“Miss Emmaline! I’m glad you’re still here,” Maizy screamed her excitement, pushing her way into the newly oak-paneled room and past the couch to make a beeline for Em.
Jax smiled. He liked that, too. He liked that Maizy liked Em. He liked that while she helped him pick out carpet colors from the swatches they’d gathered tonight, she also giddily talked hair and manicures with Maizy.
He liked that she’d stopped on her way home to change and picked up chocolate chip cookies on a big flowery plate for her, claiming she had just a couple leftover after baking them for Clifton and Gareth. He really liked that she’d taught Gage and Tag how to make some crazy casserole with Tater Tots because Maizy had loved the leftovers she’d brought with the cookies.
And he loved how Maizy looked at Em. Sort of dark eyes filled with half admiration, half unsure what to do with a female presence in her life again.
Em smiled down at her, dropping a finger to her nose to run it along the tip. “If it isn’t Maizy Hawthorne again. Twice in one day. How was your evenin’? Did you do what I told you to do with your hair so it wouldn’t get in your eyes?”
Maizy’s nod was solemn. Everything Em said was a nugget of wisdom to his daughter. She always paid close attention, almost as if she was afraid if she didn’t, Em would disappear in a puff of fruity perfume and a cloud of raven hair. “Just like you said.”
“Did it work?”
“Uh-huh.”
Em beamed down at her, lifting a fist in the air to celebrate the triumph of taming Maizy’s hair. “Yay!”
Maizy grabbed on to her hand, tugging her out of the room. “Will you play with me? My Pop-Pop Givens sent me a new doll in the mail today.”
“I’m afraid I can’t, sweetie. I have to get home and let out poor Dora. But I brought you a little somethin’ for a snack. I put it in the warmer in the oven.”
Maizy pouted. “I like it better when you’re here. You make the house smell like flowers.”
“Don’t you mean cookies?” Em teased, and he found himself smiling because Maizy was smiling.
Yeah. He liked it better when Em was here, too.
*
“I’m not sure I like this.”
“Like what?” Em feigned cute from the new air mattress in the guesthouse. Totally naked, totally comfortable, totally ready for round two of Jax and Em: Sex in the Guesthouse.
“This,” Jax said.
Em rose up on her elbows, the mattress sloshing and moving with her. “What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s threatening my manhood.” He held the threat up between two fingers and dangled it over her naked belly.
“Why, Jax Hawthorne,” she cooed, fighting a giggle at his look of distaste. “I didn’t think anything could threaten your manhood. What kind of manhood do you have?”
He crawled up along the bed, making her laugh harder at his unsteady movements. “Something called the Annihilator doesn’t sound at all threatening to your manhood?”
Em fell back, unable to hold herself up anymore due to her fit of laughter. “Never! My manhood is very secure.”
Jax dropped the vibrator next to her and captured her lips, inhaling her sigh. “We’ve made love one time and already you’re turning to devices called the Annihilator to spice things up? Is this the seven-hour itch? We could be in for trouble.”
Em ran her hands over his shoulders, a shudder of breath escaping her lips when he kissed her like that. “It could have been the twelve-inch variety. Never forget, things could always be worse.”
He cupped her breast, flicking a finger over her nipple, making her sigh and squirm and leaving her slick and achy. “So you’ve really never used a vibrator?”
“Are we here to talk about my lack of expertise or are we here to end my lack of expertise?” Jax was kissing her jaw, her neck, sweeping his tongue over her collarbone, making it increasingly hard to focus.
He worked his way back up over her shoulder until he was at her ear. “Why did Louella do something so crappy to you on Founders’ Day?”
Em stiffened. He’d come to her rescue tonight at the school. She knew he had. He’d offered her his arm as a way to poke at Louella. But why? Never you mind, Emmaline. He was just bein’ gracious. Gentlemen do that.
After all, he’d been a witness to her ultimate humiliation. Maybe he was just one of those people who took a stand on behalf of a good victim. “Louella Palmer is a sure way to throw a bucket o’ cold water on this.”
He nibbled at her earlobe, softening her again. “She’s pretty mean. I was just wondering why all that mean is directed at you. You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to. If it’s too personal.”
That information could definitely be considered too personal if it weren’t for the fact that she’d be savin’ his life. Someone had to warn Jax about that viper Louella... It might as well be her. “She’s angry at me for siding with Dixie when she came back to town, swearin’ she was a new woman. Again.”