Obsessed: Part Two (2 page)

The weak knock at the door rustles me from my dream. I sit up straight and realize I'd fallen asleep on the couch after getting back from the restaurant. I'm still wearing the stained dress and now that it's wrinkled I couldn't look worse for the wear. I'm a sight but seeing Mrs. Adams will give me a boost.

I flinch as my bare feet hit the chilled hardwood. I forgot to close the windows when the sun started to set. The rain today had caused the temperature to dip and now I'm feeling the remnants of that in the air.

The knock is repeated just as I pull open the door. "I fell asleep, Mrs. Adams…" My voice fades as I realize it's Jax standing in the entranceway. Time freezes. I stare at him.

"I didn't mean to wake you." His voice is smooth. The tone is warm. "I wanted to drop this off." A gray garment bag floats into view. I feel as though I'm still caught in the dream. I was dreaming of him, wasn't I? Of his arms around me.

"What are you doing here?" My eyes scan the hallway behind him. "How did you get up here?"

He takes a step towards me and I retreat. He uses the opportunity to slide past me into the room. "The doorman remembered that we worked together. I told him I was your assistant and I had a delivery."

"You can't be here." I don't want this. I don't need this right now. "I want you to go."

"Give me two minutes." He motions towards the living room. "I have something for you."

I shake my head in earnest. "Why?"

"Two minutes." He holds two fingers in the air and throws a grin in my direction.

I hesitate before I allow the doorknob to slip through my fingers. I know this is a mistake but I don't have the emotional tenacity right now to argue with him. "What is it, Jax?"

"It's taken the last few hours but I found one." He flips around so his back is facing me. I hear the sharp pull of the zipper of the bag.

"Found one of what?" I take a step in his direction wondering what he's going to pull out of that bag. My sleepiness mixed with anger is making me anxious. I feel like someone who has been reluctantly pulled onstage to become the unwilling assistant of an overly zealous, inexperienced magician.

"This." There's a wave of fabric in the air but in the dim light of my apartment I can't make out what it is. I take a step closer.

"I found it in Philadelphia. They rushed it to me." He's exuberant.

I stare at the fabric. It's the same color as the dress I'm wearing. "That's my dress," I whisper.

"No." A wide grin covers his face. "Your dress looks like hell. This dress is perfect." He pushes it towards me.

I reach for it. I run my fingers over the fabric. It's the very same dress I'm wearing. I found it in a small boutique years ago. How could he have found a replacement in mere hours? How? "How did you find this?" I whisper under my breath.

"It's not important." He shoves his hands into the pockets of his slacks. "I ruined the one you're wearing. It looked so beautiful on you."

I look up at his face. In this moment, in this light he looks vulnerable and kind. The gesture was overwhelming and sweet. How can one man have so many complicated parts to him? "Thank you but I can't accept it."

The pained expression that washes over his face is palpable. "Why not?"

"I don't want anything from you." I place the dress down on the couch next to the garment bag. I smooth my hands over the dress I'm wearing wishing I had changed when I got home. I feel exposed in this dress. Back at the restaurant he knew the profound effect that his touch had on me. He still knows. He'll always know.

He steps towards me and I instinctively retreat. My hand jumps up in reflex. I don't want him to touch him. I can't promise myself I'll resist him despite everything I've learned about him the past few days.

"Are you scared of me?" I see the confusion on his face.

"Not scared." I tremble from the chill in the room. "Confused."

"It's freezing in here." He slides his suit jacket off. Before I can protest he's moved closer and is wrapping it around my shoulders. His hands tenderly rub my arms through the dense fabric.

I stare at his face. "Why?"

"You left the windows open." He looks past me down the hallway. "I should close them for you."

As he starts to pull away, I greedily grab his shirt to hold him in place. "No. Why did you lie?" I know I'm about to cry and I don't care. I need to know. My body is craving the truth.

"It's so complicated, beautiful."

"I need to know. Please." I know I'm pleading and I'm shameless. I haven't slept in days. I have to understand what happened. Why he went to such great lengths to manipulate me.

"When you walked into the restaurant today I melted inside." He pulls his finger across my jaw and I flinch. His touch is magnetic, even now.

"You used me." I toss the words at him. "You used me to get those shares away from Mark."

He studies my face before he responds, "I admit I wanted Mark to pay for what he did."

"For taking the business away from your father?" I ask.

His brow furrows momentarily and he hesitates. He pulls in a deep breath and looks down at the floor. "Yes," he says, his voice is barely more than a whisper.

"So I was just a pawn? A means to an end?" I pull back harshly from his grasp. I shrug the jacket off my body and it tumbles to the floor.

"No. Absolutely not." He stares directly into me. "I've wanted you since the night that picture was taken."

"What picture?" My emotions are quickly racing to the surface.

"The one you brought to my office."

"The one where you were creeping in the background?" The question flies from my lips like a skewer pointed right at him.

"I remember everything about that night. I remember the first moment I saw you." He reaches behind him as if to steady his balance. His hand fumbles for assurance as it finds the edge of the couch and he lowers himself onto it.

I follow his lead and sit in the chair across from him. I don't speak.

"You were wearing a black gown and your hair was falling down your back. I walked up behind you as soon as I saw you. The fragrance of your skin was intoxicating. I was reaching for your shoulder. I wanted so badly to talk to you. I couldn't breathe being that close to you and then…" his voice trails as he looks down and fumbles with his fingers.

"I don't remember seeing you," I say it softly not wanting to interrupt his thoughts.

"You were so focused on him. He walked in and you went to him." He shakes his head as if to erase the image.

"Yes." I manage to say. I remember that night vividly. Mark and I had spent the afternoon looking at venues for our wedding reception. I had been floating on cloud nine that entire day and the gala was the icing on the proverbial happiness cake.

"That's when I saw it." His tone shifts. There's a sliver of anger edging it now.

"Saw what?"

"You kissed him. You put your hand to his face and there it was. That ring. The ring and I knew."  His voice cracks. "I knew you belonged to him."

"We were engaged then." I offer although it's a fact that I'd rather forget.

He stands and walks towards the window. I watch as he silently closes it, latching the lock into place. "I went back to Los Angeles. I couldn't understand how someone like him could get a woman like you."

"Someone like him?" I prompt.

"Mark does unspeakable things." He clenches his fist and raises it slightly as if he's ready to punch the window. "He's evil. You're an angel. You never belonged with him."

"Brighton told me about your father. I didn't make the connection until I was in Mark's office." I offer. "You should have told me you were Tom Walker's son."

"I was testing you." He turns so he's facing me again.

"Testing me?" I chuckle as I say the words. "Testing me how?"

"Mark has done things. Things that he'd tell you are in the name of business. Things that damaged people I cared for." His eyes darken as he continues, "I had to know whether you knew who I really was or not."

"You don't think I would have told you right away if I had any clue you were Mark's business partner?" I sneer.

"Mark knew I wanted you, Ivy." He walks towards me stopping just short of where I'm standing. "He used your shares to manipulate me."

"So that gave you permission to manipulate me?" I poke my index finger into his chest.

He captures my hand in his, holding it firmly. "No, there's no excuse for that."

"How did he manipulate you?" I ask losing confidence in my ability to be objective. I try to pull my hand from his but he only squeezes it together.

He looks down briefly before answering. "He used the guilt I felt over my father to give him free reign with the business. He drove it into the ground before I even realized what was happening."

"What guilt?" Again I jerk my hand but his thumb begins to softly caress my palm. "What happened with your father?"

"I was a horrible son." His bottom lip trembles and for a fleeting moment I think I see tears well in his eyes. "I was everything he didn't want me to be."

I nod in silence knowing that exact feeling. My father's disappointment in me is echoed in the pain I see in Jax's eyes.

"When he died I vowed to change that." He pulls my hand to his face and lightly runs his lips across it. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was. I was worried you were still tied to Mark and he was using you to entice me."

I jerk my hand away in one quick movement. "You knew I wasn't part of Mark's world anymore.  You knew when I told you about the others he had slept with."

"Everyone knew he was cheating on you, Ivy." He runs his hand through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead. "Some women are okay with that."

"Okay with being cheated on?" I raise my eyebrow. "Who in their right mind would be okay with that?"

"Women who don't want to give up what they have for their pride."

"I'm not like that," I say the words with determination. "I just want to be free of Mark."

"I'm giving you the chance to have that." His voice is low and determined. "Just take my offer and you can have your freedom."

"I don't think so." I shake my head slightly. "Then I'm tied to you."

"In what sense?" He stills and stares directly at me. "How would we be tied together?"

I feel flush at the sudden realization that I've once again blurred the lines between business and pleasure. "I just thought…or assumed…that we'd still…" I sigh giving up any attempt to explain the ridiculous thought that we'd still be lovers after everything that happened. What's wrong with me? Why do I still want someone who used me to get back at Mark?

"That we'd still what?" He runs his hand down my shoulder now until it's resting on my wrist. "That you'd still be my lover?" He leans closer as his tongue runs lazily over his lips. He's going to kiss me now. I know it. I want it but I can't let it happen.

"No, of course not." I scoff. "That we'd still be tied together because of Veray." I pull that from mid-air and I high five myself internally for coming up with it.

"Oh, that." He pulls his eyes across my lips before he takes a step back. "I forgot about that."

I shake my head in mock amusement. "Of course you did. It's nothing to you, but it's everything to me."

"How could Veray be everything?" He smirks and I'm certain he's about to burst out laughing.

"It's all I have." I purse my lips together holding in all of the conflicting emotions that are bearing down on me. "That's it."

"No, beautiful." He reaches for my hand again. "You have much more."

"That's right." I let my hand fall into his. "I have all that money you're going to give me when I hand over control of Mark's company to you."

"I'm offering you much more than your ten percent is worth." He traces a finger over my knuckles and I shiver at the touch. "Ask around. Do some digging. You'll see that your shares aren't worth a fraction of what I'm giving you."

"So you're doing me a favor?" I tilt my head to the left anxiously anticipating his predictable egotistical response.

He stares at me. His gaze narrows as he leans in closer. I close my eyes wanting the world to melt away. I want to fall back into that bed in the apartment in Chelsea when he told me he wanted me to be his first. When he said I was his everything.

"Ivy." I feel the whisper of his words on my lips mere seconds before his breath connects with mine. He pulls me into his kiss. His tongue tenderly running over mine, coaxing me. I lose all sense of space, or time or reason. I reach for the back of his head, pushing his mouth into mine. Moaning into him.

His hands encircle my waist. I feel his arousal as my body melts int
o his. I'm spun around quickly. I can't open my eyes. I don't want to. I feel the couch on my back. I feel him on top of me. Tell him to stop I plead with my heart. Tell him.

"Jax," I say softly against his lips. "Please."

"I need to taste you now, beautiful." His hands race up my thighs reaching my center. He rips my panties off and instantly enters me with two fingers. My back arches at the sensation. "You want me," he growls.