Page 56 of Anyone But Me


Font Size:

After we were done eating and Jax’s parents headed back out to the slopes, Jax asked if I wanted to sit by one of the many fireplaces with her. When I agreed, she chose one that was off to the side, in an area that wasn’t littered with nearly as many people as the rest of the lodge.

Jax sat down first and stretched out her legs, motioning for me to sit between them. I instinctively looked around, and Jax laughed. “If you’re worried about homophobes, you don’t need to be. This is Vermont. On the off chance a bigot somehow snuck into the state, someone else would stick up for us before we even had to.”

I nodded as if that actually was what I was worried about and sat with my back against her. When Jax’s arms wrapped around me, I instinctively leaned back against her. It was so natural, there was no way I could stop myself even if I tried.

Jax hummed and rested her chin on my shoulder. “What do you think of your first skiing experience? Think you’ll do it again?” she asked with a laugh.

“That depends. Do you think you’d be willing to bring me again?”

Jax sighed. “Any time you want.”

Her words caused butterflies to flutter through my stomach. Jax always knew the right thing to say. It came so naturally to her. This was different though. I could tell she wasn’t saying these things just because she thought it was what I wanted to hear. I could feel it deep in my bones that she meant every word she was saying. Jax really was the whole package, and I couldn’t believe I didn’t realize it for all of the years that she and Olivia had been friends.

How can you see someone so much, but never reallyseethem? How did she go from someone I knew to someone I couldn’t live without? It scared me how quickly it happened. What terrified me even more was what I had learned years ago—how quickly it could all be taken away. As much as I wanted to talk to Jax about what was happening between us, if there was any small chance the talk would bring this to an end, I wasn’t willing to take that risk.

“What are you thinking about?” Jax asked. “I swear I can hear your brain working.”

Busted.“I was just thinking about you.”

“All good things, I presume.”

“Oh, yes. Great things.” I made sure the tone of my voice told herexactlywhat I was talking about. I didn’t want to leave any question about how much I enjoyed the night before.

Jax leaned around me and stared up at something above the fireplace.

“What are you looking at?” I asked with a giggle that I couldn’t hold back. “Just checking how much longer we have until the resort closes, so I can get you back in my bed.”

*

Somehow, Jax and I survived the rest of the day. It might have had something to do with the fact that we were bothverytouchy during the rest of my ski lessons and used any excuse to touch each other. It also helped (and actually made it harder at the same time) that Jax kept a hand resting high up on my thigh the whole time we ate dinner across from her parents.

Luckily, as soon as we got back to their house, her parents were so tired that they went right to bed. I showered Speck with kisses and promised to be a better mom tomorrow, and Jax and I also went to bed, except unlike her parents, neither of us had sleeping on the brain.

When we entered her room, I half expected her to throw me against the door like she had done the night before and again that morning, but instead, she took my hand and led me over to the bed. She sat on the edge and pulled me down to sit beside her.

She removed her hand from mine to wrap an arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. “Any requests for tonight?”

Requests? Does she mean that in the way I think she does?“Like sexual requests?”

Jax chucked and pulled me tighter up against her. “Yes. Like sexual requests. You said before that there were things you wanted to try, so I figured I should ask.”

My heart tugged in my chest. This woman couldn’t get any sweeter. She truly listened toeverylittle thing I said. I knew how rare it was to find people like that, and I appreciated it more than I could put into words.

For now, though, I had to figure out what to tell her. It had kind of been a whirlwind since this started less than twenty-four hours ago, so I hadn’t really gotten a chance to think about exactly what I wanted. “Putting a girl on the spot here,” I joked.

Jax squeezed my side before standing from the bed. “I have a box that might inspire you.”

I watched as she walked over to her closet, rummaged through a bunch of clothes and shoes at the bottom, and pulled out a tattered shoe box. When she sat back down beside me, she opened it up to reveal multiple sex toys, many of which I couldn’t identify. The girthy rainbow colored dildo was easy to distinguish, and I found myself swallowing hard as I stared down at it.

Even though I wasn’t able to take my eyes off of the toys, I could feel Jax smiling at me. “See anything you like? I promise they are all clean. I make sure to give this stash attention whenever I’m at my parents’.”

I swallowed hard once again. I didn’t know what made my palms sweat more—the fact that Jaxgave these attentionwhenever she was here or the fact that she saidthis stash, meaning there was more. I pointed at the dildo. “I’ve always wanted to use a strap.”

Jax’s eyes were wide when she looked over at me. “You’ve never used a strap before?”

I shook my head. “Marcie and I never used toys together. I always wanted to, but was too afraid to ask.”

Jax put her hand on top of mine. “Please don’t ever be afraid to ask me for anything.” She smirked. “Chances are my answer will always be yes.”