Afterburn (6 page)

“I used to have a heart,” he drawled, “and then someone broke it.”

My gaze darted between the two, trying to read the vibrating tension between them. I got the sense I was being played and that everyone understood the rules but me.

Fine. If I kept my mouth shut and my ears open, I could catch up.

Ian turned and offered me his arm. “Shall we?”

He led me up the front steps with Lei trailing behind. A glance back at her proved she did so regally, her head held high on that long neck I envied. Light spilled out of the open double doors and limousines discharged their passengers in steady waves behind us. It was an amazing party and I hadn’t even crossed the threshold.

“I trust the flights were pleasant,” he said.

I glanced at him and found him watching me too carefully. “Yes, thank you.”

“Have you been to D.C. before?”

“My first time.”

“Ah.” He smiled, and I could see a hint of his charm. “Maybe you’ll consider spending the weekend. I have a town house in Georgetown. You’re welcome to use it.”

“That’s kind of you.”

Laughing, he unlinked our arms and set his hand at the small of my back, urging me through the doors before him. “I hope you’ll say more than a few words at a time as the evening progresses, Miss Rossi. I’d like to get to know you, especially since both Jackson and Lei have taken such an interest in you.”

My steps slowed when I saw what looked to be a receiving line. “What is this event?”

“A private fund-raiser,” he murmured near my ear.

I suddenly understood what Lei had meant by cruelty. “For a Rutledge?”

Amusement colored his voice. “Who else?”

Passing through the receiving line went quickly, with brisk handshakes from the men and slightly warmer handclasps by the women. All of them were perfectly groomed, without a hair out of place, and all had big practiced smiles with blindingly white teeth.

I was glad to get through and accept a glass of champagne from the tray of a smiling waiter. I was even happier to see Chad, who looked as uncomfortable as I felt. His face brightened when he saw us, familiar faces in an unfamiliar crowd, and he headed our way.

“I took the liberty of pairing Chad with you, Lei,” Ian said, his gaze sliding over her.

I searched the room for Jax. I didn’t see him, but then there were so many people milling around the ballroom we’d been shown to. A ballroom, for God’s sake, in someone’s
house.

Who lived like this?

I swallowed a large gulp of the cool wine in my glass. Jax lived like this. The sleek businessman I’d seen at Savor fit in here, but not the lover I’d known.

You only thought you knew him....

Chad came up to me, sliding one finger beneath the collar of his dress shirt. “Can you believe this? I just met the governor of Louisiana. And he knew who I am!”

Ian’s smile was smug. But I still didn’t get it.

“How do politics and the food-service industry mix?” I asked him.

“Strange bedfellows, I admit.” He took my empty glass and swapped it for a fresh one as a waiter walked by. “But everyone eats.”

“Not everyone votes,” Lei said, catching her own glass.

“You were always much more conscientious about that than I,” Ian agreed. “What about you, Gianna? I can call you Gianna, can’t I? Do you exercise your right to vote?”

“Isn’t politics one of those topics it’s wiser not to discuss?” I eyed a passing tray of hors d’oeuvres and realized my nerves were too shot to even consider food.

“Why don’t we dance instead?” he suggested.

Figuring it might be a rare chance to speak to him alone, I agreed. Chad took my glass of champagne and downed it.

“I’ll warn you that I’m not a great dancer,” I told Ian as he led me over to the area reserved for dancing. I’d taken a few classes to build my confidence, but I never had a chance to dance formally outside of the studio and little time to practice anything beyond the basic steps. I had definitely never danced to a live orchestra before.

“Just follow my lead,” he murmured, pulling me close.

We blended into the few couples on the floor.

I was so focused on not stepping on his feet that I didn’t say anything for the first minute or so.

“Tell me how you know Jackson,” he said.

“I don’t know him.” And that was the truth, in every way that mattered.

Ian’s brows rose, his blue eyes searching my face. “Yesterday wasn’t the first time you’d met.”

“Since I’m sure you knew that before you brought him into the mix, I’m more interested in how you two know each other.”

“I know his father, Parker Rutledge. He introduced us.” He looked past me. “Speak of the devil.”

My spine stiffened. I turned my head, my steps faltering as I watched a man who looked eerily like Jax dancing with a very pretty younger woman.

The urge to leave the event was insanely strong. I had no business at a political fund-raiser, no place in a world that had nothing at all to do with my own. I couldn’t figure out how a pair of twin chefs had led me to this point in time and didn’t really care to puzzle it out at the moment anyway. A sinking feeling that the night would go from bad to worse was getting stronger.

“What was the reason you brought us here, Ian?”

He countered with a question of his own. “How ambitious are you, Gianna?”

“I’m loyal to Lei.”

He smiled. “I was, too. Unfortunately, you won’t find her to be as faithful in return. You know as well as I do that it’s not in Chad’s or Stacy’s interest to break up. They need each other.”

“They can make it on their own. They’re both talented in their own right.” My feelings of irritation grew. “Why couldn’t we have discussed this in New York?”

“I’m fighting for my livelihood. You have to expect that I’ll pull out all the stops.”

“Lei’s in your league. I’m not.”

“You feel out of place here,” he said softly, soothingly. “I know these people. I would love to help you make connections and find your way.”

I stared up at him. “Why are you offering me that? Because of Jackson? If you think I want to insinuate myself into his life, you couldn’t be more wrong about me.”

The song ended and I pulled back, ready to find Lei and see if she wanted to leave, too.

Pembry wisely got the hint and guided me off the dance floor. I was almost home free when a tall figure stepped into my path. I looked up and caught my breath, thinking for a split second that Jax had shown up after all.

Then I realized it was his dad.

“Ian,” Parker said, thrusting out his hand in greeting. His voice carried power in it, just as his posture did. The Rutledge patriarch controlled a family with serious political clout. His reach and influence were staggering if you thought about it, which I couldn’t help doing when he turned those dark eyes to me. “I don’t think I’ve met your lovely companion before.”

I was startled to hear his slight accent, one I couldn’t place.

Ian did the honors. “Parker, this is Gianna Rossi. Gianna, Parker Rutledge.”

“Hello,” I said.

“Miss Rossi, a pleasure. This is my wife, Regina.”

I looked at the blonde beside him, the one he’d been dancing with, and thought she couldn’t be much older than me. She certainly wasn’t old enough to be Jax’s mother. Even a great plastic surgeon couldn’t preserve someone that well. “Hello, Mrs. Rutledge.”

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Regina, please.”

“Dance with me, Regina,” Ian said, holding a hand out to her with a flourish.

She looked at Parker, who gave a nod. She looked back at Ian. “I want you to tell me about that new chef you brought with you tonight. What type of food does he cook?”

“Modern Southern.”

“Really?” They moved off. “I’m having a dinner party in a few weeks. Do you think...?”

“You’d never know it from looking at her,” Parker said, setting his hand at my waist before I could decline. “But she loves to eat.”

“I have a hard time understanding people who don’t.”

Parker swept me into the dance with a flourish and I held on, forcing myself to breathe.

“Regina also loves a great party,” he continued. “But then she’s young and beautiful. Like you.”

“Thank you.”

“Your interest is hospitality, isn’t it? I believe that’s what Ian told me. You must enjoy a great party, too. What do you think of this one?”

“It’s...” I scrambled for an answer. “I’m still taking it in.”

He laughed and the sound wasn’t anything like Jax’s warm chuckles. Parker had a booming laugh, one that drew attention. It was oddly infectious. I felt my mouth curve reluctantly.

“Gianna,” he said, again with that hint of a regional accent. “An unusual name, isn’t it? Jackson knew a Gianna in Las Vegas a few years ago.”

As I’d expected, the evening was quickly moving from uncomfortable to disastrous. I had assumed I’d been a secret. Instead, it seemed Jax had been telling everyone about me. That didn’t give me the warm fuzzies.

“It’s a family name,” I answered tightly, feeling terribly awkward.

“It must have been a pleasant surprise, seeing him again.”

I studied him. Would Jax look like his father when he reached the same age? I hoped not. I hoped he’d have more laugh lines around the eyes and less tension around his beautiful mouth.

“I’m more surprised that Ian felt the need to involve him in our business.”

“I involved Jackson,” he murmured, looking over my head with narrowed eyes. “Ian did me a wonderful favor when he introduced me to Regina, so I help him whenever I can.” He looked at me again. “I wasn’t aware of you, though. I’ll assume Ian was.”

Unease slid down my spine. I felt like a clown fish swimming with sharks, in way over my head.

“Excuse me.”

God. The sound of Jax’s voice reverberated through me.

“I’m cutting in.”

Parker stopped and I turned my head, my heart pounding when I came face-to-face with Jax.

“I didn’t think you’d show,” Parker said to his son.

Jax glanced at me, then back at his father. “You didn’t give me a choice.”

For a second, I considered slipping away while the two men were occupied with staring hard at each other. Then Jax’s arm slipped around my waist from behind, pulling me into him and away from his father.

Parker glanced at me. “I’ll bow out and see you at dinner, Gianna. Enjoy yourself.”

Jax rounded me, cutting off my view of his dad’s retreating back. “You look amazing,” he said softly, pulling me closer.

My shoulders ached with tension. “I’m glad you approve.”

He took the first step and I followed.

“Breathe, Gia,” he admonished. “I’ve got you.”

“I don’t want to be here.”

“That makes two of us.” He caressed my back with a soothing brush of his hand. “I hate these things.”

“But you fit right in.”

His eyes were shadowed with an emotion I couldn’t name. “I was born into it. I don’t live in it.”

The heat of his body began to soak into mine. Every breath I took was filled with his scent; every movement he made sent echoes of memories sliding through me.

“That’s better,” he coaxed. “Relax into me, baby.”

“Don’t.”

“You’re in my world now, Gia. My rules.”

I shook my head. “I was tricked into coming here.”

He pulled me closer, his lips at my temple. “I’m sorry.”

“You just had to get that out, didn’t you? I don’t see why. Clearly I wasn’t the dirty little secret I thought I was.”

“Not dirty.” His voice lowered. “Except when you wanted me that way. A little rough, a lot hard. Jesus. You used to turn me inside out.”

I stepped on his foot on purpose.

His low laugh rippled through me.

“You’ve been drinking,” I accused, smelling the faint trace of liquor on his breath.

“Driven to it.” He pulled back, his jaw set. “I didn’t know it’d be so damn hard to see you again.”

“I’ll make it easier. Help me and Lei get out of here.”

“Not yet.” His soft mouth brushed over my brow. “I spent a night with your family. You owe me a night with mine.”

“Then do I get to disappear, never to be seen again?”

I really wanted to. Cinderella at the ball had turned into the unsuitable girl once more.

His chest brushed against my breasts as he urged me closer. “That’s the plan.”

* * *

J
AX
KEPT
ME
dancing through two more songs, bluntly refusing to relinquish me to Ian or two other gentlemen who attempted to cut in. I got the message as loudly as I’m sure everyone else did: I arrived with Ian, but I was now with Jax.

At that point, I decided to play my Cinderella role to the hilt. I kicked the voice in my head that had been depressing me for the past two days into a corner and flexed my toes in my proverbial glass slippers.

“I want champagne,” I announced abruptly.

Jax eyed me. “Is that right?”

“Yep.”

His eyes took on a wicked gleam I recognized. “Come on.”

Grabbing my hand, he led me off the dance floor and through the crowd. It surged around him, trying to pin us in, but he was adept at brusque acknowledgments and quick rejoinders. I caught sight of a familiar face, beautiful Allison Kelsey—the woman whose fiancé’s bachelor party had brought Jax and I together—then the view changed to a brightly lit hallway. From there, Jax led me through a swinging door into a massive industrial-sized kitchen buzzing with activity.

I looked around, noting the multiple cooking stations and the black-and-white service uniforms I’d only ever seen in movies. Jax snagged a bottle of champagne out of the hands of a waiter, slipped his ring finger around the stem of a flute in a practiced movement, then pulled me out a side door into another hallway.

“Where are we going?” I asked, still wary of being alone with him. I wanted him. I’d never stopped.

“You’ll see.”

The sounds of the party grew louder, and I ignored the pang of disappointment I felt at the possibility of rejoining it. Seriously, I had to make up my mind.

Jax led me through open French doors onto a terrace overlooking a magical garden. At least it looked that way to me, with its torch-lit gravel pathways and handsome old trees sparkling with white lights.