re significant all right. But are they real? Like seriously. I have to know.”
He shoved her into the backseat of a baby blue Prius. “Drink your coffee and be quiet.”
“Is that any way to talk to your girlfriend?” Joey demanded.
His girlfriend. It really had happened. Joey Greer agreed to be his girl and he wasn’t going to stop there. He intended to make her his wife.
He pulled her into him, still not believing that she was his. “That may not be the best way to treat my girlfriend, but this is.” He lowered his mouth to hers and desire sparked the second her lips parted for him. He teased her, gently at first, but found himself wrapped up in the taste of her. He wanted to breathe her in, to be as close as possible to her. He wanted to memorize every inch of her body, and then spend his life worshipping it.
He finally gathered his wits about him and pulled back. “Behave yourself,” he teased her.
“I believe you are the one who stuck his tongue down my throat,” she shot back, snuggling into his side.
“Point taken.” His lips brushed her temple as she watched the traffic and buildings flash by her window. “So what do you think of L.A. so far?”
She turned her head and gave him that heart breaking smartass smile. “It doesn’t suck too much.”
He pinched her in the side and she laughed. It was beautiful to see her so free, so relaxed. The woman could roll with just about anything, he decided. And that was good because tonight he was going to tell her about the screenplay before anyone else could drop that particular bombshell on her.
The car pulled up in front of a Spanish style duplex and they got out. “I was expecting a store,” Joey said, skeptically studying the broad expanse of white garage door. “Am I just pawing through some stranger’s closet?”
It was Jax’s turn to grin. “Something like that,” he said and rang the bell next to the bland brown front door.
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The door burstopen and they were greeted by a little yappy dog and a woman with dyed pewter hair that matched the stud in her nose. She wore violet contact lenses and scarred motorcycle boots under seriously distressed jeans decorated with safety pins.
“Jax!” She threw her lean arms around his neck and gave him a smacking kiss on the mouth.
Before Joey had the chance to decide whether or not she wanted to knock Brigid’s block off, the woman turned and grabbed Joey’s hand. “It’s cool. I’m a lesbian,” she said with a quick grin. “You must be Joey. I’m Brigid. Damn, Jax. You weren’t kidding, she is gorgeous.”
Joey shot a bemused look at him and Jax smiled innocently.
“Come on in,” Brigid said, stooping to pick up the tan ball of fluff that had yet to stop barking. She waved them into a narrow ceramic tiled hallway and opened the first door on the right.
Brigid had converted her garage into a design studio. Fabrics in every shade of the rainbow and textures sumptuous enough to wrap up in cascaded from tables, racks, and shelves. Three rolling racks held dresses in varying stages of completion on the far wall. Two counter height tables held matching industrial-looking sewing machines. There were colorful displays of threads, dishes of sparkle, and a three-way mirror in front of a curtained off corner.
“Welcome to my lair,” Brigid said, setting the little dog down on the floor and bowing with a flourish.
“Wow,” Joey said. It looked to Joey as if a rainbow and a craft store had an orgy.
“Okay, so I have a head’s up on what the trend for tonight is. A lot of black and white, as if we haven’t done that to death. So I pulled two pieces that I think would make a statement without pushing you too far outside your comfort zone,” she chattered on.
