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My fear was rooted somewhere else.
It was a list I didn’t really want to make because seeing it in black and white felt like a road map to my own doom.
Jax jogged up the steps of the front porch and nodded as he approached. “Anything good left?” he asked.
With a grimace, I peeked at the empty pie plate. “Umm…”
Ivy grabbed the cookies she’d brought and displayed them with a flourish of her hand. “I brought these,” she proclaimed. “Sheila’s recipe.”
Jax’s brow furrowed as he studied the dark brown blobs.
“Are they?” Greer whispered.
I rolled my lips together to stem a laugh. “Jaxlovescookies,” I said. “He told me earlier.”
Underneath his breath, Jax made a small growling sound, and damn if I did not feel that all the way down to my little toes.
It was heat. Licking at my skin, skirting the lines of propriety with how lightning-quick that fuse was lit. I could practically hear the clicking of a stove, just waiting for the flames to take.
“Ahh, so this is what it’s like being Poppy’s friend,” he said casually. Then he leaned down to whisper by my ear. Helplessly, my eyes fluttered shut, and it felt like even my heart slowed as it registered his closeness, the slight scent of his skin.Come closer, I wanted to scream. Just a little. Jax spoke again, and I tore my thoughts from that very unhelpful place. “Complete and utter betrayal of my innermost secrets. Thanks,friend.”
Uncontrollable heat—from a tiny little growl and the scent of his skin near mine—so big that it almost hurt, and my eyes fluttered shut as I registered an instinctive pressing of my thighs.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
Brain. Scrambled.
Thankfully, it was the dark use of that word that had me laughing despite myself, and I smiled up at him.
Jax’s eyes darkened when I smiled, the muscle in his jaw working as he reached past me and took two cookies from the plate. He swallowed thickly, eyeing the cookies like they might explode, then took a tentative bite, chewing very, very slowly. “They’re … really interesting, Ivy.”
She beamed. “See? I don’t know why everyone’s afraid to try them.”
“Past history?” I ventured with a sweet smile.
Ivy’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Cameron calling her name from the yard saved me from any further retribution, but honestly, the woman was a complete menace in the kitchen.
Once the bite of cookie had disappeared, Jax picked up a bottle of water from the cooler next to the door and drained half of it in one long pull. While Ivy’s back was turned, he quickly tossed the second cookie into the trash next to the table, and when he wiped his hand off on his gym shorts, the firm line of his mouth edged up in a wry smile.
“You’re keeping that between us, right?” he asked.
Heart racing from that curve to his lips, I nodded.
His eyes tracked over my face before he left the porch, and I let out a surreptitious breath, staring down at my feet while he walked down the steps.
Friends.
Friends.
Friends.
I would be friends with this man if it was the last thing I did. I’d find a way to lock my feelings up, bury them seventy-four feet underground, and burn them to the ground becauseif I wasn’t careful, those feelings would be my downfall. Channeling every ounce of Wilder family stubbornness I knew ran through my veins, I lifted my head. Dean watched me carefully, his own brow wrinkled.
Friends, I thought.
