by Lisa Cardiff
Cam placed his hand at the small of her back, guiding her to their table. Noticing the entire band and their dates were already seated, she plastered a smile on her face. Cam pulled out her chair. When she sat, he leaned down and whispered, “Did I mention how much I love your new dress?”
Bre turned to look at Cam, smiling. “No. I didn’t think you noticed it.”
Sitting down next to her, Cam draped his arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear, “Of course I noticed. I notice everything about you. You look absolutely beautiful in that dress, but I know I’m going to love the way you look without that dress tonight even more.”
Bre kissed Cam on the cheek and turned to greet everyone at the table. She cringed when she noticed everyone at the table watching the interaction between her and Cam.
Marc’s ghostly light blue eyes lit up as he smiled wickedly and said, “Bre, it’s good to see you again. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you around.” Bre had never seen Marc or Alec dressed up before. They looked nice, almost presentable, but it didn’t change the fact that she never really felt as though she had bonded with either of them.
“Cam and I have both been really busy,” Bre said, absentmindedly looking through the contents of her purse.
“Yes, we’ve heard all about how busy Cam has been lately,” Marc responded.
Bre heard a few snickers of laughter and she looked up, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the people at the table. Cam’s arm that felt warm and loving a minute ago felt unexpectedly tense and cold, like dead weight hanging on her shoulders.
“Right, I guess that makes sense since you see each other regularly.” Bre’s voice was strained and awkward.
“Bre opened a new art gallery in Aspen, Colorado. She has some great artists there, including herself,” Jax cut in. Bre nodded and smiled weakly, grateful for Jax’s comment.
“Really,” Marc replied with one eyebrow raised. “Cam has never said anything about that. He did say you liked art or something though, but we haven’t heard much about you lately. I wasn’t even sure if you two were together anymore.”
Cam cleared his throat. “Bre, you haven’t met the guys’ dates.” Cam gestured toward the women at the table. “Angela, Mandy, and Anna.”
“Nice to meet all of you.” Bre smiled, making eye contact with each woman. Neither Angela nor Mandy seemed the least bit interested in her, but Anna held her stare, her eyes narrowed, and then she looked away from Bre, purposely cutting her.
Anna had straight blonde hair that was so light it was almost white. She was beautiful in an artificial way. A twinge of envy shot through Bre, as Anna pushed her long hair off her shoulders and leaned into Jax. She trailed her long red fingernails up Jax’s arm and giggled as she plastered herself to his side.
Jax smiled fondly in Anna’s direction and whispered into her ear as he ran his fingers through her hair. The fact that Jax could sit there, openly flaunting his relationship with this Anna woman who he, not less than five hours ago, claimed he disliked, proved to Bre that she was just like every other woman who had passed through Jax’s life— meaningless, faceless.
Jax stood up and grabbed Anna’s hand, leading her to the dance floor. Anna’s black dress flaunted a body that was all legs and fake cleavage. Morosely, Bre thought if Sara were here with her tonight, they could have wasted a full hour trying to find one part of Anna that was a god-given feature. From her artificially orange skin to her white hair and gravity-defying breasts, Bre couldn’t find one thing natural about her.
Jax and Anna danced as if they were the only two people on the dance floor. Jax’s hands roamed idly up and down Anna’s bare back. Cam slammed down his drink, and Bre hoped that her jealousy of Anna wasn’t plainly written on her face as she turned to look at him. Cam wasn’t paying attention to her. His angry eyes were trained on Anna and Jax.
Without saying a word to Bre, Cam got out of his chair and made his way to the dance floor. For a moment, Bre thought that Cam might have figured out that something happened between her and Jax, but her mind cleared and she realized that was impossible.
“This should be interesting,” Marc commented, leaning back in his chair as though he were getting ready to watch a movie.
“Shut up. It’s not your concern,” Alec remarked, staring pointedly at Marc. Abruptly, he stood up and grabbed Mandy’s hand. “Let’s get a drink.”
Strangely enough, Marc and his date, Angela, got up without saying another word, following in Alec’s wake as he walked toward the bar near the back corner of the ballroom. Normally, when Marc got on a kick about something, he wouldn’t stop.
Bre sat alone at the table. She spun around to look for Cam again, but Cam, Jax and Anna were conspicuously absent from the dance floor. She didn’t want to feel slighted by Cam again, but it was hard not to when yet again she was left alone without an explanation. Worse than feeling abandoned by Cam, she felt betrayed by Jax for letting Anna hang all over him. Even though they agreed that they couldn’t be together, it didn’t mean that she wanted to watch Jax hang all over someone a few hours later.
After fifteen minutes of sitting alone, she decided to look for the bathroom. There was nothing worse than being noticeably alone at a large party. Grabbing her gold clutch purse, she walked disconsolately through the ballroom toward the hotel lobby. Bre wished she had stuck with her initial instinct and told Cam that she couldn’t come to LA this weekend. Staying home had definitely been the right choice. Before she could be around Cam or Jax, she needed to come to terms with her feelings for them. She tried to convince herself and Jax that she slept with him due to a momentary weakness because she was drinking, but she knew that wasn’t the entire truth.
As she walked into the lobby, she immediately spotted Jax’s beautifully toned frame. He was leaning against the ornate fireplace of the lobby lounge, a glass of amber whiskey in one perfectly sculpted hand, talking to someone. Bre could hear the husky tone of his voice, but she couldn’t hear his words or see to whom he was talking.
Bre hesitantly walked toward Jax and his companion, trying to overhear the conversation. She tilted her head slightly to get a better look at them. Her head was bent, and she seemed to be upset, but from the white color of her hair, Bre knew immediately that it was Anna.
Bre froze, but not before she bumped into a table, jarring a vase. She caught it before it fell, but the noise caused Anna to look up. Bre stiffened as she saw the mascara stained tears streaming down her face. Feeling like an intruder, she started backing out of the lounge area without turning around.
Clearly annoyed that Bre had interrupted something personal and intimate, Anna’s eyes narrowed in malice. “What are you doing here? Does watching me cry make you happy?”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just… leaving. Jax, tell Cam I left. I’m not feeling well. Have a good night.” If she needed any further evidence that she should have stayed home this weekend, this was it. She didn’t know what Jax just told Anna, but clearly it was not something that boded well for her.
Placing his glass on the fireplace mantle, Jax leaned toward Anna and whispered something in her ear. Anna roughly wiped her eyes and said, “See you later, Jax. Thanks for trying.”
Feeling sick to her stomach, Bre turned to flee from the lounge area. Nauseous with the thought of what Jax had told Anna, she briefly considered catching a taxi to the airport. This whole weekend was a colossal disaster and she didn’t think she could stomach staying for two more days.
Halfway to the front doors, Bre felt Jax come up behind her and grab her wrist.
“Bre, don’t leave.” Turning to look at him, Jax’s eyes were hard and cold.
“Go find Anna. She’s clearly upset. I’m not your concern.” Yanking her wrist out of his hand, she started walking away from him again.
“Anna’s not my concern, either.”
Furious, Bre turned around to look at him. “What the hell did you say to make her hate me?”
J
ax unbuttoned his jacket. “I have nothing to do with why she doesn’t like you.”
“Right, you’re clearly with her. You were practically molesting her on the dance floor.”
“Were you jealous?” Jax smirked.
She turned to look away from him. She knew she shouldn’t be mad or jealous, but telling her mind something didn’t make the feeling go away. “Yes, damn you, Jax. It bothered me, okay? Are you happy? I just thought it would take you more than a few hours to find a replacement.”
“She’s not a replacement. I told you at lunch that I’ve never dated Anna. I’m not interested in her, but at the same time, I’m not going to sit around and watch you be with Cam, either.”
“What are you going to do? Let every girl hang on you so you can prove how inconsequential I am to you? Is that your agenda tonight and for the rest of the weekend?”
“I don’t think we should talk about this in the middle of a hotel lounge when Cam could walk by at any minute.” He lifted his glass, taking a sip of the whiskey.
“You’re right. I’m leaving, so forget this conversation ever happened.”
He grabbed her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. “No, let’s go somewhere private. This has to end, Bre. We can’t keep doing this,” he said, his jaw clenched.
“Fine, let’s finish this.”
Pulling Bre’s hand firmly, but gently, he steered her out of the lobby back toward the ballroom. Bre stopped. “I’m not going back in there,” she whispered, her eyes searching his.
Untangling their hands, he pushed the hair that had fallen out of her chignon behind her ear, and they both froze, staring at each other until the tension became almost intolerable. Her eyes dropped to his mouth and she leaned imperceptibly toward him, just barely stopping herself from kissing him. Releasing a shaky breath, she raised her gaze back to his. His eyes were smoky and heated.
Just when she didn’t think she could resist the draw between them any longer, Alec came out of the ballroom, pausing in front of them. His dark eyes flashed, taking in every detail and connection between Bre and Jax. “What’s going on?”
Dropping his hand from Bre’s face without looking at Alec, Jax said in a dark voice, “Nothing. Bre doesn’t feel well. She’s going home. I offered to walk her to the door.”
Alec ignored Jax’s response, but instead he kept his gaze trained on Bre. “Do you want me to find Cam?”
“No. I’ll text him on my way back to his place. I don’t want him to think he needs to leave with me. He should stay and have fun.”
“Do you want me to drive you home? I’m ready to leave. I hate these type of events,” Alec inquired.
“No,” Bre responded firmly.
Alec nodded and walked toward the bathroom.
Jax pulled Bre in the opposite direction down the hall and deeper into the labyrinth of the hotel until he found an empty, windowless, conference room that looked as though the hotel used it for small meetings. Drinks were abandoned on the table and papers littered the surface. Jax closed the door behind them. It was quiet except for the sound of faint laughter and music drifting from the ballroom down the hall.
Pulling her hand out of his hold, she stepped backwards, pressing the back of her legs into the edge of the conference table. “So go ahead. Tell me how you’re going to hang on any and every woman in the vicinity while I’m visiting Cam so you can prove a point.”
Jax scoffed. “That’s ridiculous,” he spat out, his deep voice thick and laced with bitterness. “I’m not trying to prove a point. I don’t have a hidden agenda. I just refuse to sit around and wait for you to realize you don’t want to be with Cam anymore. If that means I flirt with another woman, then so be it. Right now, you have no reason to complain.”
Bre plastered a fake smile on her face, and she pushed her body away from the table. “You’re right. I didn’t mean to complain about the inevitability of being another unremarkable woman on your long list of forgettable nights.”
“Wrong,” he said, stepping in front of her, invading her space, looking large and overwhelming against the bright white walls. “You could never be unremarkable or forgettable.”
“Jax, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to say that just to make me feel better,” Bre stated, shaking her head skeptically.
“You don’t believe me,” Jax said, with his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he touched her arm.
“Let’s just say that I find it easier to believe that I don’t mean anything to you.”
Placing his glass of whiskey on the table, he raised both of his hands on either side of her face, and he whispered softly, “That couldn’t be further from the truth. I want you. I want to be with you, only you. Tell Cam it’s over. I know you’re afraid, but we’re good together. I’m good for you. Let’s try this.”
“Incredible,” Bre said disbelievingly as she released an exaggerated breath.
“What’s incredible? Me?” Jax replied, with a flirtatious grin.
“Your opinion of yourself. Your ego is so inflated I’m surprised you don’t float away.” She glared at him without any heat because she felt herself softening toward him.
Jax turned to the side, and Bre noticed his bright white smile. His smile always unnerved her, so devilish and charming.
“What’s so funny?”
Jax looked back at Bre, capturing her with his gaze. Then, one of his hands trailed along the side of her face to the nape of her neck and down to the small of her back. Excruciatingly slow, he pulled Bre closer to him until the front of their bodies met and her nipples tingled with awareness. Bre dug her nails into the palms of her hands in an effort to control her reaction to him. Even though she wanted to crawl all over him and lick every inch of his skin to see if he tasted as good as her alcohol soaked memory, she couldn’t do it. It wasn’t fair.
“Nothing. Everything. I love being with you. I love everything about you even when you’re trying to get rid of me.”
Before she could respond, Jax’s lips brushed over hers. Reluctantly, she forced her hand between their bodies, intending to push him away. She refused to let this happen again, especially with Cam floating around the hotel somewhere, but when her hand brushed the toned contours of his chest, she gasped and his mouth took advantage. As his tongue swirled around hers, she could feel the desperation and need in his kiss and it made her knees weak. Consumed by the moment and by him, she leaned in and kissed him back with every ounce of need she’d been bottling up since he walked out her door seven days ago. God help her, she wanted this man like she never imagined she’d want anyone.
His hands crept down the side of her hips to the hem of her dress, sending shivers cascading through her body. Moving lower, his fingers danced along the hem, taunting her. Every last thought of pushing him away faded and instead her hands clenched the soft lapels of his suit jacket, pulling him closer, not wanting any space between them, needing him more than she needed her next breath.
He shifted his head so he was kissing her exposed neck, slowly making his way down the top of her body, his heated breath and kisses fanning her skin beneath the black lace. His hands drifted down to her breasts and he fondled her until her nipples were hard and feverish beneath the delicate lace. Moaning, she buried her hands in his thick brown hair, loving the texture of it against her fingers.
Slipping out of her hold, his gaze drifted over her body, making her burn with longing. “Did I tell you that you look fucking amazing in this dress?”
She shook her head, too mesmerized by his lust-filled gaze to say anything.
The hand that had been relentlessly teasing her thigh slid underneath her dress, stopping near the apex of her thigh and white-hot lust erupted through her body. Mindless, she flexed her hips forward, demanding, without words, for him to continue. At this moment, she would do anything for this man, for his touch.
Jax’s head lifted and his scorching gray eyes, now sensually hooded, met hers. “God, Bre, I can’t stay away. Don’t ask me to.”
“Jax,” she muttered huskily, not wanting to hide from her feelings for one more second. “I love being with you. I don’t want you to stay away. Touch me.” She shook her head, knowing what she was asking was reckless. She may even regret it later, but she forced that thought out of her mind. Right now, she wanted to embrace the moment. “…god this is so confusing,” she mumbled.
“It doesn’t have to be,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers, his fingers playing with the edge of her panties. “You’re thinking too much. Just feel.” Then, his head dipped and his lips pressed to hers again, more forcefully this time. The kiss was rich…possessive…and punishing. He slid the bottom of her dress upward, leaving a trail of fire in his wake, until it rested around her waist. With his fingers unexpectedly digging into her hips, he pushed her backwards until the edge of the table was biting into the back of her legs. Without breaking the kiss, he lifted her onto the top of the conference table with shocking ease. He nudged her legs apart and his erection pressed into her achy center, rocking against her until her aroused body hummed with eagerness.
Without warning he stepped back, breaking contact with her, and she whimpered, already missing his heat. Chuckling, he trailed his fingers up the inside of one thigh, stopping momentarily and then he pushed the lacy fabric of her panties aside. He slid a finger inside, toying with her entrance, eventually resting his finger against her clit and she groaned.
“You’re killing me,” she whispered huskily.
“Am I?” he asked as he nibbled on her ear, his finger sliding back and forth but not penetrating her.
“Yes,” she said and then sucked in a deep breath as he slid his finger inside her.
“Yes, you like that or yes, I’m killing you?” he teased as he slid another finger inside her. He looked insanely delicious with his sensual lips curved into a wicked smile as he expertly stroked her and he knew it.
“Both,” she groaned, closing her eyes, lost in the sensation, oblivious to their location, to being exposed, to the unlocked door, to Cam, to everything but Jax. He overwhelmed her. The feel of his fingers moving inside her, and the sound of his beautiful voice next her ear had her spiraling recklessly out of control.
