“You make it shine,” Jax says with a crooked smile.
“No. Most of the time, it’s already shining. I just try to help bring out the glow a little more.”
“Sounds like you really like what you do.”
“I do.” I sit up straighter. “And I’m not too bad at it, either,” I beam, proud of my work and my clients.
“So how’d you end up in Manhattan?”
“Rayna,” I say, closing my laptop. “She was in Florida for about a year after she left here, but then she moved to Manhattan for a job. I was staying with my mom in Chicago, but she finally met a decent guy, and they got married. I left the editing company that I’d been working at and decided it was time for a change, time for me to move on. I missed Rayna. So, a couple years back, I went to stay with her, and I’ve been there ever since. What about you? What happened to Gram’s store?”
“We lost it in a fire three years ago.” He shifts in the booth and glances around the café.
“I’m sorry,” I say, seeing a sudden unfamiliar discomfort in him.
“Yeah.” He taps the table with the tip of his finger. “We took the insurance money from it, along with the rest of Gram’s life insurance and what the fast food chain that’s there now offered us for the land and opened JZS’s.”
“About that, I didn’t know you were a fighter.”
“I’m not really into it like Zeke and Slate.” He stares at me for a moment, and I fall victim to those dark oblique eyes. “I mean, I know how to fight. Ya know my dad was a boxer. He taught us a lot about it before he died, mostly to me because I’m the oldest. I had more time with him. Zeke’s good, he has great technique and he’s fucking quick, but it’s always been in Slate’s blood. He’s like my dad, a natural, but he never accepted it. Not until,” he taps his finger again on the table, “not until we opened JZS’s.”
“I know. I was surprised to hear that he fights. He was always such an easygoing guy in high school. He never got into any fights like Zeke, and he was so sweet with Rayna.”
He stares at me, again, as though he’s contemplating his next words. “Yeah, well, he’s changed.”
“I guess that happens when we grow up, huh? Experiences change us and we sort of see things differently.”
“I don’t know.” His eyes slowly roll over my face. “You’re still the same beautiful Emmie Rue I remember.”
My cheeks get all hot. He called me beautiful—not pretty, but beautiful. “Yeah, but I get the feeling, Jax Declan, that you’re seeing me a little differently.”
“I definitely see you, Em.” His eyes drop to my mouth then slowly drift back up. “But the way I’m feeling while I’m doing it ain’t no different. Now,” he leans in toward me, and I get a strong whiff of his intoxicating scent, “tell me again, what brings you back to the Bayou?”
You almost tumbles from my mouth as I stare into those shadowy, daring eyes, still trying to figure out what he meant by his feelings haven’t changed. Does that mean he still doesn’t want me? He’s so confusing.
“Well,” I take a deep breath, holding in my frustration. We are, after all, having a conversation. It’s something new for us, and I like it. “I can do my job from anywhere. Our friend, Lurlene, she’s a teacher, so she has the summers off. And Rayna, she just got out of a relationship, and she’s sort of between jobs. It was her idea to come here.”
“So, I have Rayna to thank?”
“For what?”
His smile turns up on both sides, and he reclines back in the booth. He doesn’t say anything. He just looks at me. Wait. Is he being sarcastic? Shit. Perhaps, he really doesn’t want me. And me, I’ve been that teenage girl all over again, throwing myself at him.
“Listen…” I clear my throat, time to pull up my big-girl pants. I know when to admit when I’m wrong. “I’m sorry about the other night—”
“Hold up.” He chuckles. Leaning forward, he grabs my hand. “Don’t apologize.” His expression deepens to determination as he squeezes my hand. “You came to the right place. In fact, it’s the only place you need to come when you’re looking to get what you wanted.”
“But you shut the door in my face.” He’s so fucking unclear!
“Yeah, and believe me, it took everything for me to turn you away.” He looks down at our hands, and easily runs a thumb across my fingers. I think that I stopped breathing; Jax holding my hand and caressing it, well, it’s stimulating. “But the first time I fuck you, Em,” his eyes lift to mine, “it’s not gonna be when you’re shitfaced. You’re going to remember everything. Every touch, every kiss, every push and every pull, you’re gonna feel it all.” He stands up and still holding my hand, still holding me to his every word, he bends forward and lifts my fingers to his mouth. “And then,” he brushes his lips across my fingers with his dark eyes touching me all the way to my whimsical soul, “you’re going to thank Rayna too for bringing you back here, for bringing you back to me.” He releases my hand and then struts his fine ass out of the café, leaving me with my mouth wide open. Damn that Jax Declan! I’m supposed to break his fine ass, but I think he’s going to break my fucking heart saying shit like that.