“Don’t worry about it. I’m just going to get in the shower anyway,” she replied, putting her shirt on and grabbing her undies and bra.
“Piper—”
“It’s okay,” she said, glancing his direction but avoiding his eyes. “This was fun, St. James. I’ll see you later.”
Blowing out a breath at the flash of hurt she saw on his face from the corner of her eye, she turned and fled the barn, walking quickly back to the house and praying no one was around to see her doing the walk of shame while she carried her undergarments in her hand.
It wasn’t that she regretted having sex with Jax. She didn’t at all, though she did regret hurting him in any way, despite all the hurt he heaped upon her years ago. The problem was she hadn’t wanted to walk away, and that wasn’t good at all. She already wanted to run back and ask for seconds, but that couldn’t happen. She couldn’t allow this to happen again, or she ran the risk of losing her heart to him all over again.
“I love this song,” Piper said, swaying in the grass as the Bon Jovi song blared from the speakers.
“It’s a good song,” Jax replied in agreement, running his hands through the clover. Finding what he was looking for, he plucked the four-leaf clover from the ground and handed it to her. “Want to dance?”
Smiling, she accepted the clover. “You have all the luck with finding these. And yes, I’d like to dance.”
Standing, he held out a hand to her and pulled her to her feet and into his arms. At nineteen, Jax was tall, towering over her and still seeming to get bigger every day. Piper snuggled into his arms, loving how he was big enough that it felt like he was surrounding her completely. Humming along with the song, she relaxed into him as they swayed to the music.
“This should be our song,” he said, his deep voice rumbling and lighting up her nerve endings.
“’Always’?” she asked, brow furrowing as she looked up at him. “Have you listened to the words? It’s a song about a man who’s not with the woman he loves anymore.”
He shrugged. “So? That’s not what it means to us. It means we’ll always love each other. We’ll never stop, and we’ll be able to get through everything, because we love each other. Always. The chorus is ours, Pippy.”
He started singing it, his smoky voice wrapping around the lyrics, and she felt the emotion he put into them down to her soul.
“Yeah I, will love you, baby
Always and I'll be there
Forever and a day, always
I'll be there, till the stars don't shine
'Til the heavens burst and the words don't rhyme
I know when I die you'll be on my mind
And I'll love you, always.”
Heart melting, she gave him a mushy smile. “Okay, it’s perfect when you say it like that.”
“Besides, you’ve been wanting to pick a song for a while now. And I know if I leave it much longer, you’ll do it yourself, and pick a shitty ass Nickelback song.”
Laughing, she smacked him on the chest. “Their songs are not shitty. But yeah, you’re probably right, and I would have picked one.”
“Bon Jovi is much better,” he said softly, eyes dropping to her lips before he looked back up again. “I love you, Piper. Always.”
“And I love you, Jax. Always.”
Eyes heating, he leaned in and kissed her, slowly at first, but with more intensity as the kiss got heated. After a moment, he pulled her down to the ground and eased her to her back.
“I’m going to lose my clover,” she said breathlessly.
“So keep it in your hand. Let that be your challenge. Keep hold of that clover while I love you senseless. Don’t let go.”
Closing the distance between them, his mouth closed over hers again. I’m not letting go, she thought. Of the clover or you. Ever.
Piper rand a hand through her mostly dry hair, pacing at the foot of the stairs that led to the attic. She’d taken her shower, but she was too restless to settle down, her mind going a million miles a minute. After her talk with Ian earlier, she told herself she wasn’t going to ask Jax any questions about what happened eight years ago.