Liz
This is so inappropriate.
But even knowing that, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the bead of sweat running down Jax’s slender neck.
I had been working most of the morning, trying to ignore the fact that I had fucked my daughter's best friend and that she was in my gallery, the one place I held dear to me. But it was hard.
Because I had spilled everything that had gone wrong in my life to her. I expected her to meet me with the same judgmental stare as everyone else, but she merely nodded and devised a plan for us.
I still had no idea if I could actually trust her, but my gut was telling me to.
The problem was that I didn’t have the best track record with trusting people.
Another problem is that she looks like that.
I couldn't look away. I'd come out here meaning to just talk to her, but how could I even trust myself near her when I was getting distracted by—
She swallowed deeply, the bead of sweat following the motion. I felt myself get hot.
She and her team were working on the outside of the gallery. She was insistent on installing most of the security features herself, which was surprising to me, though I couldn’t tell if she was trying to show off or really apologize for keeping the truth from me.
Her arms were lifted, and it caused the already short crop top to rise even higher. My eyes locked onto another bead of sweat that ran down her stomach.
“Like what you see?” she asked, pulling me from my trance and looking down at me with an amused smirk. “I could always just remove—”
I held up my hand as she started to tug her shirt up.
The look on her face told me that she was fucking with me, but I had no idea just how far she was willing to go. She had made it very clear that she still wanted me. That she would've paid even more than two million for me.
What would that have made her do?
What would that make me do?
“It’s getting hot out,” I said pointedly.
She looked at me for a long moment before a bright smile lit up her face.
“Are you worried about me?”
“The art,” I corrected. “I’m worried about the art. We keep it temperature controlled, and you having this door open compromises it.”
That was the original reason I came out here. Jen told me Jax had the door wide open while she was installing the cameras and sensors. And then I forgot all about it when I saw how hot she looked at work.
That crop top needs to be fucking burned.
“It’s okay. You can be honest when it’s just the two of us,” she casually commented and quickly finished installing whatever it was and climbed off the ladder.
I moved forward to close the door, but she was already there. Our hands brushed against each other.
When our eyes met, my breath caught.
So close. She is so close.
Just like in the office, our bodies were mere centimeters away. I could feel the heat radiating off her. The electricity between us felt like a shock to my system.
Memories of our night together flooded through me. Of her moans. Of how good she felt inside me.
“Just say the word, Liz. And I’m all yours.”
My mouth felt dry.
“We had a deal.”
“And I will keep it,” she vowed. “We’re almost done here. Like I said, I’ll have a team set up for you tonight. But…”
“But?”
I couldn’t look away from her hypnotizing gaze. I wanted to cup her face and pull her to me. To feel her melt into me once more. To feel her lips against mine.
“But tonight, if you want, after everything is said and done, I’ll keep a room at the club for us.”
“I already said it won’t happen again,” I hissed, though there was barely any heat left in the words. My body was taking it all and turning it into something else.
Desire.
I had never wanted to be with someone like I did with her.
“Take everyone else out of the equation. If it’s just me and you, why would you deny this?”
“I’m too old for you,” I whispered.
“I thought I made it clear.” Her lips pulled at the sides. “I don’t care about your age.”
“But Claire—”
“Just us, Liz. Just us.”
I took a deep breath and finally found the strength to pull away.
“It will never be just us,” I said, stepping away. “Finish your stuff and leave.”
Without letting the guilt at the change in her expression sway me, I turned around and shut myself back in the office for the rest of the day.
I didn't see Jax before she left. The head of my team introduced himself to me, and it all seemed fine, but the anxious part of me couldn’t forget about our interaction and wondered if she would show up tonight.
With that running through my mind, before I knew it, it was already time to open the gallery for our small showing.
I stood in the middle, welcoming guests and showing them around.
Tonight's artist was Iris Wren, a long-time acquaintance of mine, though I’d never met her in person. We handled everything through email and sometimes even post. Even her name was a pseudonym used to protect her identity.
She had gotten in touch, saying she had a handful of items she was finally ready to sell, though she didn't want anything big and flashy, so I assured her we would have a small, quiet get-together.
I hadn't expected the gallery to be packed with visitors with only a week’s notice. Jen and Milo, my other part-time assistant, were helping with crowd control and the line outside while I handled guests as they came inside.
We'd already sold three medium-sized paintings. There were two small sculptures, a collection of smaller paintings and antique frames she had repaired herself, and one large painting no one had bought yet.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I said as a familiar curly-haired, doe-eyed photographer looked over that one.
“Maybe I can get Sloan to buy it for our house,” Lillian said with a smile. She wore a casual T-shirt and leather jacket with jeans. Seeing her and Sloan together was rare, but seeing her like this alone made me realize just how perfectly suited they were for each other.
“I think you can get that girl to buy just about anything for you,” I replied with a small laugh. “I should thank you. After all, she and Ax are some of my biggest clients because of you.”
She gave me a playful push.
“It's a win-win. I get beautiful art, and you get money. I don't forget how many of my pieces you've peddled out, so maybe I should be thanking you instead.”
I waved her off.
“Your photographs are beautiful. They would've sold without me. You don't need to thank me.”
“Now you’re being modest.” Looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening, she added, “Also, you looked so hot the other night.”
I flushed at her compliment.
“Thank you,” I said and turned to look at the line out the door. “I have to admit I was a bit out of my comfort zone.”
“No one could tell, I promise.”
I turned back to her. “You knew, right? Who she really was.”
Lillian grimaced. “I didn’t. Sloan mentioned it after the fact, but she keeps clients’ details locked up tight so she wouldn’t spill anything that would compromise your trust in us.”
I nodded, though I didn’t know how I really felt about it. Betrayed was too strong a word. Misguided? Hurt, maybe?
There were far too many emotions inside me to be able to pick them apart. And after everything with my shitty ex-husband, I was just so tired.
I tried to put it out of my mind and focus on tonight’s showing, but it was hanging over me like a ghost.
Claire. How could I do this to Claire?
And how could Jax? Though I felt that, as Claire’s mother, I should have recognized her friend, no matter how much she had changed.
“Are you mad at me?”
“No… It’s just all so complicated.” I shook my head and turned the subject back to her. “But what about you? Anything new?”
“Sloan keeps me busy, but speaking of my work, I have some new—”
“Hey! Stop!”
There was a sound. One loud enough to break through the loud conversations in the small gallery. I turned around to witness the glass of our display window slowly cracking.
“Move away from the glass—”
But it was too late. People covered their faces with their hands as the glass shattered. There were gasps and some shocked screams, but for me, the world slowed down.
My eyes traveled over everything. The window. The people. The security. And then beyond that to the street outside.
It wasn’t empty, but one car stood out.
A car I’d lost in the divorce.
The security guards—no less than five—Jax had placed here were already filtering into the gallery and checking people for injuries. The lead man came straight up to me. He was wearing a dark suit and stood a few heads over me.
“Are you okay, Ms. Thorne?” His was the voice I’d heard yelling for the perpetrator to stop.
Fear and anxiety ran up my entire body.
“Yes, I—”
Lillian was by my side, grabbing my arm.
“Oh my God, what the hell was that? Nothing got you, right?”
I shook my head. My heart was pounding in my chest, and there were so many things running through my mind that I didn't know what to do first.
My feet are on the ground.
I can feel Lillian's hand on my arm.
I can smell the cologne of the security guard in front of me.
I can hear the whispers of the crowd.
I took a deep breath.
“There was a car speeding down the street. Send people to see if you can find it.”
“But we are here for you—”
“Don’t question me. And get the other ones to start administering first aid.”
His face hardened, and it looked like he wasn’t going to listen to me, but then he nodded.
I looked at Jen and Milo, and luckily, neither seemed to be injured.
“Okay?” I mouthed to them. They looked at each other, then nodded.
I walked past the security guard and started talking to the crowd.
“Everyone, I'm so sorry about this, but we're going to need to close early. For those closest to the window, please stay behind. This lovely security team is going to check your wounds. Jen, Milo, please make sure everyone uninjured is seen to the door. Thank you for understanding.”
My team started working immediately, and in a matter of ten minutes, everyone near the window was being checked while everyone else had left. Lillian asked if she needed to stay, but I sent her home.
There was no telling if he would come back and try and wreak more havoc, so I didn’t want to chance anyone who wasn’t needed getting caught in that.
Jen helped call the ambulance, and even though many of the injuries were not that serious, we made sure all of them got checked by professionals.
I took a moment to center myself, leaning against the far wall, looking at my now mostly empty gallery.
What the hell is he thinking? How dare he come here like this?
But I knew this was what he did. And it scared me. But the worst thing? The more scared I was, the angrier I became.
At myself.
At him.
I didn’t want to be helpless anymore. I didn’t want him to run my life.
I don’t deserve this.
It wasn't until the last guest left and the head of security came back with some water that I realized how much it had affected me. When I reached out to grab the bottle, my hands were shaking.
“We couldn't find the car,” he said. “But Jax is aware and—”
My head snapped toward him.
“You already told her?”
He looked at me like I had two heads.
“Yes,” he said, matter-of-factly. “It's my job.”
I forced myself to sit down on the nearest stool. Running my hand through my hair, I let out a sigh. But after letting myself rest for a brief moment, I jumped back up.
“Well, tell her we'll meet at my house.”
“Wait! Ms. Thorne—”
“Nope. After this, I'm getting into comfy clothes and showering. She can meet me there.”
An image of Jax showing up at my apartment while I was naked in the shower was too easy to conjure up. So were the following images of both of us in there, wet skin on wet skin.
But it was more than that. I didn’t just want the pleasure. I wanted the… comfort. The thought knocked me back into my own body.
My eyes shot up to the head of security, afraid that he might have seen right through me, but he was just looking at me. When he realized I wasn’t about to budge, he let out an audible sigh. He didn’t try to stop me as I left.
Lucky for me, because I wasn't going to head straight to my apartment.