Hard Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 2) (6 page)

He dropped his hand. “The donation or the dinner?” he said, his voice now with a familiar teasing note.

She gave a small laugh. “Well, I believe you when you say that the donation was made with honest intentions. So I’ll accept it on behalf of the organization, with gratitude and the sincere promise to use it well. As for dinner…I’m not really seeing anyone right now.”

“Awesome. So you’re free to see
me
then, huh?”

She laughed again, a real laugh, charmed in spite of herself. “No, I’m sorry. I mean, I’m not dating
anyone
right now. I’m kind of on a self-imposed time-out from that whole scene.”

“Oh, yeah? How come?”

She stiffened and he saw it, clear as day. He gazed down at her face, every instinct in his body telling him that there was a story here – something to explain her unwarranted attack on him, and her choosing to stay single, and this weird tension in her whole body now.

What happened to you, baby? Someone hurt you, made you not trust men? Especially ones who come bearing gifts?

“I just – I’m just taking a break.” She was back in control now, and she moved away from him. “No big deal.”

King doubted that very much, but he wasn’t about to push. In his experience, forcing the issue with hurting women never did much good, and in fact, could do irreparable harm. So fine, if Naomi was on a break from dating, he’d just take things slow and easy with her. He’d make sure to drop by the Heart Center a few times a week, talk to her, let her get to know him a bit more. And then, maybe in a month or so, he’d ask again.

No rush, man. Get her to relax around you, trust you. Good things are worth waiting for – and this woman is one hell of a good thing.

**

“Shit, Naomi.” Mirrie looked horrified, which was highly unusual for her; she wasn’t taken aback by much. “You actually accused the man of giving your program money so he could get you in to bed?”

“Yeah.”

“And he didn’t kill you on the spot?”

“No.”

“
Shit
.”

Naomi groaned and covered her eyes with both hands. “I know, I know.”

Mirrie laughed now, a ‘holy-fuck-girl’ kind of laugh. “You seem bound and determined to keep the man on his toes, huh?”

“I guess.” Naomi sighed. “And I’m reminded yet again, and in the most painful and humiliating way possible, that
this
is why I’m on a dating sabbatical… can you imagine what a nightmare I’d be as a girlfriend?”

“Urgh. Terrifying to contemplate.”

“I know, right? Just about the
last
thing in the world I should be doing is getting involved with a man.”

“No. The last thing is drinking.” Mirrie grinned. “Getting involved with a man is a damn close second, though.”

They both laughed.

**

Sarah stared at the laptop screen, overwhelmed by frustration. She
knew
that she knew this,
knew
that she’d been damn good at it once upon a time. But fuck her if she could remember how the hell to use Photoshop.

Come on, come on. This isn’t even that complicated…why can’t you get your head around it?

She moved the mouse around, pressed some code keys, saw that she was making an even bigger mess. She grabbed her empty mug now and hurled it across the kitchen. It shattered against the wall, and she stared at the glass shards in horror as she realized what she’d just done. Then she heard the pounding footsteps coming up from the basement and she shut her eyes.

How the hell do I explain this to him?

“Sarah!” Jax stood there now, wearing just a pair of black sweat pants. His tattooed, muscular chest was gleaming with sweat and he was panting. She’d clearly interrupted his workout and she tried to look like a sane person, not a raving lunatic who wrecked things because she’d forgotten how the hell to crop an image. “What happened? You alright?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “I just – I broke the mug.”

He stared across the room at it, then turned back to her, one dark eyebrow raised. “You broke it from all the way over here?”

“I – I…” She looked down, ashamed and angry. “I threw it.”

“OK.” His voice was low and calm; the perfect tone for placating the crazy lady, she figured. “Why’d you do that?”

“Because I’m fucking useless!” she said. “I can’t remember
anything
about the software I need to do my job! How the hell am I supposed to work when my brain is so fucking broken that I can’t even design a simple ad?”

Jax took a deep breath. He’d been waiting for this moment, and he still had no real idea how he was supposed to handle it. “Sarah… Mac told you that you need to take it easy on yourself, right? That you’ll have to relearn lots of things, and wait for others to come back to you.”

“How long am I supposed to wait?” she said. “Weeks? Months?
Years
? And what, Jax – I’m just going to live off you the whole time that I sit around and wait?”

“What do you mean, ‘live off’ me?”

“What do I mean?” Her voice was rising now. “I mean, I live here in your house, Jax, rent-free. I have zero income, so I can’t even buy the goddamn groceries…
you
pay for literally every little thing, including my toothpaste and tampons. Do you have any idea how fucking humiliating that is for me?
Do
you?”

“No,” he said quietly.

“You paid all my medical bills, you’re paying for Noah’s private care provider, you’re paying for my lawyer and my physical therapy, you’re giving my Mom money, you’re handing Naomi half-a-million dollars… and there’s no end in sight to
any
of it. I’m just – I’m a goddamn gold-digger, living off my rich boyfriend.” She was shouting now. “I’ve been taking care of Noah since I was four years old and working to help my family since I was eighteen, and now I’m this useless
nothing
who can’t do anything remotely productive, except when I’m lying flat on my back.”

“OK.” Jax’s voice was hard. “You just about done?”

“For the moment.”

“Listen close now. You paying attention?”

She nodded, her arms crossed tight against her body.

“First, you don’t earn your keep around here by fucking me, and I can’t
believe
you even said that to me out loud. You shake that idea out of that head of yours and I mean right the hell now. We clear?”

She looked away.

“Sarah? We clear?”

“Yeah.”

“Next, you’re no goddamn charity case, so stop acting like one. You’re the woman that I love, and that makes you my family. And if that’s what you are, then Annie and Noah are my family too, and I take care of family. End of fucking discussion.”

“But –”

“I’m not finished talking yet. Next up, whatever you think you’re taking from me, I can promise you that it’s
nothing
compared to what you’re giving me… and no, I don’t mean sex. I mean love, baby, and total forgiveness and understanding. You think just anyone would be able to look at my life and all the shit I’ve done, and still see any good in me? You think just anyone could know that I planned to kill their ex, and then forgive me for that? See the man that I’m trying so fucking hard to be?”

“Jax...”

“Still not done, doll. I know that you’re not used to letting someone else take care of you, but you’d better fucking learn how and I mean damn quick. Because I’m not going to
stop
taking care of you, no matter how many mugs you throw across the room. You hear me? I love you, and you’re the most important thing in my life, and you’re mine to take care of. It won’t be like this forever – it’s just for now. So, let me, Sarah. Let me, just for now.”

Something inside of her broke and Sarah covered her face and sobbed, hard enough to make her whole body shake. Jax crossed the kitchen in two steps, caught her in his arms. She was almost hyperventilating and he ran his hands up and down her back, trying to calm her.

“Shhhh. Baby, breathe, OK? Just breathe for me.”

“I – I’m sorry… Jax, I’m so, so sorry…”

“Nuh-uh, none of that.” He stroked her hair. “No apologies… all I need right now is for you to come back to me.”

She held on tighter, inhaling the musky scent that was pure Jax. She couldn’t see, couldn’t think, couldn’t even stand unaided; all she could do was cry and hold on to him. She lost all track of time, stopped caring about anything except being in Jax’s arms – and being forgiven.

Jax held her until her breathing evened out, then he picked her up and carried her to the living room sofa. He sat, cradling her in his lap, and she pressed her face to his chest, gripped his thickly-muscled shoulders. Small tremors still shook her every few seconds, but at least she looked like herself.

“Sarah? You with me again?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Only maybe?”

“I feel so stupid… I can’t believe what I said to you.” Her voice was small, embarrassed. “It was so ugly.”

“It had to be said, so that I could tell you how wrong you were. That’s out of the way now, and we can leave it in the dust. Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“Look at me.”

She tipped her head back and gazed up at him. They studied each other, looking for scorch marks and other wounds inflicted by their words.

“You OK?” he said softly.

“Yes. You?”

“You know it.” He pressed a kiss to her lips, hot, soft. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

They sat quietly now, watching the mountain sunset through the huge window. Sarah felt her eyes get heavier and she let them close. Jax smiled as she drifted off against him, her face relaxed and sweet.

He waited until he was sure she was completely out, then he carried her down the hall and tucked her in to bed carefully.
Our bed
. He dropped a tiny kiss on her forehead, then went back in to the kitchen to clean up the broken glass.

Chapter Five

A few nights later, Jax was at Dangerous Curves, trying hard to not call Sarah every ten minutes. She was better since her outburst, but she’d doubled down on her physio and spent every spare moment reading about design software. She seemed determined to get back to work and even though he couldn’t blame her, he could still worry.

Aidan Carter set down a beer in front of his boss and studied him closely. Aidan’s sharp eyes didn’t miss much, as Jax knew all too well, and he didn’t even bother trying to conceal anything from his bartender now.

“What’s up, man?” Aidan asked, his warm Texan drawl the perfect accompaniment to his golden hair and eyes. The man was like a sunrise, all glowing and bright, even in the half-light at Curves. “Sarah OK?”

“Not so much.” Jax took a sip of beer. “She’s getting frustrated that she can’t remember things and can’t work. She wants the healing to happen faster than it is.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty normal,” Mac said. “Has she started throwing stuff yet?”

Jax sighed. “Perfectly innocent tea mugs.”

“Uh-huh. Well, my advice is to stock up on dishes and learn to duck.”

“Really?” Aidan said. “It’ll be like this for a while?”

Doctor Shane ‘Mac’ MacIntyre shrugged his enormous shoulders. “Well, how would
you
feel, if you had to go back to being a child in so many ways? Christ, the woman couldn’t even walk two months ago and she’s totally dependent on Jax to help her up a set of stairs half the time. She can’t work, can’t pay the bills, can’t handle things for Noah anymore… and
Sarah’s
the one who took care of everyone and everything until recently. You think it isn’t killing her pride and messing with her head?”

“Yeah,” Jax said. “It is. She’s struggling.”

“Hang tough, Jax.” Mac’s voice was gentle. “She’s got an amazing support system and she’s a strong woman. She’ll come out the other side. I’ve seen thousands of patients emerge from comas and suffer brain trauma, and she’s one I’d bet on to make it through.”

“Yeah?” Jax said.

“Oh, hell, yeah.”

Jax thought about that for a minute. Mac was a neurologist, one of the best in the state, if not the country, and he’d had a thriving private practice for years before he quit to consult freelance. If a guy like him said that Sarah was going to make it, then Jax was prepared to believe him. Plus, Jax really
needed
to believe him.

“Hey, where’s King?” Mac said now, looking around the packed bar. “Did he sneak out with some smoking woman? Or did they just head for the crash rooms?”

“Nope.” Aidan poured a few shots for some college kids, scowling at the one who looked just a bit too much like Sarah’s ex. “He’s laying low.”

“Yeah? How come?”

Aidan nodded across the room. “One guess.”

Jax and Mac glanced over at the pool tables, and they both exhaled hard when they saw Janine.

“Ah,” Jax said. “He’s staying away from her, huh?”

“Well, he’s trying, but she’s pretty bad tonight,” Aidan said. “I really wish that he’d steered clear of that woman, for both of their sakes. Mostly hers.”

“
None
of us knew the deal in the beginning, though,” Mac protested. “King stayed with her way longer than most guys would have once he figured the whole mess out. Tried to help her even
after
she dumped him.”

“Yeah, I know.” Aidan looked alert. “Heads up, y’all, she’s coming this way.”

Jax and Mac turned to greet her and Janine gave them a dazzling smile.

“Hey,” she said. “Have you guys seen my fiancé?”

“Janine,” Mac said kindly. “King is
not
your fiancé, hon.”

“Of course he is!” She extended her left hand. “He gave me this.”

“No, he didn’t,” Jax said. “You bought that ring yourself. You remember?”

Her dark eyes flashed now. “Did not.”

“Hey, darlin’,” Aidan said. “You here on your own?”

“Of course I’m not on my own. I’m with King… speaking of which, where is he?”

“I’m right here.” King walked up behind them and he looked troubled when Janine threw her arms around his neck. “Let’s get you home, OK?”

“We’re staying at my place tonight?” she said.

“No, Janine. We’re broken up, remember? I’ll just make sure you get home safe.”

“We’re
not
broken up,” she said angrily. “We’re
engaged
!”

“No. We’re not.”

“You fucking asshole,” she hissed. “You don’t want me? Well, any guy in this place would take me home and you know it. All I have to do is ask, and you’ll watch me walk out of here with some other man. How’d you like that?”

King recognized the danger signs and he stared at Mac, silently begging for help.

“Hey, hon,” Mac said, and she focused on him. “You want to go and talk?”

She gazed at him, taking in his long blond hair and blue eyes, his broad shoulders and strong arms. Then she flicked a glance at King and she smirked.

“Well,
sure
, Mac,” she purred. “We can go talk…for now.”

He steered her over to one of the empty booths, then sat and leaned over to listen to Janine babble maniacally. Mac nodded and surreptitiously checked her eyes. After just a few seconds’ examination, he knew for sure that she was still off her meds, not that he’d had any doubts about that. He looked over at his friends and shook his head a bit.

King sighed heavily. “I just don’t know what to do about her anymore. She’s so, so sick, but nobody can force her to do anything.”

“She have meds at her place?” Jax said. “Maybe you can get her home, convince her to take them?”

“Last I saw? Yeah, she had some. But I broke it off with her about five months ago, you know, and anything could have happened to them between now and then.”

Aidan shook his head. “She’s going to get hurt badly one night. Some asshole somewhere is going to take total advantage of her, and she’s not going to be able to defend herself, or even really understand what the fuck is going on.”

“I know.” King sighed again. “But what can we do? Mac says that he can’t commit her against her will, and he can’t force her to take any drugs that he prescribes. She really should be under a physician’s care, but that has to be her choice.”

“Damn.” Jax was watching Janine now. “I know none of this is up to any of us, but I still feel responsible for her, you know? This is my place, and if something happens to her with someone from here, it’s on me.”

“We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing, OK?” Aidan said. “We’ll watch her, we’ll keep the creeps away, we’ll get her home when we can.” He looked helpless. “It’s all we can do, so we’ll do it. Yeah?”

“Yeah,” King said. “For damn sure we will. No way she’s getting hurt if I can help it.”

**

“So, we hear you’re hanging out with King, huh?”

Naomi looked up, surprised, her fork halfway to her mouth. “You heard that how?”

Reena Mackay smiled across the table at her. “Oh, word on
that
man travels, Naomi. Believe me – King is the subject of a great deal of attention and gossip.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a man of mystery, to put it mildly.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell, yeah.” Mitchell Corrigan stared at Naomi with his usual stunning intensity. “You sure you know what you’re doing with him?”

“I’m not doing
anything
with him,” Naomi said. “He’s just interested in funding the expansion of the art program and the center, and we’ve spent some time talking about it.”

“Uh-huh.” Mitch held her gaze with those dark green eyes. “Well, that’s good. Keep it there, maybe. He’s a good guy in general, I think, but I’m not sure he’s what you need right now.”

Naomi nodded. Reena and Mitch were two of the very few people who knew about her sobriety, and they were well aware of her decision to abstain from romantic relationships for a while. From the moment she’d told them about being an alcoholic, they had been nothing but supportive and caring.

“Do you know Matt personally?” Naomi asked. “Or is it all just rumor?”

“Oh, I know him pretty well,” Mitch said. “I met him at some of my underground fights. He was there on some jobs to do with Kirk Jensen, I think.”

“So what do you guys know about him?” Naomi let her curiosity get the best of her. “I mean, he seems OK to me.”

“
Does
he now?” Reena’s blue eyes sparkled. “Well, I don’t know much about his businesses and I don’t want to know, to be honest. But I
do
know that the man is not big in to commitment.”

“No?” She forced herself to sound disinterested. “Lots of women?”

“Oh, God. Truckloads. Word is that he can be found in the crash rooms of Curves most weekends.”

“The crash rooms?”

“The fuck rooms,” Mitch said bluntly. “Ideal for quickies before heading back to the bar to drink.”

Naomi was surprised how disappointed she was to hear that about Matt, then she gave herself a quick mental shake. Come on, had she
really
expected a man who looked like that, and who had obvious wealth, and who boasted that level of sexual confidence and swagger, to be in to having a steady girlfriend? He was the epitome of a guy whose interest in a woman extended as far as pouring coffee down her throat the morning after – and that’s if she was damn lucky. The fuck room women wouldn’t even get that much from him.

The more Naomi thought about it, the more she’d come to see his invitation to dinner as a throwaway gesture. A little muscle flex, a ‘yeah-why-not’ question while they were stuck together in the same room, a way to kill some conversational time. He’d asked for the hell of it, just to see what she’d do and she was sure that when she’d said no, he’d simply asked someone else. Someone who almost certainly had said yes.

“Well, no surprise there,” Naomi said now. “He didn’t really strike me as the long-term commitment type, though he
is
a decent guy.” She took a sip of tea. “He’s great with Callie and Noah, two of the artists. He’s patient and so amazingly gentle…they can tense up around men, especially big men, but with him, they’re totally fine. That’s rare, believe me.”

“Yeah?” Reena contemplated that. “Well, some men are decent guys and crap boyfriends.”

“True enough.” Naomi grinned at Mitch. “You want to weigh in on this one?”

“Nope.” Mitch shook his dark head. “I know my limits on certain topics, ladies. But if you want some free and unsolicited advice about King, here it is, Naomi: let him help you out with the program if he wants to, ‘cause God knows, you need funding for what you’ve got planned. But really, be careful with that heart of yours around him, OK? He’s not a serious guy and you’re a serious woman.”

“What do you mean, I’m serious?” Naomi said.

“I mean, when you’re ready for it, you’re going to go looking for the real deal, yeah? Commitment and romance and love… you’re a one-man kind of woman, and that’s
exactly
the one kind of woman that King isn’t in to.” Mitch’s face was grave. “The ladies love him – but he never loves ‘em back. You follow?”

Naomi nodded slowly. “Yeah. I hear you, loud and clear.”

“A shame, really,” Reena piped up. “Because he is sex on legs.”

“I
know
, right?”

“Hey!” Mitch said mock-indignantly. “I’m sitting right here, sugar!”

Reena winked at him. “Deal with it, sugar. Matt Kingston is smoking hot, and being a serial womanizer and commitment-phobe does
not
change that fact.”

“Yeah,” Naomi said ruefully. “Unfortunately, that is completely true.”