Simply Irresistible (24 page)

Any second now…

“Take care of yourself, Maddie.”

She blinked at the sound of the door shutting. It sounded pretty damn final.

Apparently, they were not playing. Not even close.

And how had he done that so calmly, when everything within her still trembled and quivered? Whipping around, she grabbed the
first thing she could—a file—and chucked it at the door where he’d vanished. It made it only about two feet before it opened
and fluttered uselessly to the floor. Dammit. And damn him.

“Fine,” she said out loud. But it wasn’t fine, and she had the shakes to prove it, not to mention the churning in her stomach.
She took in the desk, the organized mess she’d been working so hard on. She needed something to do
now.
Something big. Something new.

Her gaze fell on the key hooks lining the wall behind the desk. Specifically onto the fishing-boat keys. Snatching them in
her fingers, she flew out of the building and headed down the dock. It was time for a solo expedition of a different kind.

With Ford’s patient, calm voice in her mind, she sailed out of the marina. The wind was low, and the swells even lower. Because
the skies were overcast, and also because she wasn’t stupid, she stayed very close to the shore. It was a smooth ride, and
it felt incredible to do it by herself, for herself.

When she got cold, she turned back to the marina. She did have a bad moment trying to dock. But she managed, and if she accidentally
hit the side of the boat hard enough to jar her teeth, that was okay. That’s what rental boats were for.

She tied up the boat, hung up the keys, and nodded. She’d done it. She’d actually done it. And if she could do that, she could
do anything. Maybe even have a relationship without self-destructing it.

T
oday would have been Mom’s birthday.”

Both Tara and Maddie stopped eating when Chloe said this casually over blueberry pancakes. “It’s true. She’d have been fifty-five
today. She was looking forward to this one because it meant she could get a senior discount in some places. She always wanted
to be able to get that damn discount.”

Tara looked at Maddie. “Did you know?”

Maddie shook her head. She hadn’t been able to think of anything but how Jax had looked walking away from her. “Whenever I
asked her how old she was, she said she was ageless. She celebrated Jerry Garcia’s birthday as her own.”

Tara let out a reluctant smile. “That’s what she always told me, too.”

“Grandma showed me Mom’s birth certificate,” Chloe said. “That’s how I know.”

Maddie dropped her jaw. “You have her birth certificate? Where was she born?”

“Here.” Chloe smiled. “Well, in Seattle, which is close enough, right? She grew up in Lucky Harbor, from what I heard.”

Thinking about Phoebe going to school here and having a home made Maddie wistful. She was working hard on not resenting how
little she’d known about her mother, or how her father hadn’t encouraged her to breach that emotional and physical distance.
Instead she was trying to concentrate on the here and now that Phoebe had given her.

She’d told her sisters about yesterday’s bank rejection. Surprisingly enough, they’d been disappointed. Or at least they’d
been kind enough to pretend. They’d agreed to find another lending institution, though Maddie was fairly certain neither Tara
nor Chloe expected that to happen. In the meantime, they were going to stick out the month, finish up the bare-essential renovations,
and then put the place on the market. Maddie hoped to open the inn and run it until it sold. Hell, who knew, maybe it’d do
so well they would miraculously turn it around.

Worst-case scenario, she’d go back to LA and try to get a job through her dad’s connections, but she hoped it didn’t come
to that. She was doing her damnedest not to think about it, not yet anyway. A picture of Jax flashed in her mind—the other
thing she was trying not to think about—and her heart pinged, but she hoisted her glass of orange juice into the air. “To
you, Mom.”

Tara and Chloe looked at her like she was nuts, but she gestured to their glasses, and they obediently picked them up. “I’d
love to celebrate who you were,” Maddie
said to the ceiling. “But I didn’t know you well enough. So instead, I think I’ll celebrate who we are because of you.”

“I like that,” Tara said. “Here’s to letting go of regrets and even resentments. Here’s to what might have been, and to what
we will be.”

“Happy birthday, Mom,” Chloe said quietly, for once her eyes devoid of the mocking sarcasm.

“Happy birthday,” Tara and Maddie echoed.

“Oh, and happy birthday to Jerry, too,” Chloe added, and they all laughed. It was a rare moment of peace and solidarity as
they clicked their glasses together.

Chloe knocked her orange juice back and set the glass on the table. “So, Tara, Maddie wants to tell you something—you snore.”

“Excuse me?” Tara’s eyes narrowed. “I do not.”

“Yes, you do. Like a buzz saw. Or a grizzly bear with sleep apnea. Tell her, Maddie.”

Maddie winced. “Okay, well—”

“You did
not
just compare my breathing to a grizzly bear,” Tara said to Chloe.

“And/or a buzz saw.”

Maddie sighed and reached for her knitting. Solidarity was officially over.

At dawn, Jax gave up on the pretense of sleep and got out of bed. It was ironic that he’d come back to Lucky Harbor to lead
the lazy, kick-back life he’d always wanted, and yet it wasn’t in him to be lazy.

Unlike Izzy, who was sleeping like… well, a dog. “Time to get up.”

Izzy squeezed her eyes tight.

“We’re going for a run.”

Jax could have sworn that she shook her head. With a sigh, he got up and ran alone. When he got back, Izzy was waiting for
him on the porch. “Did you cook breakfast?” he asked her.

She looked at him balefully, like
Dude, no opposable thumbs, or I totally would have.

Jax showered and dressed, then headed into his office, where Jeanne handed him coffee and left him to himself. Three hours
later, she reappeared.

“I’m all caught up. I’m going shopping for some lingerie.”

Jax winced. “And I want to know this why?”

“Because maybe you’d like me to pick up a present for somebody.”

“Like who?”

“Like the cute curly-haired Traeger sister. The one you’re in a fight with.”

“What?” He shook his head and stared at her. “How could you possibly know that?”

She smiled. “I didn’t, but you’re all broody and mopey-looking. What did ya do? Don’t tell me, it was something stupidly male,
right? Should I get black and lacy, or white and sheer?”

Jesus. “You should mind your own damn business.”

“Well, that’s no fun.” She came close, gave him a sympathetic look, and kissed his cheek. “You could solve it the way Steve
solves all of our fights.”

He sighed. “How does he do that?”

“Easy. Just admit you were wrong. His always being wrong really works for us.” She gently patted his arm and left him alone.

But it didn’t feel wrong to want Maddie to see him as more than an escape. It felt… weak and vulnerable, which he really hated.

But not wrong.

Stop thinking, you idiot.
He moved through the office and out the back door. The morning was frosty, the cold biting into his skin, reminding him that
winter had arrived. Instead of going into his wood shop, he loaded himself and Izzy into his Jeep and went for a drive.

And found himself at the inn.

It looked deserted. He let himself in, noting that it was colder inside than outside. The heater hadn’t been turned on today.
He walked the ground floor, the sanded but not-yet-finished floors creaking beneath his boots as he took in the walls that
still had to be painted, and the bathrooms waiting for their new vanities. He felt a surge of frustration.

It didn’t have to be like this.

When something thudded above him, he took the stairs two at a time but found the second floor empty. He hit pay dirt in the
attic. The room ran the entire length of the inn. At the moment, it held most of the furniture from the other floors that
had been moved to finish the floors. There were tarps everywhere and also stacks of boxes filled with God knew what, dating
back to Maddie’s grandparents’ era.

It was the approximate temperature of the Arctic Circle up here, thanks to the icy air and the equally icy glance Maddie sent
his way. She was sitting on the floor, holding her Blackberry as she went through the box in front of her.

“Hey,” he said, risking frostbite by moving farther into the room.

She didn’t answer.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out what pieces of furniture are worth selling to cover this month’s bills.”

Ah, hell. “Maddie—”

“This is a no-talking zone.”

When he didn’t leave, she sighed, her expelled air coming out in a puffy mist, testament to just how cold it was. “Fine.”
She jerked her head toward an unidentifiable pile in the far corner. “Can you peek under that tarp and tell me if you see
an antique walnut hall bench? I know we had one. Someone’s selling a match to it on eBay for three hundred fifty dollars.
If I could get half that, I’d be happy.”

He moved toward the pile. “You shouldn’t be working up here. It’s too cold.”

“Turns out financial anxiety is a great way to keep warm.”

He hated that she was so stressed about money. “Where are your sisters?”

“Drove into Seattle to check out two antique consignment shops to see if they’d be interested in working with us.”

“If you sell all the furniture, what will you use if you reopen?”

She shot him a look that said she was worried about his IQ and went back to working on her Blackberry. There were two spots
of color high on her cheeks. Her eyes were shiny, too shiny. And her lush, warm, giving mouth was tight and grim.

That’s when it hit him. She wasn’t mad at him.

She was hurt. “Maddie.”

“Go away. I hate everyone right now, and I’m pretty sure that includes you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do. I really do.”

“I could change your mind about me.”

“I have no doubt, but try it and you’ll be walking funny tomorrow.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed, and she swiveled her head toward him. “This isn’t funny! I wanted you, and you walked away!”

“I wanted you to want
me,
not just the—”

“You’re not just an escape, not to me. I’m just a little slower at this than you are.”

He looked into her eyes and saw the truth. Remembering Jeanne’s words, he shook his head. “I was wrong to push.”

“Wow. A man who can say the W word. What else do you have up your sleeve?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to look yourself.”

She arched a brow. “Strip.”

Not much surprised Jax anymore, but this did, and he laughed again as he willingly pulled off his shirt.

She stared at his chest, then his tattoos. Her eyes went a little glazed, but she lifted a shoulder, feigning indifference.

Indifference his ass.

“I’ve seen you without your shirt before,” she pointed out coolly, then murmured so quietly he would have missed it if he
hadn’t leaned in, “And maybe I’d rather see you without your pants.”

“You’ve seen me without those, too.”

“You’d argue with a woman on the very edge?”

He nearly laughed again but recovered quickly, especially since she was still giving him that eat-shit-and-die look. But at
least she
was
looking. And the rosiness of her cheeks was no longer about hurt or embarrassment. Mission half accomplished.

Holding her gaze in his, he tore open the buttons on his Levi’s, held his breath to brace for the cold, then shoved them down
to his thighs.

Her eyes locked in on his forest green knit boxers. Slowly, she set down her Blackberry and then, just as slowly, rose to
her feet. “I’m trying to hate you.”

“But you can’t.”

“I could. With some more time.”

“Then I’ll change your mind,” he said.

“But I’m stubborn, remember?”

“Yes, but I’m
very
persuasive.”

She nibbled on her lower lip and stared at him, definitely not hating him if her hardened nipples were any indication.

“You’re…” She gestured to his erection. “Um.”

“Yeah.” He was just as shocked as she. It was fucking freezing in here.

“I thought it was supposed to shrink in the cold,” she said eyes on “it.”

He opened his mouth, then shut it again. She was the only person on earth who could render him speechless. While he stood
there, shirt off, pants at his thighs, she stood up and tore off her own sweatshirt.

She wore a pale blue satin bra that barely contained her full breasts. As he soaked in that mouthwatering sight, she unbuttoned
and unzipped her jeans and shoved them down. “Crap,” she said and glanced up at him.
“Okay, keep in mind I didn’t plan on a striptease today. I’ve got to learn to plan ahead.”