Page 1 of Tangled in His Embrace

Chapter 1

Gabrielle Lewis peeked inside her daughter’s bedroom to check on her. Taylor sat on the floor near her toddler bed, brushing her favorite doll’s hair. It took her a moment to realize anyone else was in the room. “Is’bella likes it when I brush her hair.”

“Looks like you’re doing a great job.”

Taylor grinned. “Can I take her with me to Daddy’s house?”

Plastering a smile on her face, Gabby swallowed the knot in her throat and answered her daughter. “Of course you can.”

“Yay,” Taylor said, rising from her spot on the floor and walking over to her box of toys. She took out several items, sorting them into piles. Gabby was sure there was some sort of logic there, but she couldn’t say what it was.

“I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

Her daughter didn’t comment as she continued to do whatever it was she was doing with her toys.

Gabby was in the middle of slicing up some carrots when she heard the doorbell ring. Her heart skipped a beat and she almost let the knife slip out of her hands. “Get a grip,” she mumbled to herself.

After placing the knife in the sink, she wiped her hands on a towel and went to get the door even though what she wanted to do was hide under her bed and never come out.

Okay, maybe not the bed. Thinking about a bed and Jax together wasn’t a great idea.

The doorbell sounded again and Gabby knew she had to suck it up and answer the door. She couldn’t leave him standing on her porch all night.

Taking a deep breath, she reached for the knob.

Cool air rushed in from outside, but she barely noticed as she came face-to-face with her daughter’s father. Jax Brooks stood on her front porch, staring back at her, as hot as ever. His dark hair, so much like their daughter’s, looked as if he’d recently run his fingers through it. And even though it was only three in the afternoon she could see the beginnings of his five-o’clock shadow. Her mouth went dry remembering how that stubble felt against her skin as he kissed his way down her body. Without her permission, her gaze drifted to his lips. Lips that had tasted and explored—

“Hello, Gabby.”

She swallowed, trying to push those memories out of her mind, and dragged her gaze up to meet his blue eyes. “Hi.”

They stood there for what felt like several minutes but were probably only a few seconds before he cleared his throat. “Can I come in?”

“Oh. Sorry.” She moved to the side so he could enter.

He wasn’t supposed to affect her like this anymore. She was almost forty, for goodness’ sake.

Okay, maybe not forty. She was thirty-six. But close enough. And definitely not anywhere near the jittery eighteen-year-old she felt like.

She closed the door on the cold December air once he was inside even though keeping it open didn’t seem like an altogether bad idea. Maybe it would lower her body temperature a little.

Gabby couldn’t let her thoughts go down that road again. She needed to put some distance between them. “I’ll go get Taylor. She’s in her room.”

As she started to move away, she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist. His hold wasn’t tight. She could have broken it if she wanted, but a part of her didn’t want to. A part of her wanted to forget that he’d left them for almost three years. But what she wanted didn’t change the facts. She couldn’t trust him to stick around. Something she’d learned the hard way.

Jax didn’t let go and he didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. She felt the connection between them everywhere his skin touched hers.

“Mommy, I can’t find—Daddy!” Taylor showed no reluctance as she launched herself across the room toward her father.

The spell broken between them by Taylor’s entrance, Jax released Gabby and bent down to gather Taylor in his arms. “There’s my little pumpkin.”

Taylor giggled. “I’s not a pump-kin, Daddy.”

“You’re not?”

She shook her head.

“How about a snickerdoodle?”

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