Everybody Falls (14 page)

"Magic," I heard Jax breathe as he watched.

"I know, right?" I shot back quietly, eying the line of pretties on the counter.

"I'm Audi," Beth said, as she preceded Sarge into the now very cramped space of the kitchen.

I'd never heard Beth announce her leaving in quite such a way before. The lip gloss that she'd obviously drizzled on before she swung through the doors was a new thing, too.

Jax fever.

She obviously had a case of Jax fever.

"Beth? Could you handle the store tomorrow?" I asked, but I was looking at Jack. His eyes were still on the cupcakes, but he must have felt something from me since his eyes made their way to mine. "I might be busy."

His face split into that beautiful, wonderful smile as his eyes flared.

"Yeah, sweetie, glad to," I heard her say as she began to move away. "It was nice to meet you…uhm…er."

"You, too," I heard Jax say, however we were still stuck in our own eye-glue.

"Lace?" I heard Sarge rumble and knew we had another hurdle to cross.

*.*.*.*.*

He watched Lace as she removed her shower cap thing and the apron before sliding behind the behemoth that filled the doorway who was giving him the eye.

"Gotta work the floor, honey," she'd advised before she moved away.

"Who are you?" the large man questioned and Jax felt his stomach drop to his knees. Was it better to be known or unknown?

"Uh, I'm…I'm Jax," he said before he straightened up from his lean against the counter and shoved a hand out to the man.

He wasn't a small guy by any means, but the skin-headed, older fellow in front of him topped him by at least four inches, his face jewelry catching the lights of the tiny kitchen. Jax felt his large hand enveloped by the much larger paw of the guy with the crazy, braided beard.

"Sarge," the older man growled. "Heard you dropped off the face of the earth, Slugger."

Shit. The old guy recognized him, too.

"I wish," Jax replied.

"Been there," the man replied with a snort and donned an apron. Instead of a cap, Sarge grabbed a surgical mask and tidily slipped it on, tucking his long beard into it. "Did my time with the 'Wastrels' before moving on to 'Nothing But Ashes' in the eighties."

Shit, was everyone in this fucking town an ex-rocker?

"You with Lace?" Sarge asked, moving things around, pulling cake pans out of the fridge and setting up some kind of stands on the large table in the middle.

"Trying to be," Jax admitted. "Can I help?"

"You know anything about frosting?" Sarge shot back.

"No, sir," Jax answered and felt the heat in his face. "I'm good at learning, though."

The older man shot him a half-grin before growling, "Then, let's fuckin' hit, Slugger."

"Language!" they heard Lacey bark from the front of the store.

"Oh, yeah. Lace don't allow no swear words, clear?" Sarge said, bumping Jax's shoulder as he moved around the workbench.

Jax did a chin lift and then followed Sarge's directions as they begin mixing the different frostings for the cakes.

Sarge was a good name for the man, since he could instruct then correct, Jax's clumsy efforts with short, concise sentences. He directed Jax as he tried to wield a 'frosting knife', smoothing it again and again until it was a shiny, smooth, no-knife-mark layer on a cake. He learned how to get the stream of sugary goodness that came out of the steel-tipped bag as he squeezed in an even, smooth flow onto the different sweet smelling slabs. If it wasn't good enough, Sarge simply scraped it off and told him to try again.

On one hand it felt like he'd been stuck in that tiny, fragrant kitchen for-fucking-ever, yet on the other, just minutes, as he reviewed the results of all their work spread out on the table.

And standing back to survey, Jax was proud of what he saw, what he'd created.

He heard the volume of the stereo increase before Lacey came back through the doors.

"Done, honey!" she yelled as she made her way straight towards him, winding herself under his arms and pressing her head against his chest. She looked over the table as she rubbed his back with both arms.

"Nice," she breathed, perusing the full array of treats, before tilting her head up to his and planting a kiss on the underside of his chin, her arms squeezing.

He glanced at Sarge and saw the old guy was smiling but his eyes were studiously aimed towards the small window over the sink.

"We can take it from here, Sarge, if you need to get going," she offered, disentangling herself and beginning to reach for the different containers to store all the goods the men had completed.

"Sure thing, Lace," the man grumbled removing his headgear and the apron. "I'll lock up the front."

"Nice to meet you, Sarge," Jax said slowly, reaching out a hand to, this time, sincerely shake the large paw of the bear-man he'd spent the afternoon with. The older man released but shot his hand back out for a fist bump.

"Liked your music, dude. Like the man even more. Take care of her, yeah?" Sarge said, holding Jax's hand and the younger man felt his heart swell at the frank words.

"Yeah, man. I'll try," Jax murmured, his eyes drifting to his girl.

Both Lacey and Jax were still as they heard the different doors slam and locks being thrown before a deep-throated thrum vibrated the kitchen as Sarge left on what was obviously some kind of big-ass motorcycle.

It only took seconds and they were in a lip-lock, tongues again dueling, hands stroking then clutching as they let their passion from this morning come back to the forefront. He felt her yank the cap and the paper hat off his head with one hand as she untied the apron strings at his back, as his hands roamed and reached for her ass.

Christ.

So fucking hot.

"Jax," she breathed, breaking away after a while. A long while, if the truth were known. "Help me, honey. Help me get all this stuff put away, then…"

He pulled up. "Then?"

"Oh, yeah," he heard her whisper and saw that light, that oh-please-fuck-me light, in her eyes again.

His cock flexed hard with that look.

With just the light in her frosted, blue eyes.

Chapter 12

They finally finished putting everything away and he watched as Lacey carefully placed the remote for the stereo on the windowsill after she'd turned everything off except the lights in the cases.

Things had slowed down between them, the air now shimmering with just tension. A promise of things to come.

Which was almost more heartfelt than the heat of their earlier kisses and touches.

"Ready?" she asked in the quiet, opening the door between the shop and the small hall that led to the stairs.

Was he ready?

Was he prepared to be with this girl, his delightful girl, in a way that was sure to mean something to them both; something they would both look at later in memory?

He felt his palms begin to sweat as he followed her slowly up the stairs, her glances over her shoulder almost making him shiver.

Could he do this?

Damn, he'd never deliberately wanted to please a woman before. Not that anyone had ever complained about his technique, except he hadn't ever even considered if he was doing things right.

In bed.

Not ever.

But, he'd never wondered because he could always tell they were touching, fucking a 'star'.

Not Jax, not him. The himself of him.

They made it upstairs and through the door into her small kitchen.

"Uhm," she started, shoving her hands in her back pockets. "I don't know how to start…er. Couch or bed?"

He heard her. Heard her tone as well as her question.

She was as unsure as he was.

Fucking hell.

Wait. That was good, right?

Two people nervous wasn't necessarily a bad thing, when you thought about it.

He gathered her in his arms, pressing her head against his chest, loving that she wasn't crawling all over him. His heart was full, knowing that he wasn't going to be her 'tool', just a driving force she could admit she'd 'bagged' to her friends.

"Lacey? Baby?" he began, not really knowing how to put his thoughts into words. "It's just me and you. Whatever you want, where
ever
you want, okay? I just want to be with you. In whichever way you want."

But, his stomach twisted thinking that she could, if she wanted to, send him down the stairs and outside.

"For as long as you want," he continued, and it must be said that this last bit, this last portion was said on a tight whisper.

His hands had been roaming her tense back as he spoke, though when he ended, he felt the tension leave her body.

"Lace? We don't have to do anything…" he began.

"Shhh," she interrupted. "Just give me a sec, Jack, okay?"

He stopped and took in the quiet moments to simply enjoy the feel of her against him.

"Okay, bedroom. I just want to warn you that I've not done this often," she said. He heard her thick swallow in the filtered light reflecting through the windows of her living room.

"Baby," he replied quickly. Oh fuck, she was feeling the pressure of the groupies, too. "No, Lace."

She whipped her head off his chest quickly, staring up at him with those clean, pristine bottomless eyes when he spoke.

He hurried to assure her, at least, as much as he was able.

"I want you. Goddamn, Lacey, I want you so much," he admitted. He didn't know how to calm her fears, the fear he'd heard in her voice before. He saw it in her eyes, a deep movement behind the crystalline depths, a fear that was so unfounded, so unnecessary.

He'd seen a look of measurement, of her trying to imagine what he'd had before and finding herself not good enough. "You're the first I've chosen. The only one I've asked to be with, not settled for. God, Lace. Kiss me, please."

She pressed her mouth to his, but even her lips were shaking.

Oh, God. Please make him worthy.

"I want you too, Jack," she whispered when their mouths broke apart.

"Couch, then? Just for a time?" he asked, whispering back.

She nodded, disconnecting their bodies before tugging him to the living room.

They were sitting side by side on the soft cushions, both of their hands rubbing on the legs of their jeans, only their shoulders touching.

Jax reached a hand over to stop her movements.

"I'm just Jack, Lace. I'm not that guy you have in your head at the moment, okay? I really like you and I think you really like me, the real me. Get that other bullshit out of your head, please?"

"But…" she began.

"No, Baby. Just like in the bakery when you had to fucking remind me. It's just you. It's just me. Let's create magic, Lace, alright?" he murmured turning, pulling her soft form into him. His lips moved and connected with her neck, kissing his way up to her full, pink lips.

"Yes, please," she whispered before his mouth made it to hers.

He twisted her so she was leaning against the arm of the old sofa, their chests pressed together as their lips began to move.

They began to work it, mouths doing everything he thought they both wanted to work elsewhere. Moaning, gripping and fucking rubbing so goddamn good he was seeing stars, barely able to breathe as they writhed, gripped and dry-humped together.

Fuck.

Their t-shirts were long gone, her bra cast aside like so much trash as they shifted and touched each other. Such delicious strokes, tweaks and clasps.

He wanted to taste the peaks he was palming, was squeezing between his thumb and forefinger.

Could he? Would she let him?

He moved his mouth down, kissing the long column of her throat, sucking as he tasted her.

"Oh, Jack," she mewled as he licked her tenderly, right where her neck met her shoulder and he felt his fingers on her nipples spasm at the sound of her voice.

He got a hip thrust in reply.

Okay, then. She was into this, so he kept up his trail, his intent.

God, heaven. Her nipples were fucking heaven.

Jax bent his head to envelop them with his lips.

His tongue swirled and darted, alternating between each engorged bud.

He sucked and she thrusted as he pulled her tender peaks into his mouth.

Fuck.

The electricity between them was sizzling, a pulsing pleasure.

His hips thrusted again and he shifted to lie on her, her legs falling open. She flexed her hips against him as he moved, rubbing and stroking his hard-on using just the juncture of her thighs.

"More," she begged and he realized she was trembling.

"Please, more," she implored and, honest to God, he couldn't disagree.

He reached between them, sinking his hand to cup her through her jeans and heard her sharp gasp.