Persuasion Skills (3 page)

Jax had been surprised the man’s balls
didn’t push up his throat and pop the paper from his mouth. Tears had been streaming
from Javier’s face, and only small whimpers had escaped through the makeshift
gag at that point.

Before she could land another brutal
blow, Jax had grabbed her around the waist and hauled her back several feet
away from Javier. He’d pulled her arms down to her sides and dragged her with
her back flush to his chest.

She’d flailed her legs, and he had tried
hard not to focus on her lush ass rubbing against him and the smooth soft feel
of her breasts brushing across his arms as he struggled to hold her still.

“I repeat, what’s going on here, and
while you’re at it, who the hell are you?” he had said through clenched teeth.

“Your
friend
here seems to think it’s okay to tie a woman up during sex even if she
explicitly says no.”

Jax had had to quickly avoid her
attempted head butt.

“He thinks that just because I agreed to
sleep with him, he gets to choose what I can and can’t say no to. I was just
showing him what happens when he refuses to listen.”

“Shit!” He’d loosened his hold on her and
glared down at the slimy jackass.

To hear that Javier was into bondage hadn’t
been a surprise, but hearing that the prick used force had caused a cold fury
to ignite in the pit of his stomach.

He’d released Pepper and stood back as
she quickly jumped away from him.

“If that’s the case, then be my guest and
have at him,” he’d said, not bothering to hide his anger.

For the first time, he’d studied her face
and seen the tears hovering on her thick eyelashes and trailing down her high,
round cheeks. She had deep brown eyes and a face haloed by an afro of riotous
dark curls.

For all of her curves, she was a small
woman, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulders. The thought of Javier
manhandling her had Jax ready to step in and finish the job she’d started.

She’d stood facing him with her feet in a
wide stance and her fists firmly planted on her hips, her head held high while she
gave him a death stare.

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

He sighed and shrugged out of his button-down
shirt.

“Listen, aside from the fact that I have
a mother and sister and I’d kill any guy who tried to hurt them,” he’d said
softly, “no guy has the right to force himself on a woman.”

He’d approached her tentatively and
handed her his shirt.

“My name is Jax, by the way.”

As if finally realizing her lack of
clothing, she’d snatched the shirt from his hands and held it close, covering
her breasts from his sight.

“Pepper,” she’d said. A smile flirted
across her lips. “That’s my name. Pepper Holts.”

He’d nodded, cleared his throat, and
glanced back down at Javier.

“Do you want me to call the cops?” he had
asked, sneering down at the still sniffling man.

At the sound of her sigh, he’d looked up
to see her shrugging into his shirt.

“Don’t bother. I think he’s learned his
lesson.”

 
She’d
buttoned the shirt, and his eyes had sharpened at the sight of her shaking
hands.

“Are you okay? Do you need me to take you
to the hospital?” he had asked as kindly as he could as he clenched his fists
open and closed at his sides.

She’d snapped her head up at his
tentative question. Her eyes registered shock before a satisfied smile spread
across her lips.

“No worries, He-Man. An overprotective
father and ten years of tae kwon do kept my virtue intact,” she’d said before
dissolving into giggles.

Her laughter had startled him. Seeing his
expression had only seemed to make her laugh harder.

She’d plopped down on the sofa and
struggled to control herself.

“What’s so funny?”

“It just figures,” she had said as she
tried to smother her laughter, “that when I’m finally ready to get rid of my
virginity, I end up having to defend it, instead.” She’d chuckled.

He could only assume that his eyes had rounded
to comical proportions because she’d dissolved into laughter again. Her rounded
face had appeared so young—too young to be dating a guy like Javier.

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Jesus, you’re barely legal!”

“Would it have been okay if I were older?”
She’d tilted her head towards his roommate.

“Of course not,” Jax had said quickly and
cleared his throat. “It’s just that he usually only dates college girls.”

“I am in college. A senior,
not
a freshman,” she’d added, most
likely seeing the skepticism on his face. “I finished high school early and
have been on an accelerated track at UM. I graduate in a few weeks.”

She’d glanced at Javier and shaken her
head.

“I just wanted to do one quintessentially
irresponsible college-like thing before I graduated, and look what happened,”
she’d said, a look of disgust lighting across her face.
 

Not knowing how to respond to that little
bit of news, Jax had turned his attention back to Javier.

The bastard had seemed to have recovered
slightly and had awkwardly resumed scooting himself across the carpet towards a
discarded knife that must have fallen to the floor during his skirmish with
Pepper.

Finally focusing his full attention on
him for the first time, Jax had seen what Pepper had used as a makeshift gag. A
small, crumpled box of condoms.

He had snorted at the label.
Magnums
.

From where he was standing, aside from
being a bastard that was into rape, his roommate had also seemed to have
delusions of grandeur.
What a douche
,
he’d thought before striding over and kicking the knife away from his reach.

“So what should we do with him?” he’d
asked as he crouched down in front of Javier.

“You can untie him.”

“Seriously,” she’d said when she’d caught
the look of disbelief Jax threw her. “I doubt he’ll be trying any of his tricks
again.”

Her decision didn’t sit well with Jax.
There was no telling if the bastard might try the same thing on someone else
less able to defend herself.

Regardless of her choice, he’d made a
promise to himself to at least report the creep to the university security
office.

“It looks like I need to start looking
for a new roommate,” he’d said.

He had ignored Javier’s indignant grunt
and scowl and had begun untying the bungee cords from around the man’s wrists.

He’d paused when he glimpsed a frilly
white blouse just under the coffee table. There was a long visible tear along
the front. He reached forward and picked up the soft, delicate garment.

Before he had time to temper his reaction,
he’d pulled back his fist and punched Javier’s face to the floor. The moment he’d
made contact, a sense of contentment flooded him.

“Hmm. Nice punch.”

He’d glanced over his shoulder to find
her sitting primly on the couch.

“Thanks.” He’d grinned at her smiling,
approving face.

The entire incident had made him feel
incredibly protective of Pepper, and, despite their age difference, they’d become
quick friends.

While he had spent a few years working in
a local Research and Development lab, she had gone on to get her Masters’ in
business. Eventually, they had expanded their friendship into a more than
successful business.

Jax shook himself out of the old
memories.

If over the years he’d felt any twinges
of attraction to his close friend, he’d quickly staunched them, not wanting to
mess with the best relationship he ever had. All of that changed when his
mother passed away.

Losing his mother had caused him to take
a step back and really think about what he wanted in life. The answer rang
clear and true in both his heart and mind.
Pepper
.
He wanted Pepper Holts. Not as his friend, not as his business partner, but as
his lover and partner in life and marriage.

He’d always thought of marriage as a
social and biological necessity, not as an emotional one. It took realizing his
own mortality to see that the idea of marriage had never really appealed
because he’d already had the perfect woman in his life.

He shook his head sadly at what a fool
he’d been.

On some level, he’d known that if he ever
married, his relationship with Pepper would have to change, and they would inevitably
drift apart.

He was smart enough to understand that no
wife would be comfortable with his friendship with Pepper. Hell, it had been a
bone of contention between him and every girlfriend he’d had since he met her.

Once he admitted the truth to himself,
all of the lust he’d hidden over the years came flooding to the surface. Over
the last few months, he’d deliberated on just the right way to approach Pepper
about a relationship. When he thought he’d finally had the right strategy
figured out, she’d told him about her medical worries.

 
It
was a bomb he hadn’t been expecting.

The idea of losing her had almost
paralyzed him with fear. When they learned that her cyst was benign, he had
never felt such an overwhelming sense of relief. He vowed from that moment on,
sitting with her in the doctor’s office, that he would seize the day and not
wait to reveal his feelings any longer.

He should have known better than to take
advantage of her, though. When she made a pass at him that night, he should
have shrugged it off and let her sleep it out.

“Touch me … please.”

Her whispered plea had been impossible to
resist. And the taste of her. God, he hadn’t been able to forget.

Jax shifted his stance at the window, his
body tightening at the memory of sliding into her hot, slick heat.

It had felt like coming home.

Unfortunately, when morning came, he’d
felt horrible for taking advantage of her. It was obvious that she hadn’t been
fully aware of her actions the night before. But finally having her in his arms
had clouded his judgment.

He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes
tight. What happened that morning still had the power to make his mind seize with
dread.

When she’d awoken, he’d wanted to
apologize and tell her how he truly felt about her, but the joke had been on
him. She couldn’t wait to get him out of her bed.

“Oh God, Jax. I’m so sorry!”

“Pep—”

“No! Please don’t say anything.” Her eyes
had filled with tears, and his heart constricted in his chest. He could see the
plea in her gaze. She was practically begging him to stop speaking.

She gathered his clothes and shoved them
to his chest.

“I shouldn’t have drunk so much.”

“Pepper, it’s fine. We’ve known each
other forever. You have to know how much I love you,” he said.

“I know, and I love you, too. You’re my
best friend. This doesn’t have to change anything. Last night was a mistake,
and I think we’re both adult enough to just forget about it.”

He’d stared at her for a few seconds,
before her words finally sank in. She wanted to forget everything. She wanted
to pretend as if they had never made love, and he couldn’t seem to think past
the hurt those words caused.

“I’ll see you Monday,” she’d said as she
led him out of her condo. “In a few days, we’ll be joking about this. I promise.”
She’d kissed him softly on the cheek and closed the door in his startled face.

His jaw firmed at the recollection of the
total fear he had at that moment of losing Pepper completely.

Recalling that conversation still made
him want to put his fist through the closest available wall. He’d made the
mistake of letting his own guilt cloud his common sense for a few days before
he realized that their night together had to mean more to Pepper than a drunken
one-night stand.

Her responses to him that night were too
raw, too sweet, to be the result an extra glass of wine. He wasn’t sure how
deep her feelings went, but there was no denying she felt the same pull of
attraction he did.

He just had to convince her to take a leap
of faith.

Unfortunately, their years of friendship
stood between him and his goal. She knew him too well. If he told her he wanted
to take their friendship to another level, she would jump to the conclusion
that he was either reacting to the sobering event of his mother’s death and his
impending thirty-sixth birthday, or guilt for sleeping with his best friend.
She wouldn’t believe his very true want and interest was real.

Pepper was stubborn, and it would take a
lot of maneuvering to convince her that his feelings were genuine.

The tentative movements of the deer
outside the window caught his attention again. He stared at the animal a few
minutes longer before turning to gather his flannel and leather snow coat along
with his heavy work gloves.