Breathe (Sea Breeze #1)(19)
Author: Abbi Glines

“Jax, listen, it is important to me that I earn my own money. I can’t be paid to spend time with you because it would make it cheap somehow. I want to be with you. There should be no money involved. I need to be an equal, and as crazy as it sounds, the only way I can hope to achieve that in any way is to work for the money I earn. Please, I enjoy working with Ms. Mary and Mr. Greg and even Marcus. I could go somewhere else if you don’t want me working for you, but I really like it here.”

Jax sighed and reached out to take my hand. “I’m sorry. I am used to people taking my money with no reservation. You’re not like anyone I have ever known, so I should have realized you wouldn’t be comfortable with such an arrangement. You can remain here as long as you want. It will give me a reason to visit the kitchen more.” He winked, and I blushed.

“Thank you,” I said through the tightness in my throat from fighting back tears of relief and joy.

Jax smiled. “I should be the one saying thank you. I don’t deserve you, but I’m thankful you don’t realize it.”

I laughed at him.

“Come on inside with me while Kane gets our ride ready.”

We walked up to his house. I realized he was taking me through the family’s entrance, and I stopped.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I, um, I need to go in through the side entrance.”

He shook his head. “I am agreeing to your working for me, but you are not going to be confined to the servants entrance only. You’re with me, Sadie. When you’re off the clock, you’re not my employee. You’re my…air.”

I frowned at him. “Your air?”

He grinned. “Well, girlfriend seems to be too shallow a word for what I feel for you. These past two weeks it’s been as if you control my breathing. When I watched you with Marcus, my chest would tighten, and it became hard to breathe. But then I would see you smile or laugh, and I could take a deep breath again.”

No wonder this guy wrote songs. My eyes stung, and I hated the fact I always seemed to get all weepy with him.

“Wow,” I whispered for lack of better words. I wasn’t gifted with his talent of weaving the English language so beautifully.

“So, does this mean I win? Will you do me the honor of accompanying me in my house as a guest, instead of the hired help?”

I grinned. “As long as I’m off the clock.”

He sighed in defeat. “I’ll take what I can get.”

He took my hand and led me into the house. I wasn’t sure how I would handle facing his mother or father. How were they going to react when they found out he was dating the help? But then again, I doubted if they even knew I worked here. Except for the one time I served Jax, I’d never been around either of his parents.

Jax squeezed my hand. “Wait here, let me grab my cell and have Kane get our ride brought around front.”

I nodded and watched him go to the coat closet and open it. He reached inside and took out the black leather jacket I remembered seeing him wear in a recent magazine photo.

He took a slim flat phone out of his pocket and tapped it a few times, and then slipped it into his pocket. He turned his smile on me and crooked his finger. My heart picked up its pace at the expression on his face.

“Your carriage awaits, my lady.”

I walked up to him and slipped my hand in his extended arm. “Ever the gentleman,” I teased.

“Whatever it takes to make the lady smile.”

Once home, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and wondering how I could pack a lifetime into two short months. I wouldn’t be enough to hold Jax’s interest. But I’d love him enough to enjoy the short window of time we’d have together. When the summer ended, and he left, I’d have my mother and the new baby to be concerned about. If I threw myself into keeping my grade point average of 4.0, school may be an outlet to keep my mind off of the pain. But then again, I might never breathe again once he walked away from me.

* * *

Chapter Seven

I walked into the kitchen the next morning and hung my backpack up on the hook before glancing at the stove where I knew Ms. Mary would be working on the Stone’s breakfast.

“Morning, Ms. Mary, I will be back to help as soon as I get changed.”

Ms. Mary cut her eyes toward me and back toward the table with a frown. I followed her gaze. Leaning back in a kitchen chair, looking ridiculously sexy for seven in the morning, sat Jax. He gave me a crooked grin, and my heart went into a frenzy.

“Hey,” I said this without sounding affected by his presence. I knew he’d said he would be hanging out in the kitchen more often, but I hadn’t realized he meant this early in the morning. “What? Why are you here?”

He raised his eyebrows and grinned at me. “I would have thought that would have been obvious.”

I knew I was blushing. I turned to Ms. Mary and back at him. I knew she wasn’t happy about his presence, and I realized this might cause a problem.

“It’s okay, Sadie. She isn’t mad at you. She’s upset with me. You happen to be who she’s protecting.”

“I, um, need to go change. I’ll be right back,” I said, hoping Ms. Mary’s scowl wasn’t for me.

I walked toward the laundry room. My heart was racing from the frustration of my mixed feelings. Knowing Jax wanted to see me made me extremely happy, but I also didn’t want to upset Ms. Mary. Jax whispered something that sounded defensive. I needed to hurry up. I didn’t want to leave him by himself with Ms. Mary. Which seemed silly, since she worked for him.

“I am not going to hurt her. I know she is special and I tried to stay away, but when I’m with her I don’t feel so cold and alone.”

Jax stood in front of the table with his attention on Ms. Mary. I froze outside the door.

Ms. Mary turned from the stove and pointed a wooden spoon at Jax. “I understand that. But that girl has a lot on her shoulders for a kid her age, and, well, you can’t help it, but you’ll break her heart when you leave.” Her whisper wasn’t very quiet. She went back to stirring the pot and shook her head. “I just don’t want her hurt.”

Jax didn’t reply right away. Finally, he said in a whisper, “I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to keep her from getting hurt. Hurting her is the very last thing I want to do.”

I waited a minute more, and then walked back into the kitchen. “Okay, Ms. Mary, where do I start?”

Ms. Mary held out two plates for me. “You go on ahead and enjoy your breakfast with Master Jax.”