Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Jax
Spending three hours cleaning up trash may not have been how I imagined spending my Saturday off, but I had to admit to feeling refreshed from the fresh air. Preston’s brothers were entertaining, and Charlotte and I could talk about books for hours. Not the worst way to spend a day off, plus we gathered a ton of trash from along the walking path.
I bent over to touch my toes, stretching out my back, waiting for our host to officially dismiss us.
“Dude, ogle your fiancée’s ass in public a little less. There are kids around.”
I stood up and turned around to find Preston’s cheeks flushed pink and Hunter wearing a shit-eating grin. I smiled and walked over to the brothers. I leaned toward Preston’s ear, intentionally choosing the side Hunter stood on and said, “Why look when you can touch?” in a low voice.
To my delight, Preston’s cheeks got darker before he got a determined look in his eye. He slid his arm down my back, resting his hand on my ass. To my surprise, he slid my puffy vest and long-sleeve tee up my back slightly before hooking his thumb into the waistband of my yoga pants.
My shirt moved back down, covering his wandering thumb, which he proceeded to slide back and forth over the sliver of skin he had exposed. My breath caught, surprised to find my lower back, or more accurately, upper ass, to be such an erogenous zone. A pleased smirk crossed Preston’s face before he returned his attention to Hunter.
“So what’s next?” Preston asked, pulling on the hand tucked into my pants so I had no choice but to step back next to him. I kept what I hoped was a normal smile on my face, while most of my attention focused on the two inches of flesh my fake fiancé kept stroking.
“What do you think, Jax?” Laurel, who apparently had joined our group in the past few minutes since my world was centered on a thumb, asked me.
“Oh, yeah, sounds great,” I said, not wanting to give away how distracted I was.
She clapped her hands in glee. “Great, girls’ brunch! We’re meeting my cousin too. I think you guys will get along great.”
I looked up at Preston. “I guess I’m going to girls’ brunch.”
Preston removed his hand and smiled knowingly at me. “I guess so. We’re going to brunch too, it turns out. You would have been invited, but Charlotte can’t come either, so now the brothers have an opportunity to grill me about our engagement. Thanks a lot.” He smiled at me to lessen the sting of his words. I could tell in his eyes he was excited to spend time with his brothers, even if it meant time in the hot seat.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you back at the apartment then.” I found myself looking between Preston’s lips and his eyes. Would his brothers expect us to kiss goodbye? In the early morning fogginess, having this conversation after our library make out last week hadn’t crossed my mind.
“I guess so,” Preston said, his eyes doing their own bouncing, a question in them.
I nodded slightly, and Preston leaned down to place a gentle peck on my lips before pulling away. He walked toward his brothers and Hayden threw his arm around Preston’s neck as they set off toward their next stop.
Laurel came to stand next to me as I watched them walk away. “So, it’s a good thing brunch includes mimosas, right?”
I looked over at her, catching the knowing look in her eye.
“I think I’m going to need a few. Hold the juice.”
“Pretty sure we can make that happen.” Laurel laughed and looped her arm through mine, leading me over to where Caitlin waited by their car.
T he temperature finally cracked sixty degrees by the time we reached the restaurant. Between the plentiful sunshine and no breeze, it was a perfect day to sit outside and we were lucky enough to snag the last four top in Shaw’s Tavern’s outdoor dining section.
“Hi, Penny. We’re all going to take bottomless mimosas and some bread for the table, please,” Laurel said, as our waitress came over to greet us.
“Three for bottomless mimosas?” Penny confirmed with a smile. A busboy appeared, as if by magic, dropping off a basket of bread and olive oil for dipping.
“Make that four,” a voice came from behind us, and Laurel stood up to hug a tall, beautiful redhead. The newcomer wore jeans and a blazer, putting us to shame in our river cleanup garb.
“Four it is,” Penny said with a smile, walking away to put in our orders.
“Michelle, this is my new coworker, Jax. Jax, meet Michelle, my cousin, who’s new to DC.”
Michelle waved at me from across the table as she grabbed a slice of bread. “Hi, Jax. My cousin here tells me we should be friends. I’m not sure if she means that or if she’s just sick of being the only person I know in the city outside of work.”
“Hi,” I answered. “Well, she tells me you live by a place with great margaritas, so as long as you like tequila, I think we’ll be fast friends.”
Michelle laughed. “Tequila and tacos, the foundation for any true friendship.”
We made small talk, Michelle answering questions from Caitlin and Laurel about settling in and how her first week of work had gone.
Michelle heaved a heavy sigh. “It’s fine. My boss called me in yesterday to tell me I needed to tone down the technical talk in my forecasts. Apparently, we’ve gotten some complaints.”
“Michelle’s the new meteorologist for KUSN, Channel Four” Caitlin said to me quietly, filling in context as Penny delivered a bottle of champagne and a few carafes of juice, plus glasses of water all around.
Michelle continued, champagne flute in the air. “My forecasts aren’t that different from how some of the guys from Capital Weather Gang give them, but I guess because I’m a woman, people are viewing me as uptight and elitist.”
I snorted. “Throw a stone in this town and you’ll hit an elitist.” And took a sip of my own drink. Champagne with just a splash of juice, the perfect brunch companion.
She raised her glass toward me. “That’s part of why I took the job in this market. I figured I could deliver a unique brand of forecasting and it would fit here. But I guess not.” She slumped back in her chair and emptied her glass. “Oh well, that’s Monday’s problem. What’s up with you ladies?”
Caitlin talked about the case her firm had settled, and Laurel filled her in on some of the senator’s latest antics. I chimed in here and there, but was content to take in the menu and enjoy the sunshine.
“But Jax here has fiancé problems, don’t you, Jax?”
I snapped my head up and glared at Laurel, my eyes narrowing as she took in my delighted face. “No, I don’t.”
“Oh, I think you do,” Caitlin chimed in as Laurel cackled. I debated whether I was too hungry to actually get up and leave right now, but then Penny arrived to take our food orders. I decided it might not be the worst thing in the world to get some outside perspective on the thoughts pinging around my brain.
“I’ll have the waffles and a side of eggs, please. No cheese.” I handed Penny my menu and poured myself a fresh drink from the bottle she delivered moments ago.
“So, Michelle. I know we just met, but can you keep a secret?”
Laurel clapped, bouncing in her seat as her cousin looked at me, confused.
“Is the secret that you’re having fiancé problems? But yes, I can. A weather person is only as good as their trustworthy reputation.” Michelle rolled her eyes at herself, letting me know she didn’t take herself too seriously, but was game to keep my confidences.
“So, my engagement is fake,” I started.
“But her lust is very real,” Laurel finished.
“That’s not quite how I was going to phrase it, but thank you.”
“And how does he—oh, sorry,” Michelle corrected herself. “Or she, or they, I shouldn’t assume, feel about you?”
I laughed. “Sorry, I just remembered the last woman I dated—before Preston—broke up with me because I wasn’t marriage material, but here I am, with a fiancé. Take that, Britney!” I swigged more of my drink before reaching for the glass of water Penny smartly brought for each of us. I should slow down until after I ate something. “I’m not really sure how he feels. He did refer to our kiss at the Library of Congress as ‘some kiss.’”
Laurel gasped. “I knew something was up with him when he couldn’t find you. Oh man, this is good. I’ve never seen Preston lose his head over a woman before. Tell me everything.”
“There’s not much to tell. We hid from my nemesis underneath the stairs, made out a little, and got interrupted by a poorly timed elevator door opening and my digestive system.”
“Well, did you talk about it afterward?” Caitlin asked, leaning forward, clearly as invested as everyone else at the table.
“We did. I said I didn’t think it was a good idea for us to be physical outside of instances where it was necessary to keep up appearances.”
“And did he agree?” Michelle asked, eyeing me appraisingly.
“I think so?” I thought back to the conversation. “At the very least, he didn’t argue with me.”
We paused our conversation so the runner could deliver our plates.
“Well, if putting his hand on your ass in a public park before noon on a Saturday is keeping up appearances, then I have greatly underestimated Preston’s game,” Laurel said, digging into her breakfast scramble.
“His thumb might have sort of been inside my pants too,” I muttered, concentrating on pouring syrup in each square of my waffle until Laurel gasped and dropped her silverware on the plate.
“Preston Brandt,” she said, applauding lightly. “Who knew you had it in you?”
“Okay, while a bit extreme for appearance’s sake, that doesn’t actually tell us anything,” Caitlin said, her lawyer voice firmly in place. “Jax, do you want Preston?”
I looked at each woman in turn, and voiced to them the truth I had been trying to hide from myself. “I do,” I nodded. “I want to climb him like a tree.”
“Ha!” Michelle exclaimed, her hand coming down on the table, causing a few people to look our way. She lowered her voice. “Laurel’s right. We are going to be great friends. Climb him like a tree. I’m going to use that.” She pulled out her phone.
“Sounds like someone else has some news they’ve been withholding,” Laurel said, watching her cousin.
“Just another form of stress relief,” Michelle said, typing on her phone. “I downloaded Tinder last night on a whim.” Laurel looked shocked. “I know, I know. Casual hook-ups are totally not my style, but that conversation with my boss really had me questioning a lot about myself last night. I went to delete it just as quickly, but got a message from a guy right away. RidgeMan93. He has lots of tattoos, abs I’d like to eat stuff off, and he’s only in town for the weekend. New city, new me, right?”
Laurel didn’t look so sure, but Caitlin kicked me on her way to tap Laurel’s foot across the table. Laurel seemed to swallow what she was going to say, opting for, “Well, if you do meet up with him, make sure to share your location and keep me posted, okay?”
Michelle nodded. “Of course. He may not even answer. He said he had family stuff to do today and would see if he could get away. Now, back to you, Jax. What are you going to do about it?”
I thought for a moment and then looked over at Laurel. “Is there somewhere near here I could buy a new little something special? I think it’s time to seduce my fiancé.”
Laurel looked thrilled. “I know just the place. Let’s go shopping.”