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“Jackson Howard.” That was it. Just his middle name thrown into the arena.

And speaking of arenas, he’d have to spar in one with Jill and Bennett through dinner. His luck knew no bounds.

“Alright, see you at six thirty, Mom.”

But she’d already hung up, leaving her expectation behind as an unwanted gift.

“Yeah, love you, too, Mom,” he grumbled. Sassy, his name for the new mare, bucked and snorted her response. “I couldn’t agree more, Sassy. But it looks like we don’t have a choice.”

He scrolled through his contacts until he found Jill’s number, complete with the purple devil emoji beside her name.

It took only half a second to decide to text her rather than hit CALL.

“Good morning,” he typed. Was it, though? “My mom, the illustrious Queen of Deer Creek would like you to join her majesty—”

Seriously? This was dumb. He held his finger on the delete button until the screen was empty.

“Hey, Jill. My mom, Mrs. Marshall, is home and wants to know if you’d like to join us—”

Us? He wanted no part of this. He erased the message again, the purple devil emoji taunting him. She’s just a colleague. I can do dinner with a colleague. Two, if I count Bennett as my boss.

He groaned. Thinking of Jill as a work buddy was harder than he thought. Mostly because thinking of her at all just led to thoughts of her lips brushing against his at the restaurant. They’d barely grazed his before he’d put a stop to it, but it was still the hottest thing he’d ever experienced.

Damn his sense of honor that put the brakes on her advances because they’d had a couple of drinks.

Before he could argue his conscience, he hit CALL on the phone.

“Hello?” she answered.

He gritted his teeth. The joy in her voice could only mean she hadn’t glanced down at the caller ID.

“Hey, it’s Jax.”

“Oh, hey. What’s up?” And there was the terse response he was expecting.

“Um, my mom just got back to town, and she and Bennett and Maggie and I have these family dinners a few times a week.”

Silence filled the space. Was there something he missed? Sassy gave him a long glance.

“How nice for you all. I hope you have a good time.”

Oh, damn. “I mean, we’d love for you to join us. Since you’re here with Maggie and stuff. Or on behalf of her.”

Had he never talked to a woman before? He couldn’t be sure with the utter asinine job he was doing with this one.

“You would, would you?”

“Well, my mom would.” Jesus. Shut up already.

“Then tell your mom I’d love to be there. What time and what can I bring?”

Jax dragged the toe of his boot in the dirt, wishing the world would swallow him whole.

“Six thirty, and wine would be nice. My mom likes pinot noir.”

“Sounds good. See your mom then. Thank her for the invite, please.” Her smile came through loud and clear. If she were standing here, no doubt she’d be doubled over, cackling at his ineptitude.

The line went dead, and he stared out over the ranch. What brain malfunction had just occurred? It wasn’t like he wasn’t good with women. On the contrary, he kinda prided himself in knowing enough about them to give them what they wanted when it suited them both. He was up-front, careful to explain what he was and wasn’t looking for, and clear about his intentions.