Page 74 of Close to Heaven

Jax watched her stroke Smoky’s fur and felt jealous. Then he recalled how she’d stroked him last night, and he felt a twitch in his jeans. NOT NOW!

“We missed you at the bar last night,” Cody said, glancing at Avery.

She sat back, and Jax swallowed his sigh of relief. He didn’t want his brother ogling his…his what? Girlfriend? They’d only been together one night, but he already felt possessive of her.

“What’d you end up doing?” Cody asked innocently.

He and Dakota looked at Avery, who shifted uncomfortably.

“She went hiking and twisted her ankle,” Jax supplied, anxious to take the heat off her.

“Oh no,” Dakota said. “Are you okay?”

“I am now, thanks to Jax.”

His brother and sister turned their laser focus on him.

Jax shrugged. “It was nothing.” It was everything.

“Did my big brother ride in on his white horse and save the day?” Cody teased.

Avery smiled. “Something like that.”

“She had nobody else to call,” Jax said nonchalantly.

“And of course, you were home,” Cody said.

Dakota reached over and whapped him again.

“Seriously, ouch!”

“I’m glad you were there to help her,” Dakota said soothingly.

“It was stupid of me. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking and tripped over a rock. When I tried to stand up again, it hurt so bad I knew I needed help.”

“If you’d gone to the bar with me, none of that would have happened,” Cody said.

Thank God she didn’t, thought Jax.

“Then what happened?” Dakota asked, giving her friend a compassionate look.

“She called me, and I went and got her,” Jax said, hoping that would be the end of it.

“He gave me a piggy-back ride home,” Avery said.

Jax shot her a warning look, but it was too late.

“Did you have to go to the emergency room?”

“Her ankle was swollen, but nothing was broken,” Jax said.

“Jax took good care of me,” Avery added.

“I bet he did,” Cody mumbled under his breath.

Jax, however, heard him loud and clear.

Dakota flung out her arm, but Cody grabbed it in midair.