He wanted to see her again. There was no reason to put the moment off. He pulled out his cell and punched up her number.
…
Scarlett took a reviving sip of her iced coffee and then sank back against the padded seat in the coffee shop. Adrenaline still raced through her, and on second thought, adding caffeine to her system probably wasn’t such a great idea.
Before she could stop herself, an incredulous grin curved her lips. She couldn’t believe Jackson’s brother had almost caught them in the act. She should be dying of embarrassment, but all she could think about was how much she wanted to see Jackson again.
Not that she was going to contact him. She’d given him the perfect excuse to get in touch if he wanted to.
He wouldn’t let her challenge go uncontested.
Her cheeks heated and she took another sip of her drink to cool herself down. Was she really going to rely on that to keep Jackson interested? If it weren’t so funny it would be tragic.
By spinning this out, she was asking for trouble.
She had the feeling the more she saw him, the more she’d want him.
She’d cross that bridge when she came to it. In any case, there was still the possibility he wouldn’t call her. Despite the way things had been left between them.
As if in answer to that particular question, her cell rang.
It was Jackson.
Chapter Twelve
Scarlett rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms over her head. Dealing with the mountains of admin work at the shelter was a full-time task, but at least it was Friday afternoon. She had a couple of hours before she was due at her cousin Livia’s, but she wished she was seeing Jackson instead.
Tomorrow would mark their three-week anniversary. Not that she’d mentioned that to him. It hinted at commitment, and she was starting to think he had a paranoid aversion to the idea of anything that wasn’t transparently transient.
Not that he’d ever said as much to her. It was more the way he never suggested they actually go out anywhere. They met, they had sex, they talked about unimportant crap, and then they went their separate ways.
There was no denying the clandestine nature of the affair was exciting. They took it in turns to choose which motel they’d meet at. Until she started seeing Jackson she’d never ever given a motel a second glance. And the sex was as phenomenal as their very first night together. But he had never invited her to his home, so she hadn’t invited him to hers.
She sighed and tried to refocus on her work. There was no future with Jackson. She’d gone into this with her eyes well and truly open. The only problem was, she’d been right.
I’m having fun and I’d like more.
It went deeper than just wanting him for his ripped body and talented tongue. Sometimes she had the terrible urge to confide in him—just silly things really. Nothing earth shattering. But she never did, because she wasn’t sure she could hide her hurt if his response was one of careless indifference.
The sound of male voices in the hall distracted her. The shelter was a large old house her mom had renovated almost thirty years ago, and the small room they used as an office was at the front of the property.
Is that Jackson?
Great, now she was hearing his voice. Stop thinking about him.
As if her thoughts materialized, there he was, walking past her door.
It really was Jackson.
For a second she sat there, stunned. He’d been there once before, nearly a month ago, when he’d rescued his friend Tessa and refused to leave until she was given refuge.
Scarlett hadn’t been there, of course, but the fact Jackson and the shelter’s manager knew each other from way back—plus his promise to help out for no charge if they ever needed additional security—had swayed the manager into fast-tracking the paperwork. When Scarlett had gone into work the next day, she’d heard all about it from a couple of the other volunteers. That was when she first had the idea to hire a hot bodyguard as her fake date.
She sat there for another minute or so and then couldn’t help herself. She went out into the hall and followed the sound of his voice to the living room. He was sprawled on the floor, and Tessa’s two little kids were swarming over him.
He looked completely at ease, as though he was used to the company of small children. She would never have guessed it. A small pain drove through the center of her chest as she leaned against the doorframe while Jackson talked to Tessa.
It was hardly a revelation, but the truth was, she knew so little about him. That wasn’t why the strange sense of loss cut through her, though.
Jackson clearly didn’t want her to know anything personal about him. He hadn’t even told her any more about the dojo he owned, although she’d done her own research on it and had even signed the petition protesting the redevelopment.
She was getting in too deep. If she had any sense, she’d finish things with him now, before he had the chance to break her heart.
At that precise moment, Jackson rolled over, still clutching one of the children, and his gaze clashed with hers. And in that second, she knew there was no way she was going to do the sensible thing when it came to Jackson Grayson.
…
It wasn’t often anything could literally leave Jackson speechless, but seeing Scarlett in the doorway came damn close. He remained motionless for a moment, as he took in her faded skinny jeans and sleeveless tee, and the way she’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
He’d never seen her so casual before. Whenever they met up she looked like she’d stepped off a catwalk. And he liked it. It was part of what made Scarlett Ashford so irresistible.
That classy, perfect image combined with her down to earth personality was a real turn-on.
And now she’d turned all that on its head. Even without makeup she still managed to look unbelievably hot.
“Hi.” There was an odd expression on her face, as though she’d been watching him for quite a while before he’d become aware of her.
“Hi, yourself.” He sat up, wrapping his arms around the kids as they tried to strangle him. “Didn’t expect to see you here.” Was there some charity function going on that he’d missed? She didn’t look as though she was attending a charity function. He couldn’t figure it out at all.
“How come you know Suz?” Tessa said as she pulled the kids off him.
Suz? He eyed Scarlett, not sure how he felt about the fact she used a fake name. But why had she? Which brought him back to his original question.
What the fuck is she doing here?
“Jackson and I met a few weeks ago.” Scarlett tucked her hands into her jeans pockets. She sounded as though they were mere acquaintances. He wasn’t sure why that rubbed him up the wrong way, but for some reason it did.
It wasn’t as though he wanted her to announce to one of his oldest friends they were lovers.
But just lately it had been kind of… bugging him that they never did anything more than have sex, which was stupid because that was the way he wanted things.
He stood, and shoved his own hands into his pockets. “We’re just friends,” he confirmed.
Did that make Scarlett his fuck buddy?
The possibility that was how she saw them annoyed the crap out of him. Christ. What was the matter with him? Was he coming down with something?
The skeptical look on Tessa’s face didn’t help either.
Scarlett straightened. “Well, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Catch you later.” She turned and disappeared along the hall. He was sorely tempted to follow her.
“Just friends?” There was a disbelieving note in Tessa’s voice. “You don’t get that look on your face when you’re talking to just friends, J.”
He and Tessa had known each other for more than fifteen years. They’d been great friends until she’d hooked up with some fucking loser who lost his shit if Tessa so much as glanced at another guy. The same loser who’d ended up shoving a knife in Jackson’s back.
It had taken Tessa too many years and a whole lot of courage to finally leave that jerk, and Jackson would move hell and earth to make sure she was safe. But he couldn’t find the words to tell her about Scarlett.
He changed the subject but couldn’t get Scarlett out of his mind. Finally he caved and left Tessa, pulling out his cell as he made his way to the front door. He and Scarlett were next seeing each other on Monday night, but he needed to talk to her before then.
As he passed the small front office, he stopped dead. Scarlett sat at the desk, her chin propped in her hand, gazing out of the window.
Did she work here? He couldn’t get his brain around it. Why would a socialite like Scarlett Ashford work in a women’s shelter?
When she turned toward him there was a pensive expression on her face. Then she smiled, and he wondered if he’d imagined it.
He went into the office and closed the door behind him. There were a dozen questions buzzing through his mind, but he knew exactly where to start.
“Suz?”
She leaned back in her chair. “My full name is Scarlett Suzanna. Mom always called me Suz. That’s how everyone here always knew me so it just stuck over the years.”
Over the years? How long had she been doing this? And why hadn’t he known about her middle name? The internet search he’d done on her before taking on the case had been cursory at best, and since they’d been seeing each other he hadn’t done any more digging. It didn’t feel right.
You didn’t even know her full name.
He couldn’t figure out why it was such a big deal.
“You came here with your mom?” Her mom was dead, but that was all he knew. That did come up on the initial search about her.
“Yes.”
He waited, but it appeared that was all she had to say on the matter. Irritation licked through him. Why didn’t she want to tell him anything about her personal life?
You know why.
They never shared the personal stuff. They’d laid down the ground rules right from the start, and despite it being three weeks tomorrow since they’d first spent the night together, in reality this was all just an extended one-night stand.
“Well.” There was an oddly hesitant note in Scarlett’s voice and she was giving him the weirdest look. As though she wasn’t sure he wanted to hear whatever it was she was about to say.
When had he ever not been interested in anything she’d said to him?
“Yeah?”
She took a deep breath. “My mom helped establish Rose Marie House after her dad died and my grandmother was finally free of him.”
Was she telling him her grandmother had been a victim of domestic abuse?
He knew abuse crossed all social and economic boundaries, but he’d only personally encountered it in his own neighborhood. It was hard to imagine that kind of ugliness had touched Scarlett’s family.
“Right.” As a response it was grossly inadequate, but he was still struggling to process the fact that Scarlett obviously had a whole lot more going on in her life than he’d arrogantly assumed.
She dropped her gaze, and closed her laptop. A blush stained her cheeks. He didn’t know why she was so uncomfortable. Was it because she just realized she’d given him an unintentional glimpse into her private life?
That stung.
“So you help out here sometimes?” It was stating the obvious but he didn’t know how else to get her to open up about what she did.
“Three days a week.” She looked up at him. “This is how I first heard about Graysons’—when you brought Tessa in. You see how I couldn’t explain that to you at the time?”
“Confidentiality.”
“Yes. And once a week I’m in the Rose Marie Boutique. One of the best thrift shops in LA. I have plenty of contacts and I know how to use them.”
“I bet. Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
“You never asked.”
No, he hadn’t. The fact she cared enough to roll up her sleeves and pitch in, when all he thought she did with her days was get manicures and highlights, made him feel…
I don’t know. He didn’t have the words. All he knew was that, prejudiced by her background, he’d misjudged her. How could he tell her he admired the work she did, when he couldn’t even figure out what he meant in his head?
“You’re an amazing woman, Scarlett.” Yeah, she is. The most amazing woman he’d ever met. But it didn’t cover what he really meant.
“Oh.” She smiled as though she wasn’t too sure about his comment. “Thanks. I’m not that amazing, you know.”
“Yes, you are. You don’t have to do this. But you still do.”
“Well,…” She gave an embarrassed shrug and stared at the desk. “I like being useful.”
He slid his finger beneath her chin and gently raised her face until he could gaze into those beautiful blue eyes of hers. “They’re lucky to have you.”
And so am I.
It was three days until they were supposed to get together again. He didn’t want to wait that long. In fact, he’d wanted them to hook up tonight, but Scarlett had told him she was busy all weekend. He watched her as she tidied up her desk and chewed over the thought hovering in his mind.
They never went out together in public. It was always about the sex.
Not that he was complaining. But right then he had the strangest urge to show her off to the world.
This woman is mine.
“You got time to go for a coffee?”
Chapter Thirteen
Scarlett dropped the work diary onto the floor. He bent down and picked it up and she simply watched him with disbelief on her face.
He resisted the urge to back up to the door and hit the road. He put the diary on her desk, and then shoved his hands into his pockets.
It didn’t matter if she said no.
“Uh, sure.” She pushed a stray curl behind her ear. It was clear she was uncomfortable with the idea of going out somewhere with him. Yet she hadn’t minded people seeing them together at the wedding. “You mean now?”
He thought that was obvious. “If you’re done here.”
“Yes, I’m done.” Unless he was mistaken she looked as though she was trying not to laugh. “Although this sounds dangerously like a date to me, Jackson.”
The thought didn’t paralyze him.
“Just a coffee between friends.”
“I thought you didn’t have sex with your friends.”
He didn’t. Mixing sex into the dynamic was the best way to ruin a good friendship. But where did that leave Scarlett? This—whatever it was—had lasted three weeks. He enjoyed her company even when they weren’t sharing mind-blowing orgasms.
It was a revelation. But he could live with it.
“Guess this one time I’ll make an exception.”
At the coffee shop, they found a table by the window and ordered. Scarlett sat opposite him and he hooked his foot around hers. She ran her other foot along his calf.
I want to take her back to my place. What was she doing this weekend anyway?
“Oh.” Scarlett straightened and stopped playing footsies. “I keep forgetting to tell you. My deposit was refunded into my account weeks ago. Was that the accounting error you were talking about the other week?”
He still hadn’t returned her check to her. It didn’t make sense. It was almost as though the check was a guarantee of seeing Scarlett again.
I don’t need an excuse to see her.
“No. I asked Ella to refund the deposit. Seeing how the night ended, it made me feel cheap.”
“Trust me¸ you did not come cheap.”
He leaned into her space. “I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea about me.”
She met him across the table. Any closer and their lips would touch. “And what idea is that?”
“That you could buy me for a few dollars.”
Her lips twitched. “That’s good to know.”
Their coffee arrived and he watched Scarle
tt take a sip. She closed her eyes and savored the flavor before licking her lips and giving a sigh of satisfaction.
How could she make something so ordinary look so sexy?
“How’re things going in the fight to save your dojo?”
They’d never discussed personal stuff like that before. He didn’t think she’d be interested.
“Not too bad.” Did she know who one of the leading voices in the call for the redevelopment was? “Looks like your Edward Saunders is banking on this going ahead to make his career.”
“I think we’ve established he’s not my Edward.” Scarlett’s response confirmed that she had known of Saunders’s involvement. He wasn’t sure whether that meant anything or not. “And I’d say he’s going to be disappointed in the career department then, wouldn’t you?”
“If I’ve got anything to do with it.”
“Although…” Scarlett hesitated and bit her lip. “He does have his fingers in a great many bureaucratic pies.”
He already knew that. The guy was a smarmy little shit who had been ruthlessly using the new contacts his cousin Clarissa’s marriage to an Ashford had opened up.
“I’m not worried about his sticky fingers.” It wasn’t exactly true, but he found it oddly endearing that Scarlett was concerned on his behalf. “I have contacts of my own, and I’m not afraid to use them.”
She blinked at him and then gave another one of her sexy smiles. “I bet,” she said, and then laughed.
A crazy idea hit him. “Do you want to go visit my dojo?”
…
They went in Jackson’s car. Scarlett tried to keep the grin off her face, but couldn’t help herself.
In the space of half an hour she and Jackson had shared more personal details than they had over the last three weeks. She’d taken a chance by telling him about why her mom had established the shelter, knowing she could be setting herself up for a fall. But instead he’d been interested.
And now he was taking her to see his dojo. She didn’t know why she was so excited by the thought, except for the fact it had to mean he was becoming more invested in their relationship-that-wasn’t-a-relationship.
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