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“Hey.” His voice is gentle as he holds me hostage, forcing my eyes to his. “You’re not supposed to cry.”
I let out sort of a laugh-sob and another tear tumbles from my lashes. “Sorry.”
“You don’t have to be sorry.” He swipes at my cheeks again and I give him a watery smile. “There’s a lot going on.”
I don’t know if he means in my life in general or the fact that I just had sex with him again, but I figure either way it’s true, so I nod.
I sniffle and wipe my face with my palm. “It’s nothing bad, I swear. You’re…perfect.”
Yikes. That was too honest.
“So are you, Mini.” He kisses my nose. Sweetly. And then pulls out, gently setting me aside while he walks to the bathroom. I watch his butt move in the dim light and bite my lip as I take in the sheer beauty of Jackson naked. There’s nothing like that raw power and strength, especially once I learned that beneath the muscles and easy smile was a heart of pure gold. That causes another tear to fall and I reach for a tissue from the side table and angrily wipe it away.
He strolls back in, thankfully after I’ve collected myself, and I enjoy the approach as much as I enjoyed the rear view. I take in the bumps of his abs leading to a manscaped thatch of hair, his cock hanging to one side, still impressive even after that stellar performance.
“You keep looking at me like that and I’m going to spring back to life sooner than I planned.”
“Oh, darn,” I joke.
His smile is wide, and when I earn a low chuckle that bobs his Adam’s apple, it’s like winning a prize. Like an Academy Award, I think snidely.
Better,I answer back. Some things in life can’t be measured, and the joy of making him laugh is one of those things.
He sits with me and I shiver, my sex-warmed body having cooled in the minutes that passed.
Jax leans forward and retrieves his T-shirt, offering it to me. I thread my arms through the sleeves and take a generous inhalation of his scent trapped in the fabric as I pull it over my head. He helps free my hair from the neck of the shirt and then shoves his legs through his briefs and tugs them over his fantastic ass before offering my thong, which is dangling off his finger.
I slip it on and wait for him to tell me why he’s watching me with narrow-eyed curiosity. I don’t have to wait long.
“What did you mean by ‘it’s been a long time’?”
I tuck my legs beneath me and wrap my arms protectively around my waist. “You want to talk about my sex life now?”
He winces but says, “I want to know why you said that. I guess if that includes details…” Eyes closed, he adds, “You know what, try telling me without details.”
He scoots closer to hold me, heat billowing off him like a furnace. I remember him always being warm. I stuff my feet under his legs to warm my toes and he lets me, holding my hand while I gather my courage.
“I…haven’t dated that much,” I finally manage.
He nods.
“It’s hard because you never know who really likes you for you or if they like you for what you can get them. That’s why Xavier was a safe choice for me.” Jackson’s upper lip curls in distaste. “He’s more famous than me, has more connections than me. If anything, I was the one with something to gain from that relationship. And then I let him talk me into taking the blame for stealing the Oscar.”
“What?” The word is a clap of thunder.
“Don’t freak out. It was strategic. I agreed to take the blame when he drunkenly robbed his friend as a practical joke, and he agreed to help me land a role in his next feature film.”
Jackson’s face is one for the history books. He looks simultaneously pissed off and sick to his stomach. Hearing myself say it aloud makes me sick to mine, too.
“It’s a different world, Hollywood,” I offer as a lame excuse.
“Shit, I guess,” he comments with another head shake.
“So. I reneged. Here I am. I didn’t see it through.”
He’s a pillar of stone right now. I pull in a breath and gather my bravery before I speak.
“And…I guess I thought I owed him that and more. Since we never slept together.”
