From Rags (30 page)

Hoping to avoid Anita’s watchful eye, he took Jaxx out the side door of the building, telling the guard Chino that she would be using this as an entrance and exit from now on. But Connor still couldn’t relax. “Maybe I should drive you to the studio and then pick you up once you’re done,” he said as they approached her Audi.

“You are kidding, aren’t you? No of course you’re not,” she grumbled. “I’ll be alright. It’s not like anyone has tried to hurt me, it was my apartment that they went after.”

Yeah, but they had both pissed Anita off badly last night so it wouldn’t surprise him if she took things a step further after that. He shackled Jaxx’s wrist with his hand and tugged her to him so sharply she dropped her handbag. “Look, I know that I can go over the top and be way too overprotective when it comes to you -”

“Did you honestly just admit that?”

“- but I feel uneasy and I can’t shake it off.”

“Now you’re just being paranoid.”

“It doesn’t mean Anita’s not following you. Luke said she knew what day you walked Bronty so -”

“Maybe you’re right and I’m being tailed by Anita the Vengeful but, in that case, won’t I
need
my car so I can ram the thing into her?” She pulled her hand free and bent to pick up the handbag. She heard him groan. “What?” she asked as she straightened.

“How great thou arse.”

“Ah, so my randy bastard’s back. I like him better than the paranoid one.” Just as she was about to unlock the car she was caged against it from behind. Yep, randy bastard was definitely back. He cupped and shaped her arse then spanked it. Of course he spanked it. Why wouldn’t he spank it? “Alright this S and M shite stops now.”

He whispered into her ear, “Deny it if you want but you like
getting your arse spanked. You get wet as hell every time I do it. Oh and I haven’t even started
with the S and M stuff, babe. One night I’m going to tie you to my bed and have my wicked way with you, and you know what? You’ll love every second of it. I bet you’re getting wet just thinking about it, aren’t you?”

She was. “Do you really want to get me all horny and then send me off to a studio full of male models?” She was spun around so fast she stumbled. A chuckle burst out of her. “You are so easy to wind up, McKenzie.”

“And you are such a tease, Carter.” He merged his lips with hers. The kiss was punishing and possessive. “Remember: take a different route to the studio and be alert, alright.”

“Sir, yes, sir.”

“Sir? I actually like the sound of that. Lord and Master might be better though.”

Chuckling again she shoved him away and got into her Audi. At the same time he jumped into his Aston Martin convertible and beeped at her as they went their separate ways. Jaxxon sighed as it occurred to her that when they literally
went their separate ways in every sense of the phrase it wouldn’t be anything like the easy, playful manner of just now. Or, at least, it wouldn’t be for her.

First thing on her schedule was a conference call with the fashion designer and his team from Milan who were still trying to negotiate some sort of deal for Jaxxon to model a special clothes line which they wanted to brand with her name. Apparently they weren’t fazed by her decision not to go to Milan to meet with them and, after some hounding on their part, a conference call was arranged. Sadly for the designer, this kind of thing wasn’t for her and she told him as much in the most frank way possible.

Next on her schedule was the shoot for the Allure line of the new season. It didn’t escape her notice that Tony wasn’t barking at her to move this way and that way like he usually did, so she guessed he was worried about her after what happened to the apartment. She was surprised that he wasn’t sulking because she was staying with Connor rather than in his annexe, and just when she thought the bloke was being mature about it he made a snide comment. So she flipped him off. And he laughed.

When it was time for the next lot of shots, which were to mostly concentrate on the eye products, Jaxxon went to have her make-up re-done into a different look. Kieran used a lot of smoky colours this time, making her seem like some sort of dark seductress which she didn’t like, but of course he saw that as a positive because it meant that she would have on her frustrated look by the time she got back to Tony.

“Ooh, maybe this will cheer you up,” said another of the make-up artists, Lorna.

Jaxxon gaped as a vase filled with a display of burgundy-red roses and a black box with a black lacy bow – which she guessed contained chocolates – was set in front of her.

“Who’re they from?” asked Kieran.

She plucked out the envelope that sat within the bouquet and tore it open. The card read: ‘They won’t taste better than you, C’. 

“C?
Oh
, they’re from Connor McKenzie. You know you haven’t told me much about him.”

“I can tell you that he doesn’t do flowers and chocolates.”

“Luv, they all revert to the traditions when the right girl comes along. The two of you really do suit. And I don’t just mean ’cause of how crazy you both are, I mean you
look
good together as well. That’s always a bonus.”

“What’s that noise?” asked Lorna, flicking aside her purple hair to cup her ear. “Sounds like bells ringing. Church bells.”

“Stop taking the piss, there will be
no
wedding,” said Jaxxon.

“Did someone say wedding? Who’s getting married?” Louisa strutted over to Jaxxon and examined her ringlets. “No, they don’t need touching up.”

Lorna nodded in agreement. “We were just asking when the big date is for Jaxxon and Connor McKenzie.”         

“He proposed?”

Jaxxon held the hand up that Louisa was trying to snatch. “See – no ring. They’re just trying to wind me up. And they’re succeeding.” She briefly contemplated ragging out Kieran’s spiky hair and shoving it down Lorna’s throat.

“Is that who the flowers and chocolates are from?”

“Yes,” verified Kieran. “You know what, Jaxxon, you should make sure your wedding bouquet looks something like that – it’ll be like a tribute to the first time he sent you flowers.” He knew he was pushing it but it wouldn’t be a normal day if Jaxxon didn’t tell him to sod off. It was part of his routine.

“
Wedding
bouquet?” echoed an extremely aggravated Ollie as he paced to Jaxxon. “McKenzie asked you to marry him? And you said yes?” Oh he’d skin the prat.

Jaxxon put her hand over her heart and said her speech in a rush. “How could I say no? You were right when you said it was about more than just sex, I love him. I don’t want to be without him.” At the sight of his blazing-red cheeks, she burst into laughter and everyone joined in, other than Ollie who looked a mixture of relieved and annoyed.

“Bloody hell, girl, you had me panicking then.”

“Don’t you like Connor?” asked Kieran.

“Oh don’t get him started on Connor,” groaned Jaxxon.

“It’s not that I don’t like him,” said Ollie.

“So am I the
only
one who doesn’t like him then?” Bruno winked at Jaxxon as he came to stand beside Ollie.

Kieran snorted. “Your opinion of Connor doesn’t count, it’s biased.” He gestured for Ollie to continue but the man was struggling for words. “Oh, I get it,” chortled Kieran. “Daddy doesn’t like his little girl having a sex life.”

“Is it a good sex life?” Lorna asked Jaxxon, waggling her eyebrows.

“With the sexual tension those two throw about when they’re in the same room it must be,” said Louisa. “Aren’t you going to open those chocs, luv?”

Jaxxon didn’t answer – there was no point, Louisa already had the box in her hands and was now opening it.

“Mmmm, dark chocolate.”

“Ew, I don’t like dark choc.” Jaxxon shook her head in distaste.

“Dark chocolate’s the healthy chocolate option,” said Kieran. “The cocoa level’s -”

“Kieran will you sod off with that mascara and eyeliner before I end up looking like a bloody panda!”

He giggled. “That’s you done, luv.”

“The details of the tour are all finalized,” Ollie explained as he escorted Jaxxon down the hallway and en-route back to Tony. “As I already told you, we’re going to New York first. It’s an evening flight; I knew you’d prefer one of them.”

“What day is it you leave?” asked Bruno, now walking on Jaxxon’s other side.

“Monday,” replied Ollie.

Bruno smiled when he managed to catch Jaxxon’s eye. “I’ll bet you’ll be glad to leave that apartment behind after what happened.”

She frowned. “How’d you know about that?”

“I was eavesdropping when Ollie and Richie were talking about it, sorry. So how are you?”

“Alright. It’s just stuff at the end of the day, isn’t it.”

“There hasn’t been anything else odd going on?” checked Ollie. She shook her head. “The place is still in the process of being cleaned. The mess was unreal.”

“I’ve seen worse.”

Ollie knew that, and the idea of it got on his wick. He’d hoped that her new life would get her away from that crap, give her security. He was so thankful that it hadn’t made her take a step backwards in her progress with her transition from nothing to everything she wanted. It would have cut him up if she had withdrawn from it just because of some nut, but he’d seen it happen many times with other people. They couldn’t deal with the lack of privacy or being under the microscope of the media or the sudden and massive amount of attention – the like which they could never have imagined. He’d seen grown men cry when that attention suddenly became bad attention and there were criticisms and wicked rumours and the appearance of nutcases. But this twenty-two year old woman had taken it better than most he’d known in the past to have done.

As much as he didn’t like that she was staying with McKenzie – the bloke looked at Jaxxon like she belonged to him – he didn’t want her alone and Ollie knew McKenzie wouldn’t hesitate in wiping the floor with anyone who tried to lay a finger on her. That was assuming the bugger wasn’t dealt with by Jaxxon herself first.

Bruno snickered. “Is that why McKenzie was sending you the flowers and chocolates; trying to coddle you through what’s been going on? Or is he trying to dig himself out of the doghouse? I’ll bet it’s the second; he’s so cocky and overbearing -”

At the end of her tether and feeling an inexplicably big need to defend Connor, Jaxxon spun on Bruno. “Do you know what, Bruno? I’m getting sick of your remarks about him.”

“Whoa, whoa, I was just joking around.”

“Jokes are funny.” And it was never just what he said, it was the spite and bitterness that was always in his tone.

“Ah, come on, Jaxx.”

“
Don’t
call me that.” Her voice was deadly. She could tolerate Dane doing it because she knew he was doing it to wind Connor up, but the way Bruno had said it so intimately as if he had that same level of familiarity and closeness with her that Connor did ticked her right
off. Wisely, he didn’t follow her any further. Ollie was also wise; he didn’t comment.

As Connor pulled up next to Jaxx’s Audi in the car park outside of his apartment building later that day, he smiled. He had liked the idea that when he got home it would be to find Jaxx there, waiting. He liked that idea even better now that he was finally back. So did his dick.

“I come bearing gifts,” he announced as he entered his apartment with a giant-sized pizza. Yeah it seemed counterproductive to spend hours on his fitness levels and then devour a pizza at the end of it but sod it. When Jaxxon swerved her head and smiled sweetly at him over her shoulder from her spot on the couch where she was watching T.V., something twisted in his chest.

“Mmmm, pizza. Good thinking, McKenzie.”

Having dumped his gym bag on the floor he went straight to the living area and kissed her. He’d only meant for it to be a brief, greeting-type kiss but his control around her was as piss-poor as ever. “You’re dessert, Carter.”

“Please tell me that’s Deep Pan Margarita,” she said when he finally released her lips.

“Of course it is, I know it’s your favourite.” He sat on the armchair near the sofa and placed the pizza on the table in front of them, liking how it felt to lounge around while eating pizza out of the box like they used to; no plates, no cutlery, no prim crap.

“Good memory.”

“I could hardly forget that, it was all you ate back then. How you could eat something that often and not get sick of it always amazed me.”

“Well you forgot that I didn’t like dark chocolate.” Seeing the confused expression on his face she slapped her leg. “I knew
it wasn’t you.”

“What?”

“I told Kieran that’s just not the kind of thing you’d do.” She was torn between being pleased with herself for being right and being agitated that someone else had sent them and she didn’t know who.

“Jaxx, elaborate.”

“Today I got a bunch of red roses and a box of dark chocolates sent to me.”

The slice of pizza in his hand slipped from his fingers and dropped back into the box. “You what?”

“On the card it was signed ‘C’ so everyone assumed you’d sent them, but it just seemed too out-of-character for you.”

“Where are they?”

She shrugged as she finished chewing on the food in her mouth. “I left them in the studio so no doubt someone’s took them home.”

“I bet you’d have felt like a right bitch if it had turned out that I
had
sent them then, wouldn’t you?”

“No, I’d have told you it served you right for sending me corny crap.”

“Christ, Jaxx.” He shook his head. “I don’t like this stalker-stuff.”

“You telling me you’ve never had some kind of obsessed fan? God, if you’d seen some of the fan mail I used to get you wouldn’t be so bothered. Anna would spend hours reading it either laughing her head off or blushing purple. There’re some proper odd people out there and, for some reason I’ve yet to understand, I seem to draw them to me.”

He snorted. “Wrong, babe, you draw everyone to you, always have. It’s just that it’s mostly the odd ones who have the nerve to do something about it.”

“It makes me shiver thinking someone might be obsessed with me though. I don’t get it.”