“Question is, why do you care who she’s sleeping with, Jax?”
I continued to stare at him. “It’s unprofessional, it's—”
“Who Eli chooses to sleep with is not our business. You’re being an asshole to her for no reason.”
“She should wait until her contract is up or something.” I shrugged because I knew what Erik was saying was true. I was being an asshole. I had been one to her since the moment I had first laid eyes on her.
Shaking his head, Erik let go of my arm. “Not another one. You guys are falling like flies this year.”
I didn’t know what he meant by that, and I had a feeling I didn’t want to.
“Look, Jax, Eli is not sleeping with Chance, or any of the other guys on this tour as far as I know. It’s not really any of my business as long as she does her job.”
“Then why…?” My eyes flicked towards the elevator and then back to his face. I wanted to go up there and catch them red-handed. Maybe then Erik would stop looking at me like I had gone crazy. “Why is she so damn close to Chance?” Just saying his name was making my skin itch. As a person I liked Chance, I always had. He did his job well and was a half decent human being. But I didn’t like him as a bed partner for Elodie.
“You will have to ask her that, Jax.”
I didn’t much like Erik’s answer, either. “I plan to.” I jabbed my finger at the button.
“You do that, but don’t blame me if she knocks your pretty teeth out.” Erik shook his head. “Oh, and Jax, you can meet us later. I think you and Eli could do with some bonding time, don’t you?”
Bonding time? I mulled over his words as I rode the lift up to our floor. It seemed to take forever. The long corridor we were housed on was empty as I made my way down to the very end where Elodie’s room was. I was half expecting at any second for Chance to appear from her doorway. And I didn’t know what I would do if he did.
Fight him?
Fire him?
It was the kind of scene that made the papers and for what reason? Because I had some weird ass attraction to a woman I didn’t even like? Even in my own head it made no sense.
Chance didn’t appear. No one did.
Not until I knocked on her door.
Elodie looked surprised to see me. Her bare hand fluttered to the swell of her breasts. “Jax?” Her eyes darted to the empty hallway behind me before landing back on my face. “What are you doing here?”
“I—”
Fuck. For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to say. I had been so caught up in my anger and eagerness to catch her with Chance that I hadn’t made a plan if I found her alone.
I should have made a plan.
“Jax?” One slender eyebrow arched in a silent question that I was stumped to answer. Her golden eyes flicked down and lingered for a second on my lips. And there it was again. The heat. The way her eyes darkened went straight to my dick. I wanted to kiss her. And to be honest, it would be easier to kiss her and stop any further questions than to tell her the truth. God, would it be easy to push her back into the room and kick the door shut behind us. I knew she would kiss me back. Her words might say she hated my guts, but her eyes told a different story. A story that was no doubt mirrored in my own.
“I thought we might go sightseeing,” I finally said, sounding lame but finding nothing else that would get me what I wanted. “Together.”
* * *
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”
There was wonder in Elodie’s voice, on her face as well, but I barely flicked my eyes towards where she was looking. I had to agree with her though. Not because I thought whatever silly landmark she was cooing over was beautiful, but because she was.
This was a new side to Elodie, or maybe it wasn’t new at all, and I hadn’t seen it before because I hadn’t given her a chance. Gone was the stuck up, rod rammed up her ass woman I had met, and in her place was someone softer.
I frowned. No, soft wasn’t the word I would use to describe Elodie. The only softness in her was her mouth-watering curves. She just looked happy, like the weight of the world had slipped from her shoulders.
“Yeah, beautiful is one word I would use,” I mumbled. There were others as well. But beautiful would work for now.
Elodie half turned towards me, a quizzical look on her face as she caught me looking at her. Slowly, heat crept up her cheeks, tinging them pink. I shifted my weight. There was no way I wanted her to know what that blush did to me.
