The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories (323 page)

Jax stood there waiting for her. He didn’t look angry, he looked—proud. He held out his arms and Karma flung herself into them. When he wrapped them tightly around her she had never felt more secure in her life. Which made absolutely no sense seeing as she’d just jumped off a bridge like a lunatic.

“I’m alive,” she managed to choke out.

“You’re alive,” Jax agreed, running his hand through her hair.

“You were right. It was stunning.”

“Come on, man. You’re holding up the line,” the instructor hollered.

“Let someone else go before me then,” Jax said without turning.

“You did amazing,” he said, looking down at her. Karma’s heart was beating a mile a minute, not from the jump but from being so close to Jax. Whenever he was near she got lost in him.

“I wouldn’t have done it without you.”

“I can’t believe you never had a list,” Jax said, looking at her intently.

Was he angry? He didn’t look angry, but his expression was kinda unreadable.

Karma started rambling. “You were so cute with the dates ideas. I couldn’t tell you. I’m sorry. I don’t even know why I said I had the silly list to begin with. Please make me stop talking. Are you mad at me?”

“Well, it has made things interesting. And no, I’m not mad. Surprised and a bit confused but not angry.” Jax tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Karma pulled back to look him in the eyes. “I just want you to know I don’t make a habit of lying. I was drunk. And I don’t make a habit of getting drunk either. It’s important to me that you understand that.”

“I believe you. I just can’t believe you jumped off a bridge when you really didn’t want to.” Jax shook his head with his crooked grin.

“Me either, but I’m glad I did. And I know this sounds crazy, but I want to continue with the list. You’re right, I need to face my fears. That was scary as fuck, but also very liberating. I was flying, Jax.” The feelings that were racing through her body were intense and unexplainable, but she felt amazing.

Jax’s warm hand lay against her face, and his thumb moved gently across her cheek bone before he bent down and lightly pressed his lips to hers. Karma parted her lips and caressed his throat with her fingertips, enjoying the warmth of his skin. Jax kissed her so deeply she felt consumed by him. He coiled his arm around her waist and drew her closer. The world seemed to spin beneath her. In the background, she heard someone make a loud catcall and someone else mumbled get a room. But she didn’t care. She would have stood there kissing him all day and night. Nothing had ever felt so right in her life.

When Jax pulled away a sense of loss flooded her body. She wanted to scream no don’t stop.
Please don’t stop.

Her eyes fluttered open and Jax stared down at her, his face flushed and his eyes bright. “We gotta stop doing that.” He dropped his hands from her waist.

“Don’t say that.” Her voice sounded hoarse to her own ears.

“We had an agreement.”

“Your agreement. Can’t we renegotiate the terms?” Karma pleaded.

Jax threw back his head and laughed. “As tempting as that sounds. I’m intent on seeing this through to the end. We haven’t even made it a week yet.”

Karma’s heart dropped at the words
the end
. That’s exactly what was going to happen. They were going to have three amazing weeks, and then never see each other again. Just the thought of it made her feel ill.

“Hey, man, are you going or what?” one of the guys yelled over.

Jax looked down at Karma. “Guess it’s my turn.”

She nodded. “See you on the flip side.”

Jax grinned and trotted back to the guy. Karma watched as he got strapped in and her heart felt like it went over the bridge with him. She was more afraid he wasn’t going to come back up than she had been about her own self. Relief washed over her when she saw him bounce back up. He was hooting and hollering. Karma stood there grinning like a fool when he came back toward her.
He’s mine
, she thought and then wondered where the hell those words came from. He was far from hers. Okay, well he was hers—for a couple more weeks anyway.

She threw her arms around him, and he spun her around. Karma squealed with delight. Best day of her life.

Just as they were getting ready to leave Jax pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Your dad insisted on a pic of us together.” He held his arm back and placed his head next to hers and snapped the pic.

“Can you send that to me?” Karma asked. It would be nice to have a memento of their time together.

“Yep, now let’s get out of here.”

Karma called her dad when she got into the truck to put his mind at ease that she was in fact still in one piece. And then they made the long drive back.

“Is it pathetic that this might possibly be the best day of my life?” Karma asked, her face still flushed.

Jax glanced over at her as if trying to see if she was joking or not. “No, that’s not pathetic at all. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun either,” he admitted.

“What are we going to do next on the list?” Karma scooted toward the middle of the seat. It was like he was a magnet, and she couldn’t resist the pull. She had to be as close to him as possible.

“I’ll look over it tonight. Where did you get the list anyway?”

“Off the Internet,” Karma said sheepishly.

“You didn’t make up any of it?” he asked, taken aback.

“Well, I added number one.”

Jax shook his head. “I’ll be looking at this list with new eyes now.”

“You have to admit there are some good ones on there.”

“There are a lot of good ones on there,” Jax agreed.

“Especially the skinny-dipping.” Karma grinned.

“True, that’s one of my favorites. Have you ever been?” Jax asked.

Karma shook her head no. “What about you?”

“I’ve been a few times.”

Karma was surprised to feel jealous. Of course he'd been skinny-dipping before.
I mean look at him.
If she had a body like his, she’d walk around naked all the time.

“A bunch of the guys would strip down and go for a swim after boxing practice.”

“Guys? You’ve gone skinny-dipping with guys?” Karma’s eyes widened. That was not at all what she was expecting.

“Sure, it’s not a big deal. Guys are always walking around the locker room naked.”

Did they? Showed how much she knew. In the girls’ locker rooms they were rarely fully naked. Mostly they just walked around in bras and panties.

“So never with a female?” Karma asked, tilting her head to look at him. She didn’t know why she was pushing the issue. It was probably something she’d rather not know.

Jax drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Hmm, well once at summer camp, I think I was like fifteen, guys and girls went skinny-dipping. Let’s just say I’m glad it was dark or I would have embarrassed myself.”

It took Karma a minute to get what he meant. “I’m sure that’s true about most teen boys.”

Jax smiled and her heart melted a little more. Soon she would be nothing but a puddle in the seat. “So you were a boxer?”

“Yep, All State. Boxed a little in college but had to stop.”

“Why?” Karma knew absolutely nothing about boxing. But the thought of him sweaty and kicking the shit out of someone was sort of a turn-on. Okay, that was an understatement.

“Brain rattled around a few too many times.”

“Oh. That doesn’t sound good.” Karma looked over at him, concerned. Scratch the turn-on. Nope, still pretty freaking hot. Maybe that’s why she always felt safe around him. He gave off an air of confidence and strength. Like he wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything.

“I’m fine. What about you, did you play any sports in school?”

“Yeah, right. I’m not what you would call athletic.” Karma snorted.

Jax saw a sign up ahead for Best BBQ in Town. “Hungry?”

“Starved.”

Jax pulled in and they jumped out of the truck. A perfect ending to an amazing day.

––––––––

J
ax had no idea what to get for a girl he hardly knew on her birthday—but he felt like he had to bring something since she’d invited him to her family get-together. What the hell gift that something was, he had no clue.

He picked up the phone and called his sister Janice. She was the shopper of the family. If anyone knew it would be her. “Hey, sis, got a quick question for you.”

“All right, but make it fast. I’m kinda busy over here trying to wrangle a toddler into the bath.”

“Well, I recently met this girl, and I’m going to her family birthday party, so I need to bring a gift. But, I don’t want anything too over the top or something totally lame. Any suggestions, because I’m all tapped out over here.”

“Let’s back up for a moment. You met a girl? Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s only been a few days.”

“A few days and you want to get her a present?” He could hear the disbelief in her voice.

Jax leaned against the doorframe, already regretting his decision to call his sister. “You don’t think I should?”

After a slight pause, his sister continued in a hesitant tone, “I mean, I guess you could bring her chocolates or something. But don’t go overboard and get her jewelry this early... that would be totally creepy.”

“Well, I definitely don’t want to be creepy. I don’t even know what to wear. I don’t want to show up in jeans, and they’re dressed to the nines.”

“Jackson, what in the world is going on? I haven’t seen you act like this about a girl since Sandra Watkins when you were fifteen years old.”

Why had he called his nosy sister? He should have figured it out on his own. “It’s no big deal. I just didn’t want to be rude, that’s all.”

“Uh-huh—well, good luck. And I expect to meet this mystery girl sooner rather than later,” Janice said. “Wear khakis and a white button-down. Can’t go wrong with that.”

“Yeah, we’ll see. Thanks for the advice.” Jax hung up the phone, frustrated. Maybe he should just forget about bringing anything. It was probably a stupid idea anyway. It really was way too early for gifts. But something about the girl made him want to knock her off her feet. He had less than three weeks to accomplish the impossible task.

After taking a shower he put on the only pair of khaki pants he owned, and pulled a white T-shirt over his head. He thought the button-down was too much so he grabbed a navy blue polo shirt instead. Janice was right, he was acting like a schoolboy. He looked at himself in the mirror with disgust; polo shirts really weren’t his style at all. He tore off the polo and settled with the plain white T-shirt.

A couple of hours later he was once again ringing Karma’s doorbell. She opened the door with a sweet smile. Jax’s eyes wandered appraisingly over her from head to toe. She wore a white sleeveless dress that scooped low at the chest and came a couple of inches above her knees. Her feet were bare, and her toes were painted pink. Jax had to force his eyes back to her face. All he could think about was the other night when his hands ran up her inner thighs and her soft moans. Jesus, he needed to pull himself together. He cleared his throat. “You look great.”

She curtsied with a grin. “Why, thank you. I’m glad you could make it.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Happy birthday, by the way.” Jax pulled out the box of cupcakes from behind his back. “I know you said you liked to eat so thought you might like these cupcakes. My mom always made cupcakes for us instead of a cake.”

Karma grabbed the box and opened it up. “Oh my god! Red velvet is my favorite. Dad and Matt will devour the others. Come on in.”

Jax entered the foyer. Her dads were in the living room and stood up to greet him. “Nice to see you both again,” Jax said.

“Glad to have you back,” Garrett responded with a warm smile, and Matt nodded in agreement.

“Dad, look at the cupcakes!” Karma shoved the box under her father’s nose.

Matt reached in and grabbed a chocolate one and started taking it out of the foil. He had a really bad sweet tooth.

Her father gave him a look, but Matt just smiled while shoving half the cupcake in his mouth.

Dad rolled his eyes.

“Did you bring your appetite with you like Matt over here?” Garrett asked, shaking his head at Matt, who had already downed the entire cupcake.

Jax was never one to turn down free food. “Always.”

“That’s what we like to hear!” Matt grinned, and then smiled up at Garrett. “I made one of Karma’s favorites today.”

“Matt loves to cook,” Karma explained. “He’s amazing, everything he makes is to die for.”

Matt’s face flushed at the compliment.

They made their way to the dining room table, where they devoured the best lasagna Jax had ever had. He was in heaven. He didn’t get enough home cooking living on his own, and at the fire station they mainly relied on takeout.

Halfway through the first movie the doorbell rang. Karma jumped up to answer, and a woman breezed through the door. She was tall, close to six feet with the heels, with legs that went on for miles, flowing blonde hair, and a hundred-watt smile. She was drop-dead gorgeous—seriously wet dream material.

“Surprise!” the woman yelled and twirled, her dress coming up and leaving little to the imagination with her lacy white thong.

“Mom, what are you doing here? I thought you were doing another stint at Betty Ford or whatever clinic of the month.” Karma’s voice was laced with sarcasm. Jax was surprised she would talk to her mother that way.

“And miss my little girl’s birthday?” The woman pushed past Karma and clicked across the hardwood floor. Karma trailed behind her with her shoulders slumped.

What an odd exchange.

“You had no problem missing the last three,” Karma said, clearly irritated.

The woman turned back toward Karma with a hand on her hip. “Shush, honey, you know we don’t talk about the past. Stand back let me get a look at you.” Karma’s arms hung loosely to her side, and she backed up. She looked like a little kid that was about to get scolded.

“That dress looks ridiculous. I see you still have a little too much on the hips. You should really see your father about that. He could fix you right up with a little lipo and maybe a nose job at the same time. Get it over with all at once. It would do wonders.” She tapped her finger to her lips. “Maybe even a boob job.”