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And hell if that hadn’t stung. He hadn’t even looked at me.
“You’re not a woman a man forgets, Gianna.” She looked thoughtful. “I think we can work around this, but are you up for it? If this is going to get personal for you, we need to talk about that now. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I also don’t want to put my business at risk.”
My first instinct was to lie. I wished Jax had meant as little to me as I had to him. But I respected Lei and my job too much to be untruthful. “I’m not indifferent to him.”
She nodded. “I can see that. Glad you’re honest about it. Let’s keep you on this for now. You’ll throw Rutledge off balance and we’ll need that. And you’re my in with Chad Williams. He likes doing business with you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. She was wrong about Jax, but I wasn’t going to blow my shot by pointing that out. “Thank you.”
We exited onto our floor and were buzzed through the glass doors. The receptionist, LaConnie, raised her brows at me, obviously picking up on our agitated vibe. We should have returned triumphant, not frustrated.
“Any idea why Rutledge would have a sudden interest in the restaurant industry?” Lei asked, returning to her earlier question as we headed to her office.
“If I had to make a guess, I’d say one of the Rutledges owed Pembry a favor.” That was the way the Rutledge family operated. They worked together like a tightly knit team, and even though Jax wasn’t a politician, he still played the game.
Lei went directly to her desk and took a seat. “We’ll need to figure out what chip he’s cashing in.”
I caught the undercurrent of annoyance in her voice and understood it. Ian Pembry had been undermining Lei in countless ways for years, but Lei had bided her time—it had been a study in patience that she admitted had made her a better businesswoman. She was determined to prove she’d learned his last lesson in betrayal well and I was determined to help her.
“Okay.” I knew a little of what she felt. It still made me angry that I’d jumped into bed with Jax. I’d known who he was, knew his reputation, yet I’d thought I was sophisticated enough to take him on.
Worse, I’d deluded myself into thinking he cared. He lived in D.C.; I was in Vegas. For five weeks he’d flown out to see me every weekend and the occasional weekday. I’d told myself a guy as beautiful and sexy as Jax wouldn’t go through all that trouble and expense just to get laid.
I hadn’t considered how rich he was. Rich enough to find it entertaining to jet cross-country for a piece of tail and cautious enough to find it convenient that his inappropriate mistress was far away from both the public eye and his family.
My desk phone started ringing, and I hurried out of Lei’s office to answer it. My station was set up just outside her doors, making me the last barrier visitors faced before they had an audience with her.
“Gianna.” LaConnie’s voice came clipped and quick through the receiver. “Jackson Rutledge is in the lobby, asking to see Lei.”
I hated the way my heart gave a little kick over hearing his name. “He’s here?”
“That’s what I said,” she teased.
“Have him sent up. I’ll be around in a minute to show him to the conference room.” I placed the receiver carefully back into its cradle and then walked back into Lei’s office. “Rutledge is about to arrive at reception.”
Her brows rose. “Is Ian with him?”
“LaConnie didn’t say so.”
“Interesting.” She glanced at the diamond-encrusted watch on her wrist. “It’s nearly five o’clock. You can stay for the meeting with Rutledge or head out, your choice.”
I knew I should probably stay. I was already feeling like I’d lost ground by freaking out at the Four Seasons. I’d been too shell-shocked by Jax’s unexpected appearance to grasp how the situation with the Williams twins had changed. Sadly, I wasn’t in any better shape now.
“Instead of sticking around, maybe I should use this time to reach out to Chad,” I suggested. “Get a feel for where he’s at with this. I know we wanted to take the Williams twins together, but even if we get just one, it’ll hurt Pembry in a significant way.”
“Good plan.” She smiled. “It’ll do Rutledge some good to get better acquainted with me, don’t you think? If Ian’s led him to believe I’m an easy mark, it would be smart to prove otherwise now.”
I almost smiled at the thought of Jax and Lei butting heads. He was far too used to females falling all over him, for both his devastating good looks and his family name, which was as close to royalty as America got.
“I’ll do some digging after I talk to Chad—” I backed out of the room “—and see if I can find the connection between Pembry and the Rutledges.”
“Good.” She steepled her fingers together and rested her chin on the tips, studying me. “Forgive me for asking, Gianna—but did you love Jackson?”
“I thought we loved each other.”
Lei sighed. “I wish that was one lesson women didn’t have to learn the hard way.”
Chapter 3
I GRABBED MY purse out of my desk drawer before I headed up to reception, clutching it like a talisman that would hurry me away from Jax before he realized who I was. The walk up to the front seemed to take a very long time.
It was a tough pill to swallow, realizing he still affected me so strongly. He’d only been part of my life for a short time. I’d had two other lovers since him and thought I had moved on.
He was studying a display of our bestseller cookbooks when I rounded the corner and my breath caught. His tall, powerful frame was now shown off to full advantage in an expertly tailored suit, a sign of respect for Lei I couldn’t help but appreciate. I’d never seen him dressed so formally in person. We’d met at a bar, of all places. I’d gone out with some classmates, and he was attending a bachelor party.
I should’ve known it wouldn’t turn out well.
But God, he was magnificent. His dark hair was close-cropped on the sides and back, slightly longer on the top. His eyes were a brown so dark they were nearly black. Thickly lashed, they were relentless in their intensity. Had I really thought they were soft and warm? I’d been blinded by that lush, sensual mouth and wicked dimple. There was nothing soft about Jackson Rutledge. He was a hard and jaded man, cut from a ruthless cloth.
He raked me from head
to toe with a slow, intense look that made my fingers flex as I approached him.
It was well-known that he was a connoisseur of women. I told myself I could be anyone and get that look from him, but I knew better. My body remembered him. Remembered his touch, his scent, the way his skin felt against mine...
From the way he was looking at me, the same recollections were heating his blood, too.
“Hello, Mr. Rutledge,” I greeted him formally, because he still hadn’t acknowledged that he knew who I was. I spoke each word carefully, in a controlled voice not quite my own. I usually didn’t have to think about sounding too Brooklyn anymore, but he made me forget myself.
He made me want to forget everything.
“Ms. Yeung will be out in just a moment,” I continued, deliberately stopping a few feet away from him. “I’ll show you to the conference room. Can I get you some water? Coffee? Tea?”
His chest expanded with a deep breath. “Nothing, thank you.”
“This way, then.” I passed him, managing a strained smile for LaConnie as I walked by her. I could smell him, that subtle hint of bergamot and spice. I could feel his gaze on my back, my ass, my legs. It made me hyperconscious of my walk, which made me feel awkward.
He didn’t say a word, and I was afraid to, my throat too dry to make speech comfortable. I felt a terrible yearning—the almost desperate need to touch him the way I’d once had a right to. It was hard to believe I’d had him in my bed. Had him inside me. How had I ever had the courage to take on such a man?
I was relieved when we reached the conference room, the door handle feeling blessedly cool as I pushed it down.
His breath gusted softly over my ear. “How long are you going to pretend you don’t know me, Gia?”
My eyes slid closed as he purred the name only he had ever used.
Pushing the door open, I stepped inside, holding on to the handle so there was no mistaking that I wouldn’t be staying.
He walked right up to me, standing face-to-face. He was a little more than a head taller—even though I wore heels. His hands were in his pockets, his head bowed over me. He was in my personal space. Too intimate. Far too familiar.
