Em gazed into her face, at her Kiss-like makeup and her purple lipstick, and knew she was right. “Is everything okay with you? I’m not buyin’ what you were sellin’ at Dixie’s party, and I’ve been too wrapped up in my own misery to stop and tell you. But I wanted to remind you that I’m always here if you need to talk.”
Marybell took a step back. Whether it was subconscious or not, she was letting Em know she was in her space. “That’s so sweet, Em. But everything is fine. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I’m just checkin’ on you. I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten you.”
She smiled then, a warm tip upward of her lips beneath all that makeup. “I’m fine, Em, and I’m really happy for you and Jax.”
Jax came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to his chest. “I hear my name. Evenin’, Marybell.”
Marybell’s head dipped low again, her eyes skipping along the ground. “Evenin’, Jax.”
Em leaned back into his chest, sank into the warmth of him and sighed.
Tag’s laughter rang out from behind Marybell, Maizy on his shoulders, her chubby fingers gripping his head. “Hey, you two—Maizy’s all cotton-candied out. We’re gonna head home and get our princess sleeps. I’m assuming you’ll be late tonight, Jax?”
Em answered for him with a cheesy grin. “Assume correctly.”
Tag chuckled, his eyes amused. “Well, all right then. You two have a good evenin’.”
At the sound of Tag’s voice, Marybell was suddenly all motion. She gave Em a quick pat on the arm and said, “I have to get going. G’night, lovebirds.” She made a polite break for it, garnering more concern from Em.
“’Night, Daddy,” Maizy crowed from her perch, distracting Em from her worry.
Jax pulled her down from Tag’s shoulders for a kiss. “’Night, A-Maizy. Sweet dreams.”
“Good night, Miss Em.”
Em gave her a little wave and winked. “G’night, Miss Maizy.”
As Tag trailed off with Maizy in tow, Em and Jax watched, leaning into one another.
She spun around. “So, Mr. Hawthorne, how do you feel about givin’ all these nosy busybodies somethin’ to talk about?”
Jax chuckled low and husky. “Right here in the square? I’m all for loud and proud, but there are small children involved.”
Em laughed. “Right here in the square,” she said, and pulled him down for a kiss.
A very long, public display of all the incredible things he did to her kiss.
*
“I can’t believe we’re officially a couple and we’re still holed up in this dive,” Jax said, teasing her nipple with his tongue, trailing his hand over her hip and making her shiver.
Em sighed a happy, girlish sigh. “This was the place where it all began. It has sentimental value.” She murmured her protest, threading her fingers through his hair and wrapping her leg around his waist.
He groaned in her ear. “It’s cold and damp.”
Em reached between them and grasped his cock, hard and hot. “This does not feel cold and damp.”
Jax worked his way back up along her shoulder to her lips, slipping his hand between her thighs. “Neither does this.”
Em squirmed when he spread her flesh and thumbed the swollen nub of her clit. “I think you should turn this into our sex palace.”
Jax pulled her beneath him, settling between her thighs. “Thinking long-term already? I like it.”
Em lifted her hips, and ran a finger along the strong lines of his jaw. When he thrust into her, she gasped, shuddering at the instant heat he always evoked in her. “I don’t want to be presumptuous,” she teased, nibbling at his ear, running her fingers through his hair.
Jax hiked her thigh higher over his hip and plunged deeper then withdrew almost all the way. “Towels,” he huffed, raspy and tight in her ear. “We’ll need towels.”
“Towels?” Em gasped in return, meeting his thrusts, roaming her hands over Jax’s strong back, reveling in this man she now called hers.
He slowed again, frustrating her and exciting her in the same movement. “You have to pick the color. You know...that freedom thing?” he said, watching her, tracing her lips with his finger.
Em wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him tighter, moving with him, feeling the rise of heat in her belly, between her legs, until she cried out right along with Jax, luxuriating in the connection their skin made, finally free.
She clung to his neck while she collected herself, nestling against this man who wanted the real Em. “You know that madly-in-love thing?”
Jax lifted his head and grinned, rubbing his nose against hers. “Yeah. I do.”
“You’re gettin’ closer,” she whispered up at him. “So much closer.”
*