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He studies my face before he responds," I was scared."
"Scared of what?" I push.
His hand reaches behind me to retrieve a bottle of scented body wash. I watch him pour some into his palm before he brings it to my arm. "I couldn't just walk up to you on the street and say, 'hey, I'm Jax Walker and I'm your ex fiancé's business partner and oh, by the way, I'm in love with you.' I didn't know how else to approach you."
I step back so I'm just out of his reach. "So instead you went to all the trouble of getting Brighton to accept Liz as a prospect in his program so by some off chance I'd come to his opening with her?"
"You make it sound far-fetched." He laughs as he steps closer to me again. He picks up soaping my shoulder where he left off before I pulled away.
"It's convoluted. Why would Brighton agree to it?" I cock my head to the side.
He massages my shoulder, driving his finger into the stressed muscles. "You've met my brother, Ivy. If he thinks any woman sees him as the second coming of Picasso, she's in his inner circle at the drop of a hat."
"How did you know Liz loved his work?" I ask pensively. I'm scared that he's about to tell me that he had someone following Liz.
"I didn't." His hand moves down to my right breast. I don't react as he pulls his fingers across it, covering it with the sweet scented soap. "I actually had little to do with her getting onto that prospect list."
"Don't say it was all by chance." I stare into his face.
"Hardly." He shakes his head as his hand runs to my other breast. "Mark actually set the wheels in motion."
"Mark?" I take a step back. I can't focus on what he's saying when his hand is touching my breasts. "Why would Mark set that up?"
"He didn't, at least not knowingly."
"What do you mean?" I fold my arm across my chest. I feel exposed even just talking about Mark when I'm standing here naked with Jax.
He motions for me to come closer so he can continue to wash me. I wave my finger in the air playfully. "Answer the question, Jax."
"One of the sticking points between my dad and Mark was the art in the corporate offices." He steps back into the water holding out his hand for me to join him.
I ignore the gesture and wait for him to continue.
"Mark was in charge of design and he commissioned a bunch of Liz's work. Those paintings were everywhere. In the personal offices, the boardroom, waiting areas, even in the washrooms. You couldn't escape them and all their glory." The sarcastic tone in his voice makes it evident he's not a fan of Liz's work.
"And your dad didn't want that?"
"It should have been Brighton's work hanging on those walls," he snaps. "Instead there's some nobody getting the recognition that my brother deserved."
I flinch when he calls her a nobody. That's exactly who she is to me now too.
He steps out of th
e water and moves his body closer to mine now. I try to step back but the cold shower wall is waiting for me. I pull back suddenly as a chill runs through me.
"Come here." He wraps his arms around me coaxing me back into the heat of the water.
"I remember how excited she was when Mark ordered all those paintings. I thought he was doing my friend a favor," I say, my lips breezing across his chest.
"I didn't give it much thought until a few months ago when I saw her in Mark's office. It dawned on me then that she was your friend. I saw you two together a couple of times."
"Where?" I push for more anticipating he'll be hesitant to offer any more details.
"I asked Brighton to come see my office before lunch one day." He proves me right and skips over my question as expected. "I played up Liz's work and threw in a few comments about how attractive she was and he took the bait."
"You did that so she'd be at the opening and you assumed I'd be there too?" I pull my lips into a tight pucker. "That's so much trouble just to bump into me."
"Actually." He strokes the small of my back with his palm. "I did that because I wanted to do something nice for your best friend. I knew that she was important to you."
