“Hey, hon. Glad to see you’re back.”
Gabi turned to see Curtis Manning gazing down at her from his towering height. His handsome face was hard, his blue eyes chips of ice, his surprisingly full mouth set in a line, his massive arms crossed over his impressive chest. The man was nothing less than scary-as-fuck and that made him the ideal bouncer for Curves, but he was a nice guy under it all, Gabi knew. She also knew that he had a serious thing for Tessa and that made him the perfect target for her worry and anger.
“Can I talk to you?” she hissed at him. “Alone? Now?”
Startled, he stared at her. “Uh, yeah. What’s up?”
“Not here,” she said as Tessa passed them to go to the bar; Gabi noticed that she pointedly ignored Curtis. Kenleigh and Morgan emerged from the staff room and Gabi gestured at the door. “In there.”
Curtis held the door for her, shut it behind them. Then he leaned against it and nailed her to the spot with those hard eyes.
“I know what you’re pissed off about,” he said, his voice its usual gravel. “Tessa, right?”
“Exactly right!” Gabi burst out. “Fuck, Curtis… how have you not noticed what’s going on with her?”
“Who says I haven’t noticed?” he asked.
She paused. “OK. And?”
“And.” He shrugged his huge shoulders. “She told me to mind my own fucking business.”
“She – she did? That doesn’t sound like Tessa.”
“I know.”
“What did you say to her to get that kind of reaction?”
“I brought her a sandwich one night,” Curtis said slowly. “She flat-out refused to eat it, though. Said that she wasn’t eating bread or pasta or fruit.”
Gabi’s gut clenched. “Dammit.”
“So then I told her that she was losing too much weight too fast and she freaked out at me. Said that I had no goddamn business telling her how to live her life, and that I should keep my pervy eyes to myself.”
“Oh, God.”
“Yeah. So I said that I was worried about her not taking care of herself and she told me that she was fine and that Kevin was taking good care of her. Said that I was to mind my own fucking business and to stay the hell away from her.” Curtis sighed. “And she hasn’t said a word to me since. Leaves the room when I walk in, turns her back on me when I’m bouncing in the bar. Fuck, she won’t even look at me.”
“Shit.” Gabi bit her lip. “Have you said anything to anyone else? Maybe Kenleigh?”
“Sure I have. And she and Morgan both stared at me like I was crazy. They said that pretty much every woman on the planet wants to lose weight and trade in their body for a hotter, thinner model. Morgan laughed and told me that she’s been on a diet since she was thirteen years old.”
Gabi grimaced. “Well, I can’t argue with them, sorry to say. For most women, life is a perma-diet and constant worrying about their thighs and ass and getting in to a bikini.”
“I know it, hon. The other problem is that Tessa isn’t anorexic-looking, you know what I mean? She’s losing weight way too fast and she’s being unhealthy about it, but she’s still a pretty healthy weight. She still looks fine.”
“But she’s not fine.”
“No. She’s not. Not even close.”
They looked at each other.
“You’ll talk to her?” Curtis said quietly. “You’ll try?”
“Of course I will.” Gabi reached out and touched his muscled forearm. “I promise.”
He heaved a sigh of relief now, ran his rough hands through his cropped dirty-blond hair. “Thanks, Gabi.”
“I don’t know how much good it’ll do, though, not while she’s still with Kevin. He’s a big part of the problem, you know.”
His face hardened again. “Yeah, I know. I think he’s pushing her to lose weight.”
“It’s more than that. Tessa told me that he’s actually helping her with her diet.”
Curtis narrowed his eyes. “What’s that mean?”
“I don’t know… but I’m going to find out.”
“OK.” Curtis thought about the one and only time that he’d held Tessa close to his body, how her soft, lush curves had felt against his uncompromising, hard planes. God, he still dreamt about those few minutes at night, still woke up aching with a deep, fierce want to hold her in his arms again. Her body had been perfect to him – she’d been perfect. The fact that she didn’t see herself as beautiful confounded him, utterly and absolutely. “And if you need some back-up, you just ask.”
“I will.” Gabi glanced at her watch. “Oh, man. I’d better get to work.”
“Me too.” Curtis opened the door for her. “Gabi?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really happy you’re doing better, hon.”
She smiled at him now, a shining, stunning smile. “Thanks, Curtis. Me too.”
Chapter Eleven
Sarah closed her laptop with a sigh of happiness. The Christmas ad campaign for Joe Carlisle’s new restaurant was finally finished and she was thrilled with her work on it. It felt so damn good to be earning her own money again after almost a year of depending on Jax to pay her way.
She knew he didn’t mind, not at all; she also knew that she shouldn’t mind. After all, it’s not like Sarah had been a gold-digger living off her impossibly rich boyfriend. She hadn’t filled her days with sleeping late and shopping and getting her hair done. She hadn’t stopped working out of laziness – she hadn’t even stopped by choice.
No, her days had been spent re-learning how to walk, and trying to retrieve memories of her life before her ex-boyfriend had beaten her in to a coma, and scrambling to recall how the hell to use her design programs to run her own business. Besides all of that, she’d been there for her mother and brother as much as she could. Jax was helping Annie with some bills and that was awesome and meant that her Mom could work less hours at the diner; Jax had also taken Sarah’s twin brother Noah under his wing. Noah was autistic and could be challenging to handle, but he and Jax had developed a surprisingly and touchingly close relationship.
There were a million reasons to love Jax, but how he treated Noah was way up there. Seeing her tough, hard boyfriend be so gentle and patient with her brother melted Sarah’s heart every single time. It made her fall in love with Jax, over and over again.
“Hey, Red.” Jax wandered in to her office now. “All done?”
“Hey,” she responded. “Yeah, I just sent Joe the last ad now. Now I wait for final approval and I get to send my first really big invoice in ages.”
“Congrats, Sarah. You busted your sweet ass on this, I know.”
“I did.” She stretched a bit and Jax’s dark green eyes zeroed in on the way her t-shirt tightened across her full breasts. “It feels amazing to be back at work.”
“I bet.” He tipped his head to the side and gave her that slow, sexy grin that made her knees go weak. “So… what are you doing right now?”
“You mean right this minute?”
“Uh-huh.”
She stared over at Jax. His dark hair was a bit messy, the muscles of his strong upper body were visible under the tight black t-shirt. The man was nothing less than mouth-wateringly gorgeous, with those tattoos the full length of his arms and his amazing chest begging for her touch. She smiled.
“I’m looking at you, Stud,” she said.
“You like what you see?”
“Sure I do. But I’d like it better if you weren’t wearing any clothes.”
“I feel the same way about you, baby.” Jax’s large body was tense with desire and nerves. “I want you naked and in the pool in two minutes. We clear?”
“You’re awfully bossy tonight,” she said. “All pushy and alpha and tough-guy.”
“You’re damn right I am,” he growled. “Now get that luscious body in to the pool or I�
�ll have to do it myself.”
“Yes, sir,” she murmured, though she kind of liked the idea of Jax stripping off her clothes and throwing her in to the water. “I’ll be there in two minutes.”
“One minute,” he said. “You’ve wasted time being snarky.”
She stood up and at the same time, pulled her t-shirt over her head and dropped it on the floor. Jax’s eyes went dark with lust when he saw her curvy body clad only in faded jeans and a black bra. Her red curls spilled over her creamy shoulders, wild and warm. She was just the most incredible thing he’d ever seen or touched and most days, Jax still couldn’t understand just what the hell she was doing with an uneducated ex-con like him. He knew that he’d never stop being grateful for her being in his life; he only hoped that she felt the same way about him.
He held out his large hand to her and she took it. They walked up the stairs together, through the kitchen and out the sliding glass door to the back patio, shedding their clothes the whole way, leaving them strewn around the house. By the time they got to the pool, they were both naked and all over each other.
Sarah gasped when Jax picked her up and carried her down the pool steps. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him, her hands running over his broad back. His erect cock pushed in to her soft stomach and she shamelessly lifted her hips to rub the tip against her clit. Jax groaned and kissed her over and over, his hands on either side of her face.
“Sarah.” He forced himself to pull back. “Hang on a sec.”
“Why?” Her blue eyes were smoky with lust. “You know we don’t need to use condoms anymore. We decided that, right?” She was on the pill and they’d been rigorously tested over the past three months; everything had come back clean and they’d discussed making love without condoms. Tonight would be the first time that they’d do that – and Sarah was so, so ready to take Jax without anything between them.
“Yeah, I know.” Jax took a deep breath and sat down on one of the small seats attached to the pool wall, Sarah curled up on his lap. “It’s not about that.”
“Oh.” She leaned back a bit to see his face better. “So what’s it about?”
Jax reached behind him, moved one of the fluffy towels on the deck. He picked up the box that he’d hidden there and flicked it open with his thumb. “It’s about this, baby.”
Sarah looked down at the ring. Unable to stop herself, she gasped and raised her hands to her mouth. “Jax…”
“You amazing, strong, gorgeous woman.” He lifted her chin to stare in to her shining eyes. “Will you? Will you marry me?”
She swallowed. “I – I… oh, God, Jax. Are you sure that you want to marry me?”
“Am I sure?” he said, astounded that she’d even ask the question. “Fuck, baby, I’ve never been more sure of anything or anyone in the whole of my life. I love you. I want you and I want you forever. I want you to be my wife – to be mine.”
Sarah's eyes filled with tears. “I love you too… you just don’t know how much.”
“So say yes, doll.” He wiped her tears tenderly, his hands lingering on her soft skin. “Say yes to me.”
“Yes,” she said. “God, yes.”
She watched as he took the ring from the box, slipped it on to her finger. She held up her hand to catch the light from the kitchen above and she smiled. She wasn’t at all surprised that Jax had decided to go traditional, opting for diamonds and gold. Sarah knew that under his bad-ass tattoos and scowling exterior, this former bed-hopping commitment-phobe was, actually, firmly old-school about some things. Sarah was sure that he was going to want a church wedding and that he’d show up in a suit. Maybe he’d even brush his hair.
“It’s beautiful,” Sarah said softly. “It’s so beautiful, Jax.”
“Yeah? You really think so?”
She heard something in his voice and she looked up at him.
“Jax?”
“It’s just – it’s not too much?” he said.
Sarah had rarely seen him uncertain or insecure, and she blinked in surprise.
“Too much?” she said.
“Yeah.” He lifted her ringed hand to his lips, kissed her fingertips. “Not too flashy? I know you ain’t that kind of girl, Red.”
“Oh. No.” She shook her head, loving him all over again. “It’s perfect, babe, I promise you. I love it.”
“So you don’t think it’s ostentatious?”
She giggled both at his serious expression and at the oddly unlike-Jax word that he’d just used. “I think it’s the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever had on my body.”
Jax suddenly found that he could breathe again and he gave her his smart-ass grin. “The most gorgeous thing except for me, of course.”
“I thought that went without saying.”
“Doll, when we’re talking about me pressed up against your amazing body? It never goes without saying.”
“So.” She looked up at him. “You want to be pressed up against me tonight? Right now?”
“Hell, yes.” He ran his hand down the front of her body, stroked between her legs. “Against you, on you, all around you.” His finger slid inside her pussy and she arched to take it deeper. “In you.”
“What are you waiting for?” she whispered. “Love me, Jax.”
So he did, over and over, until they both fell in to a deep, exhausted sleep, Sarah held in Jax’s arms, her hair spread over his chest like a shimmering waterfall. And when they woke up the next morning, they looked at Sarah’s finger and smiled, loving and wanting the promise that they’d made to each other.
“I love you, baby,” he said. “You’re going to make me the happiest man on the planet.”
She smiled wider and kissed him. “And do you know who’ll be a close second?”
“Who?” He propped himself up on one strong arm, staring down at her sweet face.
“Noah.”
Jax laughed. “You think he’ll be happy for us?”
Sarah thought about her brother’s adoration of Jax. The idea that soon Noah would be able to call him his ‘brother-in-law’ almost brought tears to her eyes.
“Oh, yeah.” She traced his lips gently. “So when shall we tell him and Mom?”
“Let’s invite them to dinner this weekend.”
“And Megan?” Sarah said. “Her too, right?”
“Of course.” Jax knew that his younger sister was going to be beside herself with delight: she thought the world of Sarah. “Maybe we can invite Annie and Noah to the restaurant that Megan manages? Have dinner and then break the news to everyone over dessert?”
“Perfect,” she said, happier than she ever thought she could or would be. “Everything’s just perfect.”
Chapter Twelve
“Everything’s just perfect,” King said to Mac, Aidan and Jax the next night at Curves. “Everything’s under control.”
The other men looked at him silently, waiting for any details that King might choose to disclose. Not that they really expected him to: he’d been secretive and tight-lipped for weeks now. They knew that he and his team had been working on something to do with the Fallen Angels, but they had no idea what. Whenever they asked, King had simply told them that the less they knew, the better and safer it was for them.
So it was a huge surprise when King drank some beer and then said, “We’ve put together a plan and Mac, it involves you and Mirrie and Spider.”
Right away, alarm bells started going off in Mac’s head. “Involves us how?”
“I want you to force their hands.”
“Whose hands?” Jax said. “The MC?”
“Yeah.” King’s gray eyes were hard. “I want you to be bait.”
Stunned, they all stared at King again. It wasn’t like him to put anyone in the line of fire, and the fact that he was openly asking for that to happen was shocking.
�
��I’m fine being bait,” Mac said. “But no fucking way I’m letting Mirrie or Spider anywhere near those assholes and I can’t believe you’d even fucking suggest it to me. You high, man, or did you just lose a few dozen IQ points?”
“You gonna listen?” King grated out, his voice hard and dark. “Or you just gonna insult me?”
“Can’t I do both?” Mac said.
The tension between them broke now and King grinned. “Yeah, I bet you can, no problem.”
“OK, guys, come on. In to my office,” Jax said with a quick look around at the packed bar. “No way we’re talking about any of this out here.”
The others nodded and followed Jax down the hall. Once inside the office with the door closed, Mac sighed.
“Alright, man,” he said to King. “Lay it on me.”
“I want Trigger and Ace to know that you and Mirrie are back together,” King said in his usual no-bullshit manner. “In fact, I want to make sure they know about it.”
Mac’s brow furrowed. “Uh, OK. Why, exactly?”
“Because then Trigger will freak out and Ace will have to protect himself.”
Mac, Jax and Aidan waited, but King seemed to be finished speaking.
“Uh, OK,” Mac again. “But what will that accomplish, exactly?”
“If Jack is right? Ace will turn on Trigger.” King narrowed his eyes. “And Jack is always right.”
The other men were silent again, thinking about that. Jackson Taylor was King’s number one profiler and the man was so damn good at studying people’s facial and body cues, he was practically a mind-reader.
They knew that Jack would have spent the past three weeks delving in to Trigger and Ace’s psyches and playing out endless scenarios based on educated assumptions of their behaviors and reactions. They were also sure that King would have given Jack a desired outcome and asked him to essentially play a game of chess in reverse. It was classic manipulation: Jack would have figured out what situations to put Trigger and Ace in, and in what order, for the two men to end up exactly where King wanted them.
“So that’s the endgame?” Aidan said. “To have Trigger and Ace at each other’s throats? Not trusting each other?”
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