Page 45 of The Last Second Chance
“None of my business if you two want to have dinner together,” Ed said. “Beer?”
“Yes to the beer.”
“Put it on my tab,” Jax said.
“Don’t you start,” Joey said, shifting her glare to him. “What happened to your elbow?”
Jax glanced down at his bloody sleeve and the makeshift gauze bandage. “I had a bad experience with a dark kitchen.”
“Run backwards into the knife block, Ace?” Joey took a sip of the beer Ed delivered.
“Even worse. I walked in on Carter and Summer on the kitchen island.”
“What were they—Oh my God! That’s disgusting. Are pregnant people even allowed to have sex?”
“That’s exactly what I said. Apparently, it’s no big deal.”
Joey shuddered. “It’s probably a big deal to the babies who are getting poked in the face by—”
“And now I’m never getting that image out of my head,” Jax said, taking a healthy gulp of beer. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“How about heavy duty sanitizers for kitchen surfaces?” Joey offered.
“How about horses?” Jax suggested.
Joey couldn’t stop the grin on her face from spreading.
“You take him out yet?” Jax asked.
“Today. I didn’t have a lot of time, but I put him through his paces in the ring. He’s—”
“Perfect? Incredible? The most amazing specimen of horseflesh you’ve ever laid eyes on?”
She let Jax have his moment. After all, he was the reason she spent a satisfying hour of her afternoon battling it out with the stallion. “Apollo is pretty great,” she admitted.
“Pretty great? That’s the best you can do?” Jax scoffed.
“Shut up. He’s freaking awesome. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you sneak in there with a saddle yet.”
“I wanted you to have the honors,” Jax said, nudging her shoulder with his. “But now that you have, I’ll be in tomorrow. Bright and early.”
“Early?” she said skeptically.
“Well, not first feeding early,” he winked.
“You haven’t been much of a morning person since you came back,” she observed.
“I’m on a deadline and I write at night. But the clock will definitely say a.m. when I show my pretty face in your stables.”
“I’ll look for you at 11:59.”
“You two love birds ready to order?” Ed interrupted.
“What’ll it be, sweetheart?” Jax teased.
“I’m really tempted to take my business to Peace of Pizza right now,” Joey threatened.
“Only playing, Joey. I know you could take me if you wanted to,” Ed said.
