Free JAX (Breaking the Declan Brothers #1) by Kelly Gendron Page A

my comfort—to settle down. His soft, shallow breaths feathering my skin and his relaxed, heavy body resting on mine tell me that he’s fallen asleep. So, I give into his comfort. I finally relax. And I too drift off to sleep.
    I wake to the sun in my eyes, the smell of Jax under my nose, and a heavy arm around my waist. I’m facing him, and he’s still in that deep sleep. Other than complete tranquility, his face is absent of any expression. I lay gazing at his perfection. His strong jaw, full lips, thick neck, and tanned skin that covers layers of muscles.
    He’s a breath stealer, a thought hog, and a pussy nagger. He consumes my ability to think, and with every look, every damn word he teases my raging womanly desires.
    My hand burns to reach out and touch him, but I don’t want to wake him. I went to bed at eleven and, up until he woke me, I was sound asleep. Whatever went down last night obviously exhausted him, and he needs his rest. And sure, it’s driving me crazy not knowing what happened, what caused him to come seeking my comfort, but if he wanted me to know then he would’ve told me.
    He’s full of secrets. Ones I get the feeling he’s been keeping for years. Ones he’s kept hidden from me. And I want to know them all. I want him to trust me. I want him to…Oh, shit. I think I’m surpassing the teasing stage of this relationship. I just might be falling for Jax Declan. I mean, I’ve always wanted him to notice me, but now that he’s looking, there’s more to it. There’s more to him. He’s not a challenge. He’s not the hot Declan brother I want to break. He’s a man that, given some time, I could find myself falling for.
    I need to get out of here. I have to get a handle on what I’m feeling. And I can’t go through another rejection right now. I’m not sure if he’s fucking with me, but this not giving in to us, this shit needs to end. I don’t know what he’s holding out for, why he doesn’t just surrender and have sex with me. It’s destined. If we continue down this road, it’s going to happen; there’s no way around it.
    I gently remove his arm from my body and slowly slide out of the bed. He rolls onto his back, his arms lift and his hands curl, then they relax and slumber back into the mattress above his head. I stare down at him. He’s mesmeric. When I look at him, he takes me to this place, a place deep inside where we only belong. And it scares me.
    Pulling myself away from the Herculean all sprawled out on the bed, I grab my clothes, quickly dress and tiptoe out of the room. I pass by a door and glance inside. Zeke’s sleeping in a chair and next to him in the bed, someone’s under the blankets. All I see is the back of a head, and it looks like it could be Slate. That’s strange. I shake my head and continue to the door.
    In no time, I’m walking through the door of Rayna’s sister’s. Rayna comes strolling out of the kitchen in a long t-shirt, hair in a messy updo with a mug in her hand, and a huge knowing smile on her face.
    I drop into the sofa.
    “Here,” she places the coffee down on the table in front of me. “I gotta feeling you need this more than I do. I’ll go get another, and when I get back,” she points a finger at me, “I want to hear all about it.”
    I smirk at her, palm the mug in my hands. I lift it and take a much-needed sip as Rayna leaves the room. Shit. I forget she takes sugar in hers. I put it back down.
    “So,” she capers back in and sits beside me on the sofa, “I take it you were with Jax.”
    “Yeah.” I push the strands of hair hanging in my face behind my ear.
    “And?”
    “And we slept together, and when I say slept, that’s exactly what I mean.”
    Her lips pucker, forehead wrinkles, and head tilts. “Like, no sex slept?”
    I slowly nod my head. “He woke me up at four-thirty in the morning so he could,” I quote with my fingers, “sleep with me.”
    “Huh,” she picks up her coffee and takes a sip. “That’s