“Jax…?”
“Lexi,” he answered, his voice smoky.
Her mind and body warred—her brain suspicious, her body needy. She couldn’t just forget about the men in her past who’d been difficult to shake. At the time, she couldn’t have imagined any of them acting so immature or insecure. If she just put those instances out of her mind and believed it wouldn’t happen again, she’d find herself right back in that hot seat.
She forced air into her lungs. “What are you doing at the intersection of 110 and 5 at this time of night in the middle of the week?”
“I was dropping a friend at home, stopped to talk on my phone, got the job in New York and…thought of you.” He paused. His voice came quieter. “I must be close. You sound nervous.”
She closed her eyes. Oh God, that voice. He could be caressing her through the phone. She replayed the sexy words he’d said to her that night.
“Tell me what you want, Lexi.”
“I’ll do anything.”
“You feel so good, baby.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Jax whispered, pushing her toward the edge. “I’ll speed.”
Lexi dropped her head back to look at the ceiling and swore.
“If you’re not with anyone,” Jax asked, his voice growing contemplative, “and we both know how good it is between us… Tell me again why you’re resisting this pull.”
Her stomach seemed to float, giving her a giddy queasy sensation. “The truth is nothing’s very clear anymore.”
A moment of silence hung before he murmured, “God, I miss you, Lexi.”
The underlying vulnerability in his voice ripped her open.
“I know that sounds crazy,” he went on, “considering how little time we spent together, but… I can’t stop thinking about you, and knowing I can’t see you again…it’s just…”
“Hard,” she finished. “I know. I miss you too.”
He breathed out, heavy and sharp, like the wind had been knocked out of him. “Baby…”
The almost-groan rippled over the connection and prickled Lexi’s skin. She grasped at her last strands of safety.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” Even if Lexi could push all the image issues aside, even if she could forget about the partnership, her long hours and dedication to the business had always caused major problems in her previous relationships. And she certainly couldn’t cut back. Not now. “This is a critical time for me. The shop demands more of me than there is to give. I just…don’t have anything left.”
“I understand what it takes to run a business on your own. And I’m a big boy, Lex. Let me worry about me. If you want me, take me. I’m offering.”
“Christ.” Lexi ran a hand over her face, caught her finger between her teeth.
“Just meet me, Lexi,” he said, that imploring rasp in his voice that made it impossible to say no. “Just talk to me, face-to-face. At least give me a face to go with my fantasies.”
She grimaced with the certainty this would not end well. “Do you know where The Recovery Room is?”
“On Sunset?”
“Y-yes.” Fuck, what am I doing? “I’ll meet you there.”
Another breath whooshed out on his end of the line. “Wh—? O-okay. When?”
“Now. Before I change my mind.”
“I’m there.” In the background, an engine turned over. “Or I will be—fifteen minutes. Maybe ten. But, Lex, how will I know—?”
“I’ll find you,” she said and disconnected.
Jax couldn’t ever remember being this nervous. Couldn’t ever remember being this edgy. Not on his first date. Not during his first time having sex. Not on his first movie shoot. Not even on his most dangerous stunt.
He’d finished his second beer and ordered a third, just to have one sitting in front of him when—if—Lexi showed up. He’d been at The Recovery Room over thirty minutes and had already been hit on twice, been asked for an autograph once, and almost gotten into a fistfight with a guy over holding the stool next to him open.
A popular local band played on a stage in the back room, filling the bar with edgy music carrying a heavy base. The singer had a great voice, and his songs were filled with sexual lyrics. None of which helped the thick heat of blood pumping through Jax’s veins.
The front door opened again, and he glanced over his shoulder from his seat, rubbing one damp palm down the thigh of his jeans. Two couples entered and drifted toward the only open table, closer to the music in the back. The door continued to open and close, customers continued to flow in and out of the busy club, but no Lexi.
Jax was caught between worried, angry, and disappointed. He spun his phone on the bar, switching gears from melting the ice between them when she got here to how he wanted to handle her no-show. He propped his elbows on the wood, ran both hands through his hair with the worst ache in his gut he could remember. Worse even than when Veronica had betrayed him and taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from his company and his guys.
After being chased by starlets, hounded by paparazzi, and dogged by talk shows and tabloids, Jax had to admit Lexi’s disinterest in seeing him based on his appearance had been a nearly lethal stab to his ego. But what really nagged at him—more than all the rest combined—was how Lexi’s conviction to keep him out of her pristine “real” world brought up all his mother’s ugly echoes—the disapproval and disappointment. The unfavorable comparisons to his brothers. The label of black sheep.
Lexi didn’t know about any of that. And Jax truly believed she was too sweet to mean him any disrespect by placing these limits on their relationship. But somehow…the logical and the emotional were not meshing. And it had everything to do with how intensely he wanted Lexi. Had to be, because he’d gone through life not giving a bloody rat’s ass until it kept him from her.
“Hi.” A woman’s voice brought Jax’s gaze up and made his heart kick.
A blonde had walked up to the bar and stood near, casting him an uncertain smile. At least the fourth blonde of the night he thought could have been Lexi. All the others had been attractive. This one was so beautiful she struck him stupid for a moment. Her eyes were huge and deep crystal blue. Her lips fantasy plump, her nose sleek, cheekbones pronounced enough to edge her past sexy to a freaking knockout. Jax tried to pull up those moments of Lexi’s face in the phone light.
No, this wasn’t Lexi. Which was fine. One thing he’d learned by dating Tawna was the huge benefit in dating someone pretty and not gorgeous.
A man crowded the blonde on the opposite side. “Hey, sweetness. Let me take care of that drink for you.”
She glanced away from Jax, leaving him with a strange sensation of familiarity. Not Lexi, but…he’d seen her somewhere before. Then again, this was a bar in LA on Sunset Strip. He’d probably seen her on some movie set.
That was exactly what Jax was not missing about the beauties he’d once dated—come-ons from other guys. A constant sense of needing to guard his territory or finding his chair taken when he came back from the restroom.
Jax put the blonde and the guy out of his mind, turned on the stool, pressed his back to the bar, and crossed his arms. Now what? He could call Lexi, but hadn’t he groveled enough just getting her to agree to come? Or was that just his perception because he’d never really groveled before?
“Listen,” the blonde said to the man, an edge in her voice that drew Jax’s attention again. “If you want to buy my drinks, why don’t you pass it through my date first?”
Her hand landed on his shoulder, and Jax didn’t even flinch. He’d played this role so many times he could have freaking predicted it. He spoke without bothering to turn and face either of them. He wasn’t in the mood. “Right. She’s with me, dude. Back off.”
The guy grumbled some bullshit Jax didn’t even listen to. As soon as he was gone, Jax glanced at the beauty, then scanned the bar and looked at his phone. But the blonde kept tempting his eye as she slid onto the stool beside him. She wore something lavender, filmy, and short that showed every inch of her legs in his peripheral vision as she crossed them. Long, tan, and shaped in luxurious soft strokes of toned muscle.
If any other woman had stood him up, he’d have jumped at the opportunity to pick up a jackpot like this one. But Jax truly only craved one woman.
“Listen,” Jax said without looking at her, “if you have more trouble with him and I’m still here, I’m happy to help out, but if you don’t mind sitting somewhere else, I’m saving that seat—”
“Jax?”
He froze. A strange tightness clenched his gut. His gaze blurred over his phone’s screen. His mind darted a million different directions in half a second, but nothing made sense.
He jerked around on the stool, startling her. Her eyes went wide, and her hand came up.
“L…Lexi?”
No. This couldn’t be Lexi. His gaze traveled over her body—his only real reference point. The top of her dress was sleeveless, with just two thin straps on each shoulder. The fabric was sheer, everything underneath hidden only by the subtle similarly colored sequence across the bodice, fading as it moved down the front and belted in a solid row of sequins at her small waist. Her breasts swelled beneath the fabric, making the sequins wink and tease the eye that direction. Simple sequined sandals matched.
“Yeah, it’s me.” She smiled and the expression softened her from a knockout to a heartbreaker. Her eyes sparkled, teeth glimmered, and a dimple hinted deep in one cheek. Jax’s heart stuttered.
“Holy fuck,” he murmured. A familiar craving took root at the center of his body. One that flared quick and hot and made him suddenly, almost uncontrollably, ravenous.
But something dark had layered beneath the desire and blocked his affection. Jax zeroed in on her face again. This woman might be the Lexi he’d slept with, but this…situation…wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right. He wasn’t sure what, but he’d been screwed enough to know when it was going to happen again.
He pushed off the stool and stood, a flurry of emotions whipping through him, but the one leading was hurt. A deep hurt that signaled Jax had let himself put way too much hope into this woman—a woman he knew nothing about.
“Jax, what’s wrong?” She reached out, put a hand on his arm. The touch spread heat along his skin, and his heart rate sped. Then she laughed, the sound nervous while pulling her phone from a small purse. “You probably have women coming on to you all the time, and I know I’m late. I was so nervous I stood outside… Here, look…”
She turned her phone to face him. His own words from his last text to her letting her know he was at the bar, waiting, stared back at him.
He kept his gaze on them, his insides a total mess. He didn’t question her identity, at least not since he’d recognized that dimple. That smile. He only questioned her motive. But…no…he’d initiated the conversation that had brought her here.