Zach and Madison were off to the side, wrapped up in their own world, laughing and sneaking kisses.
Jackson’s eyes were focused on Zoe. “Listen to me. Bend your elbows, throw your weight forward. And pretend the target is…I don’t know…an industrial waste plant trying to expand into a nature reserve.”
Zoe gasped.
“Yes, that’s it. Take that emotion and go with it,” Jackson continued.
“Those jerks!”
Zoe gripped the axe.
“Don’t overthink it. Aim, and let it go.”
Her arm swung, muscles burning with adrenaline. The axe spun down the lane, wood cracking as it buried itself dead center.
Bull’s-eye.
The world went quiet. Zoe stared, hardly believing it was real. Then cheers erupted behind her. She spun toward Jackson, and the sheer joy lighting his eyes took her breath away. It was so uncharacteristic, so unguarded that it made her heart surge with pride. She didn’t think, she just moved.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, and before she could stop herself, her lips found his. At first, it was quick and impulsive, meant as a congratulatory kiss. But the second Jackson’s hands locked on her waist, holding her close, everything slowed until it was just the two of them.
His tongue swept into her mouth, coaxing her closer as her chest pressed against his. This kiss wasn’t tentative like the first or stolen like the second. It was deeper, surer, a question and an answer all at once.
She caught his bottom lip between her teeth, playful and aching, and his fingers slid beneath the hem of her shirt, grazing the bare skin at the small of her back, keeping her there. The contact sent heat rushing through her. Almost without thinking, her hands slid down from his shoulders, over the solid plane ofhis chest, tracing the line of muscle she’d only ever imagined before.
She’d never touched him like this, not out in the open, not with the excuse of celebration humming through her blood. Her palm flattened against his rib cage, feeling the quick, hard thud of his heart under her fingertips, and the sound around them dropped away.
Someone whooped behind them, but Zoe barely heard it. The world had narrowed to the press of his body, the taste of his mouth, the pulse racing in her veins.
When she finally pulled back, dizzy and breathless, Jackson’s hand was still firm at her hip. His voice was low, rough around the edges. “Guess we won.”
She smiled, still catching her breath. “Yeah. Looks like we did.”
But as their eyes held, neither of them moved. The air between them buzzed. Thick with the promise of what was yet to come.
SIXTEEN
JACKSON
Tuesday, March 11th
All he could think about was the kiss.
Zach was driving them back to Zoe’s flower shop and conversation flowed easily. Madison carried most of it, chatting about Edith’s wedding and the preparations at the inn. Kit was planning a spring feast, with nods to Edith’s Scottish roots. There would be roast lamb glazed with Krista’s family’s honey, salmon wrapped in puff pastry with lemon and herbs, buttery scones, and cranachan parfaits layered with whipped cream, oats, and raspberries.
Madison was electric when she talked about food, but Jackson couldn’t pay attention to any of it. Not even when Zoe joined in, talking about the Moonlight Kiss flower she was determined to find in time for the wedding.
His mind was fixed on one thing. Zoe had kissed him.
Not a polite brush of lips. Not a spur-of-the-moment, we-won-let’s-show-off kiss. This was different. Fierce and teasing, tender and consuming. His hands had tightened at her waist, thumbs grazing the warm strip of skin above her jeans, and hehad known he was balancing on a knife’s edge: one wrong move and he’d forget they were in public.
That single moment had left his chest aching and his blood roaring. A promise of crackling heat and a connection so alive it rewrote his heartbeat—something he hadn’t dared imagine in years.
And with that kiss came images he couldn’t control. Her tangled in his sheets. Her breathless beneath him, then above him, her hands clutching the fabric, her lips breaking on his name. The kind of wanting that stripped a man bare. The kind that made him ache to give her everything he had. To learn her like a language and never stop.
But the fantasy cracked as quickly as it formed.
Because he wasn’t ready. It didn’t matter that she was into him.
