She was attracted to him.
Jax was wonderful and consistently amazing her, despite her best efforts. He was sitting there, lounging beside her, watching Star Trek the Motion Picture avidly and whispering to her about scenes, trivia, or things he knew, while those popsicle sticks dangled, making her laugh again.
“Alright, alright…” she chuckled. “I give up. Let’s yank those things out, because I cannot have a serious conversation with you like this.”
“What do I do?” he asked, reaching for one – and she stopped him.
“No, hang on,” she smiled. “There’s a trick to it, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Thank you for that.”
“Certainly.”
She got up on her knees on the couch and saw Jax watching her warily as she took hold of one of the popsicle sticks, giving it a mighty yank… only to hear him grunt.
His eyes widened as he blinked several times, before laughing.
“Man, that will wake a fella up…”
Mary smiled at him, realizing suddenly that he would never get upset with her… nor would he let a little thing like this come between them. He was submitting himself to her, trusting her, encouraging her to have fun at his expense, even when she was doing minute torture on his nostrils just to test him… and he was still there, smiling at her.
Maybe it was time to give the good guy a try,she mused.
“Don’t move…” she whispered softly.
“I’m not,” he promised.
Leaning forward, Jax’s smile faded as he stared at her with an awareness that made her insides curl in on itself like taffy being pulled. She braced one hand over his shoulder against the back of the couch and moved to reach for the other popsicle stick as he closed his eyes.
… Trusting her.
This was the craziest thing and he looked like some swamp-thing with the charcoal mask all over his face. She couldn’t even fathom how odd she probably looked right now with the blue seaweed kelp one on her face… yet when she looked at him? She only saw his eyes and the joy that lingered in those depths.
A joy she wanted to experience.
Instead of yanking the other popsicle stick out, she leaned down and brushed her lips against his in a featherlight kiss between them.
She backed away as his eyes slowly opened meeting hers, and there was such longing, so much warmth there, that it was heady to behold.
“Thank you,” he murmured tenderly, his voice hoarse with emotion and not looking away, but rather staring at her with wonder and admiration. “If my eyes are shiny, I swear it’s the popsicle stick.”
“That’s what it is?”
Mary couldn’t help the smile that touched her lips.
“That single moment, that soft kiss, was worth every nose hair I just had viciously yanked out.”
They shared a tentative smile as she felt a shiver of awareness rocket through her very soul, realizing that if she could get past her reservations and fears, that perhaps she could have some form of happiness in her own life – with a friend she could trust.
“And there is another popsicle stick, you know,” he began hesitantly, watching her. His eyes were glistening from the dark mask on his face and his teeth practically glowing. “I might have a real thing for blue face masks because it sure makes your eyes look beautiful. Do you think you might have a thing for walruses?”
“I have a thing for guys who make me laugh.”
“Whew…”
They smiled at each other, before Jax reached up – yanking the other popsicle stick from his nose and wincing in pain.
“Owww?” he grimaced.