By the time everyone was gathered around the dining table sitting down to a Christmas Eve dinner, Katherine had managed to calm herself down sufficiently over her brother’s infatuation with Brenda Barrett. She had gotten Jax to spill that although he intended to make his intentions known to Brenda over the next six months, he didn’t intend to actually marry her until she had graduated from college. Knowing this, Katherine realized that the chances of Jax managing to actually pull off marrying the girl were slim, given all the factors involved.
Brenda was young and arguably the most beautiful thing Katherine had ever seen, and once Brenda got into the college environment where she would be exposed to lots of young men for a period of four years, she would be caught up in the social whirl of dating and being madly sought after. She was not likely to limit or attach herself to Jax and only Jax, and even less likely to agree to any commitment as binding as a marriage proposal. She surely would have the desire to test the dating waters with other men.
And then there was Jax… There was no question that he wanted the girl and he claimed he would wait for her, but would he really? The intention to wait and the actual act of waiting were two very different things. And waiting four years to take that walk down the aisle was a long time.
With Brenda in her last year at the Dame Agnes School and then going off to college, she could meet any number of men who could catch her fancy. With her exquisite looks and her delightful personality, she would doubtless have literally hordes of young men vying for her affections, which was probably the very reason Jax was so anxious to at the least engage himself to her fairly quickly. Still, away at college she could find a man who would capture her heart; a man who could make her forsake any promises of marriage she would make to Jax at this young age. And Jax, too, could find that absence from her would make his own feelings fade. It was possible - not probable, knowing Jax, but certainly possible.
So all was not lost. Not yet. Not until the fat lady sang, as the saying went. Yes, Jax was bound and determined to move every mountain to get her - that much was crystal clear to Katherine. But she was sure there would be roadblocks aplenty. And she certainly intended to throw up a few of her own. No, she was certainly not ready to abandon her plans for Jax’s future because of this rather large complication. Jax was fascinated with the wrong sister, and Katherine was determined to make him see that.
Katherine’s attention was diverted by the sound of Brenda’s pleasing laughter; something that she’d heard several times throughout the meal.
Brenda sat in between Jax and Jerry, both of whom were regaling her with tales of their wild boyhood antics growing up in Alaska, where they lived until the family moved to California when Jax was 8 and Jerry, 11. Jerry was telling her about the time he and Jax were chased for miles by an irate moose. Katherine’s lips twitched with laughter as she remembered that day very well. He was up to the part where he and Jax had been running circles around the moose, trying to make it so dizzy it would just drop dead. Brenda was laughing and Jerry was trying to explain to her that Jax had been only 6 and he only 9 and they really had thought they could make the moose die of dizziness. In their frantic running circles, they, of course, were the ones who became dizzy; the moose just became angrier.
“Then I remembered the bloody moose-call contraption of my dad’s that I was always fidldin’ with,” Jerry continued. “I had it in my backpack and realized, hey, I could blow this dumb thing and the moose would think some other moose was calling it and it would get the hell outta there and leave us alone. Well, of course the minute I yanked the thing out of the backpack it falls on the ground a little too close to the satanic Bullwinkle for my taste. So Jax is on the other side of the beast screamin’ at me: ‘Kick it, Jer! Kick it!!’ And I’m not thinkin’ that he’s meaning for me to just kick the moose-call thingamajig over to him. No, I’m thinkin’ he means for me to kick the damned moose. So I did. I gave that overgrown elk a kick right in the knee - or where I supposed his knee to be.”
Brenda was laughing so hard she thought she might fall off the chair.
“You kicked a moose? Jerry, you did not kick a moose!” she said. “A mad moose at that!”
“He did,” Jax said.
“Damn straight, I did,” Jerry confirmed. “Hell, I was madder than the moose was at that point, right Jax? Needless to say, the animal went quite crazy after my assault upon his leg and was comin’ after me like I was lunch and he’d been on a diet for too long. So there I am, runnin’ for my life and screamin’ for Jax to go get our father - since Jax now is in the clear ‘cause the moose is only interested in the one who kicked him. But Jax wasn’t any kind of a crybaby 6-year-old, you know. He wasn’t about to leave me to go fetch our dad. So instead, he picked up that moose-call and blew that thing until he nearly passed out from blowing it so hard.”
And as she listened to Jerry, rapt with attention, she turned in her chair to more fully face him and ended up leaning back against Jax without even realizing it.
Everyone else realized it though, including Jax. Katherine noticed. Jax was leaning back in his chair casually; Brenda’s back pressed against his chest, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His hands were idly playing with the dark, silky curls that tumbled down her back - gathering the hair in his hands, letting it fall, gathering it again. Their comfort level with each other was one thing that did bother Katherine a great deal. It seemed to her that they hardly knew each other long enough nor well enough to be so comfortable with physical proximity as they were.
Her eyes then moved over to Alexa, who was on the other side of Jax, sitting in between Jax and Ryan. Katherine knew that Alexa had to be fairly livid over this turn of events, for even as unquestionably lovely as Alexa was, she did pale when in the same room as her vibrant, younger sister, whose radiant beauty was just beyond description. And yet Alexa’s face was the picture of serenity, and Katherine admired that the young woman could hold in her fury so well and disguise her true emotions so convincingly. It was yet another characteristic that would make her the ideal wife for a politician.
Alexa was fabulous at masking emotions, which was crucial in the cutthroat political arena. Her younger sister, on the other hand… Why, her emotions were out there for all to see: her delight at Jerry’s tales, her enjoyment of Jax’s teasing, her great fondness of Uncle Ian. She didn’t hide a thing. Well, perhaps that wasn’t quite true. The girl obviously had quite an adoration of Jax, but she seemed to try to play that down, Katherine noticed with interest. Could it be because of Alexa? The sisters were by no means close, but it could be a case of Brenda simply not wanting to covet her sister’s boyfriend.
Jerry ended his tale and everyone was laughing, even Alexa. She was laughing and smiling, determined to be charming and irresistible, although she secretly felt like hell and wanted just one minute alone with her kid sister to shove her into some dark hole, never to return. Alexa was humiliated that her gossipy friend Eve was here to witness this humiliating time in her life. Could Jax possibly act any less interested? Could he act any more infatuated with her little sister?! It was mortifying! And the fact that Alexa was able to maintain her placid facade in the face of her boiling emotions was borderline miraculous.
“All right now, who’s ready for a bit o’ dessert?” Uncle Ian asked, walking to the table with a strawberry shortcake.
“Oh, that looks great,” Jerry said, rubbing her hands together.
“Thank you. I made it,” Brenda announced proudly, neglecting to mention that she had merely stirred the ingredients together after Uncle Ian had done all the work.
“Oh, yes, she is a first class cake-batter-stirrer,” Ian said wryly, eliciting Brenda’s guilty giggle. “No one can stir batter with quite such finesse, I dare say. And she kept battin’ away my fingers when I wanted so desperately ta lick the bloody bowl.” He set the cake down on the table. “Of course, she let Jax lick the bowl with nary a smack to his hands,” he muttered, but he was smiling. “Playin’ favorites, she was,” he accused.
Brenda shrugged innocently and swiveled around to look at Jax, who was looking at her, his gaze upon her thrillingly intense. He smiled at her. That smile. The one that made her forget to breathe. She smiled back at him. And she suddenly almost felt sorry for her sister. To have a boyfriend like Jax had to be a trying ordeal. Women must constantly be throwing themselves at him and trying to use their wiles to turn his head every second of the day. It had to be literally exhausting trying to hold onto him. Although she had noticed that Jax hadn’t exactly done laps of joy around the house when Alexa had arrived. He had smiled at her, hugged her, given her a kiss of greeting, but he didn’t seem to treat Alexa like a girlfriend, let alone a potential fiancée. That had Brenda wondering if there might be trouble in paradise? Maybe they’d had a fight?
She was suddenly shivering as Jax had moved closer to her, his lips touching her ear as he whispered to her, “Ten bucks says that my uncle tries to force the whole lot of us to watch that damned movie after dinner.”
Brenda’s eyes met his and she grinned up at him. “You think so? Because I think he’s about given up. You and I have fallen asleep watching it every single night this week, Jax. I think we wore him down!” she said with a wicked little laugh.
Jax shot her a sexy little smile but shook his head. “A Jacks never gives up,” he told her, tracing the outer edge of her ear with one fingertip. Brenda swallowed, shocked at how amazing that playful little touch felt.
And Jax turned out to be right, because immediately after they’d all had dessert and retired to the living room, Ian popped in “It’s A Wonderful Life” and announced to them all that they were going to watch it from start to finish.
As everyone began to take seats in the living room, Katherine patted the velvet cushion of the loveseat she sat upon and called Brenda’s name. “Come and sit with me, Brenda. I’d love for you to tell me all about how you’re doing in school and how you’ve liked living in England these past years.”
Brenda was surprised by the request, but headed towards Katherine anyway. But then Jax stopped her, drawing her down on the seat next to him. “I’ve gotten accustomed to watching this with you next to me,” he explained. He’d gotten accustomed to her falling asleep with him, too - in truth she’d fallen asleep in his arms every single night since she’d gotten here.
She flashed him a pretty smile. “Oh, you need me to keep you awake?”
“You need me to keep you awake,” he corrected her.
Jerry, meanwhile, took the seat Katherine had offered to Brenda. “I’m sure your little chat can wait, can’t it?” he said with a smooth smile. He was highly amused that, while Katherine pushed one sister on Jax, he gravitated naturally toward the other.
Katherine gave him back an equally smooth smile. “Of course,” she said, then turned to Brenda. “I’m sure we’ll have some time to chat, Brenda. I’d love to know all about your plans for college and such.”
Katherine and Jax exchanged glances, and she was slightly irked by the amused smile touching his perfect lips. Jax turned to Brenda. “You seem so enthusiastic,” he quietly teased her, indicating how the expression on her face when Katherine had mentioned chatting with her was not unlike being told one was going to the dentist.
“Okay, well, please don’t take this the wrong way,” she said, speaking as quietly as he was, “but I don’t really feel like I have anything in common with your sister. Why does she want to talk to me? I mean, I don’t even think she likes me, Jax, so I can’t understand why she’d want to know all about how I’m doing at school and things like that.”
“Maybe it’s her way of getting ready to welcome you into the family,” Jax suggested, saying it loud enough that Katherine heard and shot him a mutinous glare.
Brenda looked at him curiously. So he really was thinking of marrying Alexa then? Brenda was really baffled over that because those two were acting nothing like a couple in love. They didn’t act like a couple at all.
Brenda shrugged. “Maybe,” she murmured. She wondered if, since Jax was the one who’d brought her here to Sherring Cross, perhaps he felt obligated to spend all this time with her, and thus was ignoring Alexa? She felt badly for monopolizing so much of Jax’s time - and felt even worse because she enjoyed it so much and decided she’d make it up to him.
She stood up. Jax caught her hand.
“Where are you going?” he asked her.
“I think Alexa and I should switch seats,” she said, winking at him. Alexa was sitting next to Ryan Thornton, who had yet to take his eyes off of Brenda.
“No,” Jax said immediately.
“Yes,” Brenda countered. “Jax, I’m trying to help you. You know, in case you have something you want to propose to her,” she hinted, winking at him again.
Jax finally got Brenda’s meaning. He tugged her back down “You know, if you keep winking at me like that I’m going to wonder if you don’t have a proposition for me. As for your sister, I do not have anything to propose to her,” he said.
Brenda looked at him quizzically. “You don’t? I don’t understand you. What are you waiting for then?”
You, he thought.
“Hush now, you two, the movie is startin,’” Uncle Ian said.
While everyone watched the movie, Katherine watched Jax, quietly observing him. He and Brenda whispered and laughed quietly back and forth throughout the first hour of the movie. By the start of the second hour Brenda’s head could often be found falling against Jax’s shoulder. Katherine watched, as every time Brenda’s eyelashes began to flutter down, Jax poked her and she would giggle, slap at his hand, insist she was just resting her eyes, and her eyes would fly open, only to start drifting again after several minutes. She watched as Brenda continually made herself more and more comfy next to Jax, until the girl ended up sprawled all over him and fast asleep. Jax was wide awake, but Katherine saw the quick smile that skipped across his lips that indicated his pleasure at having Brenda fall asleep in his arms like that.
“Och! And it’s only 11:15! I’m goin’ ta feed her an entire pot o’ coffee next time, I am,” Ian vowed, as he gazed at the dark-haired, young beauty that slept half in his nephew’s lap, half on the couch.
“She’s trying to wear you down, Uncle Ian,” Jax informed him.
Ian smiled and nodded. “So I gathered, lad, so I gathered. I also gather she really canna tolerate this movie,” he sighed and then laughed and slapped his thigh. “Lord, but the lass did try, dinna she?”
“Have you really been trying to get her to watch it all week?” Jerry asked, with a smile of amusement as he got up from his seat to sit beside Jax on the armrest of the couch that Jax and Brenda were on.
“’Tis a fact I have,” Ian conceded. “And the lass has conked out each and every time,” he said with a laugh. “Conked right out on your brother, just like she is now.”
Katherine was not at all surprised to hear that. She could tell from the way that Brenda had positioned herself for maximum comfort that she had fallen asleep upon Jax in just such a manner more than once. Alexa, however, was visibly upset to hear this disclosure of Jax and Brenda’s week long sleep-togethers. It was one of the few times Katherine noted that Alexa could not mask her anger.
“She never did have any manners. One would think if she were growing tired she would simply excuse herself and go to bed like a normal person,” Alexa could not resist saying. And her tone was nasty and got Jax’s immediate attention, as he’d never heard her glimpse of the real her; she could tell that he was not thrilled with her at the moment.
Jax’s uncle looked less than thrilled with her, too. He crossed his arms and said: “Well, I don’t see what manners have ta do with it. She’s a sweet mannered girl, to be sure, and if you disagree with me, I’ll have to be disputin’ that with you. Her company here this week has been a pure joy to me, but when you’re tired, you’re just tired. I fall asleep out here watchin’ “Star Trek” with Edgar at my feet all the time. I’m certainly not faultin’ the wee lass for preferrin’ fallin’ asleep on my nephew to fallin’ asleep on the bed upstairs.”
“Who could blame her for that preference?” Eve said truthfully, smiling at Jax, who was gazing at Alexa with a look of cool contemplation.
“Why, thank you, lass. My sentiments exactly,” Ian declared. “’Tis a fact that women folk do tend to be unable to help themselves when it comes to the Jacks men,” he bragged. “Our arms make as fine a bed as any.”
Katherine cleared her throat. “Be that as it may, Uncle Ian, she’s liable to get a crick in her neck sleeping like that,” she said, directing her gaze at Jax. “She really should be taken up to bed.”
“True,” Uncle Ian said. “She’ll be wantin’ to rise and shine early for Christmas morn.” He nodded to Jax. “Get the bonny lass on up to her bed now, Jax. And the rest of us should retire, too,” he said, rising to his feet.
Ryan got to his feet, too, and stood in front of Jax, who was slipping his arm beneath Brenda’s knees to lift her up. “I can take her off of your hands, if you’d like,” he offered.
Jax had been perfectly aware that Ryan Thornton had not once taken his eyes off of Brenda during dinner, nor during the movie, and he certainly wasn’t about to hand her over to him now, not even if he was inclined to, which he was not.
“I like her in my hands, actually,” Jax replied.
Ryan smiled a little bit. “So I see. Can’t blame you there. And I guess those rumors about your impending engagement to Alexa are greatly exaggerated then?”
“I think calling them lies would even be more accurate.”
“Ahh, so the playing field is free and clear for her then? You’re not staking any claim on her any longer?”
Jax stood, laughing as Brenda murmured yet another one of her incoherent sleep phrases. “I’m not staking any claim on Alexa,” Jax agreed.
“Not so for that angelic creature there though, eh?” Ryan asked, his eyes wandering back to Brenda greedily.
Jax didn’t respond to that. It wasn’t really very gentlemanly, after all, to make his intentions about Brenda known to everyone before she knew herself. And his plan did not call for her to know yet. So he didn’t answer Ryan, merely told him goodnight, echoed the sentiment to everyone else in the room, and went to place Brenda in her bedroom upstairs, while she continued to murmur the funniest things in her sleep. He really was going to have to tease her about the crazy, nonsensical things she said.
As Katherine watched Jax carry the sleeping 17-year-old upstairs, she realized that she really ought to be more worried than she thought about those two ending up legally bound. She also saw that Alexa’s mask of serenity was about to crack yet again and realized she had to reign the girl in and calm her. Jax’s lack of interest in her was bad enough without him being completely turned off by seeing this unattractive side of her.
Katherine walked over to Alexa and took her arm. “Let’s have a talk, my dear,” she said.
Passing them, Jerry said: “All the talks in the world won’t change this. Cease your bloody plotting, woman.”
Katherine longed to stick pins in Jerry! “Thank you for those words of wisdom, baby brother. Now, do run along and go play in traffic.”
Jerry grinned at her. “You never were gracious in defeat, Kat.”
“That’s because I have never been defeated,” she replied sweetly. “Now, goodnight, Jerry.”
“You just never know when you’re defeated,” he corrected. “But trust me, you are. Night,” he said, taking his leave upstairs.
“I happen to agree with your brother,” Alexa snapped. “You have made a complete fool out of me, bringing me here to be subjected to watching the man I thought was going to marry me, walk around ignoring me and tripping all over himself to get to my sister!”
Katherine leveled a look at Alexa. “Do not take that tone with me,” she advised. “I don’t like it.”
“Well, I don’t like being made an ass of! You convince me to leave my own home during the holidays and drag me all the way here to Scotland just to be humiliated?”
Katherine waved her hand. “You make too much of this,” she dismissed. “You surely can’t be surprised that your sister has Jax captivated. You have only to look at he girl to see why. Plus, he’s always been very fond of the girl. But this is merely a small setback; nothing for you to get so alarmed about,” Katherine insisted. “Just do as I say, and this will all blow over shortly.”
“Do as you say?” Alexa said, her eyes wild. “That is what I have been doing for six years! And it has gotten me nowhere! I’m still single; I have yet to hear any marriage proposal - you know, the one you continually swear is forthcoming? Jax hasn’t even asked me out on a date in an eternity! Why, I’m no closer to having him than I was when I was a teenager! Actually, I had a better shot then - at least he wanted me! Now, he barely notices if I enter the room. So I am through listening to you, Katherine. From now on I will handle this in my own way.”
Katherine gave Alexa an icy smile. “Then you’ll never get Jax. Never. I’ll make sure of it, you see. So you are either with me here, Alexa, or you are out of the picture.”
Alexa snorted. “You think I still believe that you can control Jax? Ha! Face it, Katherine, you can’t! Jax does whatever he pleases, and you only delude yourself to think you have any influence over him. You’ve done nothing to prove to me that you do, so why in god’s name should I trust you? Or trust that you can get me the outcome I want? I have wasted years of my life trusting you and your schemes, chasing after a man who clearly does not want me, despite your endless assurances to the contrary. At this rate, the only person Jax will be proposing to is my sister!”
Katherine rose an eyebrow. Oh, if only the little serpent-tongued Alexa knew how close to the truth about Jax’s intention she was. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Katherine said. “Brenda is just a child. And you really must pull yourself together. This is merely a rough patch we’ve hit. Your panic is extremely unbecoming.”
“And your assurances are bull.”
“And your tone is trying my patience to the limit.”
“As yours is trying mine,” Alexa shot back, and then, without so much as a goodnight, turned to go upstairs.
“If you attempt to do this on your own, you will fail,” Katharine said.
Alexa halted and then turned back around. “You sound awfully sure of yourself.”
“Well, my dear, perhaps I know some things you do not. Now, the fact of the matter is that Jax is very infatuated with your sister. We can’t change that. His feelings on this particular matter can’t be manipulated, I’m afraid. However, I do believe we can manipulate your sister’s feelings - or at the very least her choices. It will require some genuine effort from you, however. Are you ready to hear me out?”
Alexa just glared at Katherine.
“It boils down to one simple thing, Alexa: do you want Jax or not?”
Alexa sighed. “You know that I do.” And then she sat down, ready to listen. “All right, what is this great plan of yours?”
“You have to be much nicer to your sister. You have to bond with her.”
Alexa looked disgusted. “Katherine, why don’t you just ask me to stick forks into my eyes?”
“Make nice with her, Alexa,” Katherine repeated. “How difficult can it be? She’s rather delightful, I must confess. Make her care about your feelings. Give her a reason not to accept what Jax is going to offer her.”
Alexa’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What is Jax going to offer her?” she demanded.
Katherine shrugged. “I wasn’t speaking of anything specific. I was only referring to the fact that you and I both now know that he’s very attracted to her. It’s unlike my brother to do nothing about such an attraction.”
“Well, he’s your brother. What do you think he’s going to do about it, Katherine?” Alexa pressed.
“I don’t know, Alexa,” Katherine lied smoothly. “Which is why I can only suggest that you make sure you have a Christmas bonding moment with you sister. You make sure you let her know that Jax means everything to you. You play on her feelings so that, as I said, she will be reluctant to accept what Jax is going to offer her, out of concern for her feelings for you.”
Alexa shot up out of the chair in frustration. “Think of another plan,” she said. “Brenda would never buy any bonding act from me.”
“Why not? Good heavens, have you been that cruel to that girl that no attempt at reparation would seem sincere to her?”
“Look, don’t you dare judge me, all right? I’ve told you it won’t work, and it won’t. She would never buy it, and I could never stomach to keep up such a farce.”
“Then kiss Jax goodbye,” Katherine threatened.
“And kiss your precious dreams of getting him into politics goodbye, too,” Alexa countered. “I could get him there, you know. I’ve made the connections, the friends, the contacts. So who are you kidding Katherine? You need me as much as I need you. I want Jax; you want him in politics. I need you to get what I want, and you need me to get what you want, so don’t threaten me. Now, I suggest you put on your thinking cap and think of another way because me ‘making nice’ with my sister and trying to get her to pity me makes me want to retch! In other words, it’s never going to happen. Got that?”
And with that Alexa stalked up the stairs to her bedroom.
Katherine watched her retreating form with blazing eyes. “I must be out of my mind to want to stick my brother with you,” Katherine muttered. And then and there she decided that Alexa was no longer suitable for Jax, despite all of her assets. The girl was a shrieking shrew, and as badly as Katherine wanted Jax in the White House, she was not going to saddle him with a shrew of a wife who would make him miserable. She loved her brother. She wanted what was best for him, which she felt she knew better than he did. But she did not want him with a wife he would be driven to murder within a month. She’d have to find someone a bit less homicide-inducing than Alexa Barrett.
Now, Alexa’s chum, Eve Thornton… She had possibilities. And wasn’t she the niece of that New York senator, Bart Thornton? A political buffoon and an ineffectual man to be sure, but a foot in the political door nonetheless. Eve needed some work, though. But she had potential and would have less tendency to go off half-cocked, refuse to do what she was told, and make threats like that ingrate Alexa Barrett. Yes, Katherine decided, she’d have to make a point to get to know Eve Thornton much better and see if she were a viable prospect.
Alas, there was still the problem of young Brenda though. No woman would be a viable prospect in Jax’s eyes as long as he thought he could have Brenda. “Oh, what on earth am I going to do about that bewitching girl?” Katherine sighed, as she, too, ascended the stairs to go to bed, hoping a solution would come to her overnight and relishing the thought of tossing Alexa out on her ungrateful behind tomorrow night.
***
6:22 Christmas morning. ‘Twas Christmas day in Scotland and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except Brenda Elizabeth Barrett, who had a major craving for some Cheerios.
She poured herself a bowl of the cereal and then carried it over to the kitchen window, gazing out with a smile at the falling snow. Christmas in Scotland, she thought. And she wasn’t even with her family - well, unless you counted Alexa’s presence, which Brenda did not - and yet she felt like she was with her family. Uncle Ian felt like her family. Jerry felt like her family. Jax… He felt more like her family than anyone. She really couldn’t understand the closeness she felt to him. She knew that she cherished it though. And she didn’t want to do anything to lose it. He was very special to her. He was probably the person she liked the most in the world, she realized. Well, next to her father and grandmother, of course. God, she had nearly died when he almost kissed her yesterday, she recalled with a silly grin.
She finished her cereal and walked into the den, where the huge Christmas tree was lit and full with presents and Uncle Ian had left the stereo on overnight with Christmas carols playing. Candy canes and stockings lined the fireplace mantle and a fire was lit cheerily within the hearth, so Brenda assumed Uncle Ian was up and about someplace. Two lighted wreaths, strung with holly and bayberries, dangled from the huge window, frosted with snow, and battery-operated candles glowed warmly on the sill. It could not get much more Christmasy than this.
She gazed up at the mistletoe strung up by the bay window and closed her eyes, imagining what it would have been like if Jax had actually kissed her.
Edgar trotted slowly over to her, and Brenda patted the large wolfhound on its shaggy head. “I wonder if it’s better than chocolate?” she mused, raising her eyebrows mischievously at Edgar.
“You wonder if what’s better than chocolate?”
Brenda swiveled around at the sound of Jax’s voice behind her and saw him standing by the fireplace, watching her. He looked wonderful, she thought. He wore a great-fitting, charcoal gray sweater that showed off a finely muscled chest beneath and also brought out the sparkling gray hues in his blue eyes. And he wore black jeans that molded so nicely over sleek, muscular thighs. Perfect, Brenda thought, gazing at him. He is just practically perfect. Meanwhile he was dressed and looking so divine to her captivated eyes, while she was still parading around in her silk burgundy PJ’s. Alexa would probably float down the staircase soon, looking as if she’d just come off of the pages of Vogue, while I look like I just jumped out of bed, Brenda thought. At least she had brushed out her hair, thank god, so she didn’t look completely unpresentable.
He certainly wasn’t looking at her as if he found her unpresentable though.
She smiled at him in greeting and could not help the blush that crept along her cheeks at his sudden appearance and the fact that her thoughts had been centered on the idea of kissing him when he appeared.
“Hi,” she said. “I mean, Merry Christmas.”
“Hi yourself,” he responded. “What’s better than chocolate?” he asked again, very curious over the lovely blush that tinted her cheeks and the hiccup he saw her trying to suppress.
“Oh, I don’t know if it’s better than chocolate,” she explained. “I was just wondering if it might be.”
Jax flashed her the cutest grin she’d ever seen. “If what might be?” he persisted, more curious than ever, as he walked into the room, coming closer to her.
Ha! She wasn’t about to tell him! And then some devil got into her and she decided, what the heck - he had asked, hadn’t he? Why not just tell him? She swallowed a giggle over what his likely reaction would be to her bold honesty.
“Kissing you,” she responded with a shrug, gazing up at him as unabashedly as she had when she was just a kid of eleven years.
A blonde brow arched at her. “Kissing me?” he gave her a boyish grin that dazzled her. “You were thinking about kissing me?”
“No, not exactly, ” she insisted. “I was just wondering if…”
“Yes, I know - if kissing me is better than chocolate. Is that is? And how, may I ask, would you know that - being as I have never kissed you?” he pointed out, the boyish grin replaced by a sexy smile playing upon his lips.
“I know that,” she said with a sigh of exasperation, rolling her eyes at him. “That’s why I was wondering… Get it? Because I don’t know.”
Jax’s lips twitched with amusement. “I see. And so you thought Edgar might know? Somehow I’m sure I should be extremely insulted by that,” he murmured.
Brenda laughed. He always made her laugh. “Maybe I should just ask Alexa?” she said, tapping her finger against her lips. Jax wondered if she had any idea how inviting a gesture that was to him.
“Maybe,” he said, standing in front of her, “you should just judge for yourself…”
Brenda felt her limbs turning to jelly, as he stood so close to her that their bodies brushed against each other.
“Okay,” she said breathlessly, trying not to let her nervousness show. She closed her eyes and puckered her lovely lips and stood there waiting, as her heart pounded like mad inside of her.
Jax gazed down at her, thinking this could be comical under other circumstances, but she looked so impossibly beautiful that there was just nothing remotely funny about this. He had never felt powerless in his life. Not even when that demented moose had nearly tried to kill him and Jerry as kids. But he felt powerless now. He felt powerless to this intoxicating attraction. His fingers brushed beneath her chin to tilt her head upwards. He saw her lick her lips very quickly and hiccup, but she didn’t open her eyes and she resumed her sexy little pucker, awaiting the touch of his lips on hers. He slowly leaned down, bringing his mouth down to hers. His lips brushed slowly over hers. Once. Twice. Three times. He heard her soft intake of breath. She opened her eyes and the tiny gold chips in her dark eyes fairly sparkled. She looked stunned, in Jax’s opinion, although not in a bad way. And honestly, the feel of her soft, warm lips beneath his own had stunned him a bit, too. Somehow he simply hadn’t been prepared to feel anything quite that exquisite.
She wasn’t moving away from him, which was a good sign. In fact, she was actually staring at his lips almost accusingly, as if she thought they were bewitched with some sort of magic.
“Never been kissed before?” Jax asked her. His voice was soft and low and husky, and she could not stop staring at him.
She shook her head slowly. “It’s definitely better than chocolate,” she whispered. She could not believe he had kissed her three times!
“You’re certain?” he asked her.
She nodded, continuing to stare at him in fascination.
“Because I wouldn’t want you to not be absolutely sure,” he said. And then his hands were cradling her face and his lips were once again brushing provocatively over hers. Then all at once the kiss changed when his mouth settled on hers possessively, and Brenda thought they had tumbled into the fireplace because such heat washed over her. She kissed him back for all she was worth, hoping he wasn’t finding her inexperience a disappointment. Then her knees actually buckled and she had a minor meltdown within when he gently, slowly sucked on her bottom lip and traced a warm tongue over it. She literally had to grab onto him because she honestly thought she was perilously close to losing the ability to stand.
Jax thought he was perilously close to losing the ability to control his desires, so he forced himself not to give her the kind of kiss he truly wanted to, and satisfied himself with gliding his tongue over her lips, instead of sweeping it into her mouth and tasting her the way he wanted to, showing her how consuming a kiss could be. It would be entirely too easy to lose track of his senses with her if he did that. And so he kissed her one last time, unable to resist touching his tongue lightly to hers for the barest seconds to tease her with that erotic sensation, before he pulled away from her slowly, watching her as she opened her eyes, her breath coming out in excited spurts. He gazed down into her bewitching eyes, which were dazed very becomingly with a passionate awakening.
“So much better than chocolate,” she managed to get out between her erratic breathing. God, was her heart supposed to beat this fast?! She had never felt anything that equaled the pleasure of being kissed like this. It felt forbidden and exhilarating. It felt like every Christmas present she had ever craved wrapped up in one man’s kiss.
The sound of the laughing voices of Jerry and Uncle Ian coming down the stairs caused Brenda to fly apart from Jax as if he were on fire. Or as if she were on fire. Well, actually, she was on fire, she realized in some wonder. Her body felt so hot, and her lips… They felt hot, too. And his tongue - it had actually touched hers. Only for the space of a second or two, but it had made her tingle from head to toe and made something ache sweetly inside of her. And her legs even now still felt strangely wobbly. Had Jax done all this to her? With just a kiss? She stared at him, impressed. Wow! What was even more amazing to her was the way he was looking at her now. Brenda actually let out the tiniest gasp of discovery as she realized that he had liked it, too! She could not help grinning with delight that he had not found her novice kisses lacking.
Jax adored her in that moment. She was not acting awkwardly shy or regretful or embarrassed or angry over what had just happened. She was instead grinning with glee over the fact that her first kiss had been such a delectable success.
He smiled at her and walked past her as the others began filing into the den with cheery greetings of “Merry Christmas!” He purposely made his way over to the candy dish and walked back to her with it.
“Kiss?” he offered, holding out the bowl of red-and-green foil-wrapped Hershey’s chocolate kisses, as a blonde brow rose up provocatively.
“For heaven’s sake, Jax, it’s not even seven a.m. and you’re passing out chocolate?” Katherine said, with a yawn as she tied the sash of her velvet robe.
Brenda, who’d been getting a Christmas hug from Uncle Ian, turned back to Jax, velvet cocoa eyes meeting eyes of striking blue. She was mesmerized by that wicked little gleam in his eyes, the playful yet suggestive smile on his lips. Her heart, which had just begun to slow down, began to race again as she met his gaze. She inadvertently licked her lower lip, the same one that Jax had slipped between his teeth and licked himself only moments before.
He knew she had no idea what she had just done nor how his watching her do it had made something go weak inside of him.
“Oh, give over, niece,” Uncle Ian said, giving Katherine a hug. “‘Tis Christmas day, lass! What’s the harm of havin’ chocolate for breakfast?” he teased.
“I think it’s delightfully decadent,” Eve Thornton said with a smile, as she took a chocolate kiss from the dish in Jax’s hand.
“Yeah, besides, what’s better than chocolate?” Jerry agreed with a sinful grin, taking a handful of the candy.
Brenda felt her cheeks flush with warmth and the tiniest smile touch her lips. She knew what was better than chocolate.
Jax smiled slowly, sensing where her thoughts were going. “None for you, sprite?” he asked her. “Had your fill, did you?” he added, then flashing her a devastating smile that made her pulse knock wildly.
Katherine wondered if she were the only one aware of the electric undercurrent flowing between Jax and Brenda, like lightning gathering before the storm. What had happened here? Katherine wondered, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she gazed at the two of them. A kiss, she decided. They had shared a kiss. Damn, but Jax certainly wasn’t wasting any time implementing his blasted plan of action, she pouted.
Brenda flashed him a challenging gaze, realizing he was trying to make her blush again. She took two of the kisses from the bowl. “I’ve actually been discovering that chocolate is highly overrated,” she said, tossing her head back, her tall, chestnut curls falling over her shoulder hypnotically.
Jax grinned at her. “Compared to what, exactly? Do share this newly acquired knowledge with us, Brenda. Or at the very least tell Edgar.”
To that Brenda burst out laughing, and feeling herself blush, realized he’d achieved his goal.
“Okay, Jax, that’s it,” she said, declaring war, and she tossed her kisses at him, scoring two direct hits to the chest. Jerry clapped at her good aim and thought her idea was inspired, so he hurled some of his handful at Jax as well.
“You’re runnin’ pitifully low on ammo, lass!” Uncle Ian laughed at the empty-handed Brenda, as he quickly got out of the way of the flying chocolate. Brenda scrambled behind the couch before Jax could retaliate. But he just followed her and dumped the entire contents of the bowl over her head, covering her with chocolate kisses.
“All right, I’ll cry uncle for the lot of you!” Ian shouted. “Now, get your fannys over here and let’s get ta the good stuff and open up these presents,” he said, waving everyone over to the tree. “Someone go and rouse that gal Alexa, so she can join us.”
As Jax helped a laughing Brenda to her feet and watched as she shook a few kisses out of her pajamas, he asked her, “So how does it feel to be covered in kisses, bratling?”
Brenda shook out a couple more kisses from her pajama top. She slapped her hand against his leg. “Very funny, Jax,” she said.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear: “I’d like to cover you in kisses one day. Real ones, of course.” He winked at her. And with that whispered confession, he headed over to join his family by the Christmas tree.
Brenda stood frozen to the spot for a moment, her poor heart beginning to run a marathon again, just as she had once again been close to getting it back to a normal rhythm. Was she crazy or did Jax like her? Really like her? The very idea was too thrilling for words. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him, as he sat on the edge of the couch and Eve Thornton engaged him in a bit of conversation.
Never in her wildest dreams would Brenda even imagine she could possibly capture the interest of a man like him. This was amazing! It was also unlikely, she realized in the next instant, when she could think clearly again. He was probably only teasing her, she decided. Jax was always teasing her wildly; she had to remember that. And he loved to make her blush - that was probably why he’d kissed her in the first place. And it was surely why he’d said that thing about wanting to cover her with kisses. It wasn’t as if he actually wanted her, or anything. Why would he when he had Alexa anyway?
She was on her way over to join the others when she was waylaid by Ryan Thornton.
“Merry Christmas, Brenda,” he said, flashing her a white smile, his green eyes twinkling.
Brenda smiled up at him. “Back at you, Ryan,” she said.
He rose a hand in the air and held something over her head. “A-ha, looks like I caught you,” he said.
She glanced above her and saw the mistletoe he was holding. She laughed.
“If you would permit me, of course,” Ryan added.
Brenda smiled and shrugged. “Sure, why not?” she said, wondering if his kiss would be as amazing as Jax’s had been. The mere thought that it might be set her heart to fluttering madly in expectation as she puckered up for his kiss.
She never found out.
As Ryan leaned in to kiss her, a pair of masculine arms grabbed her from behind, and Ryan ended up kissing the air.
“Family photo,” Jax said, kissing her cheek and propelling her forward, positioning her in between Katherine and Jerry.
“What does that have to do with Brenda? She’s not a Jacks,” Ryan felt compelled to point out to Jax. He was sorely disappointed that he’d had a taste of those delicious lips so cruelly snatched from him.
“She will be,” Jax murmured, although only Jerry and Katherine were close enough to actually hear him.
Jax had never experienced jealousy before in his life. And he didn’t much like it. She had actually been about to let Ryan kiss her! She had actually looked as if the idea of it intrigued her! Logically Jax knew he had absolutely no right to be upset about this. After all, he had not even made Brenda aware of his intentions yet and didn’t plan to this soon. He had a plan, after all, and he intended to stick to it. But he still felt as if she were already his. He couldn’t help but feel this way. Had she wanted Ryan to kiss her? She seemed like she had. Jax could not dismiss the pestering notion, and it plagued his mood.
“I’ll do the honors,” Eve volunteered, as she took the camera.
Jax, being taller than Jerry and the same height as his uncle, stood towards the back. Brenda was in the front, next to Katherine, and looked like she’d rather be anywhere else.
“Okay, smile,” Eve said. Everyone did but Jax.
“Wait!” Brenda said. “Sorry,” she apologized, flashing a quick smile, as she moved around to the back where Jax was.
“Brenda,” Katherine said tolerantly. “No one will see you if you stand back there, dear. That was the whole point of Jax placing you up here in front with me.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Brenda said, and she proceeded to go behind Jax and leap up on his back. He laughed softly and hoisted her up, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek, as he had done to her moments before. “Okay, ready,” Brenda said to Eve.
Eve nodded and took the photo moments later. Jax was amazed at how Brenda’s running to the back to be with him had lifted his mood just like that. When he’d heard her yell out ‘wait,’ he’d thought she meant to absent herself from the picture with the claim that she wasn’t family. But when he’d seen her look back towards him and then come dashing over to him, his heart had leapt inside of him; he could not deny that. And he thought it very appropriate that Brenda was in this photo, and wrapped around him, no less. It was the way it was going to be, after all. She was going to be his family, and it was going to be such a very, very good thing between them. He could feel it. Now all he had to do was somehow keep her to himself until things fell into place - until the time was right for him to declare his intentions towards her and make this a permanent thing.
Keep her to himself. How in the hell was he going to do that?
Having witnessed Ryan trying to kiss Brenda, Brenda seeming intrigued by the prospect, and Jax yanking her away in the nick of time, an amused Katherine was wondering that very thing herself. She thought Jax might have hit his very first roadblock of many.
Jax, on the other hand, was thinking that he perhaps needed to seriously move up his timeline. Waiting until she was done with college to marry her was obviously out of the question. He would have to plan this step for much sooner.