I shut my eyes, frustrated as the elevator doors opened to his penthouse. When he waved me in, I went.
Two coffee cups were sitting on his counter and he nodded to them. “I had a meeting this morning that I couldn’t miss.”
I grabbed one. “Please stop getting me these.”
“You know I won’t.”
“Why, Jax? We aren’t together.” I motioned between us. “This doesn’t work and seeing each other every morning doesn’t work either. It’s painful.”
“It is fucking painful, Peaches. I should be waking up to you every morning and making you that chai latte.”
“Oh, no.” I started to move toward the door but he stepped in front of me. “I am not doing this. We had our end. We can’t keep having it over and over.”
“You ended it because of your father. He’s out of the picture now. He’s fucking done.”
His words resonated with me. Like a dehydrated animal hearing the first drops of rain, I wanted to weep with relief.
The feeling was wrong. “You shouldn’t have done all that, Jax. You shouldn’t have spent your time and money to destroy him for me.”
“It wasn’t just for you. It was for myself. It had to be done. For both of us.”
His words nearly broke me. “That doesn’t erase everything, Jax.”
“I know.” He combed his hand through his hair. “It’s a start though. It’s a fucking base that might be cracked and messed up, but it’s something. We build from there. If not for us, then lets at least do it for my brother and family. We work in the same place here. We have to get along.”
I shook my head and set down the latte. “No way.” I pointed a finger at him. “You used that as a tool before to start this all up again. And look where that got us.”
He stalked toward me. “I’ll use whatever I have to. This isn’t over. It won’t ever be.”
I stepped around him and he let me pass. “I can’t talk about this. There’s nothing left to say. I have to get back to work.”
I walked onto the elevator and he let me go.
His blue eyes held deep determination as the doors closed. I knew our conversation wasn’t over.
After work, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open on the train. I sat at a window seat and leaned onto it as I closed my eyes.
Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, a familiar mint smell filled the air, and the hairs on my arms stood up.
An intoxicating voice whispered in my ear, “You shouldn’t ever sleep on a train, Whitfield.”
My eyes snapped open to see Jax sitting next to me. I had to lean back just to make sure I wouldn’t lean in instead. He looked so good wearing his suit pants with a button-down shirt that I knew had a suit jacket over it earlier in the day. Now, he sat there with his sleeves rolled up and looked at me with love in his stupid, perfect blue eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
“We need to finish our conversation.”
“I already said we have nothing to talk about.”
“I figured you said that at work. That you would be able to talk after.”
I looked around and knew I couldn’t escape for the next hour. My resolve to avoid him was already cracking, and I didn’t know how I would withstand him for long. I moved to get up. I needed to put some distance between us.
He grabbed my bicep, the pleading look in his eyes made me stay. “I rewrote “Sweet Sin” for you.”
“I heard it at the launch.” I glared because the words he’d changed it to had been heartbreaking.
“No.” He pulled out his phone and two ear buds. He slid one in my ear and his hand lingered on my cheek. The spark as he touched me had me leaning into him before I could stop myself. “The lyrics that day were out of anger. This version, I wrote for you out of love. I love you, Peaches. I don’t ever say it right, but I mean it every time. Shit, woman, I mean it even when I don’t say it all.”