Wilde Magic (Wilde Women Book 3) (38 page)

Looser than he’d normally be due to his buzzed state, the hit took him by surprise and made Cal an easy target. Jax didn’t pull back at all. A burst of fire exploded on his jaw when his brother’s beefy paw made contact. It wasn’t that far a trip into a mounded snowdrift once he started flying through the air.

Sprawled on his back in the cold snow he gawked as his brother went bat crap crazy. Marching back and forth, his arms flailed as he exclaimed, “You motherfucker! I know all about that parade of high-end pussy you indulged in during your celebrity days. But holy God, man. That girl? Isn’t she a bit young and innocent for your jaded tastes? Brynn’s gonna shit an eggroll when she finds out you used her baby sister as a sex toy.”

Jax’s voice rose until it became a ferocious growl.

Hold on. Sex toy? No, dammit. That wasn’t right. Struggling off the snow, he scrambled onto the porch.

“Jesus, fuck Jax. You have it all wrong. It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh no?” The bellow was real. “You were her client for fuck’s sake.”

“How’d you know that?”

Cal heard the whiny dodge when he challenged the mention of what went down. The indignation rolling off his brother was intimidating as fuck. He wasn’t in a position to blame Jax.

“She told me herself, of course! We were talking about her job and I asked if she worked with any drivers. Had a feeling I wasn’t going to like the answer but asked anyway. Obviously, she said yes.”

Dammit. Cal waved his hands and made the T symbol. “Time out, time out,” he begged.

“Why? There’s nothing you can say that’ll excuse what you did. My sister-in-law or not, bro. I thought you were better than that. We do not fuck the people we work with.”

“You did.”

Oh shit. Why did he say that? “Sorry. Out of line.”

Jax glowered at him. But the taunt released some of the pressure on the escalating confrontation. Finally, after an uncomfortable pause, he gave Cal a chance to explain. So he did. In a hurry.

“We met at a party. Caught her red-handed trying to steal a jar of peanut butter from my pantry. You can imagine how that went,” Cal joked. When his brother’s stony face didn’t soften, he got serious again. So much for trying to be funny. “One thing led to another and we ended up in a make-out session.” He put his hands up when Jax looked like he wanted to explode. “Swear on all that’s holy we barely got to second base. Nothing but some over-the-clothes action.”

“A party, huh? Just second base? You say that like it’s no big deal. Then how the fuck does she end up working with you? Explain that.”

Hadn’t Thalia and JP warned him that his fuckery where ‘tessa’s job was concerned was one day going to come back and kick his ass? Well. Looks like this was the day.

“Hey. I couldn’t just let her walk away. I asked when I could see her again and she answered with some flip new-agey crap and a maybe yes, maybe no. That shit didn’t sit well with me so I did what any guy would do. Used my influence to get her assigned as my therapist for a few weeks.”

“And then you seduced her?”

“No. Shit, Jax. Stop trying to make it sound like I was fucking around for no good reason. I like the girl. A lot. Never had a female get under my skin the way she has. Nobody seduced anybody. We spent a lot of time together and for the record? She wasn’t stupid. Matter of fact she called me out for manipulating the situation.”

“So did you sleep with her or not?”

Cal thought about the blood stained sheets and clamped his mouth shut. No way was he going there.

“That’s none of your fucking business, big brother.”

He could have sworn he saw a flash of approval in his brother’s eyes and had the distinct feeling he’d just passed some sort of test.

“This conversation isn’t over.”

Of course not.

Cal felt a wave of love. There was no one on this planet he was closer to than Jax. He was a lucky fucker to have a brother who’d knock him on his ass and then jump down his throat. No, for real, he grumbled to the snickers of doubt tittering in the background of his mind. The man had an understanding of how the evolution of bullshit, internal and external, impacted our true selves.

Shit. Seriously? That sounded like something ‘tessa would say.

Jax wasn’t calling Cal on his shit. He was making it clear that there simply wasn’t going to BE any shit. Made him even happier to be home. Where he belonged. Where the hype and the celebrity and the phoniness wasn’t knee deep. Right now, all he wanted was to be real. Be authentic. It was the only way if he was going to fix the damage his fake life had caused.

He wanted Charlize Baron-Wilde and he was going to need whatever help he could get to make that happen.

“Y
OU WERE CERTAINLY ON TONIGHT,”
Rhiann sighed in the darkness.

They were sharing the garage loft and collapsed together after the exhausting evening—falling onto the mattress that was too big for a full head and footboard in the A-frame ceiling’d space.

Charlie rolled to her side and smiled at Rhi. The only light in the room came from the moonlight streaming in through the huge arched window overlooking Wilde House.

“It’s just so great being here with everyone. And seeing how happy Brynnie is—well, it’s contagious, y’know? Jax is a really great guy.”

“Mom says he’s smitten. Smitten! My God—I laughed for five minutes when she said it.”

“Aw, I think it’s cute,” she was quick to assure her sister. “He’s so,” Charlie made a comical face and fanned herself. “Ya’know? And seeing a big guy like that all but crawl on his hands and knees for Brynn, it’s … well, it’s staggering.”

Rhiann snickered and tucked both hands under her cheek. “I know this company that does personalized embroidery, like monograms and stuff, on clothes. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of this until right before coming here, so what I ordered won’t be here till after they get back from their honeymoon.”

Whatever her sis had planned was going to be legend. She could sense it. Rhi was good like that. Her smart-assery knew no limits and she could deliver a tongue-in-cheek headfuck without breaking a nail or smudging her polish.

“What did you do, Rhi?” She was laughing already.

“Okay, so you see how he pretty much plays the man-in-black card twenty-four-seven? Yeah, well I started thinking. He’s a big deal. The people working with him and his clients speak of Jax in glowing terms. Seemed to me a man like that, at the top of his game and with a business about to explode and expand, well, he needed some monogramed shirts. Not T-shirts,” she shuddered dramatically. “One step up. Collar and everything! Had a dozen black shirts embroidered with BWA. Discreet. Left breast. Looks like initials.”

“BWA?”

“Butt Whacker Alpha.”

The converted garage filled with the sounds of their hysterical laughter until Charlie begged Rhi to stop because she kept on tossing out one-liners about the attributes and characteristics of the homegrown alpha. She was gonna’ pee her pants if her sister didn’t hush.

“And holy cannoli, Charlize. That brother of his. My word. Who knew there could be that much sibling hotness in one family? Did you check him out?
Aiee Papi!
Pretty sure Caleb Merrill’s been leaving a trail of melted panties all across Europe.”

The seizures of laughter came to a dead stop. Rhiann was more right than she knew. Charlie’s panties were in that long line, a thought that sent fire bolts of desire into her center instead of the indignation she should’ve felt.

Damn him. Why’d he have to be Jax’s brother? Was the universe clowning her? Who the hell else would this happen to? Crap.

“Something pretty intense went down with those two,” Rhi continued. “They were outside a long time and after they came back to the party, I heard Dad tell Bob Merrill that he thought it looked like Caleb had a mark on his jaw. Like a knock-out punch bruise. Whadayathink that was all about?”

A slow burn started inside. What did she think? Dammit, Charlie silently brooded. She’d be the last to know anything at all. Maybe Claudia Gianelli would have an answer.

Rhiann, who never met a good conversation she couldn’t command, was still talking. “Brynn hardly flinched later when the drunk wrestling started. And how ‘bout our parents playing Marry, Fuck, Kill? It’s weird seeing them so loose and hilarious with the Merrills, huh?”

Social convention required her to respond, say something. And if she didn’t, Rhi’s concern-radar would ping and Charlie didn’t want that. Ty, er uh … Caleb played off meeting her again like they were strangers. So be it. The fucker.

“I think the alcohol helped. Maybe that’s why Brynn seemed so together. She was the only sober grown-up in the room.”

“What the hell,” Rhi groaned, “with that holiday ale? That stuff brewed by Santa’s evil minions or what?”

She chuckled. “That’s why it’s called Mad Elf.”

“There certainly was something terribly, terribly déclassé about a beer burp contest, though. Nana would not be happy.”

“Who are you kidding?” she asked with feigned disbelief. “Did you see how many Bloody Marys she knocked back at lunch? I swear the woman has an iron stomach. Two wimpy mimosas and I was ready for a nap while she jumped up and marched out of the restaurant like vodka and tomato juice were her best friends.”

“Might explain why the old bird was staring holes through you, sweetie. Something you wanna tell me?”

Charlie rolled her shoulder and fixed Rhi with a dry look. “It’s nothing. She’s up my ass about finishing my degree in Philly. The art! The art! You know her.”

“Seriously? Well, shit Charlie. I didn’t see that one coming. Brynn and I thought you’d hole up in Happy Valley for awhile. Can’t you finish those last few credits at Penn?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she said. And she meant it too. It wasn’t the credits or the degree causing a problem. She could wrap that shit up from anywhere. Everyone but her had expectations of what she’d do next.

Nana was trying to lure her to Philly. Mom and Dad wanted her to go home for a bit, and Brynn. Dammit if Brynn hadn’t pulled her aside and flat out asked if she’d stay at Wilde House and help with the renovation and the bakery while she and Jax went to North Carolina for their honeymoon. No way did she anticipate the offer, and realistically? No way could she refuse.

“Big sis asked me to hang out here until they get back. And it’s not like I can say no. But after that? I have no idea.”

Hmph
, Rhi grunted. “You could come to New York, ya’ know. Lots of art there too.”

“Sheesh,” she laughed. “Make it more complicated why don’t you?”

A sound from outside caught their attention and they both scrambled to their knees and leaned on the windowsill to have a look.

“They’re back.”

Charlie watched without comment as Brynn slid from the driver’s side of Mom’s big SUV. Being the ever-dutiful older daughter—and let’s face it, she was pregnant so what choice did she have—Bynnie was the designated driver. She’d taken the Merrill’s and their parents to the B&B they were using. Everyone except Charlie, who was nicely buzzed but far from inebriated, had been way too over the limit to drive.

She was surprised though that Jax hadn’t driven with Brynn. He was so adorably overprotective she had a hard time imagining why he’d stayed back. And then she remembered. Ty. He’d stayed behind to hang with his brother. She’d overheard the two discussing where Caleb would bunk for the night. The guest room was currently a staging area for the work being done in the nursery. So that left the den and a massive wood frame futon.

Even the briefest of thoughts about Ty and sleeping arrangements sent her off-kilter. He was close-by. Maybe naked. Yeah, naked would be good. All that hard muscled flesh. Those thighs and the way his lower abs carved into that V she liked so much.

And then she remembered. That V she liked so much? Ya’ mean the one he wouldn’t let Charlie lick? All of a sudden she was jacked up and ready to rumble.

That son-of-a-bitch. He played her innocence like the harp in a heavenly choir while all that time getting his dick sucked by the Queen of the Unholies. Just the idea of that Cloud-ee-ah bitch putting her disgusting mouth on Ty’s …