Page 19 of Lush Curves

“No.” She tried to infuse as much firm conviction as she could into the word. “I’m fine for money, Jax. Don’t you worry.”

“Why wouldn’t I worry?” he demanded, his voice gruff and his dark-green eyes flashing. “I don’t want you working nights at that place, not if it’s a matter of a fucking loan that I won’t evenfeel, Annie. C’mon now, we’re family. Just tell me what you need, and I’ll give it to you, no questions asked. Youknowthat.”

“I do know that, Jax.”

And she really did, she knew it with every inch of her body and being: Jax Hamill was a rough man with a rougher past –he’d beaten a man to death, after all, although it had been the man who had killed Jax’s mother, so Annie kind of supported what in done, in parts – and he had shady and violent connections through his bar, Dangerous Curves. But when it came to Sarah, Noah, Annie, and his friends, the man was nothing but fiercely loyal and protective. He’d paid for all of Sarah’s care when she’d been beaten into a coma, he’d paid for her months and months of physical therapy, he’d supported Annie and Noah during Sarah’s recovery, he still kicked in for Noah’s stay at Carly’s Place.

But his generosity with money wasn’t the main reason that Annie had grown to adore Jax… it wasn’t even how he took care of and cherished Sarah, though that was amazing. No, if Annie had to pick just one reason to admire and love this hard, harsh man, it was because of how Jax was with Noah.

Despite the fact that Jax looked about as sensitive as a bulldozer, he’d shown himself to be compassionate, caring and careful with Annie’s son. Jax had never pushed, never made Noah feel ‘other’, never treated Noah like a stupid, backward child, never talked down to Noah.

No, from the word go, Jax had treated Noah like an intelligent man, albeit one with challenges, and he’d never resented Sarah’s dedication to her twin brother. If anything, Jax had bent over backwards to make sure that Noah was safe and cared for, and Sarah had been free to handle her responsibilities without being snowed under with guilt. Jax had always joked gently with Noah, and he’d been amazing the night that Sarah had been beaten up and Noah had called Jax for help.

Thathad spoken volumes to Annie; it had screamed at her, full in her face. Noah had turned to Jax for help.Thatimplied trust, belief, faith. And if Noah had had that in Jax, then Annie sure as hell did too, even though she’d been unsure about Jax had first. He’d reminded her of Billy Matthews in lots of ways, in far too many ways – his rugged good looks, his easy, natural charm, his womanizing prowess, his swaggering sexual confidence – and Annie had genuinely feared for Sarah’s good, sweet, naive heart.

Ever since that night that Noah had turned to Jax for help and Jax had answered the call with calm and heroism, Annie had allowed herself to open up to Jax. She’d really given him a chance to show her the heart and soul that lay beneath that hard, muscled, dangerous exterior.

And every day since that night, she’d been glad that she’d done so –because Jax Hamill was a damn good man. One of the best men that Annie had ever had present in her life, to be honest, and she was thrilled that her daughter was marrying such a fierce, tender protector.

He was gazing at her from across the kitchen now, in that totally unnerving way that he had, and she fought to not give away too much.Damnhim and those clever, burning, x-ray eyes.

“So you don’t need some help?” he demanded. He strode across the floor in three long steps, set Sarah’s coffee in front of her, never took his gaze off Annie’s face.God, being the focus of Jax’s intensity was always an experience, and Annie wondered how her daughter survived it. “Really?”

“Really.” Annie took a shaky sip of her own coffee. “I promise.”

“Hmmmmm.” Jax sat next to his fiancée, lifted Sarah’s hand to his lips and brushed a soft kiss against her palm, studying Annie all the while. “OK, then. If you say so.”

“I do.” Annie felt her breath coming more freely, though she was a bit surprised that Jax had just dropped it so quickly;thatwas unusual for him, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I’m fine financially, guys. I swear.”

“OK, well, I’ll ask one of the guys to hang out in the diner this Friday night, then,” Jax announced almost placidly, like he was casually looking out the window and commenting on the gorgeous sunset over the mountains, but stopping Annie’s heart dead in her chest all the same. “Just to keep an eye on things.”

“What?” Annie choked out, stunned and horrified. “You –what?”

“Yeah.” Jax’s eyes narrowed as he watched her panicked reaction, and she suddenly knew that he hadn’t dropped itat all, he’d just changed tacks, the cunning bastard. “Curtis and Dillon are working at Curves this Friday, but I can have Aidan take bouncer duty for one night at the bar, and send one of the guys to hang out with you. Curtis and Dillon ain’t chatty, but they’re good guys. Throw some half-decent coffee at them, and they’ll be fine sitting in a diner all night.”

“Great idea!” Sarah chirped, and Annie knew that her daughter meant it, that she hadn’t caught on to Jax’s little game of brinkmanship at all, bless her. “I know them both, Mom, and I’ll feel better if they’re there.”

“Uhhhhh,” Annie said. “Well, ummmm….”

“Yes?” Jax almost purred at her. “What is it, Annie?”

Annie sighed, defeated and she knew it.Goddammit. “I’m not working this Friday. I lied.”

“Youwhat?” Sarah said, clearly baffled, even as Jax said wryly, “You don’t say.”

“Yeah.” Annie pushed her hair off her face, her go-to gesture when she felt really agitated. “But you knew that, right Jax?”

“I knew that.” He studied her closely, examining the worry etched into every line of her face. “Why’d you lie to us?”

“Yeah.” Sarah was less stunned now and more indignant. “Why did you?”

“Because… because…” Annie felt the urge to literally throw her hands in the air, then just went ahead and did so verbally. “Oh, Christ Almighty… because I have a date. Alright? I have a goddamndateand I didn’t want to say anything about it, so I lied. OK?”

They stared at her, taken aback. Sarah was trying to remember the last time that Annie had had a date, and it suddenly occurred to her that it had been years… years and years. She scrambled through her memory and reached way,wayback, and recalled that salesman guy that Annie had met at the diner, and had dated for a while – maybe two weeks? –before he finally admitted to having a wife and kids, and Annie had kicked his cheating ass to the curb. Sarah was pretty sure that there hadn’t been anybody since that asshole.

From Jax’s side, there was far less shock and far more a sense of ‘well,finally, dear sweet God’. When he’d first met Annie going on four years ago, they hadn’t really hit it off, to be totally honest. They’d stared at each other across the tiny living room of the Matthews’ residence, and seen nothing much to recommend the other. Jax knew that Annie had seen a rough man, a sexually confident womanizer, who was almost definitely going to fuck her daughter, then fuck off on her, and frankly, Annie hadn’t been wrong to think any of that. Sarah had changed Jax, and then Jax had changed more on his own – but in that first moment, neither he nor Annie had known that.

And when Jax had looked at Annie that first night, he’d seen a washed-up, used-up, fed-up woman who had zero faith in men. She’d looked a decade older than her true age, she’d looked bitter and angry, she’d looked like a woman beaten down by life… and after learning from Sarah about her dickhead father abandoning them all, Jax knew that Annie holding things together had been hard and heart-breaking. She’d held it together for years, even before Sarah and Noah’s shit father had walked out, and that kind of thing took a toll.

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