I started to stand when I realized that Jackie appeared to be in shock.
“Jackie, you okay?” I asked, leaning over the counter concerned.
“Oh my God. Jax Stonewood is in my shop.” She shook her head. “I mean, oh my God.”
I rolled my eyes as I heard him approach and say, “So, I guess Aubrey can skip that part of the introduction. And you are?”
Her eyes got even wider. “Wait. You’re meeting Jax Stonewood here this morning and you didn’t tell me beforehand?” Her voice rose to a higher octave.
I shook my head, backing away from the counter and from Jax who had come to stand right next to me. “Actually, I was supposed to meet Jay here.” I turned to shoot a glare at Jax and braced for impact.
His appearance, seeing him standing right in front of me as lethal as ever, still hit me like a freight train. He dressed casually in jeans and a black shirt as if he was just out for a stroll.
As if he wasn’t upending my whole world by being in this town.
The man was a stark difference from the boy I used to know. Now, his jawline looked like a sculptor had spent a day perfecting the angles. He had age lines on his face that extenuated those angles and made him even more appealing. He crossed his arms, and I watched as his biceps bunched bigger than they ever had before. His hair was mussed as if some girl had run her hands through it before he’d gotten out of bed this morning. Somehow, that made him more attractive.
And more dangerous.
He smirked and stepped toward me. I stumbled back and tripped over a stool.
A laugh rumbled out of him as he caught my elbow and righted me before I could catch myself. As his hand touched my elbow, I held back the gasp from feeling his skin on mine again.
I silently willed myself to calm down and tried to hide the goose bumps that popped up over my skin.
“Thank you,” I mumbled, looking at his hand on my elbow, and then I slipped out of his grasp.
I felt him looking at me, questioning me. When I looked back at him, he stared like he needed to know me again, and he stood in that cafe like he owned it.
He didn’t.
This was my town, my safe space, and my café.
I hardened my gaze, not giving him a window into my thoughts.
Jackie still eyed both of us in some kind of stupefied celebrity shock. “Jackie, thank you for the latte. I should run since Jay won’t be showing. How much do I owe you?”
That sort of snapped her out of it. She scoffed at the notion of my paying, like always. “You can pay me later.” I knew that meant I would be paying her in details about Jax. “I’ll get one made for your friend, also.” She spun around and started working extra quickly.
She was now on speed for real.
I moved to pick up my bag and get the hell away from Jax. I felt rather than saw him behind me. His goddamn presence still sent shivers down my body.
“Peaches, we need to talk,” he rumbled behind me, close to my ear. Too close. “You can’t avoid me forever.”
He’d avoided me for years, and now after two weeks of trying to talk to me, he thought I should just cave?
I smoothed my hair and pulled my lips between my teeth, trying to stay calm.
Truth was, I hadn’t avoided talking to him, anyway. Avoidance meant I went out of my way to consciously not talk to him. I hadn’t. My way, since the day he’d left, had been to move on. I was simply carrying on with my normal daily routine. In that routine, I didn’t want or need to talk to him, so I didn’t.
He would sit me down and spew some nonsense about how he regretted that summer. Or he’d make a lie up about how he regretted leaving me but his father had needed him.
Something ridiculous, belittling, or condescending to the fact our relationship had been the most real, intense part of life I’d ever experienced.
Things I didn’t want to hear.
Jax would say anything to make the woman in front of him happy. I saw right through it though. He didn’t require a tell like most people when they lied to me. All I had to do was look at him and remind myself that although everything he said sounded sincere, it was complete and utter bullshit.