“Okay,” I say, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze. “Soon.”
Walking over to the door, I open it and walk into the living room. Jessie’s aunt stands at the kitchen partition, wearing a uniform with a tired look on her face.
“Hello, ma’am.” I stride over and offer her my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She smiles up at me, with something of Jessie glimmering in her eyes. But only a piece. My woman’s beauty is one hundred percent unique.
“It’s very nice to meet you. And please, call me Claire.”
“Then you can call me Jaxon. I hope you have a nice evening… or morning.”
She titters as I make for the door, pausing only to look back at Jessie.
She stands in the middle of the room, her hands clasped to her chest, gaping at me like she’s done something wrong.
I want to tell her no, she’s done everything right.
But she glances anxiously at her aunt, and I get the message.
Mouthing soon, I open the door and stride into the hallway.
Chapter Thirteen
Jessie
I stand outside Jaxon’s office, my heart pumping so hard I’m almost convinced I’m going to collapse into a panic attack right here, the way I often did in high school when everything simply became too much. When the world felt like it was weighing down on me.
But no.
I’ve learned not to view myself like that, to remind myself there are so, so, so many people who would kill to be in my position. An ungrateful note pricks at me as if my subconscious is telling me to stop being a baby and get on with it.
And yet sometimes it’s not as easy as simply reminding oneself to get on with it… sometimes, in fact, it feels like an unclimbable hill.
And yet I have to talk to him. Otherwise working here is going to become insanely awkward.
I can feel his secretary’s eyes on my back, probably wondering what the heck I’m doing just standing here like a weirdo, especially because she’s probably also wondering why Jaxon so readily agreed to meet with me.
My whole body buzzes as I push the door open. The lust swirling inside of me has no problem accepting what happened last night, with his lips pressed against my sex, his hands buried in my skin, drawing wave upon wave of pleasure out of me.
Jaxon stands at the other end of the room, leaning against his desk. He looks like a giant as he pushes away and rises to his full height, staring with sparkling blue eyes.
“Jessie,” he says, his voice husky as he strides across the office.
His kiss catches me by surprise in the best way. All last night, my thoughts whirred and convinced me he was going to act distantly today, perhaps even pretend the scene in my bedroom never happened.
But his kiss tells me otherwise, as he growls through the tight press of our lips, his hands sliding down my body and gripping onto my hips. I shiver against him as sparkling sensations tempt me deeper into the lust.
Wrapping my arms around him, I hug close, stunned at my own forwardness.
I shouldn’t be though, really, not after what we did. Not after how badly this needy tugging inside my body calls out to him. As we sink deeper and deeper into our passion, my mind throws up absurd vignettes.
Jaxon wrapping four adorable children in a giant towel, laughing as the oldest bats at him playfully. He grins over their heads, our eyes meeting, as we both silently acknowledge we’re the luckiest people – the luckiest parents – in the world.
I return from a hard day at the office to find him walking down the hallway toward me, a warm smile on his face, the sort of smile I’ve never even seen Jaxon Walker aim at anyone. But in my fantasy he grins broadly and pulls me into a hug, stroking the hair from my face, whispering in my ear…
“I love you. I love you so much.”
I scream silently at myself, to slow down, to stop letting my thoughts stampede to such ridiculous places.
“Are you okay?” Jaxon keeps his arms wrapped around me, but leans back so he can stare down at me. “Jessie?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” I murmur, finding it difficult to stare up into his intense blue eyes. “I just wanted to say, about last night… that wasn’t okay, the way I let you on—”
“No,” he snaps.
I giggle, thinking he’s joking at first. But his lips are pressed into a tight frown and his hands tense against my back.
“No?” I ask.
“You don’t need to apologize, not for last night, not ever. And especially not for what we did. Do you really think I’m one of those piece of shit guys who are going to resent you because you didn’t put out on the first night?”