Avoiding Temptation

by K. A. Linde

“Just checking in mostly since we’re seven months out. She asked if we had selected a florist and said she would email me some recommendations. She asked how you were doing with picking out a dress.”

  “Ugh! Terrible. None of them are right.”

  Ramsey laughed. “I know. You told me. She said that should be your number one priority right now.”

  “It is. Chyna wants to use a custom designer, but I don’t need anything that extravagant. I’m only going to be wearing it once.”

  “That’s right you are,” Ramsey said, walking toward her and scooping her up.

  “Hey, put me down!” she cried.

  He carried her in his arms, up the stairs, and into their bedroom.

  “You are thinking way too hard about something that doesn’t concern you,” he said, tossing her lightly onto the bed.

  She giggled as she landed in the middle of the down comforter. “I’m not thinking about anything but this bed right now.” She spread out her fingers and ran them down the soft fabric.

  “Where was your mind at before I carried you up to bed?” he asked, kicking off his shoes and crawling up next to her.

  Lexi shrugged. “Nothing.”

  “Tell me.” His lips planted a kiss on her hip, and his fingers ran down her thigh.

  “It’s nothing. Really.”

  He moved farther up, kissing her side and her stomach. One arm wrapped around her waist, pressing her body against him.

  “Don’t make me tickle the answers out of you. It’s not beneath me.”

  Lexi scrunched up her nose at him and poked him in the side. “Don’t be a jerk.” She couldn’t hold back her smile.

  “Oh yeah, that’s me. I’m the biggest jerk you’ve ever met. How can you even stand me?” Ramsey asked, rolling his bright green eyes.

  “Clearly, I can’t. What are you doing in my bed anyway?”

  “Your bed?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Since when is this your bed?”

  “Oh, I don’t know? Maybe the last two years,” she said. She couldn’t keep the smirk off her face.

  “And who has been sharing this bed with you for the last two years?” His lips landed on her palm, and then slowly, tenderly, he ran kisses up her arm.

  “I might have allowed you to sleep in my bed—”

  Ramsey stopped at her shoulder and stared up at her. “As long as I’m sharing it with you, then it can be yours.”

  Lexi lazily smiled back at him. Sometimes, he was so romantic.

  “Doesn’t exempt you from telling me what you were thinking about downstairs,” he said slyly.

  She groaned. “Must you know?”

  “Must you try to evade me?”

  “Jack and Bekah are in mediation today,” she whispered, not taking her eyes from him.

  It was Ramsey’s turn to groan. He heavily rested his forehead on her shoulder. “I thought you were going to stay out of their business.”

  “Jack is my friend. He’s always been there for me when I needed him. I feel like a bad friend if I’m not there for him now,” she said, trying to explain but knowing it was futile.

  “I know things between you and Jack have changed and that you’re his friend. I know all of that. I’ve been really damn accepting of it all, considering your past…”

  Lexi cringed. That was one of the moments she felt like she was dying from her mistakes rather than living with them.

  “The last thing I want is for you to get tangled up in this,” he said, squeezing her hand. “You understand, right?”

  Lexi shrugged and stared up at the ceiling. From her perspective, she was already tangled up in what was going on. She was always tangled up in something with Jack, and this was no different. It wasn’t like she had taken his case on or anything. She was just being the supportive friend he needed. She didn’t think it was asking too much.

  “Why do you have to be involved with this? Make me see your point,” he said.

  He could probably see her shutting down and closing off. She had never liked being told what to do.

  Lexi observed the motion of the fan for a few seconds before responding. “I’m not sure what to say that I haven’t said before. I’ve known Jack since I was eighteen years old. Yes, our relationship has changed since that point, and it should. We’re older, and we’ve grown up. Sometimes, I really hated him, and sometimes, I really loved him. It was hot and cold—no, burning and freezing. It was two extremes that I thought we would never be able to control, never be able to figure out. Instead, we just crashed into catastrophe over and over again,” Lexi explained.

  She wanted to say so much more, but she didn’t know how to explain something that hardly made sense to her.

  “When he married your sister, that was the end for me. I was just over everything. I didn’t even want to be me anymore.”

  “I remember how it was,” Ramsey responded.

  Lexi smiled softly. “I was an ass to Jack at the D-Bags concert. But he said something that night that he has actually held to the past two years. He told me that all he wanted was for me to be happy. Against my better judgment, I let him try to be my friend. It’s hard to let go of someone who has always been there,” she whispered.

  She rolled over on the bed to face Ramsey, and something in his expression told her that he understood that much at least.

  “The divorce is the culmination of every terrible thing Jack could ever think. This is probably his biggest fear. Bekah is destroying him, and he doesn’t have anyone.”

  “But he did that to himself,” Ramsey reminded her.

  “Probably true.” She would give him that.

  “How would you feel if this were Parker?”

  Lexi held her breath. She knew exactly how she would feel. “You want to bring Parker into this?” she asked.

  “I’m just using her as an example.”

  “If I can adjust to you spending every day with her, then you should certainly be okay with me being there for Jack when he’s going through something pretty traumatic,” Lexi said quickly.

  “Okay, Lexi,” he said, stroking her hair back off her face. “I’m not trying to fight with you. I’m trying to understand. I wouldn’t tell you not to be friends with Jack. Only that the same rule applies from the beginning.”

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “If he touches you, I’ll kill him.”

  Lexi laughed and buried her head in his chest. “I think you’re safe.”

  A few hours later, Lexi found herself driving up in front of Jack’s apartment on the outskirts of Buckhead. The fact he considered this a step down was a bit ridiculous. The complex was by no means a dump. She had lived in much, much worse in New York. Then again, she had been a student, not an executive at a huge conglomerate.

  Lexi had never been to the house that Jack had shared with Bekah. She hadn’t been able to do it. For all she knew, it had been a mansion. So, compared to that, this place was probably a dump. Either way, Jack was now paying rent on a one-bedroom apartment and half of the mortgage for the house they had purchased. The place couldn’t be that spectacular if he had to pay double…or his Bridges salary was that extravagant. She wasn’t sure which was the case.

  She pulled into a spot a few doors down from the entrance to his building. Her hands were shaking.

  “Shit!” she grumbled.

  She swiped her hands on her jeans a few times, trying to see if that helped anything. She didn’t know why they were even shaking. It didn’t make sense.

  After such a nice afternoon, locked away in the bedroom with Ramsey, she felt weird coming over to Jack’s place. Ramsey knew that they were meeting up. Since they had talked about how she felt about being there for Jack, Ramsey hadn’t pushed the subject when she said she was meeting him. Still…

  Ugh! She needed to stop her brain from overanalyzing. It was just Jack. Nothing had happened between them in over two years, and nothing was going to happen with him today. It shouldn’t matter that she was at his place rather
than meeting him at a restaurant. She was psyching herself out for nothing.

  Lexi exited her car and then walked into the apartment complex. A blonde attendant was seated behind the desk, typing away on her cell phone. She didn’t even look up when Lexi walked in, which was fine by her. Walking up to the elevator, Lexi pressed the button, and as soon as it dinged on the bottom floor, the attendant looked up.

  “Can I help you?” she asked, still typing on her phone.

  “Nope. Thanks though.”

  “We’re supposed to clear visitors.”

  Lexi shrugged. “I’m here for Jack Howard, apartment number six fifty-two.”

  “Oh, Jack!” she said with a big smile. “Tell him I said hi!”

  Lexi fought rolling her eyes. Jack had only lived here a couple of days, and already, the attendant knew who he was. Typical.

  “Will do,” Lexi said, stepping into the elevator and letting the doors close between her and the blonde bimbo.

  Some things never ceased to amaze her.

  Jack’s new place was near the elevators, so it was a quick walk to his front door. She remembered standing on the threshold of his apartment, debating whether or not coming to Atlanta to meet his girlfriend was a good idea. So much had changed since then.

  Lexi rapped lightly on the door and waited for Jack to answer. She heard feet pattering as he jogged toward the door. It cracked open, and Jack appeared, smiling brightly at her. It was one of those gut-wrenching, take-your-breath-away smiles. His bright blue eyes lit up as he reached out and gripped the doorframe.

  “You made it,” he said. He gestured for her to come in.

  “Yeah.” She walked forward into the apartment. “It was easy to find.”

  “That’s good. No trouble getting upstairs or anything? Some of the attendants aren’t accommodating.”

  “No trouble, but the girl downstairs wanted me to tell you hi!” she said, mimicking the girl’s voice. “Nondescript blonde attached to her phone.”

  “Ah,” he said, “I think that’s Heidi.”

  “She seemed pretty happy when I mentioned you,” Lexi said, arching an accusatory eyebrow.

  Jack slammed the door shut roughly. “I don’t think I can hear anyone else accuse me of cheating tonight, or I might snap and literally fuck the first person I see.” He stared at Lexi pointedly.

  “I, uh…yeah,” she stammered, trying to find the right words without blushing furiously at that look. She had seen it a million times, and it was not helping. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Of course it’s not,” Jack replied sarcastically.

  “Did the mediation go so poorly?”

  Jack laughed disdainfully. “I’ll let you tell me.”

  She followed him into the living room where an open bottle of Jack Daniels and a half-empty glass rested on a beat-up coffee table. “That good, huh?”

  “It’s only drink number three. Think I can finish the bottle?”

  “What happened?” she asked, taking the opportunity to look around his apartment.

  It was sparsely decorated, to say the least. He had an old couch sitting behind the coffee table and a flat screen TV hooked up to the opposite wall. She wondered if all this stuff had been in storage or if someone had loaned it to him. There wasn’t anything on the walls—no pictures, no old record albums, nothing. Besides the Jack Daniels, there wasn’t anything really visible. It was more depressing than when a typical freshly moved in apartment because there weren’t even any boxes around. All of his stuff must have still been at the house.

  “Everything you said would happen. Her lawyer spent half the time talking over the mediator, trying to get me to admit that I cheated on her while we were married. She kept baiting me, playing the victim. We accomplished nothing, and then after hours of trying to get something done, Bekah said she didn’t want to continue mediation, and it wasn’t helpful. So, we’re filing for a court date anyway,” Jack said.

  Lexi hated to tell him that she told him so. Probably not the best thing in this situation.

  “Well, at least, the alcohol is cheering you up,” she said softly.

  “No. You’re the first good thing I’ve seen since I left.”

  He stared back at her from across the room, and she could feel the tension crackle between them. Not good. She needed to redirect and quickly.

  “Are you sure you’ve only had three drinks?” she asked. She picked up the bottle and looked at how much was left.

  “You want to pour me another?” He sank into the couch and ruffled his dark brown hair, which had grown out past where he normally got a haircut for Bridges.

  She liked it better a little longer.

  “I don’t think you need one right now.”

  “I guess I still have some of this one,” he said, picking up the glass and tipping the rest of the whiskey down the back of his throat. He slammed the glass back on the table and smiled up at Lexi. He patted the cushion next to him. “Come take a seat, Lex.”

  “Where did you get all this stuff?” she asked, trying to be casual as she sank down into the cushion.

  “Seth,” Jack said with a shrug. “Sandy insisted that I take the stuff from their basement since they weren’t really using it. It’s not the best, but who the hell am I kidding? Everything else has gone to shit. Why would I need nice things? Next thing I know, someone is going to ram into my BMW tomorrow on the way to work.”

  “Jack,” she whispered before swallowing hard. It was so difficult to sit here and listen to his pain. She wanted to help him and make it better. She wished there were a way for that to be possible.

  “It’s all right. I’ll bounce back. I always do,” he said nonchalantly.

  “You do,” she agreed. She bit her lip and kept her eyes trained forward.

  “At least I still have you,” he murmured, resting his arms across the back of the couch.

  She turned to look at him, surprised by the statement. “Uh…we’re friends.”

  “That’s right,” he said with that killer smirk. “We’re friends.”

  “Jack, don’t even try this with me right now,” Lexi said, shaking her head. “You can’t act like you want to be with me all of a sudden.”

  She couldn’t believe she had gotten the words out when he was looking at her like that, but she knew that she had to say something. She had to stop it.

  “I’m not acting like that.”

  Lexi shook her head. She didn’t believe him.

  “Trying to be your friend is the not the same as trying to be with you, Lex.”

  “I know,” she said softly.

  “It’s trying to be with you however I can.”

  Lexi’s mouth literally dropped open at that statement. Well, damn, wasn’t the alcohol talking tonight?

  She quickly stood in disbelief. What the hell was Jack thinking? He was still married. She was engaged. After all of this time, he was just going to try to lay this on her now…when he was desperate and in the middle of divorce proceedings with the Bitch he should have never married.

  “I think I should go.”

  “Wait…” Jack stood uneasily on his feet. “Fuck! I didn’t mean to piss you off, Lex.”

  “I’m not pissed-off.”

  “You look pissed-off. And really, it’s fucking sexy on you, but I honestly didn’t mean to,” he said, running his hand back through his hair again.

  “It’s okay, Jack. I just think with you, um,” she said, eyeing him up and down, “a little drunk that it might not be the best idea for me to be here. Ramsey is waiting for me at home. He knows where I am. He trusts me.”

  “That’s good. He should.”

  “But I don’t trust myself around you, like this,” she admitted. “So, I think it’s best if I just…leave.”

  “All right. I guess you should go then,” he said.

  He stared straight at her in a way that made her wish she could stay.

  Jack unnerved her like no one else ever had. He made her walls crumble
and her heart melt, but at the moment, she was closer to a panic attack.

  He walked her to the door, following behind her. She put her hand on the doorknob to exit, and his hand came down and covered hers. She turned back to stare at him, to tell him to let her go, but she got one look in those blue eyes and was struck silent, transfixed in that gaze.

  Jack was so close, no more than six inches from her body. His hand was warm where it covered hers, and she could feel the heat radiating off him. He smelled like sex with a hint of whiskey. It was a combination she had grown used to in college, and it made her senses buzz. He looked so much like her Jack in that moment, and she knew she needed to get out of that apartment right now.

  “You know what?” Jack asked, leaning forward over her, nearly closing the gap between them.

  His breath was hot on her face, and she wasn’t even sure if she was even breathing. His hand reached forward and brushed a lock of curly brown hair behind her ear.

  “Wha-what?” she stammered.

  She tried not to flinch as his hand caressed her ear before retreating.

  “You shouldn’t talk to me anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” she whispered.

  God, he was so close. If he moved any closer, his lips would be on her. And there was nowhere for her to go.

  “You shouldn’t be around me anymore. You shouldn’t want to, Lex. Because all I see when I look at you is the woman I love, the woman I want to take home with me, the woman who I’ve spent damn near ten years messing things up with. And you should stay away because I know I’d do it all over again.”

  The sexual harassment charges never made it to court.

  Lexi hadn’t breathed easily during the month and a half it took to schedule a paternity test and get the results back. It usually only took a week to find out who the father was, but Elisa had kept dodging them at every move. She had always had an excuse, whether it was conflicting schedules or her just bitching about how the paternity test wasn’t necessary because she just knew that Ramsey was the father.

  After they threatened to sue her for defamation of character, Elisa had somehow managed to miraculously get the DNA swabs that they needed for the testing.