Page 64 of Attraction & Repulsion

Their luggage was placed in the center of a small room, and two twin beds had been shoved in opposite corners. How Jax had ever fit in a bed that size, Carson didn’t know. Old treasures were sitting on the dresser and hanging from the walls: blue ribbons, a piggy bank, a Magic 8 Ball, a poster of Jeremy McGrath. She inched closer to a picture frame displaying a young boy in a green uniform, posing with a soccer ball. The boy looked nothing like Jax.

“That’s Wyatt,” he said. “We shared this room.”

Carson grinned. “I want to see baby Jax.”

He moved closer and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I burned all of them. I was an alien baby with a deformed head.”

Carson only had one picture of herself as a baby, dressed in white ruffles and a bonnet, looking as if she’d lived on a farm before Arizona was declared a state. The photo was small and square, wrinkle lines and bent edges giving it character. Imagining Jax as a baby, Carson couldn’t believe he was ugly. For a split second, she wondered what their baby would look like. Quickly she stomped on the idea, angry that she had let her mind wonder. It was all the baby talk and holding newborns screwing with her head.

“You okay?” he asked.

Loosening her muscles, she turned around. “Of course. How can I not be when I’m in Jax Miller’s childhood room?” Then she narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m not going to find magazines under the mattress, am I?”

Jax smirked. “No, that was Beau.”

A faint giggle came behind the closet door. Jax put a finger to his lips and took two steps to his right. There was another giggle. Then using that samehand he counted down from three with his fingers before he threw one of the doors open.

“Gotcha!”

Screams filled the room as Hayden and Henry scrambled out from the closet, trying to escape. Jax was faster and captured them with ferocious tickles. The boys squealed and laughed until Jax finally released them, and they darted out the door.

When Carson had finished brushing her teeth and said goodnight to Shirley, she was back in the room, closing the door behind her. Jax was already in one of the beds leaning up against the wall, fiddling with his watch. He was shirtless, wearing only gym shorts. His tattoo was a dark mass on his shoulder. Did it ever get cold enough in Texas to wear sweats?

Pulling out her own pajamas, Carson quickly slipped them on—wondering if she would get too hot in her long-sleeved shirt—before sitting on Jax’s bed. She could hear Elizabeth’s wails through the walls. Someone was walking down the stairs. Probably Billy, getting a bottle for his daughter.

Tossing his watch on the nightstand, Jax flicked off the lamp, extinguishing the last bit of light in the room. Then he scooted behind her, pushed her hair to the side, and pressed his lips to her neck.

“You surviving?” he asked, his hot breath tickling her left ear.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you’d be overwhelmed with my big family.”

Carson bent back to look at him. “Not at all. It feels like a family.”

He snorted. “Feelslike a family?”

“It’s exactly how I imagined a family would be,” she said, facing forward again. “Like what I see in the movies.”

Squeezing her a little tighter, Jax gave her neck another kiss. “The movies, huh?”

“This whole place is a movie,” Carson teased, thinking about the big city turned small town. The gravel road to a little house tucked into the trees. A family saying grace at the dinner table and having Christmas together.

“Are you ready for bed now?” he asked.

When Carson nodded, Jax sat back, hauling her with him by the waist. The bed was cramped, but she snuggled into him as he pressed his body against her back, encasing her in his arms. By now her eyes had adjusted to the dark room, and she could see the shape of the dresser.

“I’m glad you were able to come with me,” he said.

“Me too. I really do like your family.”

“Even Beau?” he asked, skeptical.

“Even Beau.”

“Give it a couple days,” he yawned, voice deepening with sleep.

She could tell he was on the edge of slumber, ready to fall asleep in the blink of an eye. A couple of minutes passed, and Carson herself was starting to get sleepy, tired from the day of traveling. She listened to Jax’s slow, even breaths.

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