Simply Irresistible

to talk some sense into her, but I’m not sure that’s even possible.”

• • •

A few minutes later, after having said good night to Jax and Sawyer, Maddie walked through the cottage to the small bedroom, where she found Chloe sprawled facedown and spread-eagle across the bed, already out cold.

The Wild One…

Maddie had always secretly yearned to be the Wild One. Anything would have been better than the Mouse. Except that no longer really applied, did it? A mouse wouldn’t have given this place a shot. A mouse wouldn’t be having spectacular sex with a man who had a singular ability to obliterate her heart. A mouse wouldn’t be fighting to get to know her sisters, and herself.

Maybe what was happening with the inn was inevitable, and maybe she couldn’t save it. And maybe what she had with Jax was truly just a little snapshot in time and couldn’t be saved either.

But she could save her relationship with her sisters. And she could save herself from going back to the way she’d been before.

She could be whoever she wanted. Knowing it, she felt herself smiling and pulled out her phone. “Still close by?” she asked when Jax picked up.

Jax watched Maddie peer out the Jeep’s windshield at the unlit, unmoving Ferris wheel. “It’s closed,” she said with disappointment.

“It’s Christmas Eve.” He had the Jeep running, the heater on full blast. The interior of the vehicle was dark except for the glowing light from the instrument panel, but he had no trouble seeing the life in her eyes or the smile on her face.

He knew if asked, she’d say he put that smile there. She’d been coming to life a little more every day, but the truth was that he’d had nothing to do with it. She’d taken on her world, and it was sexy as hell to watch.

“I guess I’ll have to find another adventure tonight,” she said and turned to him. Her hair fell around her face in soft curls, just past her shoulders. He knew what it smelled like, knew how it felt brushing over his bare skin. He knew how she tasted and how to make her moan his name. He knew she was slow to open her heart, but that once she did, she was fiercely loyal to those she cared about. He knew what foods she craved, that she had a low tolerance for alcohol and a penchant for drinking it anyway. He knew that she pretended to be annoyed by Tara’s steely resolve but really admired it, just as he knew she also admired Chloe’s spirit. He knew that after a life in Los Angeles, she thought Lucky Harbor would be heaven. He knew she was looking for more…

And that she hoped she’d found it.

She knew things about him, too, more than he’d revealed to a woman in a long time. Unable to help himself, he ran a finger along her temple, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Name it,” he said. “Tell me what you want.”

“But we don’t have a condom.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed.

She grinned. “I’m sorry. I think it’s the fresh air here. And the pounding surf. And maybe also, it’s you.”

“No,” he told her quietly. “It’s all you. Come on.” He turned off the Jeep, pulled two heavy coats from the back seat, and handed her one. When she was bundled up, they walked the pier.

They passed Eat Me, and Maddie’s stomach growled. “I could use some of Tara’s Badass Brownies right about now.”

“Badass?” he asked.

“As in they’re so badass that you turn badass just by smelling them.”

He laughed and pulled her in close for the sheer pleasure of touching her. “Do you want to go in? I’ll buy you a Badass Brownie.”

“No, Tara’s in there. She’ll be annoying.”

They hadn’t gotten five steps past the cafe when they heard a loud voice.

“Maddie Moore, I see you.”

Maddie jerked around. “What-”

Jax pointed to the loudspeaker on the corner of the building, just above the large picture window on the cafe, where several faces were pressed up against the glass, watching them.

“Step away from the good-looking man,” came the disembodied voice.

Tara.

Maddie groaned but surprised him by tightening her grip on his hand instead of dropping it. “What does she think she’s doing?”

“Amusing her customers.” Jax’s gaze locked in on their audience in the window, some shoving for better position, a few others waving.

“Madeline Annie Traeger, this is your conscience speaking,” the loudspeaker said. “We’re watching you. And- Hey, are those my Gucci boots?”

Maddie tipped her face up to the stars as if looking for divine intervention. “Some people have normal families,” she said. “They get together once a month or so and have dinner. My family? We have pancake batter food fights, steal each other’s footwear, dye our hair green, and yell at each other over loudspeakers in public.”

“Keep it moving, sugar. No loitering on the pier.”

“Everyone loiters on the pier!” Maddie yelled at the speaker.

“And especially no standing beneath the mistletoe for any reason at all.”

Both Maddie and Jax looked up at the mistletoe someone had hung on the building’s eaves. “What does it say about me that now I want to stand beneath it?” Maddie asked him.

“That we think alike?” Jax stepped closer, bent his head, and-

“Hold it!” the voice of Maddie’s “conscience” called out.

Maddie sighed. “Jax?”

“Yeah?”

“I need a chocolate shake.”

He didn’t point out the fact that it was thirty degrees or that her breath was crystallizing in front of her face. They headed toward the ice cream shop.

It wasn’t Lance serving tonight, mostly because he was still sitting in the single holding cell at the sheriff’s station. Instead, it was Tucker, Lance’s twin brother.

“Sawyer’s keeping an eye on him,” Jax said to Tucker’s unasked question. “He’ll be out in time to celebrate Christmas. He’s okay.”

“He’s an idiot. We’ll have the rent to you next week. We’re a little behind.”

“It’s okay,” Jax said. “It’s a slow time for everybody.”

Tucker nodded his thanks, handed over a chocolate shake, and Jax and Maddie walked on.

“You’re their landlord?” Maddie asked.

“Yes.”

She thought about that a minute. “Do you own the whole pier?”

“No. But I own some of the businesses on it.”

She walked to the end of the pier. Leaning over the railing, she stared at the churning sea beneath her, clearly thinking and thinking hard.

She needed answers, deserved answers, but the truth was he wasn’t sure where to start. For a man who’d made a living spinning words his way, it was pretty fucking pathetic. He came up beside her. “I own some businesses in town, too.”

“Interesting that you’ve never mentioned this, Mr. Mayor.”

He winced. “You really do know a lot about me.” Lame.

“Hmm,” she said, distinctly unimpressed.

He drew a deep breath. “You once told me some of your faults.”

“I told you all my faults.”

He smiled and played with one of her curls. “Want to hear mine?”

“I know yours. You don’t like to share yourself. You think dog farts are funny.”

“Everyone thinks dog farts are funny.”

“You make me talk during sex.”

He grinned. “You like that.”