“She knows all she needs,” Jax explained going back to examine the plug. It was holding; now he just needed to repair the line. “Nothing is changing her mind.”
“She still hot?”
Jax snorted and shot his cousin a glare. “Are you kidding?”
Tanner shrugged. “That question is from Cash. He’s busy at the gym until this evening.”
Picking the new line from the floor, Jax leaned into the Cessna. “You two are worse than a bunch of old ladies. I’m not thirteen with a crush and a hard-on anymore.”
Well, he had gone home rather uncomfortable after that kiss, but he wasn’t an adolescent. He was a man and he needed to act like one. He could start by figuring out a way to get Livie to back off, which was damn hard when he was busy sampling her mouth and feeling her up.
Tanner grabbed the pan with fuel and headed out the open bay door. “Cash said he heard Livie has friends with her. You see them?”
“Jade is with her and another woman I met the other night. I think her name was Melanie.”
“Jade was a year younger than me in school, but I took her out a couple times.”
Jax slid the new line into place, thankful this was going smoother than the first part. “Is there anyone who’s crossed through this town that you haven’t taken out?”
“That other lady you mentioned,” Tanner stated as he walked out to dump the fuel.
Jax got busy on the line and had it changed out and ready to refuel. Tanner came back in and was silent for a while, doing something on his phone, most likely making a date.
“You free this evening?” Tanner asked.
Swiping his hands on his pants once again, Jax climbed down and nodded. “Should be. What’s up?”
“Cash texted and said he had a client give him a bunch of steaks from their farm.”
“I could use a steak, but if he thinks this is going to turn into me spilling my guts, he’s wrong.”
Tanner shoved his phone back in his pocket. “I don’t care what he thinks so long as he brings meat.”
“Tell him to be at my place around five. Piper and I will make something to go with it.”
Jax headed out of the hangar, making his way toward the office where he could wash off the mess somewhat before heading home to shower and change. Tanner followed at his side.
“How’s she liking preschool?”
Jax opened the office door and gestured his cousin inside before he stepped into the refreshing air-conditioning. “She loves it. I’m going to head to the school in about an hour to some awards thing. I guess she won a poster contest, but she doesn’t know about it yet.”
“That’s awesome,” Tanner stated, crossing his arms. “I bet she’s making all kinds of friends. You’ll be having little slumber parties before you know it.”
Jax cringed at the thought of squealing little girls overtaking his home. Soon enough that would happen. He had a feeling he’d have makeup on his face and polish on his hands. But being the dad of a spunky little girl was the greatest job he could’ve ever asked for. He wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“Let’s focus on tonight,” Jax stated, stepping into the bathroom to wash off his hands and arms. “Warn Cash not to start talking too much about Livie. Piper already thinks she’s gorgeous. Somehow she manipulated us into a date.”
“The hell?”
Damn it. Jax hadn’t meant to let that part slip out. That was just another reason he’d taken Livie out in the plane last night, because it was private where nobody would see them and there would be no gossip. Of course, now that Tanner knew, there was no way in hell he wouldn’t tell Cash.
“Forget you heard that,” Jax muttered, lathering up his hands and scrubbing like hell to get that grease off so he didn’t go to school looking like he’d never bathed. “There was no date.”
“Spill it, Jax. You know I’m not going anywhere until I hear what happened.”
He refused to glance up and meet his cousin’s reflection in the mirror over the sink. The bathroom was so tiny, he knew Tanner stood directly behind him. Jax was essentially trapped and there was no need to deny or even lie. Tanner would draw his own conclusions and share them with Cash like some damn old gossipy lady. Jax had to give him something though.
“It was nothing really.”
Except the kiss, but there was no way Jax was going to get into that portion of the evening.
“Piper said something about her friends having mommies, then she asked if Livie was here to go out with me, and that all snowballed. Basically, we agreed to appease Piper and we used the opportunity to talk.”
“You said that twice, so what else happened?”
Why did he have to be so damn intuitive? Talk didn’t always mean something else.
“Are you always in cop mode?” Jax growled as he shut off the squeaky faucet. “Because we talked, we argued, I drove her home.”
Tanner stepped back and let Jax pass through, but the mocking laughter followed. He didn’t care how much his nosy cousins prodded, because there was no doubt that Cash would jump on this bandwagon. Jax was not spilling any details because talking about the kiss would make it out in the open and no longer a secret. Jax was positive Livie didn’t want anyone to know what happened between them and he sure as hell wasn’t about to give Cash and Tanner fodder for endless jabs.
“Maybe you just need a few beers to lighten up,” Tanner replied as if he had the answer to the mystery.
“You know better than that. It takes more than a few beers to get me talking and I don’t drink that much with Piper home.”
Priorities had changed since he’d come home and started parenting. By far a totally different lifestyle from what
