Page 15 of For the Promise

“What did you mean then?”

I open my mouth to berate Jaxon. It’s obvious what I meant. But his eyes are clouded in confusion. He isn’t being deliberately obtuse. He honestly doesn’t understand what I meant.

I blow out a breath. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“But you did.”

“Can we pretend I didn’t?”

He fiddles with his glasses. “I don’t enjoy pretending.”

I giggle. Of course, he doesn’t.

“I’m serious. What did you mean?”

I give in and explain, “Eli founded this company to provide you and the rest of your brothers with jobs. Kai doesn’t have to worry about getting fired since Eli would never fire him.”

My chest squeezes. How would it feel to have a big brother to care for you? Who worried about you? Who took care of you? I wish I knew.

Jaxon steps closer. “And this makes you sad.”

I clear my throat. “I’m not sad.”

“The sparkle in your eyes disappeared, and your voice went flat.”

My eyebrows fly up. “You don’t understand subtlety, but you can recognize sadness?”

“Why are you sad?”

I glance away. “Can we not discuss this?”

He pinches my chin and forces me to meet his gaze. “I don’t enjoy seeing you sad.”

He doesn’t enjoy seeing me sad? My bottom lip trembles. No one’s cared about my feelings in such a long time. I forgot how it feels.

His gaze dips to my lips and his eyes heat. “Don’t cry, Blossom.”

“I…” My words trail off when his lips meet mine. I gasp in surprise and his tongue swoops into my mouth. I moan as the taste of whiskey and mint hits me. It’s not a combination I would ever put together, but it works for him.

Jaxon growls before wrapping his arms around me and shoving me against the wall. I can feel every inch of his hard body pressing against me. He feels strong and steady. As if nothing could rattle him.

I wind my arms around his waist and now I’m surrounded by all things Jaxon. His tongue explores my mouth and his hard length presses against my stomach. I massage his ass cheeks and he groans before grinding his cock against me. My panties dampen in response.

Holy mermaids. I’ve missed this. I’ve missed being intimate with a man.

I’ve avoided being intimate with a man because men are not to be trusted. But I don’t need to trust this man. I can have fun and keep my heart encased behind a steel wall he can’t destroy or climb over.

His hands graze my sides and my nipples pebble in return. Oh yeah. I definitely want to have fun with this man. Lots of naked, sweaty fun until we exhaust each other and go our separate ways.

“Ahem. AHEM!”

The sound of someone clearing their throat manages to break through my sex cloud. Jaxon rips his mouth from mine.

I glance over his shoulder. Paisley raises her eyebrow at us and he steps away from me.

“I need to…” He rushes off without completing his sentence.

Go ahead and run, Jaxon. I do enjoy a good chase.

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