Page 23 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)

KEEP YOU INFORMED

“ I appreciate you doing this,” Jax said two weeks later. “I know we don’t get a lot of time together.”

“It’s only dinner with your parents,” she said. “Then you were going to show me where you lived.”

It’d been over three weeks since they’d been dating and things were going wonderfully.

Better than wonderfully, they were superb.

It felt as if nothing could go wrong, but Dillion wasn’t naive enough to think it’d stay this way.

So meeting his parents was the first step, but that also meant once her parents found out, they’d want to meet Jax.

Which was a much harder thing to navigate since her parents had her daughter for her.

How could her boyfriend meet her parents without her daughter finding out?

She wasn’t purposely trying to keep Gianna in the dark, but since it was the first guy she’d dated since Alec, she didn’t know when the right time to introduce them was.

She was feeling guilty about all the time she was away.

Gianna wasn’t stupid. She’d even commented on why her mommy was working late so much.

It’s not like it was all the time. Just one to two times a week she and Jax grabbed dinner after work. She was home an hour or so later than normal, but her mother was feeding Gianna dinner those nights.

“I will show you my house,” he said. “It’s nothing fancy.”

Not the first time he’d said that.

She didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t measure up.

She’d had that problem with Alec too once he found out her background and who her father was.

The comments that he would be paying off his student loans for half his life weren’t ever lost on her.

She wouldn’t apologize for not having that debt, but she never flaunted it.

She never accepted crazy gifts or help from her parents because she didn’t want anyone to know.

“I don’t care about those things,” she said. “You didn’t even know who I was before so don’t make it about that now.”

He reached his hand over in his SUV and laid it on hers.

“Sorry. I’m not really. Just that it’s not big like yours or in a gated community.

We were middle class growing up, but I never wanted for anything.

My parents took care of a lot of our education too, so we had little loans, but it’s not like I had what you did. ”

“Jax, I don’t need to be with someone who is going to doubt their self-worth.

I mean it. We said we were going to be honest with each other and this is me.

I’ve had a hard enough time getting myself to date again.

I’ve always hidden who my father was so someone could get to know me.

Then you add the fact I’ve got a child and there is that worry someone doesn’t want to deal with a kid. ”

“Stop right there,” he said. “I’m sorry. I will not lie and say it’s a little daunting. I’ve never thought I wasn’t good enough for a woman so this is just new for me. I’ve dated women who have a higher earning potential than me and never thought much of it. I’ve got a good job.”

“You have a great job and do awesome things for the community. I don’t look at money and rate people. I didn’t think you did either.”

“I don’t,” he said. “But other people might look at you as stepping down being with me.”

“Fuck them,” she said, lifting her chin. His head whipped around quickly to look at her, the shock evident. “What? You didn’t think I swore?”

“I had no clue,” he said. “But sure the heck didn’t think you’d say that.”

“I have a bit of a temper on me,” she said. “I don’t let people see it often, but it’s there and I’ll let it go if I have to.”

“Noted,” he said, grinning.

“I know you’re the same way,” she said. “You let people closest to you see it when it concerns those you love.”

“That’s right,” he said. “I’m very protective of those I love.”

“The same,” she said. “Maybe that is why the Fierces think we’d get along so well.”

They both laughed after that.

She needed to lighten the mood between them before she met his parents and brother-in-law and saw Roni again.

No Eli today, as he was with his father.

Which meant the child buffer wasn’t in play.

“They’ve been right,” he said. “But we already knew that.”

“I’m sure they are going to corner one of us to find out if we’ve gone on a date,” she said. “What are we going to say there?”

“I’m not lying,” he said. “We haven’t lied yet since she didn’t ask us direct questions. But if she asks me, I’m saying yes, we have. I’m not volunteering more than I have to, but will answer honestly.”

“Then I’ll do the same,” she said. “And keep you informed.”

He nodded his head and then turned onto a street with nice well-maintained homes.

He pulled into the driveway of a two-story house. “This is where I grew up,” he said. “Roni and Eli lived upstairs, but it was our bedrooms as kids. It has two rooms, a full bath, and a sitting area like your loft, but not as big.”

“It looks like a great neighborhood,” she said. “I bet you had fond memories here.”

“I did,” he said.

“And those are the important things to me,” she said.

Because her mother was right, it was always odd to her that Alec had no relationship with any member of his family. And sad to think of a child growing up with parents who did not have his back.

“They are,” he said. “Ready for this? Everyone is here.”

“I’m ready,” she said. “It’s not the first set of parents I’ve met of someone I’ve dated.”

Just been years since it’d happened.

He grabbed the cake that she’d made this afternoon and carried it in for her.

She opened the front door and held it for him, then followed behind.

They walked right into a foyer with the living room to the side.

“Hey,” he said. “We’ve got dessert.”

“Hi,” Dillion said to the room in general.

Jax’s mother came forward and took the cake out of his hands. “Introduce everyone,” his mother said.

He laughed. “I’ve got manners, Mom. We are just trying to get in the door.” He took Dillion’s jacket that she pulled off and hung it up with his. “Everyone, this is Dillion Patrick. My mother Ellen, my father, Troy, you know Roni, and her husband, Trent.”

She went around shaking everyone’s hand.

“You’ve got the same name as the car dealership,” Ellen said, laughing.

Guess Jax didn’t tell his parents that bit of information. “Just spelled differently,” she said. “My mother put her foot down on that.”

“So it’s your father or just your parents didn’t want you to be associated with someone that wasn’t your family?” Roni asked.

“Dylan Patrick is my father,” she said. “All bigger than life salesman that he is. I get asked those things a lot. Or more like comments I’ve got the same name. If someone doesn’t ask, I don’t volunteer.”

“Sorry,” Jax said. “I hadn’t thought to say anything. I didn’t even find out right away.”

“Doesn’t seem to matter one way or another since Carolyn has her fingers in your business,” Trent said. “There is no hiding, trust me. I was the last of my siblings to fall for it.”

“Jax filled me in on that,” she said. “Or most of the setups. It’s hard to keep track. They’ve been busy.”

“Their side hustle,” Troy said. “Being nosy if you ask me, but I’m not complaining about how happy my daughter is.”

She liked Troy was smiling over that comment.

It reminded her of her father.

Even the way everyone looked at each other in this room.

It made a difference for her to see how Jax interacted with his family.

“Your daughter is very happy,” Roni said. “And pregnant.”

There was stunned silence in the room. Roni winked at her and she appreciated the fact that the announcement took the pressure off of this dinner.

“When are you due?” Ellen said, rushing her daughter after putting the cake back into Jax’s hands.

“October twenty-first,” Roni said. “So I’m just about out of the first trimester now. We are ready to tell people. We’re going to Trent’s house for dinner tomorrow. Jonah’s child and ours will grow up together.”

Jonah was Trent’s brother and married to Megan who worked at Fierce.

Jax walked over and hugged his sister, lifting her up and then shaking his brother-in-law's hand.

“Dillion made a chocolate cake if you're craving it. She said that is all she wanted when she was pregnant.”

“Sounds like Roni right now,” Trent said. “Better hide it before she snatches it away.”

“How does Eli feel about a baby coming?” she asked. “I think Gianna would love it. That’s my daughter, that I’m sure you’re all aware of. At least I hope Jax told you.”

“He did,” Ellen said. “I hope we get to meet her at some point.”

“I’d like that,” she said. “Gianna loves dolls and stuffed animals. She’d be so excited if she knew another baby was coming.”

“Do you want more kids?” Ellen asked.

“Mom,” Jax said, his tone warning anyone off for miles.

Dillion laughed. “It’s fine. Not something we’ve talked about, but yes. I’d like to have at least another one. I was an only child and oftentimes it was lonely. I don’t want that for my daughter. Though the longer it takes to have another, they might both feel like only children.”

She was only joking when she said that, but everyone was looking at Jax and she had no idea why.