Racing Hearts (Hollows Garage Book 3)

When Jax said he was going to be a little overwhelming with romance, I didn’t realize exactly what he meant.

There was what I thought of as romance, and then there was Jax.

After making me breakfast and handing me a cup of coffee the next morning, he said he had to leave for a few hours, but wouldn’t tell me why.

Two hours later, my phone pinged.

JAX

Come downstairs.

CARLY

For what?

JAX

I’m not going to tell you. I obviously want to show you. Come on, little witch.

I got up, slipping on my shoes and nearly running downstairs. It had to be my truck. I couldn’t believe it was finally done.

But when I pulled open the door leading to the downstairs garage, it wasn’t my truck. It was only boxes upon boxes stacked next to his car.

“Wow, what did you order? An entire car? Wait, are these all the parts you need for my truck?”

“Hey,” he said with a bright smile, walking around the stack to kiss my cheek. “Can you help me take these upstairs?”

“No way am I lifting box after box of car parts just to walk them back down.”

“It’s not heavy car parts. I have three strong male buffoons if I need car parts lugged upstairs. Come on, help me out.”

He loaded up my arms, and I was quietly relieved that they weren’t too heavy.

He grabbed a stack, both of us heading up, dropping them down before going and grabbing another pile.

By the time we made the third and final trip, I was breaking a sweat.

“Okay. What is all this stuff?”

“Open it,” he said, kicking off his boots and coming over. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning and I couldn’t believe how cute I thought it was.

“Me? Why?”

“Open it and answer your own questions.”

I did, opening one of the medium size boxes to find a new professional knife set.

“Jax,” I whispered, grabbing another box to see if this was really all what I thought it was. Maybe that was a fluke. He could get me a gift, but couldn’t get me boxes and boxes of gifts, right?

The next box was smaller, holding one beautiful stainless steel pan. Riot barked, jumping up for the empty box in my hand. I handed it over, and he immediately ran to the couch, proud of his new prize.

“Jax, no.”

“Oh yes. Yes, to all of it. You keep opening, and apparently giving Riot his new toys, while I throw out basically the entire kitchen.”

“You bought everything new?”

“I think so. I might have missed something though, so look through it all. Make a list if you need something else.”

“There’s at least forty boxes here. How could you have missed anything?”

“Because I’m not a chef, and had to piece a list together online. I really tried to fill in the gaps, but don’t think I got it all.” He grabbed one of the boxes and started putting his old beat up kitchen stuff in it.

“Why did you do this?”

He shrugged. “I’d never really bought new kitchen stuff and didn’t have much to begin with when you came. Some of it was just thrift store shit because I didn’t know what to buy or what not to buy. I found a list online and thought it was the perfect checklist. So I got it all.” He was smiling so hard that I wondered if his cheeks hurt.

“Jax, this has to be thousands worth of items. I know this one pan alone is not cheap and you’re telling me there’s more?”

“Yeah,” he said, still happy as could be. “Oh, hold on. There’s one other thing that isn’t kitchen related. Well, not completely.”

He dug through the boxes until he found the one he wanted and handed it over.

I pulled out the red thing and could only look at him. I had no idea what it was.

“This is a little stand for your phone that can hold it in all crazy positions. Now you can make cooking videos.”

“Jax,” I said.

“Alright Carly. You’ve said my name like ten times. Do you like the stuff?”

“Of course I like the stuff, but why? Why would you buy all this? I cannot pay you back for this. These knives have to be a thousand dollars, Jax, I can’t.”

“Well, I can swear it’s for my kitchen, but it’s for you. I don’t even know what this thing is,” he said, holding up a garlic press. “If you’re going to start all the cooking business stuff, you need the basic tools. Think of me as an investor in your business. We had to put out a lot of money for our tools at first. Now you have everything you need.”

“Jax—”

“Please say something other than that.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

He waited, and I was surprised he didn’t tell me that I should say thank you. It felt like the common response to that.

“There’s no paying me back, unfortunately. This falls under the agreement that I get to do romantic things for you.”

“No. Romantic things are like holding my hands or giving me flowers. Not give me an entire kitchen of professional cooking utensils.” I opened another box. A stand mixer inside. “No, Jax, this can’t be happening.”

He leaned back on the counter, right back to his wicked smile. The tight T-shirt not doing anything to help me be mad at him for spending too much.

I had barely been given gifts. We usually didn’t have enough money to get anything elaborate if I did, but since Slaughter came around, it’s been nothing each year for my sister and I. I couldn’t think of a time I had ever been given this many gifts, but not only that, gifts that I wanted. Things that I liked.

“Jax,” I said, trying not to cry.

“If you say my name one more time, I’m going to buy more.”

“No one has ever given me anything like this. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say or do.”

He smiled, the dimples coming out, and I was gone. He was so sweet and gorgeous that I couldn’t even move.

Lucky for me, Jax was fine taking care of everything because he came over and wrapped his arms around me.

“You don’t have to say anything.”

I reached up, my fingers trailing along his jaw as I pulled him down to me. My lips found his, and I didn’t hold back. I was nearly crawling up him, but he seemed fine, pulling me up and against him hard.

He kissed me again as the door slammed open.

I jumped back, trying to put any distance between us.

Jax laughed as the crew filed in, each of them looking over the sea of boxes.

“Um, what is all of this?” Scout asked, peering into one of the boxes.

“Carly took my credit card and went on a shopping spree,” Jax said, grabbing empty boxes and piling them up. “There is still more to open and sort through, too.”

“I did not!”

Ransom laughed. “Yeah right, you women love taking those and going shopping.”

Scout snorted. “You men love handing them over and begging us to shop so we’ll like you more.”

“Alright, that’s partially true,” Ransom said.

“Partially?” Quinn echoed, her hands firmly on her hips.

“Okay completely. At least we are self aware that we can be difficult,” Ransom said.

Jax beamed, coming to my side and pulling me against him. “Always worth it. Carly has what she needs to start her cooking videos and business now.”

“Oh my god, please tell me that means we get to come try all the experiments. Our chef would always let me try them and, ugh, I miss it so much,” Ash said.

“Our chef?” Fox asked. “You are so spoiled.” The words were loving and I could barely take it all in. They were all so…sweet.

“Um, yeah, if I decide to do it, then I’ll be bothering you all to come taste the food.”

“You can do it,” Jax said. “You would absolutely kill it too with your food, no matter what you do.”

Everyone made noises of agreement and something inside me cracked. I was in a room full of people who had known me for barely a month and they were ready to lift me up and believe in me. I was standing next to a guy who almost literally handed me a silver platter of everything I needed and seemed so proud to help me achieve this dream.

For the millionth time that day, I was speechless, so I did the only thing I could think of. I reached up, kissing Jax on the cheek with a smile.

Red bloomed across his face, and my heart thundered in my chest.

I somehow found the cutest, sweetest guy who would probably kill for his friends. It was all laid out for me, but still felt too good to be true.

He kissed me back as the crew made aww noises.

“Damn,” Scout said. “I think we all assumed, but good to know for sure.”

“What?” I asked, realizing my own mistake. “No, no, it’s not like that. We’ve just grown…close.”

“Naked close,” Jax said, and I smacked his stomach.

“Seriously?” I yelled. “You did not just say that!”

“What? It’s not like I have women coming to live with me all the time and I really don’t buy them entire kitchens. I assume my friends are smart enough to figure out that I intend to keep you here.”

“Jax!”

“Carly!” He mocked.

“Both of you!” Scout yelled. “While Fox here loves the drama,” she said, patting Fox’s arm, the height difference only making the two of them together funnier. “We need to get going. Why are you two not ready yet?”

“Ready for what?” I asked.

“Shit,” Jax said at the same time. “It’s the charity race today. I agreed to work with them for the day, teaching kids to drive and ride along and stuff.”

“All of you?”

They nodded.

“Wow That’s so…wholesome.”

“Don’t get any ideas,” Quinn said. “They’re still heathens. Even this little one,” she said, wrapping an arm around Scout. “Could you two be ready in ten?”

“Give me 20 minutes. I need a shower. We can meet you there?” Jax asked.

“Yes, perfect,” Ash said. “Let’s go before my dad starts blowing up my phone about where we are.”

They all nodded and filed out, knowing smiles on their faces that I wanted to wipe off.

The door shut, and I spun, heading to the bedroom to grab clothes. “Great, Jax. Now all your friends think we are having sex.”

“Well, we did, and we will be again, so I don’t see the problem. Plus, they aren’t blind. Pretty sure I can’t help but make it obvious that I want to,” he said, following me.

“But we aren’t right now. Now they think we needed time so we could do it,” I yelled, grabbing my clothes.

He came up fast behind me, spinning me around. “We could be. There’s some time.”

“There’s also time for me to get dressed and ready.” I grabbed all my clothes, turning back to find Jax looking down at me, a frown flashing across his face.

“There’s time for both if you’re interested,” he said.

“I’m only interested in getting dressed. Thanks for the offer, though.” I reached up, kissing him again. “Next time you are hoping to get laid, don’t announce it to the room and you might have better luck.”

I walked out, hearing him mumble something about stupid words and mouth before smiling as I went to change.