The Last Second Chance by Lucy Score

2

She woke up the next morning with a mouth dryer than the sawdust floor of the stable’s riding ring and a marching band of a headache. Goddamn that Jax. She hated when he was right. She’d had too much to drink and humiliated herself with the one man she was determined to never let see her vulnerable again.

And that asshole turned her down.

How dare he? Joey started to stomp downstairs until she realized her head was about to snap off her neck. Carefully, she made her way into the airy kitchen that was way too bright. She intended to keep her head on straight enough to start the coffee. Only the coffee had already been started. Next to the machine sat a horse-covered mug that she’d tucked away in the back of her cabinet out of stupid sentimentality. It was the mug Jax had bought for her at their first date at Overly Caffeinated. There was a bottle of aspirin next to the mug.

Jax.

Last night, she’d busted through her front door the second his car came to a halt out front. He must have come inside after she stormed upstairs.

She had offered him a night of no-strings-attached fun, and he had the audacity to lecture her on alcohol consumption. What she wouldn’t give to throw this horse mug at his head right now.

She settled for putting her head in her hands to block out the annoying light of dawn that was beginning to invade the front windows of her house. She had work to do. Plus, it was launch day for Summer’s online magazine. She had to slap on a not-hung-over supportive face for her friend.

Her groaning must have drowned out the purr of the engine because she jumped when she heard the knock at the front door.

“Go away if you value your life,” she said in a half-yell, half-moan that had her head splitting open again.

She lowered her forehead to the cool granite of the island.

The door opened. Damn it. She was going to have to start locking up.

The smell of warm, deep-fried goodness had her peeking over an arm. Jax stood just inside her door grinning and holding a grease-stained paper bag.

“Get out,” she rasped.

“Not feeling so friendly this morning, huh?” Jax smirked.

She hurled the coffee mug at him showing off her Little League arm. She would have nailed him too if he hadn’t ducked. The ceramic shattered against the doorframe, sending red splinters everywhere. Unfazed, Jax crossed to her.

He dumped the bag on the counter and handed her a sports drink. He reached around her, caging her against the island.

“Listen, Ace, last night was a one-time offer. There’s no second chances,” she told him, trying to shove past him.

He handed her two aspirin and looked her dead in the eyes.

“I didn’t turn you down, Joey. I took a rain check.”

Desperate for relief, she washed down the tablets with a glare and the never-found-in-nature blue liquid.

She tried not to pay attention to the fact that he looked entirely too good in jeans and a tight thermal shirt. It made her nauseous.

“No rain checks, Pierce.” She tried shoving him back a step, but the man was a mountain. Immovable and impressive.

“We will happen, Joey. There’s no point fighting it.” He tucked a clump of hair behind her ear, and before she could react, he leaned in for a hard, fast kiss.

He pulled back before she had time to respond… or kick him.

“I’ll see you around.” And with that, he was gone, whistling his way out the front door leaving Joey wishing that she had something else to throw at him.

She waited until she heard him drive up toward the brewery before sneaking a peek in the bag. Three hash browns, glimmering in their own oil, beckoned her unsettled stomach with the promise of carbs and grease.

“Bastard,” she muttered as she took a healthy bite of the first one.

* * *

Jax was still whistlingwhen he got to the brewery. He’d beat Carter and didn’t expect Beckett until well after lunch seeing as how his brother was probably still in bed with his new bride.

He tried not to think about how long it had been since he’d been with a woman. Great, now he was thinking about it. And about last night. And, great. Now he was hard.

Jax took a few deep breaths and concentrated on his surroundings, willing the blood to return to his head. The day before the grand opening and the construction work was finally complete, leaving only the chaos of dressing and outfitting the place to be ready to serve a few hundred beers and plates of farm-to-table goodness.

The tables and chairs had been set in the Summer-approved layout, which he had to admit was a much better use of the space than the haphazard jumble he and his brothers had originally planned.

The bar was stocked with a shiny new tap system and shelves of full liquor bottles. There was another box of glassware ready to run through the washer, new towels ready to sop up the inevitable spills. The barstools were a work of art. They’d been a stretch for the budget, but the metal bodies and rustic wood tops fit the space perfectly.

He could see it all in his head. His family clustered around a table while half of the town bustled in and out, sampling, laughing, gossiping. His brothers and their wives would raise their families here with the solid pine floors beneath their feet. He’d win Joey back here, and their story would begin again.

He always had a knack for seeing stories. That was the appeal of screenwriting to him. And his story in Blue Moon was just getting started. As an idiot teen, he’d been convinced that he needed to go somewhere to be someone. As John Pierce’s son, he had already been defined, already had expectations. And as the brother of an Army Ranger and a lawyer, he was already fucked.

It hadn’t bothered him really. Until Joey.

She deserved more than a jock and a teenage screw up. She deserved a man. One successful in his own right. And if Blue Moon was her home, well, then it would be his too.

He’d doggedly pursued a career in Hollywood, slowly crawling up the food chain until one of his pet scripts hit it big. It could have been enough, probably should have been enough. He could have come home flush with success and cash. A real somebody. Jax felt the familiar stab of guilt when he thought what his selfishness had cost his family. He hadn’t been here when his dad got sick or when Carter was discharged with bullet holes.

But more doors had opened for him. More opportunities arose. He’d carved out a comfortable life for himself on the west coast. A nice house in the hills, the phone numbers of several aspiring actresses and models, invitations to the hottest events. But it hadn’t been enough.

No matter how fat his bank account or who was on his arm on the red carpet, something was always missing.

When he found the picture of Joey—all cocky grin and long, long legs—that Summer had posted on her blog last June, he’d booked a red-eye home. Nothing would ever be enough without her. So he’d plant roots here with his brothers on the land his father had loved. And he would make it all up to them. Especially Joey.

She’d kissed him last night. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. It had been a power play on her part, but it still counted. Joey didn’t do things she didn’t want to do. And for the first time since he’d come home, Jax felt hope. She still wanted him.

And now that he’d had a taste of her, he wasn’t going to stop.

A commotion from below had him snapping back to reality and shoving thoughts of Joey and her wicked mouth aside.

He found Franklin, his mother’s fiancé and Gia’s father, directing a symphony of chaos on the lower level. He was a bear of a man, broad shoulders and generous proportions. Today he was wearing a long-sleeve Hawaiian shirt with hula girls and sharks on it. He held a cell phone to his ear while carrying on a conversation with a delivery guy and rolling silverware into paper napkins.

Jax sighed with relief. Franklin, Blue Moon’s most successful restaurateur, had volunteered to help the brothers set up for the opening. And thank God for that because Jax was just starting to realize that they were dangerously close to being in over their heads.

“Morning,” Franklin greeted him from the center of the chaos.

“Morning. I thought you’d take a few hours off this morning to recover from the festivities last night.” Not only had he walked Gia down the aisle, but Franklin also sang a convincing Sinatra tune with Fran’s band.

“I’ve been thrown out of my own house,” he lamented with a chuckle, signing the delivery slip. “Eva and Emma commandeered Phoebe and the kids.”

“Poor Evan,” Jax said, thinking of Gia’s twelve-year-old son trapped in a house full of women. “I’ll have Beckett swing by and pick him up before he comes in this afternoon.”

“My grandson will be eternally grateful.”

“Yeah, especially if I let him hang out with Joey for a while today,” Jax said, whipping out his phone and firing off a quick text to Beckett.

Franklin chuckled. “He’s got good taste. Seems like you do too.”

“All of us Pierce men do,” Jax said evasively.

“Do what?” his older brother Carter said strolling through the downstairs door.

“Have good taste in women.” Franklin grinned.

Carter lit up as he always did at the thought of his wife. “You know, I seem to recall Jax and Joey disappearing from the reception right around the same time,” he said stroking his beard.

Franklin’s eyes sparkled. “That’s right. The photographer was looking for you two for the countdown to midnight.”

Jax looked at his feet. He sure as hell wasn’t about to give his family any ammunition over him and Joey, not when he finally felt like he had a shot.

“What are you doing here so early?” Jax asked Carter, ignoring his brother and Franklin’s speculation. “Shouldn’t you be hovering over Summer for launch day?”

Carter shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “She kicked me out. Said I was driving her nuts. She’s being eerily calm.”

The brothers knew from experience that a calm Summer was a dangerous Summer. It meant she was burying all her stress and pretending everything was just fine. Jax decided then and there that he’d swing by Summer’s office a little later in the morning to see for himself how close to the deep end his sister-in-law was.

“We still on for the celebratory dinner tonight?” he asked Carter.

“Yeah. I was thinking maybe we should have it here? Kind of a family-only grand opening.”

Jax nodded. “I like it.”

* * *

After helpingwith the feeding and turning out the horses, Joey was feeling marginally better. Not good enough to tackle the thirty pounds of paperwork that had piled up while she helped Gia and Summer wrangle wedding plans—did anyone really care what color the napkins were on the damn table? You were just going to smear food on them anyway. So as long as storm cloud gray absorbed cake the same way pewter did, Joey couldn’t understand the fuss.

She decided to pay Summer a visit to see how the launch was going. Joey found her friend in her office on the second floor of the farm’s smaller barn. Clad in leggings and a thick sweater, she was obsessively hitting refresh on her screen.

“Load, damn you!” Summer yanked her blonde hair back into a low ponytail with a frown.

“I was going to ask how the launch is going, but judging from your angry face, it sucks and you’re going to have to find a day job.”

Summer snorted. “I’m just trying to look at the web traffic stats and the idiotic, moronic, freakishly perverse page won’t load.”

“I’m glad to see you’re handling stress so well during your pregnancy,” Joey quipped.

Summer shoved back in her chair and took a deep breath. “Fine. We’ll try patience and see where that gets us. Now, distract me from my obsession.”

“You can take me to pick up my truck this afternoon,” Joey offered.

Summer came out of her chair awfully fast for a woman nearly six months pregnant with twins. “Did you go home with someone? Oh my God! Did you go home with Jax?” She paused, and Joey could see her wheels turning. “Wait, Jax was home last night. Did you go home with someone who isn’t Jax?”

Joey rolled her eyes at the interrogation. Summer was famous for weaseling information out of reluctant people. “Jax drove me home after I got slightly shit-faced.”

“Damn it. I was hoping we could all exchange hot sex stories from last night.”

“Don’t rub it in,” Joey sighed. It had been too long since she had a hot sex story to share.

“I wondered where you disappeared to. Did he at least make a move on you?” Summer asked.

The dredges of her hangover came racing back, and she dropped down into one of the vibrant floral print chairs in front of Summer’s desk. “There was a move,” she confessed. “But Jax didn’t make it.”

“What?” Summer shrieked.

A disheveled red blur dashed through the door. “There’s screaming! What did I miss? What’s the traffic look like?” Gia demanded.

Joey and Summer blinked. Gia’s hair was falling out of the sloppy knot she’d shoved it into. She was wearing pajama bottoms and one of Beckett’s law school sweatshirts. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright.

“Jesus, I can almost smell the sex on you,” Joey groaned.

“My husband is insatiable.” Gia grinned wickedly. She took the seat next to Joey. “Now fill me in.”

“Well the page with the site stats won’t load, and Joey here went home with Jax last night after she made a move on him.”

“Have you tried contacting tech supp—” Gia’s head swiveled so fast in Joey’s direction that Joey was surprised she didn’t hear a snap.

“You and Jax? On my wedding night?” Gia’s slim hands fluttered. “This is the best, most amazing—”

“Hold your horses,” Joey cut her off before Gia could start levitating with joy. “I had too much to drink.”

“And?” Summer prompted.

“And I kissed him.”

“Where and where?” Summer demanded resting her chin in her hands.

“Don’t you have some numbers to freak out over?” Joey asked her.

“Nice try. Now answer the questions.”

“Yeah, did you get to see his meat stick?” Gia jumped in.

Joey’s jaw dropped. “Married to Beckett for five seconds and look what happens,” she said, ignoring the fact that she’d asked Gia that very question about Beckett early on in their relationship. “You used to be so polite and reserved. Now you’re shoving your nose in places it doesn’t belong.”

“I’m a Mooner now,” Gia reminded her. “Nosiness is a town ordinance here.”

“Joey, quit stalling,” Summer ordered.

“I should have kept my big mouth shut,” Joey lamented.

“You mean, of course, when you kissed Jax? Did you use too much tongue?” Gia teased.

“These questions and this hangover are making me hate you two. I need to make some new friends.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. After you spill, you can start auditioning new BFFs.” Summer waved away her threat.

Joey let out a tortured sigh. “Fine. I lured him outside, and I kissed him. Happy now?”

“Yes!” Gia crowed.

“Nope.”

Joey glared at Summer.

“You are shockingly light on details,” her friend said. “When you say lured…”

Joey reluctantly recited a high-level overview of the kiss.

“Wow,” Gia said, fanning herself when Joey had finished. “Did your underwear melt off at that point?”

“Almost. But it would have unmelted immediately after he got done turning me down.”

“He turned you down?” Gia and Summer shouted the question together, and Joey wondered if there was a surgery for reinserting eyeballs after they catapulted out of their sockets.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Summer said it fast, holding up a finger.

“Jackson Pierce turned you,” Gia waved a hand in front of Joey’s face and chest, “down?”

“Yep.”

“That son of a bitch,” Summer muttered, rubbing her rounded belly.

“Thank you!” Joey jumped out of her chair and started to pace. “Exactly! He just waltzes out of my life after promising me a future, and then he has the nerve to show up here and lay one on me like I should be happy about it?” She was in full-on rant mode now.

“And then he gets in my face for six months. Six months! Hinting and flirting and looking at me like he wants to take a bite out of me. And then when I offer him a night of no-strings fun, he’s all Mr. Thanks But No Thanks?”

“I believe what I actually said was that I’d take a rain check.”

Joey froze mid-pace. Judging from the expressions on Summer and Gia’s faces, the amused tone from the door belonged to Mr. Thanks But No Thanks himself. She whirled around. Sure enough, Jax was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, enjoying the show. He shoved away from the door and crossed to her.

“You were drunk,” he said when they were toe-to-toe. “Phoebe Pierce didn’t raise boys who would take advantage of that. And April Greer didn’t raise girls who would threaten to go get what they wanted from someone else when they didn’t get their way.” Those gray eyes were anything but icy now.

Joey crossed her arms and set her jaw to ward off the shame. Summer and Gia whistled innocently and avoided eye contact.

“Let me make one thing clear,” Jax said, slipping a hand behind her neck. His voice dropped to a low, commanding whisper. “When it does happen, when I’m touching you, I want you to be completely present, stone sober. Because there’s nothing that’s going to come between us. And there will be no regrets.”

She fought him, but Jax used the hand gripping her neck to drag her in for a hard kiss on the mouth.

He pulled back and grinned. She stomped on his foot. “Stop doing that!”

He released her and turned his attention to her friends. Jax threw an arm around Gia’s shoulders. “Welcome to the family, sis.”

Gia grinned up at him, totally falling for his Pierce charm. Joey rolled her eyes. Amateur.

“And as for you,” Jax said, pointing at Summer. “I know what you’re up to.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Summer asked innocently.

“You’re freaked out about this launch, worrying about how it’s gonna go and what it’s gonna mean. So you kick Carter out so he doesn’t worry about you worrying, and then you try to drag your friends in here as distractions.”

Summer’s pretty face was working its way into a frown.

“Don’t even try it,” Jax warned. “You didn’t fool Carter either. He’s just legally required to tip-toe around you.”

Gia snickered.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at the site traffic so I can report back to my brother before he paces a trench in our nice new floors at the brewery.”

Summer sighed. “The page wasn’t loading.”

“Well, try it again,” Jax ordered, leaving no room for discussion.

“I see all Pierce men inherited the bossy pants gene,” Gia said, from the safety of the sidelines.

Joey smirked. That was certainly true. The funny thing was, the brothers didn’t get it from their father. The brothers’ unwavering loyalty, their love of land and family, that was John’s influence. But their tenacity and hard-headedness was all Phoebe.

Summer punched a few keys, and quiet descended on the room.

“It’s loading,” she murmured, squinting at the screen.

Joey flopped back down in the chair and tapped her fingers on her knees. She didn’t make time for things like stats and technology. The traffic she worried about was the four-legged kind as it trotted around the indoor riding ring. But she knew this launch was important to Summer, and that made it important to her.

Summer’s eyebrows skyrocketed up.

“Well?” Joey demanded, leaning forward.

A sound like a beach ball deflating emanated from behind the monitors.

Gia’s fingers dug into Joey’s arm.

“Twenty-three thousand.”

“What?” Gia’s voice was an octave higher than usual.

Summer was frozen halfway out of her chair. “Twenty-three thousand visitors.”

“What?” Gia was shrieking now.

“If you get any louder, I’m going to lose an ear drum,” Joey warned her.

“Twenty-three thousand visitors, and its only eleven!” Summer was all the way out of her chair now and yelling. She came around the desk, and there was more yelling and grabbing and some jumping.

“Are you allowed to bounce? Won’t the babies fall out?” Joey asked, grabbing Summer’s shoulder to keep her grounded. Carter and Beckett burst in. “What the hell, Jax?” Carter yelled over the noise and made a grab for Summer. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Summer threw herself into her husband’s arms. “Twenty-three thousand, Carter!”

“Don’t let her start jumping again,” Joey warned him.

Beckett, wearing sweatpants and a big, fat smile, pulled Gia in to him. He tucked her head under his chin and held tight. It was such an intimate moment that Joey had to look away.

Carter was still searching the room for a threat. “Twenty-three thousand what, honey?” He brushed her hair back from her face.

“That’s how many people have been to the site so far today. We were hoping for maybe fifteen thousand all day.”

“Holy shit!”

There was more jumping and yelling, and even Joey bounced a little in her riding boots. She snuck a glance at Jax and found him watching her. Summer grabbed for Joey and Gia, pulling them in for a hug before dragging the brothers in.

“We’re really doing this, guys.”

Carter dropped a sweet kiss on the top of her head and closed his eyes in the bliss of pride and love.