Wilde Forever (Wilde Women Book 1) (5 page)

She’d taken him by surprise, creeping up on him while his back was turned. She could tell by the way his head snapped up as she spoke and the speed with which he spun around. Not only did her confidence flee, when she got a good look at him up close, so did all her active brain cells. He was, in a word, gorgeous. Feeling like an interrogation light was shining in her face, she was frozen by the intensity of the hazel eyes boring into hers. What language did she speak? Brynn couldn’t remember. The sounds buzzing in her brain all sounded like gibberish, and she couldn’t form two consecutive coherent words to save her life.

They stood there silently staring at each other until she saw him blink several times and shake his head. He looked as stunned as she felt.

“Are you the owner of the bakery?” the man questioned. His voice, low and deeply masculine, vibrated in her chest.

Was she? Damn. She couldn’t remember. All she could think about was Amy’s taunt about wiping up her drool once she got a good look at the mystery man in her shop. She hadn’t been kidding.

Remembering who she was in time to save the encounter from falling apart in an explosion of nerves, she flung her hand out for him to shake in a jerky arc noticing the remnants of flour on her skin too late to do anything about it.

“Yes I am. My name is Brynn Baron-Wilde, and you are…”

When he didn’t accept her handshake or say anything, Brynn felt like a complete idiot. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “Is there something wrong?”

She watched as he inhaled and the massive chest beneath his broad shoulders expanded. Drool cup, anyone?

Responding to her offered handshake in a sort of stunned slow motion, she bit back a gasp when his big, warm hand curled around hers. A bolt of lightning shot up her arm, straight into her neck.

“No, no. Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “You surprised me, that’s all. I was expecting…or rather, I wasn’t expecting a woman.”

Brynn instantly bristled at his remark.
Just fucking great.
Nothing cancelled the drool faster than a condescending chauvinist. Swiftly pulling her hand from his grasp she pursed her lips and stared him down.

“Well, sorry to disappoint.” Her tone all but spelled out a distinctive
fuck you, buddy.
“I’m really quite busy so if you’d state your business, I’d appreciate it.” She had gone from intrigued to annoyed in a heartbeat. The asshole hadn’t even told her his name yet.

She wondered if her displeasure got through to him when he took a step back and looked around the shop at everything except her. After a tense, silent minute he tried a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and nodded at her acknowledgment of his lack of manners.

“Please forgive me Ms. Wilde. I don’t normally eat my own foot but you
did
take me by surprise. It’s not every day a guy meets a business owner with such, uh … presence.” He punctuated the statement by wiping his hand on his black jeans leaving a faint trail of white from the floury handshake.

“My name is Jackson Merrill. Please call me Jax. Perhaps your father told you I’d be stopping by?”

Call him Jax? Not a chance. She detested being made to feel like her gender defined who she was. There was no way she had time for any of this bullshit—whatever it was. “No, he did not Mr. Merrill. As I’ve said, I’m really quite busy…”

The man in black looked decidedly uncomfortable when she snapped out the terse reply to the question about her father. If he had been sent by her dad, she was going to freak out on her parent for not warning her, and if he hadn’t…well, Jackson, call me Jax, Merrill was going to get the boot in record time.

“Alright, fair enough,” he answered mildly. “I get that you’re busy but I think we got off on the wrong foot Ms. Wilde. If you’ll just let me explain…”

Out of the corner of her eye Brynn saw Amy watching their exchange with fascination. She had done a complete one-eighty in the two minutes she’d been standing there talking to the irritating stranger, going from spine tingling awareness to wanting to kick sand in his face and she was pretty sure her assistant had picked up on all of it. Goddammit.
Get your shit together Brynn
, she silently chanted.

Leaving her manners by the door, she interrupted him with an imperious snort and the body language of a pissed off dominatrix. If her ass got any tighter, quarters would bounce off it. “Alright Mr. Merrill. Let’s sit over by the window. I could use a
short
break. Can I get you anything?”

He smiled, and this time it did reach his eyes. “Your shop assistant promised me a cinnamon roll. I hear you’ve got the best buns around.” Brynn did not miss the slight teasing evident in his tone.

Oh for Pete’s sake.
She was going to murder Amy for using that tired old line about her sinful buns. This guy struck her as a man who in no way needed any help in the flirtatious come-on category.
Balls.

Rolling her eyes, she looked back at Amy and glared at her for good measure. The smug look of
I told you so
on the other woman’s face made her jaw clench. Waving her over it took only seconds for the assistant to glide across the room.

“What can I get you guys?” she asked innocently while completely ignoring the warning in Brynn’s eyes.

“Bring out some cinnamon bites, Amy. Mr. Merrill and I will be over by the window. I’ll grab the coffee if you don’t mind showing him to the table.” And with that she whirled around and dashed to the coffee station hoping that the diversion would give her the chance to get her shit together. It didn’t help at all when she turned back with two mugs of coffee in her hands and found Amy unabashedly flirting with Jax Merrill. And as if that wasn’t enough to get her teeth grinding, he’d removed his jacket to reveal a plain black t-shirt stretched tight across his chest that framed his muscular arms to perfection.

Brynn couldn’t believe the way she was reacting. What the hell was wrong with her? She certainly wasn’t immune to the occasional panty-dampening response to a good-looking guy, but she wasn’t a giggly teenager anymore and had long ago learned to dial back the distracting impulses of her sex drive. This just wouldn’t do. Whatever
this
was.

O
DDLY GRATEFUL FOR AMY’S FLIRTATIOUS manner, Jax sat back in his chair and rested his forearms on the table while she prattled on. He was fighting a mighty internal battle to rein in his response to the snotty baker with a tremendous chip on her shoulder who was working overtime trying to dismiss him. He needed a few moments to get his bearings before she came back.

The owner of the business, the person he’d been sent to meet with about some renovation projects, wasn’t anything at all what he expected. His first and most obvious
what the fuck
moment happened when he came face to face with a woman when he’d been expecting a man. Should have been a minor adjustment for him to get up to speed but dammit if Brynn Baron-Wilde hadn’t completely scattered his brain with just the sound of her voice. When she’d come up behind him, something that always managed to upset his Chi, before he even saw her, the gentle huskiness as she spoke latched onto his senses with a surge of awareness that rendered him, well…rendered him a complete fucking idiot.

He might look as though he was enjoying Amy’s babbling, but Jax was actually cringing on the inside at the knowledge that he’d gone from tongue-tied and wide-eyed to whatever dumb-as-fuck thing he’d said about Brynn not being a man. He caught her instant reaction—the frozen withdrawal—and he felt like a dick. What in the fuck was wrong with him? Had his dad mentioned he’d be meeting with a woman? He couldn’t remember.

And that was when he saw the chip she carried. She tightened up so fast at his clumsy comment that it was a wonder she didn’t crack in two. It didn’t require a rocket scientist to recognize that she’d obviously been jacked up and fucked over at some point in her life, probably by some self-centered douche who’d been threatened by such a strong, capable woman. She had a
don’t fuck with me
vibe that let him know he wasn’t far off the mark.

He saw her turn toward them as she made her way across the room and quite literally, whatever nonsense Amy was spewing just ceased to sound in his head. All he could hear was the sound of his heart thumping and the hitch in his breath when she looked at him.

There was no fucking way he was threatened by Brynn Wilde. Far from it. She flashed fire and ice and made his gut feel like he’d been sucker punched. Plus, she wore a pair of jeans like nobody’s business. Holy shit but she was sexy as hell. Part of her allure was definitely that she wasn’t some twenty-two-year-old still trying to figure out who she was. He liked the grown-up appeal of a woman who knew where the hell her boundaries were.

But those jeans,
fucking amazing
. She had long legs like a colt and even moved with a brisk clip as if being still was a challenge for her. The way the material clung to her curves as she came toward him showcased shapely thighs and a perfect ass that would be fun as shit to spank. And spanking the ice out of her until all that was left was her fire would be like a gift from the gods.

By the time she reached the table and Amy had stopped talking, Jax was actively trying to get the sudden burst of arousal under some fucking control. He was here on business and while the idea of taming this Wilde woman’s fire seemed like a challenge he’d eagerly accept, she didn’t seem all that receptive.

She plunked a big steaming mug of pungent coffee in front of him after sending her assistant scurrying away. He almost laughed at the stern look of reproach she’d flashed at poor Amy. The lady might not be all that captivated by his dubious charms, but she sure as shit wasn’t going to tolerate her assistant getting all giggly.

Truth was, Jax was kind of used to Amy’s reaction. He was easy on the eyes in a non-threatening way, and he knew it. The ladies were drawn to him. Easy to talk to, he was a nice guy after all, and it showed. And he’d never intentionally fucked over a woman in his entire life. Intentionally being the operative word. But that didn’t mean he had an endless parade of ass in his bed. Far from it. While loads of pussy was available to him, Jax was the odd bird looking for something more meaningful than a couple nights of hot, sweaty sex. The hook-up culture was something he’d tired of a long time ago. There was that of course and then the other thing. That being his unequivocal need for the sort of raw and thundering sex that made him feel alive. A far cry from the please and thank you approach he found so irritating and empty.

Brynn sat down rather cautiously across from him, her back stiff and unyielding, reminding Jax that he had some ground to make up, and quick, if he hoped to salvage this meeting.

“Coffee smells great,” he murmured as he leaned over the mug and inhaled. “Thanks.”

Miss Stick-Up-Her-Butt gestured for him to help himself to the small tray with a sugar bowl and creamer as she picked up a spoon and started shoveling rounded lumps of sweetener into her coffee.

He watched with interest as she went through her coffee ritual. Jax believed you could learn a lot by observing a person’s habits. Especially their beverage habits. They were very telling. He counted five hefty dumps from the spoon before she dropped it into the mug and tipped a glug of creamer into the dark brew.

“So, Brynn Wilde, I take it you like coffee with your sugar?” He hoped his smirk looked friendly because he was practically laughing at the absurdity of this sourpuss liking her coffee sweet and pale. Him? He liked his
hot
, period.

She returned his smirk and shrugged. “So shoot me. My nana taught me how to drink coffee as a little girl. I thought it was horrible, yucky even, so she kept adding sugar and cream until I stopped holding my nose. The habit stuck, I’m afraid.”

“The coffee purists must love it when you place an order,” he teased. “That kind of shit will earn you a few frowns, I’m sure.”

“Are you kidding?” she drawled. “I’ve almost been chased from coffee shops by angry villagers with lit torches and pitchforks.”

“Sacrilege,” he agreed with a nod. “I’m thinking you make up for it though with the sinful buns.”

He shouldn’t have said it, but he did—it couldn’t be helped. He was astonished when she blushed a deep rose and hid a half smile with a long draw on her coffee. He’d expected her to snark at him and put him in his place, but she didn’t.

Amy reappeared in a perfectly synchronous moment with a tray piled with all sorts of goodies, announcing that in addition to the cinnamon bites she’d thrown on a few mini scones, a couple of fresh baked cookies, and two cannoli. She made sure to sing Brynn’s praises as an amazing baker who singlehandedly came up with everything they sold. Looking at the impressive selection before him, Jax was seriously impressed with the lady’s skills.

“What do you recommend?” he asked. “It all looks amazing.”

She didn’t exactly smile at his impartial praise, but she didn’t frown either. “Oh, well….the cinnamon bites first. They’re a sample version of the bigger roll. Not as gooey but close. I’ve been told, and I am quoting here, that they
fucking rock
.”