Afterburn (3 page)

“Instead of sticking around, maybe I should use this time to reach out to Chad,” I suggested. “Get a feel for where he’s at with this. I know we wanted to take the Williams twins together, but even if we get just one, it’ll hurt Pembry in a significant way.”

“Good plan.” She smiled. “It’ll do Rutledge some good to get better acquainted with me, don’t you think? If Ian’s led him to believe I’m an easy mark, it would be smart to prove otherwise now.”

I almost smiled at the thought of Jax and Lei butting heads. He was far too used to females falling all over him, for both his devastating good looks and his family name, which was as close to royalty as America got.

“I’ll do some digging after I talk to Chad—” I backed out of the room “—and see if I can find the connection between Pembry and the Rutledges.”

“Good.” She steepled her fingers together and rested her chin on the tips, studying me. “Forgive me for asking, Gianna—but did you love Jackson?”

“I thought we loved each other.”

Lei sighed. “I wish that was one lesson women didn’t have to learn the hard way.”

Chapter 3

I
GRABBED
MY
purse out of my desk drawer before I headed up to reception, clutching it like a talisman that would hurry me away from Jax before he realized who I was. The walk up to the front seemed to take a very long time.

It was a tough pill to swallow, realizing he still affected me so strongly. He’d only been part of my life for a short time. I’d had two other lovers since him and thought I had moved on.

He was studying a display of our bestseller cookbooks when I rounded the corner and my breath caught. His tall, powerful frame was now shown off to full advantage in an expertly tailored suit, a sign of respect for Lei I couldn’t help but appreciate. I’d never seen him dressed so formally in person. We’d met at a bar, of all places. I’d gone out with some classmates, and he was attending a bachelor party.

I should’ve known it wouldn’t turn out well.

But God, he was magnificent. His dark hair was close-cropped on the sides and back, slightly longer on the top. His eyes were a brown so dark they were nearly black. Thickly lashed, they were relentless in their intensity. Had I really thought they were soft and warm? I’d been blinded by that lush, sensual mouth and wicked dimple. There was nothing soft about Jackson Rutledge. He was a hard and jaded man, cut from a ruthless cloth.

He raked me from head to toe with a slow, intense look that made my fingers flex as I approached him.

It was well-known that he was a connoisseur of women. I told myself I could be anyone and get that look from him, but I knew better. My body remembered him. Remembered his touch, his scent, the way his skin felt against mine...

From the way he was looking at me, the same recollections were heating his blood, too.

“Hello, Mr. Rutledge,” I greeted him formally, because he still hadn’t acknowledged that he knew who I was. I spoke each word carefully, in a controlled voice not quite my own. I usually didn’t have to think about sounding too Brooklyn anymore, but he made me forget myself.

He made me want to forget everything.

“Ms. Yeung will be out in just a moment,” I continued, deliberately stopping a few feet away from him. “I’ll show you to the conference room. Can I get you some water? Coffee? Tea?”

His chest expanded with a deep breath. “Nothing, thank you.”

“This way, then.” I passed him, managing a strained smile for LaConnie as I walked by her. I could smell him, that subtle hint of bergamot and spice. I could feel his gaze on my back, my ass, my legs. It made me hyperconscious of my walk, which made me feel awkward.

He didn’t say a word, and I was afraid to, my throat too dry to make speech comfortable. I felt a terrible yearning—the almost desperate need to touch him the way I’d once had a right to. It was hard to believe I’d had him in my bed. Had him inside me. How had I ever had the courage to take on such a man?

I was relieved when we reached the conference room, the door handle feeling blessedly cool as I pushed it down.

His breath gusted softly over my ear. “How long are you going to pretend you don’t know me, Gia?”

My eyes slid closed as he purred the name only he had ever used.

Pushing the door open, I stepped inside, holding on to the handle so there was no mistaking that I wouldn’t be staying.

He walked right up to me, standing face-to-face. He was a little more than a head taller—even though I wore heels. His hands were in his pockets, his head bowed over me. He was in my personal space. Too intimate. Far too familiar.

“Please step back,” I said quietly.

He moved, but not in the way I wanted. His right hand slid out of his pocket, and then down my arm, from elbow to wrist. I felt his touch through the silk of my navy blouse and was grateful that the long sleeves hid the goose bumps.

“You’ve changed so much,” he murmured.

“Of course. Enough that you didn’t recognize me earlier.”

“Jesus. You think I didn’t know it was you?” He turned away, but that didn’t lessen his impact. The back view was just as splendid as the front. “You could never hide from me, Gia. I’d recognize you blindfolded.”

Shock and confusion held my tongue for a moment. We’d gone from distant and impersonal to searingly intimate in a heartbeat. “What are you doing here, Jax?”

He walked to the windows and looked out at New York. In the near distance, Central Park was a splash of green already touched with autumn-red and orange, a vibrant burst of color in a concrete jungle. “I’m going to offer Lei Yeung whatever it takes to make her go play in someone else’s sandbox.”

“It won’t work. This is personal.”

“Business should never be personal.”

I stepped back toward the threshold, eager to escape. The conference room was spacious and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows on one side and clear glass on the other. The walls at either end were a soothing pale blue, with an expensively stocked bar to the right and a huge display screen to the left. Still, Jax dominated his surroundings, making me feel caged.

“Nothing’s personal, right?” I said, remembering how he’d just failed to show up one day. And every day after that.

“Things were between us,” he said, his deep voice husky. “Once.”

“No, they weren’t.”
Not for you...

He turned abruptly, causing me to take another cautious step back even though we stood a room apart. “There are no hard feelings, then. Good. There’s no reason not to pick up where we left off. My meeting with Yeung won’t take long. When I’m done we can head to my hotel and get reacquainted.”

“Fuck you,” I snapped.

His mouth curved, revealing that delicious dimple. Oh, how that changed him, concealing how dangerous he was with a touch of boyish charm. I hated that playful little indentation as much as I adored it.

“There you are,” he said, with an unmistakable note of triumph. “You almost had me fooled into thinking the Gia I knew was gone.”

“Don’t toy with me, Jax. It’s beneath you.”

“I want you beneath me.”

I’d known he would say that, if I opened the door, but I’d had to hear it. I had to hear him spell it out. He was direct when it came to sex, sensual and natural as an animal. I loved it, because I’d been that way with him, too.

Greedy. Insatiable. Nothing else had ever made me feel as good.

“I’m seeing someone,” I lied.

Visually, he didn’t bat an eye, but somehow, I got the impression that struck a nerve. “That Williams guy?” he asked too casually.

“Hello, Mr. Rutledge,” Lei said, sweeping in on her killer Jimmy Choo slingbacks. “I’m going to assume this is a pleasant surprise.”

“It can be.” He turned his attention to her so completely, I felt dismissed.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” I said, walking out. Lei’s gaze caught mine and I understood the silent message. We’d be talking soon.

I didn’t look at Jax again, but I still got the same message from him.

* * *

I
CALLED
C
HAD
W
ILLIAMS
as soon as I passed through the turnstiles in the lobby. “Hey,” I said when I heard his smooth Southern drawl. “It’s Gianna.”

“I was hoping you’d call.”

“Do you have dinner plans?”

“Ah—I can break them.”

I smiled, feeling a little guilty about preempting whoever was going to be ditched, but it felt good to have a little ego-stroking. My confidence had taken a beating from seeing Jax again.

I couldn’t forget how he’d been with me long ago. Frisky, teasing, affectionate. If I closed my eyes, I could still feel him come up behind me, sliding my hair out of the way to press his beautiful mouth against my throat. I could still hear the way he’d groan my name when he was inside me, as if the pleasure were too great to stand.

“Gianna? You still there?”

“Yeah, sorry.” I started pulling out the pins that restrained my straightened hair into a sleek chignon. “I know a charming Italian place. Cozy. Casual. Excellent food.”

“You’ve got yourself a date.”

“I’ll call the car service. I can pick you up in about fifteen minutes. Will that work?”

“I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

T
RUE
TO
HIS
WORD
, Chad was standing on the sidewalk when the car pulled up. He wore loose-fitting black jeans, boots and a dark green Henley that went great with his eyes. As far as dates went, he was prime.

He started toward the cab, then jumped back with a curse as a bike messenger sped by.

“Christ almighty,” he muttered as he settled into the seat beside me. He looked me over as we merged back into rush-hour traffic. “I like your hair down. It suits you.”

“Thank you.” It’d taken me a while to get used to wearing it up. It was so thick and heavy, the weight of it gave me headaches...like the one I had at that moment.

“So,” I began, “I have to confess—”

“Hope it’s sinful.”

“Uh, no. I’m taking you to my parents’ place.”

His brows rose. “You’re taking me to meet your folks?”

“Yep. They own a restaurant. We won’t have trouble getting a table without a reservation—usually impossible on a Thursday night—and they won’t rush us off, either.”

“You planning on keeping me around awhile?” he teased.

“I’d like to. I think we could work really well together.”

Chad nodded, sobering. “Stacy knows what you’re offering is exactly what we need, but...she’s sleeping with Ian and it’s screwing everything up.”

“I figured.” Ian Pembry was a suave and distinguished fifty-year-old man with silvery gray hair and striking blue eyes. He wasn’t handsome in the usual sense, but he had charisma and a bank balance that made a lot of women overlook his flaws. Stacy had her work cut out for her; since Lei, he’d never stayed with any lover long. “What’s he offering you to stay with him?”

And where does Jax fit in?
Had seeing me knocked him for a loop at all?

“Ian says he can put something together like you’ve presented and he can do it better, because Lei doesn’t have what it takes. That’s why she’s poaching his talent.”

“You know that’s crap.”

“I do, yeah.” He smiled. “You wouldn’t be working for her if she was second-rate.”

“And the Mondego resort chain is five-star all the way,” I reminded him. “They wouldn’t work with someone second-rate, either. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, Chad. Don’t let Stacy take it away from you.”

“Goddamn it.” His head fell back against the seat rest. “I don’t think we can make it separately. That’s why the idea of the dueling kitchens was going to work.”

“It
will
work. But you can do it on your own, too.”

He looked at me, his gaze searching. “Give it to me straight, Gianna. You’ll say anything to close this deal, won’t you?”

I thought about Jax and what he’d said about business not being personal. For me it was always personal. I cared.

“I’ve got my reasons,” I admitted, Jax now being one of them. I’d worked too hard to have him stroll in, toss his money around and ruin everything. “But I wouldn’t screw you over. It doesn’t get Lei or me anywhere if you’re not successful. I promise you, I won’t disappear as soon as the ink is dry.”

“And now I’ll know how to track you down through your folks,” he said, relaxing.

“Over thirty years in the same location.”

“I guess that’s as good a guarantee as anyone can get.”

* * *

M
Y
FAMILY
PULLED
out all the stops when we got to Rossi’s, deducing who Chad was from my previous descriptions. We were seated at a corner table and everyone came by to introduce themselves, giving Chad a heaping dose of Rossi hospitality.

I had Chad take the bench seat facing the rest of the restaurant, while I took the single chair across from him. I wanted him to feel the energy, to see the faces of customers enjoying a great meal. I wanted him to remember why he wanted what Savor was offering him.

Over a toast, he said, “You’re right. This place is great.”

“I’m never going to lie to you.”

He laughed, and I enjoyed the sound. It was a bit wild, a lot free. Very much like the man himself. I was attracted to him on a comfortable level. Nothing like the explosion of body and mind I’d felt from the very first second I’d laid eyes on Jax, but then no one elicited that reaction but Jackson Rutledge.

“Smart bringing me here,” he said, running his fingertip around the lip of his wineglass. I suspected he’d prefer beer, but he didn’t ask for it. “Making me see you’ve got the business in your blood, too. It’s not just a job.”

“My family just opened our second Rossi’s in Upper Saddle River.”

“Where’s that?”

“New Jersey. Posh as hell. My brother Nico is spearheading it. Just passed the three-month mark.”

“So why not hook your family up with the Mondego?”

“It’s not what they want. They want this—” I gestured around the restaurant with a sweep of my hand. “Community. Franchising was never their dream.”

He studied me. “You make it sound like your dreams are different.”

I sat back. “I suppose they are. I want to help them get what they want, but I want something different.”

“Like what?”

“I haven’t found it yet.”
Although I thought I had. Once upon a time...
“I figure I’ll know it when I see it.”

“Maybe I could help you pass the time while you’re waiting,” he suggested boldly.

I smiled. “It’s an idea, isn’t it?”

Maybe he was what I needed. It’d been too long since my last boyfriend. I’d been working hard, leaving little time for socializing. I didn’t fool myself into thinking I would magically have immunity to Jax if I got laid, but it wouldn’t hurt. It would certainly take the edge off life in the interim, and Jax wouldn’t be staying in New York long. His life and work was split between D.C. and northern Virginia, and soon enough, another Rutledge would need him for something. He was the family fixer.

I leaned forward, opening myself to the possibilities.

Chad’s mouth curved in a very male smile, the slightly triumphant one of a man who knew he was going to score. He reached for my hand, his gaze drifting over my shoulder in a lazy way. Then he stilled, his brows lowering in a scowl. “Fuck.”