Baker’s Law (17 page)

“My dad lost his job because of that. He worked here for close to twenty years and
your
mother fired him because she said
I
couldn’t be trusted.” Marissa fisted her hands at her sides. One, Jax noticed, was
wrapped with something.

Callie gasped. “I didn’t know. I swear.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “I feel
so horrible. I’m so sorry.” She said it through her fingers.

Jax wasn’t sure which of them was closer to breaking down. Marissa looked ready to
take a swing, and with Callie, the waterworks could start any moment. He walked over
and got between the two of them.

He set his hands on his sister’s shoulders. “You need to go back out to your party.”
He leaned close to her and whispered. “This is why I told you not to say anything.”

Callie, seeming shell-shocked by Marissa’s revelation, merely nodded and let him lead
her back over to the door that led to the banquet room. When he turned back to Marissa,
she hadn’t so much as twitched. He moved in front of her until he was close enough
he could see the dark flecks in her light brown eyes. Eyes that, if they could, would’ve
bored a hole right through him.

“You knew?”

Jax shook his head. “Only recently. She told me the other day.”

“And you told her not to say anything to me about it.” She said it as a matter of
fact. No question. And no anger.

At least she wasn’t going to explode.

“I didn’t see what it would help. She was a kid, didn’t mean anything toward you or
your dad by it.” Jax moved closer, but Marissa eased back.

“Is this why she’s been so nice, almost bending over backward to give me business
or invite me to things?” She waved her bandaged hand toward the party.

Jax shrugged. “I don’t know. Up until the last month, I hadn’t spent more than five
minutes with her in years.” It was a sad testament that he didn’t know his little
sister any better than Marissa might. “For all I know, she treats everyone like they’re
her new best friend.”

Marissa snapped her fingers. “That’s it exactly. New best friend, indeed,” she mumbled
under her breath, but Jax heard her fine.

“Callie doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body. She’s just the opposite of…”

“Your mother,” she finished when he didn’t. “If I didn’t already know that, you’d
be hauling me off to jail for punching your baby sister.”

Jax chuckled. “I kind of got the feeling you were holding back.”

“A herculean effort on my part, I assure you.” Marissa eased back onto a stool and
swiped a hand over her face. “I was so pissed. For years. I felt slighted by your
family for what you did to my dad. I didn’t care about my job that much, but for him…
It was beyond demeaning.”

“I—”

She held up her hand and stopped him from speaking. “You didn’t have anything to do
with any of it. You weren’t even here at the time. And like you said, Callie didn’t
do it to be malicious. She was just a kid. I remember her back then. Knobby knees
and skinny arms.” Marissa shook her head and turned her back to him. “Your mother
dressed her like some kind of warped doll. I get it,” she said over her shoulder.
“I do. It doesn’t mean I can just release all the anger that’s built up over the years.
But at least I know why it all happened now. And why Callie seems hell-bent to include
me in everything. At the same time, I’m not stupid enough to pass up business.” She
glanced at the slender watch on her wrist. “That doesn’t mean that I’m going back
out there, though. I might as well go home.”

Jax wasn’t ready to let her leave. He moved up behind her, so close her warmth seeped
into him. “What happened to your hand?” he asked as she cradled it in her lap. If
that damned kid had done something to her…

“I’m a klutz.” She removed the rag and showed him the dark blue bruising and swelling.

“Damn, Marissa.” He gently took her hand in his, ran his thumb over the abraded skin.
He wanted to press her for more info. Wanted to know what happened, but all thought
fled when she shifted.

Marissa leaned back into him, rested the back of her head against his chest. For a
moment he worried she’d be able to feel the way his heart pounded just from her simple
touch. It’d been so long since he’d been willing to share even the smallest part of
himself with anyone else. With Marissa, he wanted to ask about her day. Tell her about
his. Do the things couples did. He wanted her. Plain and simple.

His free hand came up and settled at her waist. The smooth silk of the dress was nothing
compared to her skin, but in the corner of one of the club’s kitchens it was all he
would allow himself. There would be time yet, if he had anything to say about it.

A deep sigh shook her entire body.

Jax stopped rubbing her hand. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” She tilted her head up, looked him in the eyes. “You never do anything wrong,”
she said almost on a sigh.

“What?” Jax frowned down at her.

“Not since high school.”

“What does high school have to do with anything?” He didn’t look angry, maybe a little
confused.

“You were the king of high school,” she explained.

Jax snorted. “The king? What an honor.”

“You seemed to soak it up.”

“On the outside it was great.” He rubbed his hand down her arm. “But then I realized
I didn’t know who was hanging around me to be near ‘the king’ or who was really my
friend.”

“You poor thing,” Marissa teased but her smile fell. “You’re serious. You had so many
friends.”

“I had a few good friends. The rest were hangers-on.” Jax wrapped his arms around
Marissa, snuggled her up against him. “No serious girlfriends. No one like you.”

“Like me?” Her heart pounded heavily.

“Someone who would call me on my shit one second and whisper sweet nothings in my
ear the next.”

A smile pulled up the corner of her mouth as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“And you think I’d do that?”

Jax arched one eyebrow upward. “One can hope.” He leaned forward and meant only to
place a chaste kiss on her lips. The moment he touched her, the sparks from the golf
course came racing back. The woman lit every fuse he had, and some he hadn’t known
of.

Her lips parted, invited him to deepen the kiss, which he did with no hesitation.
He’d have had her on the counter and writhing beneath him moments later if someone
hadn’t cleared their throat behind him.

Marissa stiffened and pulled away, careful to keep her hand tucked close to her body.
“You need to get back to your sister’s party.” She stood, then turned and pushed on
Jax’s chest until he was an arm’s length away. “I’m going to head home.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

“No need. I parked it with the valet.” She gave a quick chuckle. “Will you tell your
sister good-night for me? While I completely understand, I need some time to…absorb
it all.”

“Sure.” Jax nodded.

“And tell her, if she still wants the cupcakes I’ll have them ready, but she doesn’t
need to feel some weird obligation to order them.”

“No weird obligation. Got it.”

She hesitated, looked like she might say something else to him, but just looked past
him. “Bye, Georgia. It was great seeing you again.”

Georgia pushed past Jax and captured Marissa in a bear hug. “Don’t be a stranger.”

Marissa waved her hand in a quick farewell then hurried out the back door of the kitchen.

Georgia didn’t say so much as a word to Jax. She gave him her famous scary stare—one
that had sent many a sous-chef running from the kitchen—and went back to preparing
food. When her knife came down for the third time with just a little too much heft,
Jax backed to the door.

“I’ll be going now, myself.”

One gray eyebrow arched upward. “You hurt her…” Georgia brought the blade down once
more with a metallic twang as it bit through whatever was on her chopping block.

Jax’s balls shriveled up just a bit and he pretended he didn’t know what Georgia was
talking about. “You hear that? I think Callie’s calling me.”

Jax went in search of his sister. He was tired and with Marissa gone, wanted to head
out. He’d gone nonstop all day at work trying to get caught up on paperwork between
the umpteen phone calls he’d gotten. Callie had left several messages throughout the
day for him on his personal phone, but it’d been close to dinnertime before he could
even retrieve them. He’d pushed all his work on the back burner, sat down for his
dinner—which he’d ordered in from Calista’s Bistro—and he’d finally listened to her
message.

“Hey, big bro. We’re having a party tonight, remember? I sent you an invitation a
while back. Anyway, I hadn’t heard if you were coming or not. I’d love to see you.
And you owe me one.”
There’d been a long pause. He’d thought she’d hung up but then she said,
“Marissa’s coming.”

He’d wrapped up the rest of the paperwork on his desk and made a point to get out
of work at a decent enough time so he could make the party. For his sister.

Yeah, and if he told himself that enough he might be able to convince one person.

When he left Georgia in the kitchen, his sister was out on the dance floor with several
other women. They were all laughing and shaking in time to the music. He wasn’t about
to interrupt that.

He snagged a sweet tea from the refreshments table. His stomach grumbled even though
he’d stuffed down dinner at his desk. He found a couple of cupcakes that looked suspiciously
like Marissa’s. He took the last of the chocolate and had just finished eating it
when someone stepped next to him.

“You couldn’t pay me enough to go out there in the middle of that.” Wes—his brother-in-law
to be—clapped him on the shoulder. “Are you brave?”

Jax chuckled. “Not in the slightest.” An awkward silence hung between them. Jax didn’t
know Wes enough to ask about his business or much of anything else for that matter.
He was wracking his brain to come up with something, anything, when the music ended.
Callie spotted them both, waved and left her friends under the mirrored ball.

“My two favorite men in the whole wide world.” She eased up on her toes and looped
her arms around Wes’s neck to give him a long, noisy kiss.

Jax shuffled and looked anywhere that wasn’t at Callie.

“Are you uncomfortable, big brother?” she asked when she finally came up for air.

“I, uh…no.”

“Ha! I think you are.” She looked past him and her smile fell. “Where’s Marissa?”

“She went on home.”

“Aw man.”

“No, it’s okay. She’s not angry. She said she understands but needs time to absorb
it all. And she also said to tell you, you don’t have to order the cupcakes from her
out of some weird obligation.”

Callie’s baby blue eyes widened, “I wasn’t. They’re fabulous. I wouldn’t order food
just to make someone like me.”

Jax held up his hands. “You don’t have to convince me.”

His sister’s face scrunched up. “I was going to ask her if she was feeling better.”

“What do you mean, better? Because of her hand?”

“No.” She shook her head and looked a little confused. Then she opened her mouth and
hesitated.

Jax paused in lifting his tea to his mouth. “What’s wrong with Marissa?”

“It’s nothing specific.” His sister sighed. “I was at her shop earlier today to place
my order for the bridal shower—which I totally want and intend to keep.” She nodded.
“Marissa looked terrible and when I told her so—”

“You told her she looked terrible?” Jax let his hand fall to his side, careful not
to spill his drink.

“Well, yes. We are…we’re… I hope we still are friendly enough for that kind of honesty.”

Jax covered his face with his hand. Only his sister would take meeting someone a few
times to friendship.

Callie set her hand on his arm. “She wasn’t mad. She agreed with me even. Well, sort
of. Anyway, that’s why I wanted to talk to her. To see if she was okay. She said she
didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Heat billowed through Jax as his mind shot to his and Marissa’s escapade past the
eighth green. He’d been up half the night himself, turned on and frustrated beyond
belief that Marissa had said they needed to back off. Keep their distance from each
other.

“Did you hear what I said?”

Jax shook himself. “What?”

“You’re not listening. She thought someone was snooping outside her house.”

Jax’s shoulders stiffened. “Did she say that?” Why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t
she told him five minutes ago? “Did she see someone?”

“Not exactly, no. I think she chalked it up to her imagination, but your imagination
doesn’t keep you a little scared and awake all night.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes it can.” Hell, his had spun any number of delicious ways
he could get to know Marissa better. Not one of them had been the least bit conducive
for a good night’s sleep.

“Jax.”

“Callie.”

“Aren’t you worried about her? I know you like her.” Her singsong taunt hit him just
as it had when they were younger.

“Whether I like her or not is totally irrelevant.” But he liked her more than he was
willing to admit to anyone. The fact that she hadn’t called him last night meant either
the noise was nothing more than her imagination as she’d told Callie or that she didn’t
want to see him anymore. Though he was sure if it had been
something,
she wouldn’t have hesitated to call in to the station.

Jax shook his head. “Look, Cal, stop trying to play matchmaker.”

“I’m not. Not much. I don’t have to do much anyway if the way you two look at each
other is any indication.” She gave a long, exaggerated blink. “You know, you should
go and check in on her.”

“I’ll think about it, Cal.” He pulled his sister into an embrace. “Now go on out there
and have fun.”

Callie beamed up at him. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek then ran back out
to her friends.

“You know she’s going to keep at you over Marissa,” Wes said.