The door shut with a definite click after her.
Fuck.
Still muttering under his breath, Jax turned and went to have a nightcap and nurse his hard-on by himself.
Chapter 8
“How’s the job hunt coming along?”
Pandora, sitting cross-legged on the couch and reading yet another “this position has already been filled” response in her inbox on her phone, didn’t look up, scowling at the screen instead. “Bah, don’t ask.”
“The position doing filing in my HR department is still open.” Jax’s voice was entirely neutral.
Thing was, when she’d asked him for help, she hadn’t meant “give me a job.” It had been more along the lines of advice.
She tossed her phone onto the coffee table in front of her with some disgust. “Being employed by you does not make me independent.”
“You’re being stubborn.”
Yeah, she knew that, but still. She was already dependent on him enough as it was, let alone getting her income from him as well.
The main problem was not many employers were keen on hiring people with no experience and no references. Also, since the news of their engagement had broken, Jax had been adamant that he didn’t want her waitressing or bartending or any other job that might negatively impact her public profile. “My fiancée can hardly been seen working in McDonald’s,” he’d told her coolly.
Pandora decided to ignore him. She sat back against the couch and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table, crossing them at the ankle. After the Barneys shopping trip she’d assembled quite a wardrobe of sexy dresses and today she had on one of her favorites, a stretchy white minidress that clung to her slight curves. She’d always hated the way her father had dressed her for display, but she’d found the person she was displaying herself for made a huge difference.
That person stood not far from her now, all tall, dark, and roughly handsome good looks in his charcoal suit and crisp white shirt. His intense, blue gaze kept flicking to her bare legs, which was incredibly pleasing and the main reason she’d put on the dress.
Made a nice change from the detachment she’d been getting since the night of the gallery opening, the first night he hadn’t come to bed and taken her. In fact, he hadn’t come to bed that night at all. Or the couple of nights since. He’d made the excuse he had had lots of work in the evenings, but she was starting to think that was bullshit.
For some reason, he was holding out on her. Distancing her.
It hurt, not to mention frustrated the hell out of her.
Pandora gave a subtle shift of her hips, allowing her dress to slide a little higher. “So, popping in for a lunchtime quickie?”
“No.” With a visible effort, Jax lifted his gaze from her legs, his jaw firming.
“That’s disappointing. All that night work you’ve been doing tiring you out?”
“I’m busy during the day, too, Pandora.”
Of course he was. Except it was so not what she’d had in mind when she’d first agreed to stay with him.
Annoyed, she folded her arms. “So, why are you here then?”
“I brought you something.”
Belatedly she saw he was holding a bag, which he put on the coffee table, slipping a white box out of it. A white box with a familiar logo on it.
Her annoyance instantly vanished. “Holy crap, is that what I think it is?”
Jax put the box in her hands. “Happy birthday, Pandora.”
It was what she thought it was.
A minute later, Pandora had the gleaming silver laptop open on her knees. “You shouldn’t have,” she said reverently, gazing at it as it booted up. “You really shouldn’t have.”
Jax sat down, the heat of one powerful thigh resting against hers, the touch making her heartbeat accelerate unreasonably. “You said yesterday you missed your laptop so … ”
A glow of warmth uncurled in her chest. God, how was she supposed to remain pissed with him about his detachment when he did things like this for her?
She grinned. “This is going on my tab, right?” She was keeping a list of expenses she’d incurred, wanting to be able to pay him back the moment she started earning her own money. Whenever that was.
“It’s a birthday present and I never got you one. So, no.”
“Jax—”
“Let me, okay?”
Pandora decided she wasn’t going to argue. “I think I can handle that.” As birthday presents went a laptop sure beat the things she normally got from her father, things that had never been about her, only about him splashing around his money as a sign of his power.
“You know what you’re doing with that thing?” he observed.