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A little while later, he tucks my hair behind my ear. “Don’t move. I’ll get you a towel.” He kisses me and then he’s gone, and I’m aware of the stickiness on my thighs, so I do as he bids. I don’t move. I don’t even turn to watch him cross the room in all that naked perfection that is hard to ignore. Unbidden, there’s an emotional storm inside me that I don’t want to take control of. A flashback of that ledge, of me on the edge of that wall, feeling like I was going to fall to my death shifts to a flashback of my bound hands. I sit up, and Jax is already back.
I don’t look at him.
I’m not looking at this gorgeous man, andhe’s naked. Clearly, I’m not in my right mind in the moment. He sits down next to me and hands me the towel. “Thank you,” I say, and I can feel him looking at me, his stare heavy and probing, willing my gaze to his, but I have such a transparent face, and I don’t really know what is happening inside me right now, but it’s not good.
I scoot to the edge of the bed. “Bathroom,” I say, pushing to my feet, and oblivious of my nudity, I dash toward the door in front of me. Exposing my body to Jax isn’t the issue. It’s everything else that has me feeling raw and cut open. Once I reach the bathroom, I enter and shut the door behind me, staring at the room that is so much more than a bathroom. It’s round, literally, with stone walls and a round cushioned ottoman that is quite massive in the center. The bathtub is beyond it, a claw foot tub, and when my eyes lift, I find a skylight cut like petals of an elaborate flower. It’s a gorgeous reminder that Jax doesn’t needmy money. And while some people are greedy enough to always want more, I don’t feel that with Jax.
I pant out a breath and will away whatever this knot of emotion is in my chest, but I fail. I settle for locating the toilet behind a door, using it and washing up, before I end up sitting on the round cushion in the center of the room. I think I almost died tonight. I think if Jax wouldn’t have come for me when he did, I would have ended up a broken body on the rocks below the tower. A smart person wouldn’t be here. God, what am I doing here?
Jax.
Jax is why I’m here.
He’s not his brother. He doesn’t want to kill me.
My mind goes back to the ledge, and I can almost feel the cold air on my skin again. A memory that wants to shift again to a less recent past, and I stand up. No. No. No. Why am I letting that part of my life live in this part of my life?
There’s a knock on the door, and I jolt, pushing to my feet. Suddenly naked is a little too exposed with Jax when it wasn’t a few minutes ago. My gaze rockets to the door I believe leads into a closet. I rush that way, stepping inside a giant closet organized by dress clothes and casual clothes. I walk to the T-shirts and grab one, pulling it over my head.
“Emma!”
At the sound of Jax’s voice, I hurry to the door and find him peeking into the bathroom. “Can I come in?” he asks.
Can he come in? It’s his house, and he’s asking me if he can come in. Just like he stopped trying to tie me up when I asked him to stop and did so with passion and tenderness, not anger. “Of course, you can come in,” I say, and I walk toward him.
He appears in the room, a pair of pajama bottoms slung low on his hips, his torso solid muscle that can only mean good genes and hard work. His gaze slides over me, and we meet in themiddle. “I like you in my shirt, Emma,” he says, a mix of warmth and concern in those beautiful blue eyes.
A hot spot forms in my chest. “I was cold and—”
“I’m glad you made yourself at home.” His hand settles on my hip, a sizzling branding that does more than light up my body. It has me settling my hand on his chest.
I’m falling for this man. I’m falling hard, but I can’t ignore what happened tonight with Brody. I yank my hand away and step back from him. He doesn’t move. His eyes watch me, his jaw ticking. “What just happened? No. What happened back in the bedroom that is still happening now?”
“If any part of you wants revenge on my family through me, I need you to let me go. Like now. I don’t tell people even a little bit of what I told you in that bedroom. I mean I know I told you nothing really, but I let you see how affected I was. I don’t do that.”
“And I will not betray that trust, Emma.”
“You don’t understand, Jax. I’m emotionally involved, and that wasn’t my intent. But I am, so if you want revenge, you got it. It’s done, but please let me go now.” I twist away and round the ottoman, walking to the sink and pressing my hands on top of the stone counter. Jax appears behind me, his big body crowding mine, his hands coming down beside mine, his eyes meeting my eyes.
“Turn around, baby,” he urges softly, “and talk to me.”
I inhale and twist around, my hands falling to my sides. “When I told you it was just you and me,” he says, “that wasn’t me telling you I wanted a booty call, Emma. That was me telling you that I’m emotionally involved.”
“Yes, but—”
His fingers flex where they rest on my neck and he eases me closer. “No but. Nothing that happened tonight changes that. Nothing we find out about the past changes that. We aren’tthem,” he repeats. “I don’t know what this is. I damn sure didn’t expect it, but you are the best thing in my life. You make me a better person.”
“I just met you.”
“And you already pulled me back from the dark place I’d let myself go.”
“Because of your brother?”
“Yes. Because of my brother. I want you in my life. All in, Emma. I am. Are you?”
Any hesitation would be a lie that defies all that I just said and showed him. And we both have too many lies in our lives right now. “Yes,” I say. “I’m all in.”
His eyes warm, and he lifts my hand to his lips, kissing it. “Then come to my bed where I’ve wanted you from the moment I met you.”
