“You don’t care?” Jax says. “Then you’re more naïve than I thought.”
Am I hurt by his words? Yes, I am. Not only because he has obviously thought me naïve all along, but also because his reputation seems far more important to him than our relationship. It could also be that he has something else to hide but I don’t want to go there right now.
I stare out the window, silent, gathering the strength to ask him to drop me back at my place. He pulls over suddenly in front of a park.
He turns the engine off and brushes his hair back with both hands. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “You were upset.”
“The thing is, tomorrow everyone will know who you are which means we won’t be able to get any information from the Club. We’ll be made, Ella. And it’s all because I stupidly took you there to impress you. I should have let Brad work his angle on his own.”
The club. He’s right, I forgot about that. “You were trying to impress me?” I say, fighting a grin. “By taking me to a strip joint?”
He smiles, nodding. “You can laugh freely. In my immense brilliance, I thought you’d want to spend time with me if you knew I had crucial information to share with you.”
Wow. Just wow. He actually spent time thinking how to get me to hang out with him? What the hell? Has he ever looked in a mirror? As superficial as it sounds, no single woman in her right mind would turn down an opportunity to get to know him better. I should be thrilled except it doesn’t sound believable. I’m sure there’s more to this than he wants me to know.
He opens his door to get out and circles the car to open mine. I welcome the cool, fresh air that enters my pores and nostrils. Jaxson takes off his jacket to wrap it around my shoulders. He takes my hand and we walk through the empty park until we get to some trees.
Jaxson pushes me backward until my back is up against a tree trunk. “You’re so beautiful, Ella. So courageous,” he whispers in my ear.
And there, in the midst of the turmoil and uncertainty we have created, Jaxson kisses me again. His strong, muscular body crushes onto mine, literally pushing me into the tree.
His hand cups the back of my neck as he forces his tongue deeper into my mouth, searching to reveal all the secrets of my blood.
I curl my arms around his neck, unable to pretend a second longer. He has created a perfect symphony of sounds and sensations inside my body and he has a right to enjoy the results.
Our mouths stay glued for a while and we kiss and tug at each other’s lips, licking, sucking, devouring. Pure ecstasy courses through my veins, arousing my most sensitive spots.
“We should go back,” I whisper with a groan because I want him so bad and I can’t exactly have him here in the park. I need to get behind a closed door and take his clothes off.
“Don’t you want to feel alive?” he says, his eyes gleaming with possibilities and promises.
I nod, biting on his earlobe gently. “I do. I feel alive, Jax.”
“No,” he says. “You don’t know the thrill of being really alive. I used to own it but now I only get glimpses of it. You make me feel alive more than anything else in a long time.”
My senses go numb and my knees weak. If he keeps talking like that, I’ll collapse in his arms. There’s something hypnotic about his voice and the way his eyes dig into me, scraping away my defenses.
“Let me show you,” he says with a growl.
I reach out and take his hand to hold it in mine. “What do you want to show me?”
He grins and a tickling buzz shoots through my belly. “How to be really alive,” he says, folding the fabric of my thin dress in his free palm to bare one leg to the hipbone.
His fingers graze against my inner thigh, stealing a whimper from my lips. “Not here,” I say with desperate need in my voice.
“Here,” he insists. “Just feel.”
With that he spins me around and his jacket around my shoulders falls to the ground. He pulls my back against his body. The beauty of the night dazzles my senses. Jaxson’s fingers crawl under my dress again, his tongue trailing along the side of my neck, licking the skin there in slow motion.
I grab his hand to prevent it from going any further, fighting against the wishes of my own body for one second, but then I let go, tired of thinking, tired of working everything out in my head a million times. I know I should stop him, but I don’t want to. I just want to submit to his need. I want to feel everything he wants me to feel.
His hand becomes more intrusive, tracing my lacy panty line gently. I arch my hips, spreading my legs for him as one finger slides under the elastic band of my panties.