Breathless (65 page)

“You don’t believe me?”

I want to.
Oh, fucking hell
, I really want to. “I believe you
want
to, but following through is another thing entirely.”

A wicked smile, unlike anything I’ve ever seen, curves his lips. It’s like every sinister smile I’ve ever read about and it’s right in front of me—barely an inch from my face. In a painfully slow movement, he drags his finger up the remaining flesh on my thighs and straight onto the white lace that covers my silky center. I gasp and my knees threaten to buckle. This is not happening. I’m dreaming—I have to be—Jesse would never touch me there, and most definitely not in my parents bathroom of all places. An electrical current begins to vibrate underneath his finger tips and pulses in consuming waves throughout my entire body. He doesn’t move his fingers. He doesn’t speak a word, but in his eyes I see his promise. Jesse wants to be more than this with me and he wants to prove that he’s capable of making me happy in all of the ways I want it.

“No.” I tell him.

He frowns, confused. “No?”

“No, you’re not going to be my boss forever.”

With a twitch in his lips, he cranes his neck and pulls on the hem of my underwear. A jolt of pleasure flares up my spine and explodes in fireworks over my scalp at the warmth of his touch. Our lips graze ever so softly and my lips part to let out a soft exhale. Then, the bathroom door opens, and Jesse and I separate before Mom can even gasp in horror. I straighten my hands over my dress and cover the exposed strip of thigh.

“Jesus, Alixandra. There’s a time and place for everything. This is your parent’s house,” she snaps, staring daggers at Jesse who leans against the shower, running his hand over his face.

I turn to the mirror and begin combing my fingers through my hair. Is it hot in here?

“Perhaps you should invest in a lock,” I tell her, as a look of total shock and hurt flickers over her face.

“You know how I feel about locks.”

“I know, but is it really worth the trauma?”

In a huff, she storms from the bathroom and heads back down the hall. At least, I know she won’t tell Dad. God only knows what he’d do to Jesse if he was aware of what just happened. As I wet my hands and flick water on my face, Jesse’s phone goes off, filling the bathroom with an irritating, generic ringtone. He fishes it out of his pocket and brings it to his ear.

“Hello?” Pause. “I can’t, I have plans tonight.” His gaze flicks over me before falling to the floor. “Alright, fine. I’ll see you soon.”

Bummer. “I’m going to assume the remainder of our night is cancelled?”

He rakes his fingers through his dark hair. It’s becoming quite unruly, actually. I love it.

“Yeah, my father is in town, and he wants to have a meeting.” He drops his hand with a sigh. “Now.”

“Now?” Shit, he doesn’t waste any time. “Okay, let me tell my parents we’re leaving and you can take me back home.”

I exit the bathroom with false contentment. Inside, I’m disappointed. Tonight was supposed to be epic, but I know it’s an epic failure. Not to mention new ground was broken tonight in regard to my relationship with Jesse. Are we together? Yes.

No.

I don’t know.

Maybe… I told him he isn’t going to be my boss forever, but that can mean a lot of different things.

In the dining room, Grace is kissing my mother goodbye and I’m ruling tonight’s dinner as a fail. No one ate, everyone yelled, and Dad is drunk. Now that I think of it, I might start coming more frequently to my family dinners after all.

“We have to go too,” I announce as Grace gives Dad a hug I’m sure he doesn’t want. “Jesse has been called into a meeting.”

I glance at Mom and she gives me a look. The ‘I don’t believe a word you’re saying’ kind of look. Sadly, what I said was the truth. There’ll be no sex tonight which is subsequently the story of my fucking life.

I say goodbye to my family, give them all a kiss and a hug and then we leave. Out in the driveway, Jesse waits in the car while I talk to Grace. Despite my parent’s uproar, she hasn’t changed her mind.

“It’s what I want to do.” She states, as she shrugs on her coat and frees her trapped hair. “We’re in love.”

Who am I to argue with that? “I hope it works out for you.” I tell her.

She smiles down at me. It never sat well with me that my baby sister was taller… she still is. “If it turns out to be a bad decision, then it’s a lesson learned, but it could also be the greatest decision I ever make. It’s worth the risk, isn’t it?”

I can’t help but compare her words to my relationship with Jesse. It could be great. It could be everything I’ve ever wanted, but if it fails… I could lose all of the good things in my life. I don’t love him, but I like him enough to want to try.

“What about him?” Grace asks as she subtly flicks her head towards Jesse’s car. “He seems like a good guy.”

I smile, despite myself. “He
is
a good guy.”

“But?”

I exhale and nervously thread my fingers together. Grace always hears the implication in your tone even if you didn’t technically imply it.

“We’re not really dating—I mean, we are, but we’re not.”

Her face turns blank and she cocks an eyebrow. Oh, boy. How did this get so complicated?

“He’s my boss.”

Her mouth drops open, but I press forward before she can chastise me, or cut me off.

“I kind of blackmailed him into going out with me, to make up for a night of really, really shitty sex that we had
before
I even knew he was my boss. Only now, it’s complicated because he likes me and I kind of like him, but if work ever finds out who knows what could happen.”

I inhale a breath of air and desperately hope she can offer me advice—any kind of advice, I don’t care.

“Only
you
would get yourself into a situation like this…” she says.

And then she laughs.

She laughs and laughs and laughs as if it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “Holy shit, Alix. I cannot believe you. You brought him to dinner? To meet our parents? Do you have a death wish? When they find out, they’re going to kick your ass.”

“They’re not going to find out, Grace. And if they do, what can really happen?”

With the shake of her head, she launches forward and wraps her arms around me. “I miss you.”

I hug her back. “I miss you too.”

“If he makes you happy, you should do it.” She pulls back and reaches out to pinch my cheek. “You’re not getting any younger.”

“Gee, thanks.”

With a kind smile, Grace turns around and heads down the driveway. I watch her until she crosses the street and disappears inside her car. For the first time in a long time, I leave my parents house without feeling smaller than I usually do…and it’s nice.

Chapter Eleven

Alix

I slide the beer across the bar and right into the gentleman’s hand. With a gentle tip of his head, he turns and leaves. Hopefully, that’s my last beverage for the night. I glance at the clock. It’s almost knock off time. In twelve minutes, I’m a free woman.

“You’re not very perky tonight, Alix. Which of your obsessed book alphas coerced the love of his life into a threesome, this time?” Sadie asks as she runs a white towel along the surface of the bar.

She knows me too well. A not-so-alpha alpha male is my biggest plot peeve. What kind of alpha male shares? A fake, that’s who.

For the first time in forever, Sadie is on night shift with me. It’s just her and me, and it’d be perfect… if Jesse only responded to my myriad of text messages. After he dropped me home last night and I cleaned, showered and read the last few chapters of my current book, I couldn’t sleep, so I texted him. I didn’t expect him to respond straight away; not while he was in a meeting—but I did expect him to text back at some point. It’s been almost twenty-four hours and I haven’t heard a word. It doesn’t sit well on my chest… I kind of miss him. Okay, I
really
miss him.

“None. My last book had no alpha male and it ended in a ‘happily ever after’.” I slump against the bar and rest my face on my hand.

Sadie continues to clean the surface of the bar and I’m in her way, but, for the moment, she can clean around me.

“Then what’s the problem?”

I look at her. Sadie has a trusting face and she’s kind, but I can’t tell her about Jesse. Not if I want to continue working here.

“Is it boy trouble?”

Dammit.
She reads everything on my features, just like Grace. She stops wiping the bench and stuffs her cloth into the thin belt of her pencil skirt.

“Are you seriously keeping boy trouble from me?” Her lips pinch into a pout. “You always talk to me about boys. Unless…” She gasps, leaning in really close. “Are you fucking the boss again?”

I shoot towards her and cover her mouth with my hand. “Will you shut up…god!” I pull my hand back and wipe it on my skirt. “No, I’m not having sex with the boss.”

Technically, it’s not a lie. We haven’t had sex again… yet. I sigh and fall back against the bar.

“It’s stupid… a
man
hasn’t texted me back.”

She taps her lip with a bright purple fingernail. “Have you had sex?”

“Yes—no—I mean, kind of.”

And now I sound like an idiot. Awesome.

“What do you mean kind of? How do you kind of have sex?”

Sweet fucking hell
. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is everything was going fine. We had dinner at my parent’s house last night, and he had to go because he was called into a meet—a thing—and I haven’t heard from him since.”

She nods her head in thought, and then makes me jump as she clicks her fingers in my face. “There’s your problem.”

“What?”

“You took him to your parent’s house. They’ll scare anyone off.”

Sadie giggles as if what she said was funny for everybody. It definitely wasn’t. My parents are a little full on, but I spoke to Jesse about them in the car on the way home and he enjoyed being surrounded by my family. He claimed it gave him very good insight into who I am and why and—
oh god.
He’s ignoring me because my family is crazy. I drop my head into my hands. How’d I miss that one?

“Good evening.”

That voice.
The smoothness of it—the polite tone and slight accent glides across my skin and awakens my nerves. Since when did it do that? I lower my hands, and slowly turn my head to glance over my shoulder. Jesse stands there with his hands resting on the bar. Each long, thick finger splayed and planted firmly to hold his weight. I let my stare run up his strong, exposed arms and onto the white t-shirt that clings so nicely to his perfect torso.

“Sadie, why don’t you head home? I’m sure Alix can take care of the bar for the next eight minutes.”

I glance at Sadie who looks sideways at me. I give her a small nod of the head, and even manage to contain some of the sudden excitement that seems to be bubbling in the pit of my belly.

“Liar,” she whispers to me as she pulls her cloth from her belt and drops it on the bar. “Call me tomorrow.”

I fight a smile as she says goodnight to Jesse and heads out of the bar area. I grab Sadie’s cloth and turn around. I run it over the bar in small circles, mostly because I have no idea what to do with my hands.

“You’re not wearing a suit,” I point out, letting my stare flick over his torso.

“That’s because I don’t work here anymore.”

I freeze. “What do you mean?”

Jesse grins, but doesn’t say a word. I glance at the clock. Not long now until the other girl comes back from her break, and I’m done for the night.

“You didn’t respond to my text…” I mutter, choosing a different path and hoping to get an answer out of him.

I hate the thought of sounding so needy and I hate the pleasure it gives him knowing I’ve been waiting this whole time for a reply. “I know. It sucks, doesn’t it?”

“You did it on purpose?”

He tilts his head and chuckles. “Don’t look so hurt, Alix. At least you didn’t get drunk and sit outside my place of work.”

I tuck the cloth over the rack underneath the bar.

“It wouldn’t have mattered even if I had, you don’t have a job anymore.”

“I still have a job… it’s just not here.”

It’s not here? Dread tumbles through my stomach. Is he leaving? “Where are you going?”

He flicks his eyebrows at me just as Jane, the new girl, comes into the bar from the back.

“You’re finished,” Jesse announces. “Let’s go.”

Jane tightens her platinum blonde ponytail and chews her gum without a second glance in our direction. Jesse frowns at her, but she has no idea who he is, and as he said himself, he doesn’t work here anymore.

With new found pep, I snag my handbag and coat from under the bar and follow Jesse. I let my eyes wander over him as he saunters through the hotel. It occurs to me that he’s in his pajamas. A pair of black drawstring pants hang low on his glorious hips and a plain white tee covers his torso. Moving south, I glance at his feet and,
holy fuck,
he’s wearing nothing but a white pair of socks. I can’t help it. I start to giggle like an idiot.

He shoots me a smile. “You’d better not be laughing at my socks, Alix.”

“Why don’t you have shoes on?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I didn’t feel like it, and besides, hardly anyone knows who I am. If I can get away with walking around drunk, I think I can get away with an outfit like this.”

I grin up at him. I like this Jesse. The one who’s clearly enjoying himself. And he’s right. No one looks twice at him—except for the occasional woman, of course. But I hold no grudges. The shirt looks great against his body, and there’s no way I’m leaving here tonight without ripping it off with my teeth.

**

His suite is somehow… different. It feels a little emptier than usual, and I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the open suitcase, filled with clothes, that’s sitting on the couch. I kick my heels off as Jesse closes the door behind me.

“Are you going somewhere?” I ask.

From behind, he snatches my coat and handbag and drops them on the floor. I barely manage to turn my head to look over my shoulder before his large hands cover my eyes and his torso presses firmly against my back.