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“Hey, amigo,” he says. My heart beats faster in my chest and my stomach flutters in excitement. I know who just walked into the room before I even turn around.
I turn in my seat anyway to see Jackson Decker, or Jax as he is more commonly known, stroll into the room. He is my father’s best friend, his most trusted soldier and his brother in all but blood. He is the smartest man I know. He could have done anything he wanted to with his life, but he has worked for my father since he was sixteen years old, and the two of them would be lost without each other.
Jax also fills a suit like no one I have ever met before. He is six feet four inches of muscle and tattoos, and I know this because I study him every single chance I get. I first developed a crush on him when I was sixteen and he bought me pizza. But now, well it’s a full blown obsession. He is way off limits for many reasons, but that doesn’t stop me fantasizing about what it would be like to have those huge hands of his running over my skin. I clench my thighs together as dirty thoughts of him make warmth spread through my core.
“Hey.” He nods a greeting to my father before he turns to me. “Good morning, Lucia,” he says in his soft Southern drawl that makes my insides turn to melted chocolate.
“Hey, Jax.” I snap out of my daydream and plaster a polite smile on my face as I watch him walk past, trying not to stare at his fine ass in front of my father.
He stops a few feet away from me, leaning against the nearby cupboard, stuffing his hands into his pockets until the material of his trousers is stretched taut across his thick thighs. I have to stop myself from licking my lips and drag my eyes away from his whole groin area, remembering that my very protective and violent father is also in the room.
“Everything okay?” Jax asks with a frown as the room falls silent.
“Lucia has decided she’s like to join the business,” my father replies with a flash of his eyebrows.
“Oh, wow.” Jax grins at us both. “Does Alana know yet?”
My father chuckles softly.
“Not yet. I’m telling her later at dinner,” I reply.
“Hey, it’s your funeral, kid,” he says and I feel a pang of disappointment. What had I hoped for? That he would give me a hug and tell me he can’t wait to spend more time with me? But then he winks at me and I almost melt into a puddle.
“You’re still coming to dinner, right?” my father asks him.
“Well I sure wouldn’t miss it now.” He flashes me one of his incredible smiles before he takes a bottle of water from the side and opens it up.
The room is quiet again and there is a nervous energy crackling through it that I can’t quite figure out. Or perhaps I am imagining it and it’s all coming from me because I feel all kinds of things I shouldn’t whenever I am around Jax.
I need to break the tension before I say something completely inappropriate. “I’d better go. I have to go and pick up some things from my place,” I say as I push myself up from my chair.
“You and Matthias are going to stay over tonight, right?” my father asks.
“Sure. Then the boys and I can wave you off before we trash the place.” I grin at him.
“Don’t even joke about things like that in front of your mama later, Lucia,” he warns me. “Do you have any idea how hard I had to work to persuade her to leave the twins for a week to go to London?”
“Hmm. I can imagine.” I laugh. My twin brothers are almost two years old and my parents had thought they may never have biological children of their own. We were all overjoyed when they eventually conceived after fertility treatment. Due to some complications when the twins were born, they—and me of course—are to be their only children. My mom hates to leave them even for one night, but my father’s cousin is getting married in England and she has begged them both to attend the wedding, so he has finally convinced my mom that I can be trusted to look after my little brothers for a week.
I love my apartment near the beach, but I can’t deny I’m looking forward to spending a week in my parents’ beautiful house in the Hills. The place is so huge, it should come with its own zip code. Of course I could live there permanently if I chose to, but I love my freedom and my independence too much. It’s stifling enough being the daughter of the King of LA without living with him too.
“I just dropped my car at the shop. It needs new tires. Do you think someone could give me a ride?” I ask hopefully.
“Of course,” my father replies.
“How about you, Jax?” I ask with a smile and a subtle flutter of my eyelashes.
Jax clears his throat and looks at my father. “As long as you don’t need me for anything, amigo?”
My father shakes his head. “No. In fact I was going to ask you if you could have a word with Anton and his team. They’re at the club. You could drop Lucia on the way?”
“Perfect,” I say, jumping up from my seat a little too quickly and revealing my eagerness to be alone with Jax. But what the hell. This is just a little bit of fun, right? There could never be anything between him and me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy flirting with him outrageously every chance I get.
“Can I have quick word before you go?” my father asks. His question is directed at Jax and the tone of his voice also lets me know I’m excused.
“You know I’m going to have to be party to these conversations soon, right?” I flash my eyebrows at him.
“Yes, but you don’t work here until you have spoken to your mama and she agrees to it.”
