As I exit my car, I wonder if he’s watching me. I glance at the mansion, picking out at least ten windows he could be standing at. I straighten up and walk up the concrete path toward the door. My head held high, I’m hoping I look confident because inside I’m a mess.
I get to the front door and find Marina waiting for me. She gives me a small smile, allowing me inside.
“I was hoping you’d be back,” she says. I’m shocked, and I don’t bother trying to hide it. “I may not be the easiest to get along with, but I do have his best interests at heart. You’re good for him, Charlotte.”
“Thanks,” I mutter. “Does he know I’m here?”
She shakes her head. “He’s in his office.”
I stand outside the huge double glass doors, trying to compose myself. For Marina to say that to me means a lot and makes me wonder if he’s been difficult to live with since I left. The thought gives me shivers.
“Are you coming in, or are you just going to stand there?”
His voice cuts through the silence, making me jump. So much for exuding confidence. I place my hand on the knob and turn, pushing the door open.
He stands next to his desk, his hands in his pockets. I ignore my pounding heart and move toward him. He looks just as good as when I last saw him. The light shadow highlighting his jaw makes me wonder whether he’s been sleeping. Maybe he’s been thinking about me. Or Brynne.
The thought of her brings me crashing back down to reality, burning my hopes of somehow being with Jaxon along with it. Is she still here? Are they together? My stomach twists. I search his face for answers and find nothing.
“How are you?” he asks. His voice is husky and full of emotion. I breathe in, the smell of his aftershave hitting me and almost knocking me off balance. God, I just want to touch him. The need to feel him close to me is overwhelming.
“I’m good,” I begin. Then I panic. What do I say? “You still owe me a story.”
That’s what I choose to lead with?
He chuckles, motioning for me to sit down.
“I have some free time now. Can I get you a drink?” I shake my head. I couldn’t stomach anything right now. He nods and walks over to his bar, pouring himself a scotch. “Well, then,” he says after downing the drink in one mouthful. “Let’s get this over with.”
Over with?
He can’t wait to be done with me.
I can’t describe the despair I feel in the pit of my stomach. That answers all my questions. Somehow I still need to get through this, or I risk looking like an idiot.
“Where shall I start?” he asks, sitting down in his chair. He leans back, crossing one leg over the other. His dark eyes lock on mine and I mourn the passion I’ll never feel again.
“The beginning.”
Chapter 29
Jaxon
“The beginning,” she says.
I smirk, watching the words tumble from her lips. I don’t give a damn about anything other than making her my own right now, but a promise is a promise. I’ll give her the story, but she’s not leaving this room until she knows the truth.
“You need to give me more direction than that, Charlotte. Didn’t they teach you that in journalism school?”
She narrows her eyes at me, obviously not liking my condescending tone.
“I didn’t think you liked direction,” she mutters, almost to herself, and I laugh. “Fine. Did you ever suspect Ryan was involved with Brynne?”
“No,” I reply. And I was stupid not to. Ryan should’ve been my first thought as soon as I realized I was being played. “I thought he’d fucked up my life enough. I didn’t realize he’d go this far.”
She shifts awkwardly. “I can’t do this, Jaxon. I don’t care about the damn story. I can’t sit here and pretend I give a shit about it anymore.” She gets to her feet. “I have to go,” she says, not meeting my eyes. “And I’m sure you want to get back to whatever—or whoever—it was you were doing.”
“Whoever I’m doing?” I repeat, amused. I can’t deny I like that I’ve gotten under her skin. Knowing that she still wants me makes it easier for me to pursue her.
“You’re known to get around,” she bites back. Her eyes narrow, and I see how serious she is. “Is Brynne still here?”
“Here?” I laugh. “What makes you think she would be staying here?” I take a step toward her. The clouds begin to lift and I realize what she’s thinking. She thinks I’m still in love with Brynne. God, does this woman have no idea what she does to me? What I feel for Charlotte outshines anything I’ve ever felt for anyone else.
I slide my hand into hers and tug her closer to me. My fingers close around her neck and I tilt her head back, forcing her to look at me. I breathe in sharply, taking in the pain and confusion in her eyes.
“I’m not in love with Brynne,” I say quietly.
“But you were,” she interjects, her tone almost accusing. “The way things ended…I know she cares about you. How can you not still feel something for her?”
“Because you came along,” I murmur. I swallow the lump in my throat and force myself to contain the emotion threatening to spill over. “Fuck, Charlotte, you drive me insane in every way. I can’t think when I’m around you, but I can’t breathe when I’m not. How can you not see that just by looking at me? I’m a fucking mess around you.”
Her jaw drops. “Are you kidding?” She laughs. “You’re impossible to read. God help anyone who ever plays poker against you. So many times I convinced myself it was all just business with you.” Her eyes drop and I feel the mood in the air shift. “I thought you’d never be able to get past what happened with your family.”
“I thought the same thing for a long, long time,” I admit.
She shifts nervously on the spot. “So, what happens now?”
“I hope you’ll reconsider leaving,” I say. I take her hand and pull her up against me.
“I can’t keep doing this, Jaxon.” She shakes her head. “I can’t share you like this. I don’t expect to change who you are, but…” Her voice trails off. I want to laugh. Does she still not realize how things are?
“Char, there’s nobody left. I told you, the girls, they’re gone.” I grip her neck softly, lifting her face to meet mine. “I haven’t been with any of them since you came along. I haven’t wanted to.”
“Really?” she whispers. My heart races as her lips touch mine. I run my fingers through her hair and kiss her again. “I’ll come back, on one condition.”
“Anything,” I agree.
She bites her lip to suppress a smile, her eyes sparkling as they narrow.
“I get to hire your next assistant.”
Chapter 30
Charlotte
“Well, I guess they were right,” I say with a grin. He raises his eyebrows, a smile spreading across his mouth as he leans over me. His lips press against mine and I smile.
“Who are they and what were they right about?” he asks.
“That you’re very hot in the bedroom,” I say, laughing.
“Really?” he chuckles. He laces his long fingers through mine and lifts my hands above my head. I laugh as he holds them in place and lowers himself, wrapping his lips around my nipple, sucking it until it hardens. “I’ll show you how hot I can be.”
Out of nowhere he produces a tie. I giggle as he covers my eyes, tightening it around the back of my head. He takes both my hands, still above my head, in his and wraps something soft around them, securing them to the bedpost.
“What are you doing?” I say with a laugh. He answers by running his hands over my body. I gasp, arching my back when they reach the tops of my thighs.
Expertly he nudges apart my legs. A shiver races down my spine as I wait, anticipating his touch. Sure enough, it comes as he slides a finger inside me. I’m already wet but his touch is incredible, and before long I’m begging him for more.
“Yes,” I whisper, my body trembling.
“Can you handle this?” he asks, slipping two
fingers inside me. I cry out, burying my face in his shoulder. “What about this?” he asks, his deep voice low and gravelly. I groan as something cold and hard touches my entrance. I’d guess it’s a vibrator, but with Jaxon you never know.
“What is that?” I gasp, pressing my thighs together.
“It’s your ticket to the best orgasm of your life,” he whispers in my ear. Without waiting for my response, he drives it inside me, switching the device on in the process. I cry out, both shocked and incredibly turned on.
In the darkness behind the blindfold, I analyze every touch, every feeling, trying to make sense of it. He thrusts the vibrator deep inside me while his tongue laps at my clit. I cry out, my words incoherent as I lose all control.
“God, yes,” I gasp, lifting my back off the mattress. My wrists pull against the restraints, the fabric burning into my skin, but I don’t care, because my only focus right now is Jaxon.
“You taste so good,” he murmurs. A rush of cool air brushes my pussy as he blows on it. I scream, pushed over the edge. Gasping, I feel my body convulse as my orgasm ripples through me. It’s so fucking intense that my body is shaking uncontrollably.
Unable to take any more, I attempt to push him away. He fights me, his tongue continuing to tease me until I’m at a breaking point, and then he falls onto the bed next to me, chuckling.
“That was…” My voice trails off and I simply sigh. He slides the blindfold from my eyes and releases my hands. Exhausted, I roll onto my side and snuggle against him.
We lie on the bed, my body curved against his, a perfect fit. He gently strokes my hair as I smile and gaze into nothingness. I enjoy this as much as I do the sex. There’s no better feeling than being in his arms.
“What are you thinking about?” he asks me, kissing my ear. I roll over and smile at him.
“Nothing. Just how much I love being with you,” I say, staring into his eyes. He reaches up and eases the hair out of my eyes. “It’s funny how things work out, isn’t it?”
“You mean us?”
I shrug. “Not just us. Everything. Brynne. Ryan…”
“You know she’s moved in with him,” he says with a smirk.
“You’re kidding,” I say with a laugh. “Why? No matter how messed up Brynne is, Ryan is a thousand times worse.”
“She said it’s just until she finds somewhere else, but I don’t care.” He lets out a laugh. “They deserve each other, if you ask me.” He shakes his head. “I’ll be happy if I never have to deal with either of them again.”
“I agree,” I admit. “But in a way, I’m glad everything happened the way it did.” I blush, realizing how insensitive that sounds. “I mean because I’ve ended up with you,” I add quickly.
“I know what you meant, Charlotte,” he chuckles. He pulls me closer, nibbling on my earlobe. “You never have to worry about any of that. For the first time in my life I think I can finally leave the past in the past.”
I smile, but feel a twinge of doubt. I hope he’s right. I hope he can move forward and leave the past behind him, but when something has consumed you for your whole life, I can’t imagine it being that easy to let go.
“I’m glad to hear it,” I mumble. As he wraps his arms around me, my heart races. I swallow, trying to ignore the sick feeling building in my stomach. It’s one thing for Jaxon to put this behind him, but what if Ryan refuses to do the same?
What if this whole mess is not over? What if it’s only just begun?
Epilogue
Charlotte
“Are you ready?” he asks me. I smile as he tilts my face up to meet his, my heart singing as he kisses me. “You’ll be amazing. I promise you that.”
I nod and take a deep breath, my hand resting on the door handle of Jaxon’s car. We sit outside the office of the New York Times, where I’m moments away from beginning my first day as a full-fledged journalist. He insisted on driving me to work for my first day. I agreed, but I’ve drawn the line at his dropping me off at the door.
I’m not about to have my boyfriend walk me to my office, no matter how influential he is.
After Ryan was arrested on murder conspiracy charges, I told Jaxon I wasn’t going to write his story. I’d gotten the only thing I cared about—him. It didn’t feel right to use that to my advantage.
Once the story broke of Ryan’s involvement in the murders of Jaxon’s family and Brynne’s disappearance, every media outlet in the world wanted a piece of him. He agreed to do a press conference, and what happened then changed my life. I watched as he stood up in front of all those cameras and announced he would be talking only to me. He also mentioned that as of that moment I was an uncontracted journalist looking for employment.
In one tiny moment my life went crazy. Suddenly I was inundated with job offers from newspapers I couldn’t have dreamed of ever working for. Everyone wanted me. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t breathe.
After much deliberation, I accepted an offer from the New York Times to work as an investigative journalist on a five-year contract. My first story would be Jaxon’s.
“I don’t understand,” Jess said when I told her. “Why wouldn’t you take a job here, where all your friends and family are? Where Jaxon is,” she added, pausing for emphasis.
“Because if Jaxon and I are meant to be, then no matter where I am we’ll survive. He’s going to visit me every weekend until he sells his company, and then he’ll start fresh in New York.”
“He’s happy to do that?” she asked, not convinced.
“It was his idea. I think more than anything he wants a fresh start.” I shrugged. “And so do I.”
“Relax,” Jaxon whispers, kissing my cheek. “If you need anything, I’m here. Go get ’em, okay?”
“Okay.” I get out of the car and straighten my new black skirt. My hands shake as I walk inside the building. I make my way over to the elevator and up to the twenty-third floor.
What if I don’t belong here?
I shake my head, refusing to let my own self-doubt ruin this for me. I’m a hell of a journalist. Regardless of how I secured this job, I can do this. I will do this.
I was born to do this.
BY MISSY JOHNSON
Breaking Noah
Resist
The Proposition (coming soon)
Spontagio Family
Code of Honor
About the Author
MISSY JOHNSON is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in a small town in Victoria, Australia, with her husband and her confused pets (a dog who thinks that she is a cat, a cat who thinks he is a dog…you get the picture). When she’s not writing, she can usually be found looking for something to read.
missycjohnson.com
Facebook.com/MissycJohnson
@MissycJohnson
The Editor’s Corner
April is a promise of spring and Loveswept romance is here to warm things up.
L. P. Dover continues her edgy, emotionally gripping Second Chances series with the story of a beautiful widow who can’t resist a chiseled NFL player in Catching Summer. The Society of Gentlemen series from K. J. Charles continues with the sizzling A Gentleman’s Position. For a new series, ladies, meet Micah, a man who takes what he wants—until he meets the one woman he needs in Stacey Kennedy’s Bound Beneath His Pain. An epic love affair steals the show in Stina Lindenblatt’s This One Moment. Annie Rains continues her small-town Hero’s Welcome series with a cowboy turned marine in Welcome Home, Cowboy. Gillian Archer is hot on the trend of MC romance, introducing her True Brothers series with Ruthless. And MC Sons of Odin returns with Violetta Rand’s irresistible novel about a sexy-as-sin biker who tempts a good girl to go bad, Possession.
Off the Hook from USA Today bestselling author Laura Drewry is the first in her Fishing for Trouble series featuring three unforgettable brothers—each of whom is a great catch. Then the swoon-worthy McKinney Brothers series from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Connor continues with J.T. in W
orth It All. USA Today bestselling author Alexis Morgan kicks off her new Sergeant Joe’s Boys series with Always for You: Jack, where a foster son learns about love and life in record time. And the new Fireside series tells a story of an old love reunited in His to Love from new Loveswept author, Stacey Lynn. USA Today bestselling writing duo M. J. Fields and Chelsea Camaron are back with the Caldwell brothers in Jagger, which is not only full of swagger and sensuality but also packs an emotional punch as the last bachelor standing fights for a woman who’s worth every ounce of trouble. And yet another Aces Hockey romance from Kelly Jamieson releases this month featuring pro hockey hunk Duncan in Icing. There’s also something naughty for you from New York Times bestselling author Jen McLaughlin in Lust Is the Thorn where a soon-to-be ordained priest has to decide who he loves more. Then prepare yourself for razor-sharp suspense from New York Times bestselling author Patricia Rosemoor with His Deception. Two words for you: secret bodyguard. And for fans of the hit TV show Empire, Lisa Marie Perry’s Sin for Me kicks off the sizzling Devil’s Music series.
Friend Loveswept and let the romance begin!
Until next month—Happy Romance!
Gina Wachtel
Associate Publisher
Read on for an excerpt from
Lust Is the Thorn
by Jen McLaughlin
Available from Loveswept
Chapter 1
Thorn
Sweat rolled into my eyes, and my muscles screamed for mercy, but I had none to give to myself, and hadn’t for years. My life was too dark, too cruel, too hard for me to be soft. Gritting my teeth, I grunted and pulled myself up again, held still, counted to five, and slowly lowered my body back down. After a deep breath, I repeated the process, exhaustion and determination intermingling in my veins until the room blurred and I suspected I might feel the delicious burn for the rest of my godforsaken life.
Resist Page 17