“Oh,” Lurlene says.
“I don’t know.” I rub my sweaty hands over my thighs. “I think maybe I should wait for him to call.” What if he has a girl in there? What if he doesn’t really want me? What if…
“Hey,” Rayne grabs my face cutting off my mental what-ifs. “You’re here. Jax is in there. Now, the question is do you want him?”
“Yes.” I can’t lie.
“Then,” Rayna leans in closer, eyes widening, “you go get him, girl.”
“Okay!” I nod my head, and before I lose my nerve, again, I grab the bar and haul myself out of the cart. I stumble. Shit, I’m drunk. I watch my feet as I make my way to the front door. I straighten my shoulders, take a deep breath, and rap my knuckles on the door. It swings open, and I lift my head. It’s dark inside, and all I see are dark hazel eyes. But even with the hood up on his sweatshirt, I know those distinctive eyes.
“Hiii, Slate,” I slur, clear my throat. “Is, ah… is Jax here?” His gaze shifts over my shoulder. I glance behind me. “Yeah, Rayna’s with me, over there if you wanna say hi.” I look back at him, but he doesn’t respond. He just turns around and disappears back into the darkness of the apartment.
Huh. I glance back at my posse and lift my hands out in the air.
“Emmie Rue.” I hear Jax’s deep southern drawl. I spin around, and whoa, in nothing but a pair of jeans, Jax Declan encourages my bravery to come back out and play. His eyelids lower. “Now,” he leans against the door jam, and crosses his arms over a muscle-crowded chest, “what brings you to my doorstep this evening?”
“Ah…” I go to take a step but lose my footing. I nearly fall into him. Shit, real smooth. I slap my hand next to his shoulder on the door frame so that doesn’t happen again. I blow the fallen hair out of my face and look up. Damn, he’s gorgeous. I sway a little closer. “Thought, maybe you lost my number.”
“Nope.” He shakes his head. “It’s still in my phone,” he says with a small smile, eyes gradually casting over my body from head to toe. Shit, what he does to me with those allusive gazes. “So,” he says, those sexy eyes finally making their way back to mine, “what’s up with the late night visit?”
Dammit. He’s looking all in control, all sober and shit. He knows what I’m here for, and he’s going to make me say it. I strum the tips of my fingers on the doorframe, staring at him as he patiently waits. “You know why I’m here.” There, I said it, and without a single slur.
His head tilts to the side, and he surveys me for another second. “You’re drunk, aren’t you?”
“Yep.” I nod, no sense in denying it now. Hell, I nearly fell into him for Christ’s sakes. “I’ve had a few.”
He rubs the back of his neck and takes a deep breath, looking up at me from long dark lashes. “Go home, Em.”
“What?” Okay, maybe he doesn’t quite understand what’s going on here. Maybe he needs me spell this shit out for him. “In case you’re not getting it—”
“Oh, princess, I get it.” He drops his hand and shoves it into his pocket. “You’re drunk and you want to fuck.”
“Yeah…” I flip my hands out. “So?”
He bends down to my level, and he smells so damn good, fresh and clean, like he just got out of the shower. “So,” he looks right into me, no doubt, seeing my inebriated, randy soul, “you can turn your cute little ass around and take it back home, ‘cause I’m not gonna fuck you.”
“Not ever?” Oh fuck, did that shit just come out of my drunk, desperate mouth?
He grabs me by the chin. “Now,” his thumb strokes my bottom lip. Damn him and that stroking thumb! “You know the answer to that question.”
“And still,” I lick my lip, savoring his touch, “you’re not inviting me in.”
“Not tonight, princess.” He shakes his head. “But remember what I said.” His hand drops from my face. “I want that pussy untouched. Now be a good girl, Em, do as you’re told, and head on home,” he says just before he shuts the door in my face. Yeah! In. My. Face. I whip around and stomp back to the cart pissed. Be a good girl? If he’d let me in his apartment, he’d see just how much of a good girl I can be!
“Well,” Lurlene says brows lifted.
I slump into the seat, somehow feeling that sting in my ass triggered once more by Jax Declan. “He turned me down. I knew this was a bad idea, but I let you talk me into it,” I snap at Rayna, but the expression on her face shuts my anger right off.