“It says they’re hiring.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, look.” He showed her the screen. “So there’s more motivation to be bigger than She-Devil because your dream post office job could be right there.” He bit his lip in that sexy-boy way and let off a low rumble. “I can’t fuckin’ wait to see your sexy flapjacks in those navy man-pants.”
She giggled and said, “Okay, number nine, steal a car to get me to the super-awesome job I find.”
“Oh, mark that off. I can take care of that.”
“What? No. You aren’t buying me a car.”
“Wait, why don’t you have a car? Everyone has a car, Anna.”
“I did have a car until I had an uncontrolled Change in it. Apparently, She-Devil doesn’t know how to drive, and it smashed into a tree and was totaled. And then she scratched up the seats and pissed in it. Insurance gave me some money. I just haven’t replaced it yet.”
“Your animal’s the worst,” he said through a smile that said he was teasing her.
“But really, she is.”
“Nah, she’s not so bad.”
“She attacks everyone.”
“Not me.”
Annalise propped her elbow on the pillow and rested her cheek in her hand. Huh. “She hasn’t ever attacked you. I didn’t think about that until now.”
“It’s because she like-likes me.”
“Or she’s in heat and she saw Maximus.”
“Babe. Did you just name my dick Maximus?”
“It was that or call it a worm again.”
Jax dragged her close and tickled her ribs as he rubbed his beard against her neck. With a squeal, she squirmed against him, then peeled into a fit of giggles until he released her.
“You’re even better in person,” he said suddenly.
The butterflies were back with his spontaneous compliment. “Really?”
“Yeah. I was afraid that if we ever met, you wouldn’t be like you were when we texted. You wouldn’t be as positive and nice. You wouldn’t be as caring. But you’re so much better than I imagined.”
“That’s because you have a crappy imagination.”
“Accept my compliments, woman.”
“Same.”
“What?”
She smiled because she was feeling mushy right now. “I feel the same. About you. You’re so much better than I could’ve ever imagined.”
He searched her eyes for a few moments before he murmured, “Go back to number two.”
From heart, she recited, “Make him fall in love with me asap.”
“Mark it off.”
Her entire body warming with a happy blush, she picked up the purple pen and marked off number two.
“Next.”
“Call Samuel so he doesn’t worry. It’s too late to do that one tonight. I could text him. That would be close enough.”
“Yeah, do that.”
While she was typing an I’m okay and doing better text to her brother, Jax read off the next one. “Find a magical serum to cure shifter-dom, aka kill She-Devil.” The smile faded instantly from his lips, and his face settled into a troubled expression.
Annalise hit send on Samuel’s text and then asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t like this one. I don’t like you talking about killing her. She-Devil is part of you. I like her. I want you to keep her.”
“Well, I don’t have a choice. There’s no cure.”
“Yes, there is. Ben didn’t always have his panther. I researched him. He was in Apex, some genetic cleansing lab that stripped animals out of shifters. Most of the time it killed them, but sometimes it worked. It worked on Ben. He didn’t get his panther back for years after he was in that lab. I don’t want you to kill your cat. I want you to own her.”
Something about his impassioned speech made She-Devil draw up a little. She wasn’t pouting anymore. She was listening. And Annalise felt a surge of pride in herself. Maybe she could do that someday and be the woman Jax deserved. He deserved a strong mate. He had faith in her, wanted her to be a badass, wanted her to be a better shifter, and it was strong motivator right here, right now.
He drew her palm to his lips and pressed a kiss there, then said low, “Don’t talk about killing her anymore because if you did that, you wouldn’t be you.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
He looked down at her journal again before she realized what number they were on.
“Twelve,” he said, “Marry Jaxon and have a dozen of his…” He paused and grinned before he continued. “Monster bear-panther babies.”
“Oh, my gosh, now I’m really embarrassed,” she said, burying her face in her pillow. “That was a joke. Don’t run away from me.”
“Oh, no, I’m not running. I’m gonna put at least two dozen monster babies in you,” he said, punching out his words through his soft laughing. “Okay, number thirteen.” He stopped talking, so she looked up at him. He wore a frown again as he read it silently. He inhaled sharply and read. “Thirteen, live happily ever after in the woods with a bunch of gross boys who I’m pretty sure are making moonshine on the mountain behind my cabin.” Jax scratched his lip with the back of his thumbnail. “My cabin,” he repeated. “Does Red Havoc feel like a den? Like a home?”