Page 35 of Kiss Marry Kill
“Don’t stop on my account.”
“Nah, I’m good.” Smelling like fish on their first pseudo-first date was a no-no.
“I thought you’d want to do something more exciting on one of your last few nights in town, like go to a strip club or something. Isn’t that what guys do?”
He chuckled. “I suppose some do. Not me, though. I’d rather lay back and relax, drink a beer, fish, hang at the beach.”
“I don’t think I’ve done any of those things.”
He leaned over and nudged her shoulder with his. “That’s kind of sad.”
“Tell me about it.” She looked up at him and then back out to the sea. “Maybe you can help me with that.”
He could feel his smile widen and he rubbed his newly bald head. “Sweetheart, I can help you with whatever you need.”
* * *
“Hey, Megan babe, do you fish?” Joey’s holler interrupted the intimate way Jax was looking at her. They were still on the floor on an old towel, sitting next to one another, arms brushing together.
“Um . . . no, not really.” Megan wasn’t used to being the center of attention. But sitting so close to Jax made her feel relaxed and in control of an unfamiliar situation.
“So, what do you do? You in school? You got a job?” It was a lot of questions but he had a cigar in his mouth, a beer in one hand, and a fishing rod in the other and an easy demeanor to him.
“Nothing much to tell. I start school Monday. And no, I don’t have a job.”
“Whatcha studying?”
“I start law school.”
“A lawyer. Nice. Way to date up, Jax.” Jax shot the middle finger at Joey, and Joey blew out smoke and winked at her. “You meet everyone, babe?”
“Yep. I think I did,” she said, looking around at the small group all hanging out, talking, drinking beer—not a worry in the world. She’d never met people like this. Her parents didn’t fish. Didn’t “hang out.” They were proper and schooled their emotions, and that’s what she’d been taught her whole life. This, however, this was refreshing and it felt nice and freeing.
And Jax? Jax was unusually quiet sitting on the towel next to her. Maybe he wanted to know the answers to some of Joey’s questions or maybe he was just challenging her to break out of her shell a little and make some new friends. Whatever the reason, he was right there, their eyes meeting every time she looked over at him and their thighs brushing against one another every time she made the slightest move.
As the day wound down, they stayed outside, Jax laughing with his friends, animatedly telling stories of their last tour, all of them in stitches because the stories mostly involved making fun of Joey who was apparently a computer whiz but not the most athletic of the bunch. “ . . . I had to carry him twice during basic training. I thought he had stopped breathing at one point.”
“True fucking story. I’m not ashamed. I wasn’t built for that shit. Now, give me a code to break, I’m your man. This guy right here,” he pointed his thumb over to Jax, “can’t fucking spell the word code.”
With tears in his eyes from laughing so hard, Jax added, “Captain said that together we’d make one,” he held out one finger, “helluva Marine. But separately? We’d be fucked.”
Obviously, it was a joke because even though Joey wasn’t as built as Jax, the man was still tall and lanky, at least six feet tall, all lean muscles and long limbs. And Jax wasn’t a dummy. Just his appreciation for life, Megan figured, made him by far one of the smartest men she’d ever met.
“Who’s gonna help me clean these bad boys?” Joey asked, picking up a bucket of fish.
“We’re going to hang back here for a little bit,” Jax said. His thumb had snuck into the space between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her shorts, and every time he moved it across her skin, she erupted into goose bumps and butterflies flooded her belly.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, kids,” Joey teased as most of the group followed him back to the house.
“Sun’s setting,” Jax pointed out.
“So pretty,” she said, looking out to the ocean, her palms rubbing her arms and her thoughts focused on the way he was touching her back, softly.
“Cold?”
“I’m okay,” she said, still looking out, her arms wrapped around her shins, her chin on her knees.
Jax shifted so he was behind her, wrapped his arms around hers, his thighs snugged on her sides, and held her as the sun set. She didn’t push him away. Hell, she didn’t even move. Her heart beat so hard against her chest she thought it would escape.
