Page 10 of The Last Second Chance
Joey glared at Summer.
“You are shockingly light on details,” her friend said. “When you say lured…”
Joey reluctantly recited a high-level overview of the kiss.
“Wow,” Gia said, fanning herself when Joey had finished. “Did your underwear melt off at that point?”
“Almost. But it would have unmelted immediately after he got done turning me down.”
“He turned you down?” Gia and Summer shouted the question together and Joey wondered if there was a surgery for reinserting eyeballs after they catapulted out of their sockets.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Summer said it fast, holding up a finger.
“Jackson Pierce turnedyou,” Gia waved a hand in front of Joey’s face and chest, “down?”
“Yep.”
“That son of a bitch,” Summer muttered, rubbing her rounded belly.
“Thank you!” Joey jumped out of her chair and started to pace. “Exactly!He just waltzes out of my life after promising me a future and then he has the nerve to show up here and lay one on me like I should be happy about it?” She was in full-on rant mode now.
“And then he gets in my face for six months.Six months!Hinting and flirting and looking at me like he wants to take a bite out of me. Andthenwhen I offer him a night of no-strings fun, he’s all Mr. Thanks But No Thanks?”
“I believe what I actually said was that I’d take a rain check.”
Joey froze mid-pace. Judging from the expressions on Summer and Gia’s faces, the amused tone from the door belonged to Mr. Thanks But No Thanks himself. She whirled around. Sure enough, Jax was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, enjoying the show. He shoved away from the door and crossed to her.
“You were drunk,” he said when they were toe-to-toe. “Phoebe Pierce didn’t raise boys who would take advantage of that. And April Greer didn’t raise girls who would threaten to go get what they wanted from someone else when they didn’t get their way.” Those gray eyes were anything but icy now.
Joey crossed her arms and set her jaw to ward off the shame. Summer and Gia whistled innocently and avoided eye contact.
“Let me make one thing clear,” Jax said, slipping a hand behind her neck. His voice dropped to a low, commanding whisper. “When it does happen. When I’m touching you. I want you to be completely present, stone sober. Because there’s nothing that’s going to come between us. And there will be no regrets.”
She fought him, but Jax used the hand gripping her neck to drag her in for a hard kiss on the mouth.
He pulled back and grinned. She stomped on his foot. “Stop doing that!”
He released her and turned his attention to her friends. Jax threw an arm around Gia’s shoulders. “Welcome to the family, sis.”
Gia grinned up at him, totally falling for his Pierce charm. Joey rolled her eyes.Amateur.
“And as for you,” Jax said, pointing at Summer. “I know what you’re up to.”
“Whatever do you mean?” Summer asked innocently.
“You’re freaked out about this launch, worrying about how it’s gonna go and what it’s gonna mean. So you kick Carter out so he doesn’t worry about you worrying and then you try to drag your friends in here as distractions.”
Summer’s pretty face was working its way into a frown.
“Don’t even try it,” Jax warned. “You didn’t fool Carter either. He’s just legally required to tip-toe around you.”
Gia snickered.
“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at the site traffic so I can report back to my brother before he paces a trench in our nice new floors at the brewery.”
Summer sighed. “The page wasn’t loading.”
“Well, try it again,” Jax ordered, leaving no room for discussion.
