Plus, two double burgers for myself.
She looks around the food joint with a skeptical look on her face before finally settling her gaze back on me. "Umm, I don't remember having Burgerfi on myFuck SteveList," she comments, an eyebrow raised in question.
I chuckle at the name we keep using for her bucket list. "This is just a pit stop, baby girl. The real destination is after this, but I can't have you going in there on an empty stomach. So... burgers first."
Now, I've piqued her interest. "What's the real destination?"
A sly grin curls my lips. "Tattoo shop."
Her eyebrows shoot to her hairline. "What?! Jax, I can't get a tattoo!"
I settle back into my seat, my arms crossed over my chest. I cock an eyebrow. "Why not?" I ask simply.
Her jaw drops open in shock. "Because! Because... that's crazy. People don't just get tattoos on a whim."
My questioning stare doesn't falter. "I'm pretty sure that happens more often than not. Plus, this isn't on a whim. You've known what you wanted to get since you were eighteen."
For a moment, she's speechless. And if I didn't know her as well as I do, I would think she's angry. But she's not, she's just calculating the information. The wheels in her brain are spinning, weighing the truth of my words and her own feelings, trying to figure out what to do next.
"Jax, this is crazy. It's a big decision, you can't just spring this on me."
I give her a nod in acknowledgement. "You're right, this isn't a decision to be taken lightly. And if you're not comfortable, we'll go do something else. Anything you want. But you and I both know that this is not a whim, and you've just been putting this off since you were old enough to get it done. And now that Steve's gone, you don't have a good excuse anymore."
Her sputtering outrage morphs into a glare of frustration. She knows I'm right. And after a few moments, she finally concedes.
"Fine," she mutters. But then something occurs to her, and she looks up at me in surprise. "Are you getting something too?"
I shake my head. "No. Tonight is all about you, baby girl."
Whether it's from the nickname that I know she loves or the sentiment itself, she practically melts at my words. A happy smile stretches across her lips right before she leans over the table between us and presses a kiss to my mouth.
But the second she pulls away, she freezes when she realizes what she's done. The smile drops from her face, and she looks at me, stunned and nervous, waiting for my reaction.
"Sorry, should I not have—"
I don't even let her finish her sentence. I lean closer to meet her halfway and slide my hand around the nape of her neck, bringing her lips back to mine. I take a few lazy seconds to tease her, sliding my tongue along her bottom lip and nipping gently. And then eagerly swallowing her gasp with another hungry kiss.
"You don't ever have to question if you can kiss me," I tell her when I finally pull away. I'm pleased to see her cheeks are now a rosy pink.
She flushes even more, seemingly embarrassed. "I just wasn't sure if we wanted to keep us private. What if someone sees us?"
I shrug. "Then they see us. I meant what I said about this being more than sex. The last thing I want to do is hide you away."
She still looks unconvinced. "What if it's someone from the gym and they tell Remy or Tristan?"
For the first time, I see uncertainty in her features. And the knowledge that she might be worried or regretful about what's going on between us hits me like a bolt of lightning. Not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, I lean back in my seat, and she does too, but I reach for her hand before she can drop it into her lap. "We can handle this however you want, Hailes. I'd like to be honest with Remy, but if you want to keep this between us, then I'm okay with that, too."
She frowns at that and automatically squeezes my hand. "I would never want to hide you. Any girl would be screaming from the rooftops that she's on Jax Turner's arm." The uncertainty returns for a moment. "But I think... I'd rather keep this private until I tell Remy. I wouldn't want her to find out about it in a way that's not me telling her directly."
She studies my face for a moment before reaching up and cupping my cheek with her palm. She looks nervous as her thumb strokes my cheek. "Is that okay?" she whispers.
I smile and press a kiss to her palm. "Of course," I tell her honestly. "Whatever you want to do."
She must sense the truth in my words because a warm smile appears on her face again. With the hand still cupping my cheek, she pulls me closer so she can kiss me again.
"I thought we just said we're keeping this private," I say with an amused chuckle.
She smiles. "We are. But you were too irresistible and I wanted one more. So I took it."