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“You too, thank you, and I look forward to your call!” Trying to stop myself from sounding so eager was impossible. Stepping into the waiting room, I made a beeline for my jacket as Jax stayed near his door.
“One more thing.”
“Yes?” I spun to face him, clutching my jacket in my hands.
“The security tag is still attached to your dress,” Jax smiled, casting his gaze down to the hem of my dress. “Watch it doesn’t get caught, would be a shame to ruin something so beautiful.”
I froze on the spot. Hot embarrassment flushed through me from head to toe, like stepping fully clothed into a burning hot shower. He saw the security tag?! Jax winked at me, then he retreated back into his office and closed the door leaving me standing there with my coat in hand and shame bright red on my cheeks.
Oh God. Could he tell that it was stolen? Or did he think I was just foolish for not removing the tag? Whatever he thought, one thing was certain.
If my weak resume and half-assed answers hadn’t lost me this job, then the security tag definitely had.
4
SUMMER
“Summer Bradley. I’m here to see Jax Hayworth?”
Speaking into an intercom was always a daunting thing for me. It was so simple, but ever since my teens delivering pizza to scrape together some cash, I’d found it difficult. The flutter of nerves within my stomach grew when the intercom clicked, and I was met with silence.
Great.
Digging around in my jeans, I found my phone and quickly scrolled to the e-mail I’d received from Jax the day after that embarrassing interview. He had expressed interest in me proceeding to the next stage—I had no idea how I was able to pull that one off—and he invited me to spend some time with the children to see how well we would mesh together.
The entire situation was unreal, but my desperation to get out of the city before Felix tracked down my home fueled me to accept immediately. That and some liquid red wine courage.
I checked the address Jax had listed on the e-mail, then stepped back from the building and checked the golden name attached to the sandstone wall.
Yup, I was at the right place. Wrong time maybe?
Just as I scrolled further, the large black door swung open, and a stunning woman stood in the doorway. Her long, brown hair hung poker straight around her narrow, angular face. Her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses three times too big for her face and her curvaceous body was wrapped up in an elegant light blue wrap dress with a cinched belt below her breasts. She wasbeautiful, stealing all thoughts from my mind and air from my lungs.
I had turned up here in jeans and a T-shirt because Jax’s instructions had mentioned lunch with the children, but I had never imagined it was aformallunch. Underdressed, yet again.
“I fail to see what the problem is,” the woman said shrilly into the phone pressed against her ear as she passed me without even a glance. “I’m not against taking it all if he pushes me, do you understand me?”
No sooner had the woman taken three steps out of the door than one of the numerous black cars in the driveway roared to life and she vanished inside it.
“Can I help you?”
A polite voice drew me from my thoughts, and I turned to face a man dressed in cream slacks and a light gray sweater. I glimpsed an earpiece when he turned his head to watch the departing car, then he fixed me with a cool gaze.
“Well?”
“Oh, yes.” I stumbled over my words as my brain kicked into gear. “I’m here to see Jax? My name is Summer. Summer Bradley.”
“Oh.” With a wave of his hand, I was invited inside.
I stepped over the threshold and shoved my phone back into my jeans as my heart began to race furiously. I was so completely underdressedyet againthat if that woman was anything to go by, I would stick out like a sore thumb. I had no idea how to talk my way out of this, and my mind raced as fast as my heart while I was led down a winding pale corridor.
“Summer!” Jax’s voice drew me from my rampant thoughts, and I lifted my gaze from the wooden floor. Despite being dressed much more casually than when I last saw him, in loose slacks and a checked shirt, he still lookedhot,and my lips parted uselessly.
“Find the place okay? Thanks, Charlie.” Jax waved away the stranger and approached me with a warm smile. “I know it was a long drive, so I’ll gladly reimburse your traveling.”
“Oh no,” I shook my head quickly. “I couldn’t ask you to do that. It was only a cab ride.” A veryexpensivecab ride.
“I insist,” Jax grinned.
