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.
Shit, he was really confused.
She lowered her phone. Her smile flickered, and nerves darkened her eyes. “I guess you didn’t Google me after all. Thought for sure…” A look of fragility hinted in her face. “Disappointed?”
He narrowed his eyes. No, he hadn’t Googled her, but the fact that she’d brought it up meant she’d probably done some digging of her own. Had probably linked Bentley and Jax. Something about her expression, the nervous smile, the look in her eyes…
Bam
. It hit him like a horse’s kick in the gut.
The Ferrari outside the airport.
The scene played over in his head in a fraction of a second, and he murmured, “Rubi.”
The name had struck something with him when Lexi had said it over the phone. He hadn’t thought anything of it. Figured it was someone she’d mentioned when they were together. But that wasn’t where he’d first heard the name—an unusual name that didn’t come up very often.
Her smile fell into a confused frown. “What?”
“Rubi is your friend, the one you mentioned on the phone. Rubi Russo.”
Her head tilted. “She… How do you know—?”
“She dropped you off at the airport. I saw you. In the Ferrari.” He stepped back, his entire system reeling with the realization. A Ferrari. Two gorgeous women in a Ferrari. Rubi with her glaring flirtation. They’d had
wrong way,
Chamberlin, go back
written all over them. Something Wes had to remind Jax of when he’d been unable to tear his gaze away from Lexi.
The sensation that flooded Jax went way beyond disappointment. This was a dark, sucker punch of tar. “Fuck. Me.”
Her eyes flashed with shock first. Maybe a touch of panic. He could see her mind working, putting puzzle pieces together. She put up her hand. “Jax…wait—”
“You’re…wow, you’re really good.” He pressed one hand against the bar and gripped it hard, picked up his third beer with the other and drank.
“I don’t know what you mean by that,” she said, “but you’re right, Rubi dropped me off at the airport. And I did see you. Then you showed up at the gate, and we started talking. I wasn’t…
stalking
you. I
was
flying to New York. It was just—”
“What was your last job?” he asked before downing more beer. God, he was the biggest fucking fool.
Her lips parted, brow pulled. She eased to her feet, coming within easy reach. Her heat, her scent wrapped around him. Jax’s throat closed.
He stepped back.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “Last job for what?”
“Acting. What was it? An extra? A minor role? A commercial?”
Her gaze lowered to his beer. Darted toward the bar, then back to him. “I told you I wasn’t in that industry. I told you—”
She stopped suddenly, her lips still parted, words still on her tongue. Her eyes scanned his. God, they were so clear, such a beautiful blue. His gaze lowered to her mouth. And oh fuck, that mouth. What she’d done to him with that mouth…
“It doesn’t matter what I told you, does it?” She asked the question so softly it seemed as if she were asking herself. She slid her lower lip between her teeth and stepped away from the bar. Swallowed, and met his gaze again. “I’m…sorry, Jax. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have… I didn’t realize…” She pressed her lips together and curved them over her teeth. She glanced at him again, her gaze filled with regret and guilt and pain. “I’m sorry…for everything. I’m going to go.”
She started toward the door.
No. Jax wasn’t ready to let this go.
He sidestepped into her path, and she stopped just short of running into him. Her body was an inch from his. The familiarity of her scent, her heat made him weak. He lowered his head, tilted his face until his nose touched her hair.
He couldn’t ever remember wanting anything or anyone this badly in his entire life.
“I…” she said, voice weak. “Didn’t mean…for this to happen. And I don’t understand…” She struggled but couldn’t seem to find the words.
Jax let his eyes close, but he didn’t let himself pretend Lexi was anything other than what he’d come to realize.
“Here’s the thing, beautiful,” he murmured. “You’ve scammed someone who’s been scammed enough to know what it looks like.” He pressed the palm of his free hand to her waist and felt the slightest flinch. “I’m street smart enough to recognize why a hot ticket like you is interested in me. And, baby, we both know it’s not sex when you could get that anywhere, with anyone you wanted.”
She put a hand on his forearm and leaned back. Jax slid his arm around her waist and pulled her up against his body. She gasped in surprise. Her hand tightened on his arm. Jax’s mind blurred with the pleasure streaming through him.
“After that night with you,” he whispered, “I swore I wouldn’t do this again. But…” He exhaled heavily, growled with the frustration of how perfect she felt, how badly he wanted her… He nudged her hair off her neck with his face and opened his mouth on her skin. One taste was all it took—he caved.
“Tell me what you want from me,” he murmured. “And I’ll tell you if I can ultimately fulfill your wish. That way neither of us will be disappointed later. What is it? An introduction? A part in a movie? An investment?”
A sound came from her throat, and her hand swept up his arm, over his shoulder, around his neck and pulled him close. She pressed her body to his, and
God damn
she made Jax’s blood boil. He groaned. Squeezed his eyes against the pain of disappointment.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I never thought… I’m just…
so sorry
.”
She pulled away, but Jax held on. Frustration growing with his desperation. “Just tell me, Lex. I wouldn’t go out of my way for anyone else, but I want you so badly—”
“Stop.” When she looked up, her eyes were smoky blue and swimming in unshed tears. “Just stop, Jax. I’m not an actress. I’m a damn dressmaker. I don’t want anything from you. Nothing but the man I was with a month ago. I’m sorry you’ve been scammed in the past. I’m sorry I somehow remind you of others who’ve done that to you. And I don’t blame you for thinking the worst. It’s completely my fault for starting our relationship the way I did. It was stupid of me to hope something good could come of something started that way.”
Tears escaped her eyes. She stretched up and kissed his cheek. “Please think before you sell yourself out to another woman like that. You deserve better.”
She pulled away from him with force and pushed the exit door open by slamming the metal bar. Then she was gone.
Jax’s heart rate picked up. His brain pinged. Go after her? Was that what she wanted? If it was, this was the most elaborate scam anyone had ever used to get a favor.
By the time he pushed the door open, she was gone.
Eighteen
Jax went back inside the club and straight to the bar.
“Hey,” he called to the bartender. “Do you know the woman who was—”
“Looked like you knew her well enough.” He gave Jax that you’re-an-asshole look. “Why are you asking me?”
He blew out a breath, pulled a hundred from his wallet, and put it on the bar. “Where is her shop?”
“Two blocks north. Lexi LaCroix Designs.”
Ah, fuck.
Jax had been half expecting him to say, “What shop?”
Jax ran the two blocks, cursing himself. He stopped across the street from Lexi’s storefront, a corner spot in a series of new, quaint, stand-alone stores. Her front window was curved around the corner, huge plateglass windows displaying the most ornate wedding dress Jax could ever imagine as the centerpiece, a red gown on the right, a blue gown on the left, each a different design, each exquisite. The kind of dress his mother, sister, or date would wear to the freaking Oscars.
Haute couture. On Sunset Avenue in Los Angeles. Across the street from a Jaguar and Bentley dealership. A
Bentley
dealership. How ironic was that?
She hadn’t been lying or kidding or even exaggerating. She was exactly what she’d told him.
He swallowed, pressed his hands to his hips, and shook his head before he crossed the street. The shop was dark except for the lights in the window illuminating the dresses and highlighting signs declaring the store protected by surveillance cameras and a professional security system.
She’d probably gone straight home. Jax had no idea where she lived. He could call her, but she wouldn’t answer. Not that he deserved to have his call answered after what he’d just accused her of. He wandered to the edge of the building, glancing into the windows.
A sound behind the building caught his ear. He went around to the back, and found the typical small parking lot, packing boxes, trash cans…and Lexi leaning against the back door, fighting with the lock. Sobbing.