“Well, you did,” he murmurs, his breath feathering against my skin. “Which means later… I’m going to make you pay for that.” His voice is low, teasing, intimate.
“Then maybe I got lost on purpose,” I flirtatiously tease in return.
Who are you and what have you done with Rowyn?
I don’t know, but I kind of like this side he brings out in me.
The woman’s eyes widen, her expression one of shock and envy and she takes an awkward step back, almost colliding with another patron. Jaxon glances at her and straightens. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. A friend of yours, Rowyn?”
I meet her gaze squarely, leaning into Jaxon’s solid frame. “No,” I say, voice steady now. “She thought she knew me, but she doesn’t.”
Her cheeks flush, and she mumbles something before disappearing into the crowd. Jaxon doesn’t move right away. He just keeps his arm around me, his thumb tracing small circles against my hip, like he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. The noise of the pub fades, the world narrowing to the steady rhythm of his breathing against my back.
And for one suspended moment, I let myself wonder what it would be like if this was real.
“What was that about?” he finally asks, his voice low, carrying a threat of worry…for me.
“You don’t want to know.”
“I think I do know.” He turns me, his eyes moving over my face. “I know you can handle yourself, Rowyn, but…”
“They can be vicious?” I ask.
“But…” A beat as he gives me a slow smile. “I really was missing you.”
I grin, knowing he’s teasing, but liking the way it makes me feel anyway. I glance around at the sharks watching us, and think about what he must go through on a daily basis, the way the tabloids tore him apart years ago. I frown, remembering his pain. “It must be hard being you.”
Just then someone bangs me from behind and I lurch into Jaxon. His arms are already around me, steadying me, holding me close. His body presses against mine, our groins aligned.
Wait, is that…?
My heart thunders, every nerve in my body coming alive. My God, when I said it must be hard being him, this wasn’t the hard I was referring to…
That’s when another thought hits…maybe he really was serious about missing me.
But I have to be mistaken, right? We’re faking it.
Except his reaction to our closeness—in his groin—a man can’t fake this kind of…
…hard.
7
Jaxon
“Oh my God, really? Noah is that afraid of spiders?” Rowyn asks, laughter bubbling up as I pull back into traffic.
Her laugh is contagious—warm, melodic, the kind that makes even exhaustion feel lighter. I can’t help but grin, though I’m running on fumes and my body’s screaming for bed after our game tonight. But as tired as I am, I’m not quite ready for my night with Rowyn to be over.
“He is. I swear.”
She wipes a tear from her cheek. “He didn’t really strip in public, though. You’re making that up.”
“I wish I was.” I yawn mid-sentence, the kind that starts in your bones and ends behind your eyes. “We were out playing pool one night, and he felt something on his neck. Rip told him it was a spider and—boom—next thing I know, Noah’s flailing around like he’s on fire. Shirt gone, jeans halfway down. He was two seconds from dropping his boxers before Ash tackled him to the floor. Saved us all from trauma.”
“Trauma?”
I cock my head. “No one wants to see another guy’s junk, Row.”