Her beautiful dark eyes rose to mine. She didn’t question what I meant because she knew. “Deal.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“Who said we have to. We can get a room in town and spend the day here tomorrow. Would you like that?”
“Yes. Will you be at my service?” One eyebrow shot up suggestively.
“If that’s what milady desires,” I said. My phone was turned to vibrate, and suddenly went off in my pocket. I pulled it out just enough to glance at it. It was Gloria, but she could wait until the weekend was over. I didn’t want to ruin the moment or the next day, so I vowed to turn the damn thing off the second Addison was distracted and leave it off until we got back to the city…. My priority was to find a room so I could make love to her all night.
“It is. Thank you for bringing me here, Jax.” She reached for my hand, and I gave it willingly. Her touch sent a familiar yet, thrilling jolt of electricity through me.
“It’s been my pleasure.” Nothing could have been closer to the truth. I’d truly enjoyed every second of the day… besides the fight at the start, but even that turned out well. A secret smile lifted my lips.
This was my idea of heaven. Just being with her out in the open, knowing I’d be able to melt into her for hours to come, making love to her and worshiping her body until the sun came up.
19
Jax’s phone would not stop buzzing. “Bzzzzz. Bzzzzz. Bzzzz.”
The weekend had been the best of my life. As we drove back into the city on Sunday night, I spent the entire hour staring at his profile. I studied his every movement and committed it to memory. The way he glanced at me, the glimmer of what seemed like love and certainly desire I found there, the confident way he moved, and deftly handled the agile sports car. His strength, his amazing mind… the way he touched me and made me his every time… how beautiful he was, how sincere. I loved this man. Everything about him slayed me. Every cell of my body overflowed with emotion.
He was obviously annoyed by the phone, but I’d been wondering why he just didn’t answer it. “Why not just pick it up?” I asked softly. I was tired from the weekend, from staying up all night making love in the quaint B & B he’d found.
“It’s just Gloria,” he answered easily, reaching for my hand with his larger one. “She can wait.”
“No doubt she wants your book. I feel guilty that you helped me with mine and let your own go unfinished.”
The passing lights on the side of the road flashed through the car and on his face as we raced back to Manhattan. “Don’t be. I wouldn’t have it finished anyway. I’ve felt disingenuous about my last book. I need a break. I’ve told her over and over again. She just won’t listen.”
“What about the contract with S & S?” I was worried he’d face repercussions.
“It’s ongoing. It’s just a fact that authors get writer’s block sometimes. What are we supposed to do, pull books out of our asses? If I tried to do that it would be dishonest, and my readers would hate it. If they have any brains at the top of the publishing house, they wouldn’t want that. And, Gloria should be on my side. It could hurt us all in the long run.”
I reached out and ran my free hand down his arm. “Okay. I guess it is like a money machine, and they all depend on you to get paid.”
“We depend on each other. It’s a team effort,” Jax dismissed. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll handle Gloria.”
“What about Luke?” I’d hesitated to bring the subject up since our little spat Saturday morning, but Luke would be after me about it.
Jax sighed. “Tell him you spoke to me about the TA position, and I said what I said: that I can’t add you as my TA in a class you haven’t completed. Also, I regret you didn’t take the class a year ago, so I could have. Now, my hands are tied.”
I nodded in the dark car. The weather forecast said we were going to get the first snowfall of the season this coming week. The temperature outside was dropping rapidly as a cold front moved through ahead of the storm, but it was cozy in the car, and I found myself reluctant to get back to the city, and have Jax drop me off at my little apartment. Mostly, I didn’t want to leave him, even for a minute. “Okay. What about helping him with his book?”
His jaw hardened and jutted out slightly. “I’d rather have him ask me to help than you, though.”
“But would you have?” I already knew the answer.
“Probably not. I’m awfully busy with my new protégé.” He smiled, still watching the road.
“Exactly, so I’d like to help.”
Jax’s phone became irritatingly intrusive again. “Fucking thing,” he muttered. “I should have left it off until I got back into the city.” He turned his focus back on me after he’d pulled it out and silenced it once and for all. “Okay, but promise you’ll put it on hold if it interferes with rewrites for your book, or your classes.”
He was concerned for me, I knew, but he sounded more like my professor than my lover right then. “I promise.”
Jax turned his face toward me and smiled. “And if he tries to fuck you, I’ll have to kill him.”
When he was being possessive, I found it so endearing. I was already so full of him, and if he’d asked me to walk off the edge of the earth, I would have, but when he was this protective, I could almost feel my ovaries explode. So much for modern-day feminism. It was like he taught in class; love and sex were biological functions of being human. Twelve steps of desire, and there was no denying the pull if the connection was real.
My thoughts were interrupted as my own phone pinged. My purse was on the floor at my feet, and I could reach it with my free hand. Jax was concentrating on the traffic as we hit the north side of the city, so I reached in and pulled it out. It was also from Gloria.
I frowned as I touched the screen to open the text.
I need to speak with you, Addison.
Please call my office and set up an appointment. The sooner, the better. If you can get away from Jax, perhaps we can meet for drinks tonight?
My stomach clenched in trepidation. If it was good news, why would she want to keep it from Jax?
“Are you tired, babe?” Jax’s smooth tone brought me back to the present.
“I am. Someone kept me up all night.” I squeezed his hand, reluctant for our time together to end, but knowing it would in just a few minutes. “I know I have to sleep tonight, but I’ll miss you.”
“You could come home with me.” His fingers laced through mine. “I promise to let you sleep. I’d just like to have you near.”
“I would, too, but I have a paper for another class to finish tonight.”
“Oh, shit! Why didn’t you tell me? We should have come back sooner.”
“I didn’t want to. The weekend was perfect.”
He lifted my hand with his and kissed the top of it. I laid my head on his shoulder, trying to enjoy his scent, and the feel of him next to me for as long as I could.
Ping!
My phone interrupted again. It was less than a minute from the first time, so it was the same message, and I didn’t need to look. I closed my eyes.