Chapter Two
Jaxon
"I can't wait until they get married," Cami Reynolds says, snuggling up against her husband's side on a plush sofa on the far side of the bar. "They're going to have the cutest babies."
I'm not sure who she's talking about, but everyone in their group seems to agree with her. I should probably feel guilty about eavesdropping from the backroom, but I don't give two shits about whatever they're up to tonight. I'm here for Jessa Jordan, my rabbit.
I want to spank her for not telling me she worked at one of my hotels. I also want to spank her for spending the last six months avoiding me. It's driving me up the fucking wall. Jessa is my dream girl. She's had my heart in her hands since the first time I met her. She turned her round face up at me and those big blue eyes and sweet smile bowled me over.
I've been obsessed with her ever since…and trying like hell to hide it. She's a decade younger than I am and her brother is my best friend. Cyrus is one of the few people in the world I trust implicitly. He adores his baby sister. He's also protective as hell of her.
If he knew the things I dream about teaching her, he'd lose his mind.
I can't help it though. Jessa is the total package. She's tall and curvy, with long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. She tries to hide those curves in pencil skirts and black slacks. I don't think she realizes they just give her this naughty librarian vibe that makes my dick ache. Especially when she puts her hair up in a bun and wears her glasses.
Her pouty bottom lip makes me crazy. So does her mind. She's incredibly smart. It doesn't matter what we talk about, she always has something insightful to say. She can be sassy and sarcastic and gets riled up over the cutest shit.
She's also about as sweet as they come.
The first time Cyrus dragged me home with him, she asked why I wasn't celebrating the holidays with family. When Cyrus told her I didn't have any family, her eyes filled with tears. She flung her arms around me and told me that they were my family now.
I think I fell in love with her right then and there.
Trying to resist it is futile. I've spent the last four years wrestling with my conscience, trying to convince myself that I can't have her. That she can do better than me. That I won't be the thing that comes between her and her brother.
I'm done trying.
Six months ago, my entire life imploded. When it did, she's the only person I wanted to see, the only one who I knew could make it better. I finally caved about three days after inheriting billions and went to see her. I was drunk, and I was just done trying to do the right thing where she's concerned.
I told her the whole sordid story about the man who has known about me my entire life, but still let me live on the kindness of strangers after my mom died when I was a teenager. I told her about inheriting his fortune, twenty years too late to save my mom. And about having no choice but to accept it because thousands of people would be out of jobs if I didn't.
She held my hand, trying to comfort me. Told me how proud of me she was. Made me smile when she told me she would have destroyed his company out of spite. There's no way she'd ever do that. She can't hold a grudge for nothing, and she's a sucker for people. She's a caretaker, a mama bear.
I tried to kiss her that night, but she ran. She's been running ever since. We went from talking damn near every day to her avoiding me for the last six months straight. I can't take it anymore. Not having her sweetness in my life is slowly killing me. I'm surrounded by pompous jackasses, gold diggers, and sycophants…people who wouldn't have pissed on me to put me out if I were on fire seven months ago.
Cyrus, Jessa, and their mom are the closest thing I have to family. They're some of the only people who expect nothing of me and want nothing but the best for me. But Jessa is a part of my soul. I'm tired of trying to deny that to keep everyone happy.
She's leaving for grad school soon. She doesn't know it, but she'll be leaving with my ring on her finger. I've spent the last six months learning the ropes and moving headquarters to Nashville, trying to deal with everything screaming for my attention so I can focus on what's really important. Winning Jessa. When she goes to Nashville, I'm going with her.
One way or another, I'm going to convince her to give me a chance.
I know she feels something for me too. I see the way she looks at me, the longing in her eyes. She's afraid to ruin my friendship with Cyrus, but I won't have her hurting herself to spare me or him. This running thing is over now. I should have claimed her long before now because life just keeps getting more complicated.
I'm her boss now too. Dating her probably violates every policy HR has ever written. My new peers will judge me harshly. My board of directors will throw a fit. Thing is…I don't give a fuck. Their opinions don't matter to me. HR can rewrite policies. The gossips will find another scandal sooner or later. But there's only one Jessa Jordan in this world, and she's mine.
I'm tired of fighting the way I feel about her, of trying to convince myself that she deserves someone better than me. I'm not foolish enough to believe inheriting a fortune made me worthy of her. But it certainly changed things.
I can't do this without her. More than that, I don't want to do it without her. The last six months have been hell because she wasn't by my side.
"Did you know she could sing like that?" Kasen Alexander asks Cami and her husband.
"No. She barely even talks," Bentley says.
"Olivia, your song is ready," Jessa calls, her voice soft.
"What did you pick?" Kasen asks, helping his pregnant wife to her feet.
"Not telling," she says.
I tune them out, scanning the room for Jessa. I finally spot her at a table by the bar, fiddling with a tablet. She's got her head bent toward it, exposing the elegant curve where her neck meets her collarbone. She's so damn beautiful. Blonde strands have escaped her bun to dance freely around her face. Her bottom lip is between her teeth as if she's concentrating hard on whatever she's doing.
She keeps glancing up from the tablet, her gaze tracking Kasen and his wife as he leads her toward the stage. Cami and Bentley are whispering back and forth between kisses. Everyone is in their own little world, completely comfortable with Jessa here.