“And you can’t just do?—”
And, so, he did it again. Kissed me on the nose, that is.
I needed to get a spine, I thought, and tell him what was what. But damn, it felt good to have someone stand with me and fight this little battle with me, and then give me affection and tell me that what he’d done came with no price tag.
Oh yes, I was falling for this eejit—which made me one too.
Mercifully, I didn’t have to dwell on what just went down with Jax because Martin came back with a fresh keg, and the crowd was applauding and cheering.
As I connected the keg and pulled the first beer, my nose tingled.
CHAPTER 12
Jax
Iwas in week four of my impromptu stay at Ballybeg. The Porsche was still at Paddy’s garage, though it worked fine, which surprised me. I had to confess that I’d thought he’d definitelyfeckit up. I didn’t tell Nikolai about his car since he was in the qualifiers for the European Championship. Last I heard, Denmark had beaten Finland in Copenhagen and was preparing to face Kazakhstan next. He had more to worry about than his custom Porsche.
Everyone in Ballybeg had decided that Dee and I were an item, except for Dee. She scoffed at the idea, but let me sneak kisses. This was theslowestrelationship I’d ever been in, and yeah, it was a relationship. We spent time together. We went on walks. We kissed. I jerked off, thinking about how it would be to have sex with her.
I knew she’d bought a vibrator because I’d seen thepackage and read the label, which wasn’t discreet at all as it came fromAnn Summersin Cork, and when I investigated, I found that it was a lingerie and sex toy store.
And,maybeI had then sneaked into Dee’s room and shamelessly invaded her privacy to find the pink rabbit charging on her bedside table. That had been a bad idea because now I had visions of sexy Dee using the vibrator as I watched.
Blue balls were a real thing, and I was experiencing them for the first time.
Usually, I wasn’t attracted enough to a woman to care whether I had sex with her or not—and if I did want to,usually, I just did. This was a new situation for me. Not an undesirable one but a challenging one.
I liked Dee.
I liked her a lot.
I didn’t want to just fuck and forget as I was known to do.
I wanted to…fuckin’ hell, I wanted to get to know her and see if we could sustain something between us. It was a pipe dream. We were different people living in different parts of the world. Whatever this was would end, and I hoped to hell I wouldn’t end up getting hurt or, worse, hurting Dee, which I didn’t want to do.
“Wait, wait, wait—let me get this straight,” my friend and confidante, Amara, exclaimed, her voice crackling faintly through the spotty reception from Charleston to Ballybeg. “You’re in Ireland, living abovea pub, flirting with a fiery Irish woman who yells at you more than she smiles, and you’re enjoying yourself?”
“Yep.” I leaned back against the headboard of my bed in my room at The Banshee’s Rest. I had my earbuds in and my feet propped up as I talked to Amara, watching the gorgeous view out my window.
Today, the sky was blue, and the sun was shining.
After days of rain, everything was lush and neon green. I couldn’t wait to go for a long walk with Dee and find a tree or two to push her against so I could feel her up.
I hadn’t made out like this since I was a teenager. It was exhilarating and frustrating in the same breath.
“And it’s cold there?”
“Fuck, yeah. It’s March, and even when the sun is shining, there’s a bite in the air.” I loved the South, I loved Charleston, but when it got cold, I got the hell out and went to some place in Hawaii where I could golf without wearing a freaking jacket, hat, and scarf.
“Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Jax Caldwell?” she teased.
“Very funny.”
“No, seriously.” She laughed. “You’ve gone full rom-com hero. Next thing you know, you’ll be buying sheep and wearing tweed.”
Why the hell not? I could buy a farm and….
“My stay here is temporary, Amara.”
