PHOEBE TRAEGER The next day Jax spent most of his time at the inn, stripping old windowpanes and carpeting. And watching Maddie. She’d pretty much kicked him to the curb after yesterday’s shower. It was a first for him, not being the one to need space, and he hadn’t known what kind of reception to expect this morning. She’d greeted him with a sweet, warm smile, and because she wasn’t one to fake anything, that had told him that they were okay. “How about dinner tonight?” he asked her midday. Maddie glanced at him, then back to her task of hauling out the debris. She was looking hot and just a little bit breathless. Her hair was wild, her shirt untucked, and the seat of her jeans was dirty. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “Can’t,” she said. He tossed the load in his arms into the back of the Dumpster they’d had delivered and brushed his hands off on his jeans, catching her arm before she could turn away.
