“No.”
“Boy Scout?”
“No.”
“Come on, fess up.” Perched on the desk above him, she leaned closer, as if to share a secret, and shot him a teasing smile. Her sweetly spiced scent filled his nose, eliciting sensual visions, and his heart began to work harder at her proximity, even as he fought to maintain a calm expression. “In your youth you helped little old ladies cross the street, right?” she said.
Hardly. He’d spent his younger years with a rebellious streak a mile wide. And he’d fought long and hard to subdue the genetic tendencies his sister and mother wielded without a care. But his carefree days were long gone.
Blake calmly asked, “Are you going to sign the agreement or not?”
Delicately arched eyebrows pinched together in amusement. “I’m just here to help Nikki with her daily activities and drive her around. What could possibly go wrong?”
Lips twisting wryly at her words, his mind filled with the possibilities. But it was only one that consumed his mind. He could slip up, get lost in the sexual fog that enveloped him every time she was near.
His voice grew rough at the thought. “A great many things could go wrong.”
The worst of which would involve touching this woman.
As she held his gaze, the amused glint in her eyes slowly faded, replaced by something else, and tension billowed thick around them. He had the distinct impression she was finally considering just how…wrong, for lack of a better word, this living arrangement could become.
Or perhaps his traitorous libido had finally made itself known to the woman.
Frowning, she nibbled at a corner of her mouth, and Blake’s eyes were drawn to the process before moving on to her partially parted lips. Pink, soft and infinitely kissable lips. Which ultimately proved his downfall.
Because when her amused smile returned, he knew she’d caught him staring.
Fantasizing.
Her tone of voice and her words gave her away. “Would you feel more at ease if we inserted a no-kissing clause?”
Instantly, desire flared. Incinerating his thoughts. And every cell in his body demanded he pull her head down and take that too-sassy mouth with his. The seconds passed agonizingly slow, blood surging as the internal battle raged.
Lust versus reason.
Need versus duty.
Selfish college frat kid versus responsible adult.
Sweat prickled along his hairline as Blake mentally built a case against the insane craving to pull her onto his lap and give in to the fierce urge. Most notably, he needed a woman who fit with his life. One who was predictable. Rational. Jax was clearly neither of these. So why was he still contemplating kissing her?
Annoyed at himself, he removed a pen from the brass container on his desk, holding it out to Jax. “That won’t be necessary. Let’s just make sure everything goes smoothly.”
After a moment’s consideration, she took the pen and dropped her attention to the contract, scrawling her signature along the bottom with a carelessness that matched the woman herself. For a moment, he was distracted by the glimpse of the lacy pink bra beneath her shirt. The gentle cleavage. A view that was cut off when she pushed off his desk and stood, tossing the pen next to the contract.
“If that’s all,” she said, “I’m rejoining Nikki at the pool.”
Relieved, he gave a curt nod. “I’ll find you when I’m ready to drive you to your car.”
His gazed lingered on the agile swing of her long legs and the gentle sway of her hips as she exited, and he tightened his grip on his pen…doubting the sanity of hiring Jax. Which was confirmed when he caught a glimpse of their employment contract, where, right after he’d listed the job description and duties, Jax had added a single line: No kissing allowed.
With a groan, he leaned back in his chair, trying to decide if he should feel relieved he’d just solved his Nikki problem. Or alarmed he’d created an even bigger one with Jax.
CHAPTER THREE
EYES FIXED ON the middle-aged man inside the small, glassedin booth of the run-down parking lot, Jax carefully kept the panic from her tone as she leaned closer to the speaker in the window, acutely aware of Blake’s gaze on her.
“What do you mean I can’t retrieve my car until Monday? We still live in a democracy, don’t we? I have a right to retrieve my property, don’t I?” she said to the attendant, pointing at her old VW Beetle parked among all the other cars surrounded by a chain-link fence.
Jailed, just as she had been. And it wasn’t fair her car should pay the penalty for her mistakes.
“Cry me a river, lady.” Perched on his stool, the man swiped a hand through his thinning hair in irritation. “Next time don’t park your car in a two-hour parking spot and leave it there for six hours.”
“I got arrested,” she said, her face flooding with heat at her poorly worded defense. But there was no taking back the overshare now. “I couldn’t move my car.”
“It’s not my fault you got tossed in the slammer,” he said, and Jax forced her chin higher. “And I ain’t the one making the rules, either,” he went on. “I’m just paid to follow them.”
“What rule dictates that I have to go to the city municipal building first?”
“The one that applies to a previous unpaid parking ticket of yours. And the order states you can’t get your car until you pay that delinquent fine. And you can’t pay that fine until Monday morning at nine o’clock.”
Jax opened her mouth to protest, but Blake interrupted.
“Then Monday morning it is. Thanks for your help,” Blake said smoothly, taking her elbow.
His touch brought back the memory of being in his office, the overwhelming need to kiss him, and every muscle in Jax’s body tensed. Despite his cool demeanor, she knew he was dying to make a comment about her delinquent parking ticket. The one she’d stuffed into the bottom of her purse. And with all the turmoil at the club recently, it hadn’t been high on her priorities.
Just one more sin stacked up on her towering pile of crimes.
And her need to secure a bit of freedom from Blake was escalating by the minute. The purposefully bland expression. The glimmer of amusement in his eyes. Not to mention her growing obsession with those broad shoulders, the lean hips and those lips…
As he led her back to his car, she hoped she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt. “I need my vehicle.”
“You can use Nikki’s until Monday,” he said reasonably.
A frown threatened. “But right now we’re not far from South Glade Teen Center. I was planning on leaving here and swinging by to check in with everybody.”
“I’ll take you.”
Her heart tanked. Great. More time cooped up with Blake in his car. The ride over had been strained as they’d both diligently ignored her additional condition on the contract, an impulsive decision on her part. But she hadn’t been able to stop herself, because Blake had been looking at her as if he wanted to kiss her and was dismayed by the thought at the same time. Not exactly an ego booster. And the last time a man had looked at her like that—with the combination of desire and a doubting-her-sanity look—she’d vowed she wouldn’t put herself into that position again… .
Her stomach knotted as she remembered the expression on Jack’s face—the man she’d once hoped to build a permanent relationship with. Maybe even, God forbid, start a family.
Because