Pawliday Love

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

JAX

I should not be lusting after my best friend’s little sister. I should not be . . . Yeah, that’s pointless because she is drop dead gorgeous in the red sweater dress she’s wearing tonight paired with knee-high boots. It’s by no means revealing but it hugs her curves and makes her look even sexier. So sue me if I was checking her out as she walked out of the dining room to go to the bathroom.

Holly has grown up to be a gorgeous woman. One that I most definitely should not be lusting after. Not only because she’s my best friend’s little sister but because she’s ten years younger than me. Plus in a few days, I’m headed home to Florida, and she’s staying here. Where her job is. Where her family is. But, damn, if the circumstances were different, maybe I’d shoot my shot with her. Ask her out. See if she feels the same way about me as I feel about her.

But I can’t.

I shouldn’t.

“Jax. You alright?” Cody asks from my right.

“Sorry.” I scrub a hand down my face. “Just tired. The altitude change isn’t helping.” I pick up my fork and force myself to focus on my salad.

He wrinkles his forehead but doesn’t call me out on my bullshit, instead saying, “you still loving your decision to move to Florida?”

“Yes. It’s been great. Can’t really complain.”

“So, you and my sister?”

I about choke on my food but manage to swallow. “Come again?” I ask, turning to look at him.

I frown when I meet his gaze because he’s staring at me so intently, I wonder if I’ve got salad dressing on my shirt or lettuce in my teeth.

“You and my sister?”

I crinkle my forehead. “We were catching up earlier, yeah. . .” I nod slowly, my heart racing. There’s no way he knows I was checking her out when she walked in. No way, right?

He throws back his head and laughs. “I was messing with you, man, but you should have seen the look on your face.”

“What’d I miss?” Holly asks, taking her seat next to me and glancing at her brother who stops laughing immediately and sits up straighter in his seat.

“Nothing,” he says.

“Your brother was giving Jax a hard time,” Maddy says, leaning around her husband. “Be nice,” she tells him.

“Yes ma’am.” He winks at me and goes back to his meal.

I force myself to focus on dinner and not the fact that I’m pretty sure my best friend knows I think his little sister is hot.

Before I can think too much of it, Cody’s uncle, who is sitting across the table from me, asks me a question, and I get into a conversation with him about plans for the rest of the week.

After dinner, the guests wander off, with shouts of goodnight, most going up to their rooms having made plans to go skiing early tomorrow morning. Although a few head toward the resort bar for a nightcap.

“So,” Holly says, turning to me when the dining room is finally empty and quiet aside from the servers cleaning up.

“Want to get a drink?” I ask, tipping my chin in the direction of the bar.

“Yeah.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “But how about at my cottage? It’s much quieter over there.”