Naughty by Nature

  “I might remember it, but at the moment I’m not interested.”

  Conner comes in grinning, and as soon as he spots me, his enthusiasm wanes. It’s safe to say I’ve become Oak Grove’s biggest buzzkill. Word on the street is that Poppy and I had a blowout at the party. I heard one rumor suggest that she took off because the size of the diamond I gave her was insulting. I know firsthand Poppy isn’t the kind of girl who would care about that. Poppy is wonderful and not at all a cold-hearted brat who holds on to grudges because they make her feel like she’s in control. I didn’t mean it. I was simply playing off the words she threw my way. And that quip about her wishing she had me? More like me wishing I had her. It all went to hell so quickly. There was no safe way to get off that demon train.

  “What’s going on, man?” Conner falls into the seat on the other side of me.

  “Nothing much. You heard from Pops?”

  His face contorts in a tight grimace. “Yeah, man, I did. She’s about ready to start her new job. Some swanky design firm she’s been waiting to get onboard with. She’s doing well. She’s got a lot on her plate right now, that’s all.”

  Conner knows she hasn’t been returning my calls. He’s just trying to be a good friend by sugarcoating the bitter truth.

  Larissa grunts as Hunter slides her drink over. “Who cares about Poppy Montgomery?” She snarls at Conner. “No offense. But—really, she has a life, and it’s not in Oak Grove. I mean, what are you going to do? Fly out to L.A. to try to win her back? It was all a big fake lie anyway. So she got her feelings hurt over a few little jabs. She’ll get over it. And trust me”—her hand slips to the inside of my thigh, and I stop her before she hits pay dirt—“there are plenty of women out there who are willing to help you put that entire nightmare behind you.”

  “It wasn’t a nightmare.” I stare numbly right through Hunter. “And it wasn’t fake.”

  Conner knocks his shoulder to mine as if trying to pull me from a trance. “What did you just say?”

  “It’s true.” I blink back to life for the first time in a week. “Everything that happened between us was real. I love Poppy. I always have.”

  “No, no, no.” Conner laughs it off as the ramblings of a madman. “You’re confused. That whole gag was a mindfuck. What you need is—”

  “What I need is Poppy.” I glance to Larissa. “Thank you.”

  She blinks back surprise. “For what?”

  “For suggesting I do the one thing I’ve been hesitating on all week—flying out to L.A. to try to win her back.”

  I take off for the door and barrel out into the waiting blizzard with the knifelike wind tearing through my clothes. But the wind is no match for what it feels like in a world without Poppy. I’ve tasted paradise and decided hell isn’t the place for me.

  “Stade!”

  I glance back to find Conner tripping in the snow as he chases after me.

  “Did you mean what you said back there?” He looks stumped, but mostly he looks hurt. Conner and I are brothers, and that’s what he’ll always be to me.

  “Yes. I love her. I’ve loved her all my life. I don’t know where it went wrong all those years ago, but I’m not about to let another day drift by without letting her know exactly how I feel. Nobody—not even you can stop me.” I needle him with a hard stare. I confessed to Conner once before how I felt about his sister, and he made no bones about the fact he wasn’t a fan.

  He gives a slow nod, his hardened expression slowly melting away. “Okay.” He gives a light tap to my arm. “Go get her, man. I hope things work out the way you’re thinking.” He tucks his chin to the ground as he makes his way back to the bar, dejected.

  That didn’t exactly feel as if he were giving me his blessing. But I don’t really give a damn.

  I’m coming for you, Pops.

  And this time, I’m going to put my heart on the line.

  I hope you’ll take it.

  It’s been yours for years.

  The Joke’s on You

  Poppy

  Nine days.

  It’s been nine painful days since the big blowout at my mother’s party, and time is proving to be a fickle bitch because she sure as hell isn’t healing this wound.

  I drag myself out of bed, shower, dress, and head down to Santa Monica where the office of Kleese and Sloane Designs resides—a new up-and-coming design firm where I’m hopeful to do more this go around than deliver a perfect cup of coffee. I’m all for working my way up in any firm, but after five years of private university, I was hoping for something a little less sub-entry level.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I’m quick to fish it out. As soon as I turn the flashing screen toward me, I’m rather disappointed to see it’s just another email to my inbox. In truth, I was hoping it was another text from Jax. The deluge of electronic shoulder-taps began almost as soon as I left the party, but in typical Jax robotic texting fashion, they didn’t say more than Eight Ball? Call me. Don’t leave me hanging. I’m here. Let’s talk. That last one was a personal fave. I’m pretty sure Jax and I should talk again one day. It’s just not going to happen for another millennium or so. I’m pretty staunch on not going back to Oak Grove. I’ve already managed to convince my father that celebrating next Christmas here in Los Angeles would be fantastic. Mack said she would love to take the kids to Disneyland, and Conner said he’d love to hang ten at the beach. So there’s that. It all seems to be falling into place nicely for me, with the one exception that I happen to miss Oak Grove like never before. Who knew I would miss a white winter? I’m pretty sure I only miss the winter boots that accompanied said white winter—and sweaters, and scarves, and sipping hot cocoa by the fire. In L.A., every other week brings a heat wave, and don’t even get me started on the demon winds known as the Santa Anas.

  Santa Monica is posh, littered with beautiful people, blue skies, and a ribbon of ocean view no matter where you seem to go.

  Kleese and Sloane Designs is located in a white brick building near the Third Street Promenade—a stellar shopping, eating, people-watching venue where I will undoubtedly try my best to forget my troubles via my American Express card.

  I step in and spot the secretary, a petite blonde with her hair up in a messy bun and large, dark-framed glasses that leave me questioning if they’re just for show. Nevertheless, she’s too distracted on her phone to notice me. She has a pair of earbuds buried in her skull, and her head is bopping to the invisible beat. I wave a hand over her paperwork, and she startles to life.

  “Oh, sorry! You must be the new girl.” She averts her eyes, a smile tugging on her lips.

  “Um—yes, I’m Poppy Montgomery, the new design assistant.”

  “Go on in.” She plucks an earbud out of her ear and frowns over at me a moment. “I have another gig, so you don’t need to feel sorry for me. But one day I really hope things work out for me like they did you.” She gives a quick shrug before getting back to her phone, and I’m not quite sure what the hell she just said. Something about a new gig? I’m not the new secretary, am I? Oh hell, I know my place. I probably am.

  I enter through the oversized blue door and find myself in a rather large office with an equally large desk made of what resembles reclaimed wood and an enormous leather chair turned toward the wall.

  “Hello?” I call out to the rocking leather chair. “It’s me, Poppy Montgomery. I’m your new design assistant. The secretary said I could come right in?”

  “I’m glad you’re here,” a warm deep voice calls from the other side of the leather barrier.

  “If you’re on the phone, I can come back. I can run down to Starbucks and pick something up for you if you like? Just let me know what you want.”

  “What I want? How about a steaming cup of eating crow because I’m about to issue one venti-sized apology?” The chair turns slowly, and everything in me seizes. That face, those dimples, those ocean blue bedroom eyes—he’s here.

  “Jax?”

  In less than a secon
d, he closes the distance between us, and his strong arms wrap themselves around me. His cologne permeates my senses, and I can’t stop myself from poking my finger into his dimple and laughing as happy tears come to the party.

  “You’re real!”

  “Yes, I’m real.” His chest expands in girth with his next breath, and his dress shirt stretches taut in that sexy way that drives me wild. Jaxson gazes down at me with a loving expression, and it makes me feel safe and wanted. “I couldn’t stay away, Eight Ball.” He offers up a sad smile. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I swear on everything that’s good, I would never want to do that. I take back all of those nasty words. I didn’t mean them.”

  “Wow, you really go all out when you want to apologize to a girl. Can I ask what you did with my boss? If you tell me that he’s tied up under the desk, we might want to make our escape now before the cops get here.”

  “I promise you, he’s not under the desk. In fact, it’s not even his desk anymore. I believe he said something about retiring to Florida as he was leaving.”

  “What?” I shout so loud my voice reverberates off the walls. “He can’t retire. I need this job. This job equals food and shelter.”

  “You have your job.” His dark brows narrow into a V, and I can’t help but run my finger over one. This has to be a dream. “In fact, you have a promotion. You’re the new top designer. I sent everyone else packing.”

  I inch back, amused. “Jaxson, you can’t just stroll into someone else’s business and start firing people.”

  “I can if it’s my new business. I bought out Kleese and Sloane Designs yesterday. I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. It’s already in legal. So you see, I have a dilemma I’m hoping you’ll help me with. I have a new design firm, and I need someone who knows a thing or two about decorating to take over.”

  “That would be me.” A part of me demands to be affronted by my billionaire buddy swooping in and scooping up the design firm I hadn’t even started at to add to his portfolio—but this is Jaxson, and he did it for me. It’s so incredibly romantic that I can no longer keep the tears at bay. “I may have to relocate the company to Denver so I can be near a very good friend who does outrageous things for me, all in the name of an apology.”

  That left dimple of his digs in deep and takes my ovaries with it.

  “I’m all for that. But I have a confession to make.” He pulls me in closer, and his soft minty breath warms me. “I did come here to apologize, but I was hoping for something more. As much as I enjoy being your good friend, I was thinking we could explore other titles.”

  “Your Lordship?” I bite down hard on my lower lip to keep the bubbling laughter at bay. “Or do you prefer Your Highness?”

  “Only if you’ll be my queen.”

  There it is. A proclamation I have waited a lifetime for.

  “You do realize our mothers are nowhere to be seen.” I run my finger over his well stubbled cheek.

  “There are some conversations they shouldn’t be privy to.”

  I nod into him, digging my fingers through the back of his hair. I have always loved how thick and shiny it looked, and this, right here, is the culmination of about a thousand fantasies.

  “I think maybe we should have a conversation. Jaxson—I’ve been in love with you for so long.” A lump the size of Oak Grove High settles in my throat. “I tried to tell you. I waited all the way until graduation night—talk about last minute.” I make a face. “That night at that big party you threw, I asked Conner to bring you out to the old oak so I could tell you how I felt—only you never showed. I got a sloppy drunk Miles Frampton instead.” I give a little shrug. “After I pried his paw off me, I found Conner, and he said you weren’t interested.” My heart spears with pain just thinking about how awful I felt that night and just about every night that followed. This wasn’t a rejection from some high school infatuation. This was my very best friend turning me down without so much as a word.

  Jax stares intently over my shoulder. “Pops.” He closes his eyes. “That’s not what happened. Conner came and found me all right. He said ‘I want you to check this out’ and brought me over to the old oak where I saw you and Miles going at it. The real tragedy being—I had just told your brother how I felt. I told him to find you.” He shakes his head. “I told him I wanted to be with you. That he should probably get over it because I knew we were right.”

  My heart stops. I can’t breathe. “You told Conner that?” An instant pang of grief hits me. “Conner knew, and he never told me? I think I’m going to kill my brother.”

  “No. Save him for me. But for now, let’s shelf all talks of murder until we get back to Oak Grove.” He tilts his chin toward his shoulder. “That is, if that’s what you want. You can stay in L.A. We’ll make it work. I swear I didn’t come out here like some caveman wanting to drag you back by the hair.”

  A laugh bleats from me. “I’m going willingly. But what about Larissa? She made it sound like the two of you had something going that I might have interrupted.”

  “Not a reality. She’s a mistake I made that I never want a part in again.”

  “She said you told her about our agreement.” I bite down hard on my lip because I can feel the tears bubbling to the surface.

  “She heard Mack telling Conner about it and wanted to know if it was true. I asked her not to say anything.”

  “I knew she was a lying witch.” I pull him down by the back of the neck, those lips I’ve been craving just inches from mine.

  “So, you’ll come back to Oak Grove?”

  “Yes. I miss home. But mostly, I missed you. I love you, Jaxson Livingston Stade. I have loved you for as long as I have known you, and there’s nothing that can stop me from loving you until I draw my last dying breath.”

  That sexy grin of his finally shows up before defusing a bit. “I love you, too, Poppy. I wish we never had a gap in our relationship, but I’m all for making up for lost time. I’m so glad we’re finally where we need to be—together.”

  “Together.” I can’t take my eyes off this beautiful man. My beautiful man.

  Jax leans in and presses his lips to mine. My mouth falls open, and I welcome him into my heart, my body, my soul. Here we are, together at last.

  Jaxson feels like home.

  He is home. He’s where I buried my heart all of those long, lonely years ago—and now, finally, I can feel it beating once again.

  Of course, we don’t rush back to Oak Grove. We stopped off at a hotel overlooking the water and made up for lost time by making love properly with all the right words and our hearts knitted to one another the way it should have been the first time. Come Wednesday, Jax flies us back home in his private jet. I had only been on a Stade jet once, and that was to ogle while I dropped my mother and Deb off before they left for New York a few years back. Yes, Jax has an impressive collection of toys, but that’s not why I love him. I love him because he is the epitome of what a man should be, kind, caring, an all-around stellar human being. And tonight, the two of us are going to do what all-around stellar people should always strive to do—heal broken hearts, namely our mothers’.

  I called Mack and asked if she could wrangle everyone over to Mom’s for dinner. I may have told her that something huge has happened between Jax and me—and, of course, she took the fertile leap to parenthood. But I didn’t stop her. I figure of all people Mack deserves a little prank of her own even if she did inadvertently pull this one on herself. I’ll let her stew in those pink and blue prenatal fluid juices for a day or so, because after all, I am my mother’s daughter. But as for the rest of the people present, they won’t have a clue that Jax and I are even on the guest list.

  The house is lit up like a jack-o-lantern as we get out of the car. Jax comes over and wraps his arms around me, the whites of his eyes glinting in the moonlight.

  “You ready for this, Eight Ball?”

  “As ready as I’ll ever get. I guess our heyday of besting our mothers was short-lived.?
??

  His head ticks back an inch. “Are you kidding?” He lets out a rumble of a laugh as we make our way up the porch. “We have an entire lifetime ahead of us to get even with those two. What do you say, tomorrow, we map out an outline of things to kick us off in the right direction? In bed, of course.” He presses a kiss to the top of my head.

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I slip him a kiss, and my tongue spanks his like a promise of things to come before we head on in.

  He pulls back with those bedroom eyes, a faint smile floating on his lips. “Yes, ma’am. May I have another?”

  “Sooner than later, Gordo.” I give a little wink.

  The door is unlocked, and we enter to find everyone congregated in the living room for the most part. The smell of something delicious hangs thick in the air.

  Mom turns toward Conner with her finger in the air and does a double take our way. She lets out a shriek that can wake every last soul in the town cemetery as the room explodes around us.

  “What’s going on?” Conner asks as both Mom and Deb try to catch their breath, holding their chests as if they were both about to bite the big one.

  “We’re going on.” Jax wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. We decided on the way home that we would cut right to the quick. “Poppy and I are together—for good. And that is the truth.”

  Both Mom and Deb tilt their head my way as if awaiting confirmation.

  “What he said.” I lean in and plant a kiss over Jaxson’s cheek. “Yes, it started off as a gag to get you two back for all those years of terror.” I glower over at them a moment. “But something happened along the way. I realized my feelings were true.”

  Jax lands a soft kiss to the top of my head. “And I did, too.”

  The room breaks out into cheers with Mack’s being the loudest. Mom and Deb are too busy hyperventilating and staggering our way before collapsing over the two of us with a strangulating hug.