Chapter 13 #2
She gave him a saucy look. "I always ask a lot. It's the only way to get what I want."
He smiled back at her. He didn't think he'd ever enjoyed talking to a woman as much as he did with her. But she was opening the door now, and it was time to meet everyone, something he'd been desperately trying not to do. Hopefully, he wouldn't regret it.
When she walked out of Jax's apartment, Kaia's lips were still tingling, her pulse pounding, her breath coming too short and too fast. The kiss had been unexpected but really, really good, probably because she'd been thinking about kissing Jax for the past few days.
She hadn't been sure it would ever happen, or if he would even stay in town long enough for it to happen.
But he was still here, and like she'd just told him, she was going to enjoy the moment.
As they joined the party, they were immediately welcomed into conversations. No one questioned why Jax was there or did anything but give him a warm greeting, which seemed to ease his tension. It also helped that Brad and Serena's baby daughter, Amanda, was the focus of attention.
After picking up margaritas from Ava and Liam, she saw Emmalyn sitting at one of the tables, so they took their drinks over to join her. "I don't know if you've officially met Jax."
"We've said hello a few times," Emmalyn said with a smile at Jax and a glance in her direction that suggested questions were coming later. "It's nice to see you."
"Where's Hunter?" Kaia asked.
"He's doing a night flying training session," she said. "He was sorry to miss the party, but he's going to be taking time off for the wedding and honeymoon, so he wanted to get it out of the way."
"Where does he fly?" Jax asked.
"He works for the county's search and rescue department." Emmalyn glanced at her watch. "And he's calling me now. I'll be right back."
As Emmalyn left, Kaia turned to Jax. "It's too bad Hunter isn't here. I think you two would get along."
"Because we don't like to talk?"
"Because you both needed a long warm-up before you accepted an invitation. Hunter told me that coming to Ocean Shores gave him exactly what he needed."
"And you think it can do that for me?"
"If you open up and allow it to happen, yes."
"You're like one of those little dogs with its teeth clamped on a toy, and you just won't let go."
"After the way you kissed me earlier, do you really want to compare me to a dog?" she asked dryly.
"Sorry. That was a bad example."
"You think?" she teased. "But I take your point, and I will stop pushing, at least for tonight." She paused. "Here comes my brother. Let's keep what happened earlier between us."
"Fine with me. In fact, I think I'll check out the food while you talk to your brother."
He was gone before she could tell him he didn't have to leave. She just hoped he was only going to go as far as the buffet table and not back to his apartment.
"Hey," Ben said as he sat down, looking tired and stressed. "Was that our mystery man? You finally got him to join us?"
"I did. I want him to get to know everyone."
"And what do you know about him now?"
"More than I did before," she said, not getting into the details. She was somewhat surprised that Ben didn't push her for information, but he seemed distracted. "How are you doing? You look like you've had a rough day."
"Day was fine, but I got a call from Warren, Dad's neighbor, and he said that Dad is throwing all his stuff away, including his medals."
"Why would he do that?" she asked in surprise.
"Warren said he didn't know, but he was wondering if Dad might be dealing with health issues that he doesn't want to talk about. He thinks I should come down and visit him before he gives away everything in his house."
"Do you want me to go with you? I'm supposed to work tomorrow night, but maybe I could get it off."
"It's better if I go on my own. If we both show up, he might think we're ganging up on him. Plus, whenever you're around, he seems to feel an even bigger need to declare everything is fine."
She frowned at that reminder, but Ben wasn't wrong.
Her dad had never liked to show weakness in front of her.
In fact, whenever he felt vulnerable, he covered it with anger.
That's why her mother's death and funeral had been such a dark period in all their lives.
Not just because she was gone, but because her father couldn't allow any of them to grieve, at least not together.
Whatever you were feeling, you needed to keep it to yourself.
"Well, let me know how it goes," she said.
"I will. It's probably nothing. You know how he hates sentimental clutter. Every year, he'd go through the house and throw away our stuff."
"That's true. I used to hide things in my underwear drawer. It was the one place he didn't feel comfortable going."
Ben gave her a weary smile. "I never had that option. Nothing of mine was off-limits."
"But you were his favorite, so there's that."
"I'm not sure that's the honor you think it is." He got to his feet. "I'm going to grab a plate. Do you want me to get you one?"
"No, I'll eat later. I'm not hungry yet."
As he left, her gaze immediately searched for Jax.
He was chatting with Paige while also hitting a beach ball to Olivia and Henry.
She thought about joining them, but she also wanted him to get to know people on his own.
Maybe she would get something to eat. Before she could move, Lexie dropped into the chair Ben had just vacated.
"Hey," she said. "How's it going? I heard you got our mystery man to leave his apartment."
"Everyone needs to stop calling him that."
Lexie raised a brow. "I think you're the one who gave him that name in the first place."
"Well, his name is Jax, so we should call him that."
At her words, Lexie's gaze narrowed. "Okay, we can call him that. But you should know that Serena said you looked flustered when you walked out of his apartment with him."
"I just went there to invite him to join us. I wasn't flustered. Serena doesn't know what she's talking about."
Lexie laughed. "Is that the way you're going to play it? Because you look a little rattled now, and your cheeks are turning red."
"It's hot," she said defensively.
"He's hot," Lexie corrected.
Her gaze drifted to Jax, and she gave a helpless shrug. "Well, I can't argue with that."
"Have you learned anything more about him?"
"Yes, but we're still getting to know each other."
"What does he do for a living? What's his story?"
"Still figuring that out."
Lexie gave her a thoughtful look. "That's a cagey response for you, Kaia. You know more than you want to say."
"Maybe, but I also know that Jax needs his privacy right now, so if anyone comes around here looking for him, we should act like we don't know him."
"Who would anyone be?" Lexie asked sharply.
She didn't want to tell her about the photographer, so she just said, "I don't know, but if you see someone lurking about or asking questions, don't tell them he lives here."
"Well, I wouldn't talk about any of our tenants unless someone from law enforcement was asking questions. Do I need to be concerned about that?"
"Absolutely not. And I'm sure you can confirm that with Josie, if you need to."
"Since I trust both of you, I won't ask for more information, not yet anyway. But you're one of my best friends, Kaia, and if you're getting involved with him, I want to make sure he's a good guy."
"We're not getting involved…we're just getting to know each other," she said, not sure she was making a good distinction. "And I know what I'm doing. Let's talk about you. Are you ready for your gallery showing tomorrow?"
"Just about. I need to hang a few more pieces, some last-minute additions to the exhibit, but it's looking better than I imagined.
Sienna is pleased," Lexie added, referring to the owner of the art gallery where her photographs were about to be the featured exhibit running for one of the busiest weeks of the summer with the fourth of July on Monday bringing lots of tourists to town and, hopefully, crowds to the gallery every day.
"I can't wait to see it. The reception runs from one to four tomorrow, right?"
"Yes, and I would love to see you there."
"I wouldn't miss it. I have to work tomorrow from three to eleven, but I'll come by before then. Now, let's go get some food."
As she got to her feet, she saw Jax talking to Serena and Ava.
She really hoped Serena wasn't grilling him about their relationship.
It took some willpower not to rush over and join them so she could protect him from whatever well-meaning questions might come his way.
But she couldn't do that. He needed to form his own relationships with his neighbors, and if she stayed away from him, hopefully, the gossip about the two of them would die down.
"He's fine," Lexie said, startling her.
She glanced at the knowing glint in her friend's eyes. "I just don't want anyone to run him off with questions."
"If he can't handle questions from Ava and Serena, then maybe it would be better if he ran off, because I don't see you being comfortable with anyone who doesn't like your friends."
"You're right."
"And you definitely like him," Lexie said.
Knowing that her cheeks would probably burn again if she tried to lie, she just said, "Maybe I do. But don't make a big deal out of it, because it's not a big deal."
"If you say so. Come on, let's eat. I need to get something before I go back to the gallery."
She forced herself to look away from Jax, knowing that her feelings about him were turning into a much bigger deal than she'd expected, and she had no idea whether that was good or bad.
She'd become wary of relationships in recent years.
Every time she started to trust someone, started to get deep, something usually fell apart.
And with those men, she'd seen very few red flags, whereas alarm bells went off in her head every time she saw Jax.
But she couldn't seem to make herself listen to those warnings.
That might be something she would come to regret.
But as she'd told Jax earlier, she wasn't the kind of person to avoid risk if it could lead to something great.
She was taking a chance, maybe a big one, but her gut told her it was worth it. Hopefully, her gut wasn't wrong.