Chapter 11 #2
Jaxon knew his brother was an outrageous flirt, but that didn’t stop jealousy from eating his stomach at just the thought of Tully sharing an ice cream cone with him.
“You don’t have time to drive to town, Huck. Dawson and Poppy need help stabilizing the treeboat.”
Huck’s eyes widened. “It fell?”
“Not yet, but it’s going to if we don’t take measures to prevent it.”
“Sorry, Tulls.” Huck gave her a hug as if they were the best of friends and again jealousy reared its ugly head. “We’ll have to save that ice cream cone for another time. I can’t let the treeboat sink.” He took off down the porch steps and across the open field toward the river.
Once he was gone, Jaxon looked at Tully. “What brings you to the Hennessys’ humble abode? Is your grandma okay?”
“She’s fine. The bump went down and there’s just a tiny bruise left.” Her gaze lowered to his chest and then skittered away, her cheeks flaming bright pink. “What’s a treeboat?”
“It’s just a dilapidated raft we built as kids and decided to put in a tree when it didn’t float.”
A smile lifted the corners of her mouth. She had one of those smiles that lit up her entire face, crinkling the corners of her eyes, wrinkling her nose, and bringing out her dimple. “That sounds awesome.”
“I’m sure it’s not as awesome as that tree house your daddy built you.”
Her gaze snapped back to him. “You saw my tree house?”
Since he wasn’t about to tell her he’d snuck into her backyard to see it after some of Huck’s friends had gone on and on about how cool it was, he lied.
“Just heard about it.” He moved over to the swing his daddy had built his mama and sat down, pushing it with his bare foot.
A bare foot Tully seemed extremely interested in.
She stared at it for a good full minute before she finally pulled her gaze away and returned to their conversation.
“It was a nice tree house, but I would’ve loved to share it with a bunch of siblings.”
He hadn’t given much thought to Tully’s childhood—probably because he’d been too busy trying to survive his own.
When he had thought about Tully’s life, he’d envied it.
She’d had the perfect childhood with two loving parents who doted on her.
Her mama was always at the school helping out with parties, bake sales, and fundraisers.
She and the sheriff attended all of the school functions, smiling and cheering for anything their daughter did or achieved.
But now, he realized Tully hadn’t had the perfect childhood. It had to be lonely being an only child. Jaxon might get annoyed with his siblings, but now he realized he wouldn’t trade them . . . even for Tully’s childhood.
“So why are you here?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you’re ready to confess your desire for bad boys.”
Her cheeks flared again. “I don’t desire bad boys.”
“Still lying to yourself, huh?” He rolled to his feet and moved closer to her, or more like stalked her, causing her to back up against the porch railing.
He reached out and captured a strand of her hair, letting it slide between his thumb and finger.
The heat in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.
She wanted him.
And he had to acknowledge that he wanted her too. Just the feel of her silky hair slipping through his fingers had him feeling like he’d been in the sun too long. He knew all it would take was a brush of her plump lips to make him hard as the river rock walls holding up the porch.
Which was why he dropped his hand and stepped away.
He could never be with someone, even if only for sex, who didn’t believe in his innocense.
“Then why are you here?” he asked a little gruffer than he’d intended.
She took a deep breath and slowly released it. “I’m here because I can’t stand the thought of Honky Tonk Heaven never opening its doors again.”
He laughed. “I should have known Mrs. Reed would blab to everyone in town about me trying to get a loan.”
“She didn’t blab. My grandma told me.”
He was surprised. Birdie was the last person he thought would gossip.
“Well, then you know that there’s no way to continue the renovations.” He looked at her hair. “What happened to your curls?”
She awkwardly ran a hand over her hair. “I straighten them. Why?”
“Well, you shouldn’t. They’re you.”
She blinked. “Wild and untamable?”
He studied her. “I’m starting to think you do have a wild side, Tallulah Gentry. I think that’s why you’re so wrapped up in Honky Tonk Heaven.”
He figured she’d deny it. Instead, she stared back at him for long moment before surprising the hell out of him.
“I’ll loan you the money to finish renovations on the dancehall.”
He wondered if he had gotten heatstroke on the deck of the treeboat. “What?”
She lifted her chin as if getting courage to continue. “I have equity in my house and can get an equity loan from the bank. I’ve checked. How much money do you need?”
“More than you can probably get.”
“I can get up to a hundred thousand.”
Jaxon started at her. “You have that much equity in your house?”
“I saved up money and Daddy chipped in.”
He was struggling to understand what was going on. “And you’re willing to loan it to me? Okay, what’s the punch line, Tully?”
“There’s no punch line.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Sorry, but you want to use all the equity in your house to give to a man you think robbed a gas station. Forgive me if that seems like a joke.” He turned for the door, but she grabbed his arm.
She wasn’t strong enough to stop him, but the arch of electricity that spiked through him was.
She must have felt it too because she quickly released him as if burned.
But she didn’t stop talking.
“I know it seems foolish. I can’t explain my infatuation with Honky Tonk Heaven. All I know is that I really want to see the dancehall reopen. This isn’t a joke, Jaxon. I’m being completely honest. The money is yours if you want it.”
“And you’re not the least bit worried that we won’t meet the deadline? Or that I’ll take all your money and run off?”
“You’d never do that to your siblings.” She hesitated. “And you’ll make the deadline. I’ll make sure of it.”
“You’ll make sure of it?”
She got a stubborn look. “Yes. If I’m footing the bill, it’s only right that I get a say in the renovations.”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “I’m not going to have you underfoot through the rest of the renovation.”
Anger snapped in her eyes. “I’m not some child who will be underfoot. I’m an adult who knows how to stay out of the way. In fact, I won’t ever show up at the jobsite . . . at least not during the day when you’re working.”
“Of course you won’t. You don’t want your daddy and the townsfolk to know you’re hanging out with the Hennessy Hooligans. But you’ll still be asking all kinds of questions . . . and giving a lot of opinions that I don’t want or need.”
She leaned up on her toes and pinned him with angry brown eyes. “Well, considering I did the blueprints you’re working off of, who better to offer opinions?”
He didn’t know why he wanted to smile. Maybe because he liked this feisty Tully. Or maybe because his desire to finish Honky Tonk Heaven was once again within his reach.
“I’ll think about it. But if I do take you up on the offer, I’ll pay every cent back with interest . . . even if I don’t make the deadline and get my inheritance.”
“Actually, I’d rather have a share of Honky Tonk Heaven.”
That surprised him even more than her offering him money. “We aren’t keeping the bar, Tully. Once it’s reopened, we’re selling it.”
The disappointment was easy to read in her eyes. “Oh . . . I just thought that one of you would want to run it. I think your mama was hoping for the same thing.”
He laughed. “Doubtful. She knew how much we hated the bar. Which is why she had to bribe us to rebuild it. And if you want the bar so badly, why didn’t you offer to buy it from Rosie? It sounds like you two got close before she passed.”
Her eyes widened. “The town deputy can’t own a rowdy country bar.” She shook her head. “No. I don’t want the entire bar. I just wanted a small share.”
“You mean you just want a secret share. Something no one knows about. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but we Hennessys don’t want Honky Tonk Heaven. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got a boat to keep in a tree.” He turned to leave, but once again she stopped him.
“Jaxon.” When he looked at her, her eyes held a neediness that punched his heart. “I’ve never seen a treeboat before.”
He knew he shouldn’t spend any more time with her when she made him feel things he had no business feeling, but an image of a lonely girl playing all alone in a tree house popped into his head and he couldn’t shake it.
He sighed. “Then I guess you’re in for a treat.”