Page 26 of The Devil in Blue Jeans
Having had enough of being left in the dark, Jaxon finished off his beer and placed the bottle back in the empty case near the front door. “I gotta head downtown.” He grabbed his keys from his pocket. “See you both later.”
Gunner yelled out, “A particular brunette on your mind?”
Jaxon gave a wave in response before climbing into his truck. The drive to downtown only took twenty minutes. Luckily, he found a parking spot right in front of the bar.
The moment he stepped out, he was met with female voices singing. As he moved closer to the entrance, he noticed a sign that read: Take a shot. I untied the knot! The last place he wanted to be was inside this place filled with women attempting to help their friend get over a breakup. He opened the door just enough so that Aubrey could see him, then pointed at Charly.
Aubrey smiled and poked her friend’s shoulder.
Those captivating eyes widened when they caught sight of him, and he gestured for her to follow him out of there before anyone else noticed him. He leaned against his truck and waited until she joined him outside of the building, the music falling away as the door shut behind her.
Once she reached him, he said firmly, “I don’t know about how things are in Phoenix, but when someone texts you, it’s rude not to text them back.”
She turned away, avoiding his eye contact. “I’m sorry for not answering your messages earlier.”
He firmed his voice. “Do you regret last night?”
Her lips thinned. “No.”
“Do you always have one-night stands and then ghost the guy?”
“No,” she answered without hesitation. “Last night was a one-time thing.”
He paused as he digested her response. Somehow, the fact that this casual fling wasn’t part of her normal routine made him strangely pleased, as if he was special enough to make her break her own rules. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked, gentler this time.
“Definitely not,” she said, her lips curling up at the corners.
“Then why won’t you talk to me again?”
She finally looked at him and eyed him intently before dropping a bomb. “I don’t trust myself around you.”
Jaxon parted his mouth and shut it. A moment later, he finally found his voice. “Why don’t you trust yourself around me?”
She folded her arms across her chest and inadvertently accentuated her cleavage. “Isn’t it obvious enough? Do I really need to explain it?”
“Yeah, you need to explain it.” His gaze stayed fixed on her face instead of straying lower like his body wanted to do. “Because I don’t get it.”
“I’m here to get this bar up and running,” she said. “I’mjustoff a brutal breakup. And I’m too smart to ignore what I’ve heard about you.” She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before opening them again and fixing him with an intense stare. “On top of all that, I’m a spectacular mess right now. While I don’t regret last night, it also can’t happen again.”
He cocked his head. “Because you don’t want it to?”
“Because it’s just a bad idea.”
Holding her stare just as intensely, he asked, “Why?”
Her face flushed and her gaze roamed over his lips. “Because you have red flags.”
The spark he’d felt that first day returned, heating up the air between them. It was nothing he’d ever felt before with anyone. He pushed off his truck and closed the distance. He waited for her to take a step back, but when she didn’t, he stopped, nearly toe to toe with her. “How do you know I have red flags when you haven’t truly gotten to know me?”
“I’ve heard all about you,” she said, breathless. “You have serious commitment issues. That’s a huge red flag.”
“Who did you hear this from?” he asked. “Women that I may or may not have been with. Women who know nothing of my life or how I feel. Women who have no understanding that the only reason I had one-night stands was because I was mourning the loss of my father and my dream of the bar, and I was desperate to feel something good.”
She stayed silent, and in that silence, he understood that she currently felt very similar.
He continued, “I don’t want you to be a one-night stand, Charly. I want to get to know you.” He saw her guards were up. He understood why. But he was not against using whatever means he had to get his way. “I heard you had some pissed-off cowboys at the bar today.”
“We did,” she said with a nod.
