Red-Hot Santa Page 2

  And afraid of leaving herself vulnerable. While threat of physical pain had never fazed her, leaving her heart exposed and unprotected scared the living daylights out of her.

  If only because she’d witnessed firsthand what it had done to her mother.

  Done to their family.

  Now…

  Well, now was different. She was no longer that rebellious girl who’d run away and holed up in his barn. The girl afraid of her emotions…and of him.

  Now she wanted to push that envelope, dive into those depths, explore them, face her one and only fear.

  She needed to learn that untouched side of her, the one she’d ignored, neglected and tried to shut out.

  She needed to feel him…

  HOLY SHIT.

  The two words wound around Jackson’s brain as he watched Max sitting with her friends. He kept looking for reasons to talk to her but there never seemed to be an opportunity, considering one nonstop flow of thirsty customers who kept him busy. And he never saw her go out back for another smoke break.

  He scratched his head as he rang up the latest order, looking for her again in the smoky mirror behind the bar. She was standing in front of the old fashioned jukebox considering the selections. His gaze fell to her nicely rounded backside and then up to where the soft cotton of her top clung to breasts fuller than he remembered. His back stiffened as he watched a guy approach her. Not just any guy, but Tom, whom they referred to as the bar “manwhore.” Just the type Max would hate on sight.

  He braced himself, wondering if Tom would take it to the head or the gut.

  Here it comes…

  He watched as Tom not too nonchalantly slid his hand over her back, down toward her bottom. Max easily avoided the move and actually smiled before heading back to her table.

  Jackson blinked. Who was this woman? She looked the same. Well, for the most part. The red curls were the same except they appeared smoother, somehow. Less wild. Her eyes were the same green but appeared brighter. And was she wearing makeup?

  Jackson was confused. The Max he knew wouldn’t be caught dead in that sexy outfit, not before or during her stint in the Marines, much less handle what she just had with smiling ease. She’d have been much more likely to twist the guy’s arm behind his back and shove his face into the jukebox until he apologized for the unwanted advance.

  Jackson met her gaze in the mirror and that mysterious smile she’d been offering him all night made a command appearance.

  Holy shit.

  Where was the easy camaraderie they always enjoyed? The knowing that came along with their lifelong friendship?

  Christ, he felt like a twelve-year-old kid in the throes of his first crush.

  And that was not something he was used to feeling toward a woman who was essentially his best friend.

  Hell, it wasn’t something he was used to feeling, period.

  This went well beyond physical attraction—which should be enough to cause concern when it came to Max…

  His brain froze.

  No way he was going where his thoughts and unfamiliar emotions were attempting to lead him. It was bad enough he recognized the desire to touch her in ways he never had before. To consider anything more would be akin to emotional suicide.

  “Hey, did you get that, Savage?” Chuck asked.

  He blinked at the bar owner. As en ex-Marine, Chuck Thomas had a healthy respect for military kindred and ran a tight operation. When things got busy, so did he. Of course, it didn’t help that Chuck wasn’t happy Jackson would no longer be working at the bar. He’d made noises about looking to sell the place, and admitted he had hoped Jackson might be interested. Jackson had been surprised, but quick to tell Chuck it wasn’t in the cards for him.

  “Sorry,” he said to his taciturn boss now, keeping the peace. “I was working up the last order. Afraid I overcharged.”

  “Better than under. I asked for two pitchers of light and six glasses. Can you handle it?”

  “Got it.”

  Jackson took a deep breath, telling himself he really needed to get a grip. This was Max, for Pete’s sake. It wasn’t like he didn’t know her. And Lord knew he’d never reacted this way toward her before. She was like a sister to him, for crying out loud.

  He cleared his throat. Oh, yeah? If she was like a sister, then certain body parts told him what he was contemplating was very, very wrong, indeed. “Hey, Jax.”

  Her greeting nearly caused him to spill the pitcher he’d just filled. He put it on a tray along with the other one.

  “Hey,” he said.

  He finished the order and Genie picked up the tray. He didn’t miss the long look she gave Max.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask, when did you get back into town?” he asked. It couldn’t have been long. He’d have heard something before now. Then he remembered her phone call. “The last I knew, you were kicking around Oregon.”

  “Washington.”

  He smiled. “Close enough.”

  “Yeah.” She pushed up her sleeves, drawing his attention to the too-tight top and the full breasts underneath. Had she always had those? Why hadn’t he noticed before? “I got back late last week.”

  “Staying long?”

  She tilted her head. “Don’t know yet. Depends…”

  He met her gaze, seeing a question in there he didn’t quite know how to interpret. Then again, he was having a hard time reading her tonight, period. Or, rather, he was finding it impossible to read his new, unfamiliar reaction to her.

  “On what?”

  “On whether or not I can scare up some work. You wouldn’t happen to have a line on anything, would you?”

  “What are you looking for?”

  “Something I’m qualified for that doesn’t require I learn how to use a beer tap. No offense.”

  He grinned. “None taken.” He ignored Chuck’s shout for him to get a move on. “Tonight’s my last night. I start at Pegasus Security tomorrow.”

  “Pegasus? Is that Jason’s place?”

  It seemed she’d been around long enough to hear what his brother had been up to. Small towns were like that. “No. That’s Lazarus.”

  Her full lips twisted a bit, likely seeing more than he was comfortable with just then.

  He cleared his throat. “Anyway, Pegasus is actively looking for people with your job skills if you want to check them out.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  He found himself staring at her yet again. What was up with him? He hadn’t been this quiet since Jason had tried to superglue his tongue to the roof of his mouth when he was five.

  “I was wondering…” she said.

  He forced himself to blink up into her eyes. He wondered if she’d caught him staring again at her chest. “Wondering, um, what?”

  “Can you give me a ride home later?”

  It took a moment for her question to register. The fact that he was trying hard as hell not to look back at her breasts wasn’t helping matters any, either. “Where?”

  “My aunt’s.”

  He dragged the back of his wrist across his brow. Was he sweating? “You’re staying at your aunt’s?”

  She nodded. “She dropped me off, but if you’re going out to your grandmother’s, well, it’d be easier than asking one of the girls to run me all the way back out there.”

  He hadn’t planned to go to Gram’s tonight—there was a small apartment above the bar he rented—but the idea of spending uninterrupted time with Max so he could figure out what the hell was going on between them was too tempting to pass up.

  “Sure. It’ll probably be late, since I’m closing.”

  “That’s fine. I can wait.” She smiled that smile again and his jeans tightened. He adjusted the suspenders, happy for the first time that night to be wearing the blasted, baggy Santa pants. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem.”

  “Talk to you later, then.”

  “Yeah…later.”

  His response came after she’d
already turned to walk back to her table, the view of her backside just as enticing as the view of her front.

  There was chuckling down the bar. He glanced over at Winston and Pete.

  “Hey, Jax,” they called out. “You finally going to take care of that little problem?”

  They both gave him a thumbs-up as he turned to walk down to the other end of the bar where there were other customers waiting to be served…

  2

  MAXINE ENJOYED CATCHING UP with her old girlfriends from high school. She might be as different as light and shadow from them, but she was pleasantly surprised they were connected in a comforting way. She’d spent so much time fraternizing with the guys in recent years—partly because she’d believed them easier to be around, mostly because as a female in the military, guys were what you tended to be around most—she’d forgotten how nice it was to have a drink with girlfriends.

  Patience Saunders had been a varsity football cheerleader and an unlikely but fun friend. Her athletic ability had extended beyond short skirts and pom-poms so she and Max had participated in many of the same sports. Max wasn’t surprised she was now a Phys Ed teacher at the same grammar school they’d once attended…or that she was married with two kids under two.

  Julie and Jae Jennings were identical twins but had gone out of their way to disguise that fact even when their mother had tried to dress them alike as kids. When Jae had stumbled across goth fashion, she’d latched on to it tightly, and even now favored black nail polish and hinted at body piercings beyond the one visible on her left nostril.

  Still, as much as Max was enjoying catching up with them, her gaze endlessly trailed to the man behind the bar, noting how’d he changed…and how her feelings had stayed the same.

  “God, Jax is still as hot as he was in high school, isn’t he?” Patience said with a sigh, propping her chin in her palm as she watched the man in question.

  “Is he ever,” Julie echoed.

  Jae gave an eye roll and downed her third shot of Jaeger. “You guys always were about as subtle as a bulldozer.”

  “What?” Patience asked, batting her eyes in feigned innocence.

  “You don’t think he knows y’all are staring at him like a pack of bitches in heat?”

  Julie nearly choked on the red wine she was in the middle of swallowing.

  “Didn’t you two used to have something?” Patience asked, turning to Max.

  Max knew a moment of panic, just as she always did when someone made a similar inquiry, afraid her expression or body language had given something away. Then she realized her friends weren’t being specific and relaxed. “Who? Me and Jax?” She shook her head. “Nah. We were just good friends. We still are.”

  Jae snorted. “Right. That’s why the place nearly bursts into flames every time you two look at each other. I had to take off my jacket so I wouldn’t burn up.”

  “What’s he doing now?”

  Max followed Julie’s gaze to where Jax was putting on a Santa Claus coat and coming out from behind the bar. The waitress in the skimpy uniform took great pleasure in helping fix his hat.

  “Looks like Santa’s about to give someone what they want,” Jae said drily…

  CHUCK MADE THE announcement that Santa was going to take requests and have pictures taken for a $5 donation to the veterans fund. Jackson put the red jacket back on, but left it open; hell, he’d boil alive if he closed it.

  Of course, Genie made him regret the decision when she sidled up to him, playing role of “helper” a little too overtly for his liking. She slid her hands inside the coat and gave him a sexy snuggle before reaching up to straighten his cap. Her flirty moves earned hoots and hollers from the guys, but all he could do was look beyond her to where Max was watching the display with an amused smile on her beautiful face.

  “Hey, I wanna sit on Santa’s helper’s lap,” Pete shouted.

  “That’ll cost you a hundred,” Chuck told him.

  They all laughed as Genie pulled up a chair next to the jukebox and pushed Jackson back to sit in it. Given her moves, he was half afraid she was going to strip off what little of her holiday outfit she wore, but instead she turned and along with the other two waitresses, went around the room collecting money from the patrons.

  For the next half hour, Jackson was squashed by several of the heavier guys, slobbered on by the drunken wife of another and then sat staring at where Patience Saunders stood behind a smiling Max. He thought the night would never be over.

  Then, before he could prepare himself, Max was sitting in his lap. And evidence of his instant arousal was pressed against her hot bottom…

  MAX WAS UNPREPARED for Patience’s none too subtle shove. She grabbed onto Jax’s shoulders to keep from sliding off his lap, the hard length of his manhood through his clothing telling her things he might not have revealed in any other way.

  Okay, so maybe she’d had one brew too many. But he hadn’t had any. And the way he looked at her this up close and personal told her that Jae may have been a little closer to the mark than she realized: Jackson Savage wanted her.

  The recognition was more intoxicating than anything this bar could offer.

  Max caught herself licking her lips and stopped. She’d been here before, this mysterious place when her body betrayed her true emotions for the man beneath her. Awareness surged everywhere their bodies made contact swirling, through her bloodstream, tightening her nipples and dampening her inner thighs.

  This was usually the point—where the spark of arousal promised to blaze into much more—when she would withdraw, physically and emotionally, putting much needed distance between them.

  But this time…

  She merely sat, holding his gaze, allowing the sizzling current to bond them in a way she never had before.

  “So…” he said so quietly she nearly didn’t hear him, his hands hot on her hips.

  She watched his pupils dilate in his blue eyes and the way his gaze seemed drawn to her mouth.

  “What do you, um, want…?”

  What would happen if she told him? If she said she wanted to be sitting on his lap, with no clothes between them? To feel his hard length inside her rather than pressing against her? To see if his mouth tasted as good as it looked?

  To know if the longing she’d felt for him for so long was purely physical…or if it was much much more.

  A flashbulb went off.

  For a minute, Max thought it might be something of her own conjuring, but when she followed Jackson’s stare to the bar bunny waitress who’d just taken their picture, she knew it wasn’t.

  She’d come home to Colorado to find the truth.

  She’d either finally pursue her unspoken feelings for Jackson, or squash them altogether. It was time for her to move on, one way or the other. Still, she just wasn’t prepared to do that in front of God and everyone.

  She also wasn’t prepared for what she felt for her to burgeon even further, nearly overwhelming her, blotting out all else until a camera flash snapped her back to reality.

  Had she really nearly kissed him in the middle of a bar while everyone watched?

  Yes, she realized, she had.

  She moved to get to her feet. Jackson helped her, standing up, as well. She noticed the way he plucked at his suit even as she smoothed her damp palms over her jeans.

  “Okay, everyone, that’s all for now. Santa’s got work to do,” he said.

  And so did she, Max silently noted.

  Because if he’d given away what he had in that one moment, she could only imagine what she had.

  Then again, isn’t that what she wanted? For him to see how she truly felt?

  Yes. It was.

  But suddenly the prospect scared her more than anything she’d ever encountered…up to and including her stint in the military.

  Whatever had she left herself open for?

  3

  MAXINE PRIDED HERSELF on holding her own with the guys when it came to drinking. So she was really surprised that
by the time the bar closed, she was feeling a little woozy. She couldn’t remember having all that much to drink, but the way she was feeling told her that maybe she’d had one too many.

  The girls had left a little earlier, smiling at her in a way that seemed to suggest they knew what was going to happen. Of course, that put them ahead of the game, because she wasn’t all too sure what to expect, herself.

  She caught sight of Jax moving in her direction and straightened in her chair. This so wasn’t how she’d planned to feel during their first stretch of time alone together.

  He, on the other hand, looked as actively hot as he had earlier in the evening. It was more than his thick shock of dark blond hair that always appeared in need of a comb, and his warm blue eyes that always made her think of summer skies and how much she craved the heat. He looked as if he was ready for anything and everything…especially a long, thorough roll in the hay.

  Of course, his brief role playing Santa to all the girls in the place, including her and her friends, had left her feeling more than a little hot and bothered. She’d been so tongue-tied, she hadn’t been able to tell him what she really wanted.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  It took her a moment to realize he was talking about the ride he was giving her to her aunt’s house. Not her secret Santa wish. Damn.

  “Oh. Yes.” She smiled.

  As he got their coats from behind the bar, she was aware of the bar owner’s attention on them.

  “Good night,” she called.

  “Good night, Maxi. Nice to see you again. Will you be back here tomorrow night?”

  She waved noncommittally and led the way out.

  The early morning air was still and cold. She couldn’t remember a time she’d experienced such quiet. Perhaps because it contrasted so greatly with the riotous emotions roiling inside of her.

  Her brief contact with Jax earlier, when she’d realized he wanted her—at least physically—left her breathless…and more than a little scared.

  It was one thing to mentally decide on a course of action; quite another, indeed, to actually embark on it.

  She started toward where his truck was parked in the lot but found he wasn’t behind her.