9. Natalie
NINE
natalie
I noticed him the second I walked in the door. Boots and Brews’ western-style swing doors made you feel like you’d been transported out west somewhere. The whole vibe screamed country-western, and I loved it.
Loved country music.
Loved live music on a Saturday night.
What I didn’t love? The smugness of the man in front of me. Or the fact that he’d been stealing my dreams these past few nights.
Thankfully Charlee knew the kayak story, so only Gian and Neo looked at me as if something untoward had happened between Jaxon and me.
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” I said, immediately wanting to explain.
“Do you have your car?” Jaxon interrupted. “I can put the bag in there now so you don’t forget it.”
“No, I don’t have my car,” I quipped back. “I live within walking distance of here.”
“Really?” He asked it with just enough suggestion in his tone to make the question seem intimate somehow. “We can always walk your clothes back then. I can grab my sweats from you.”
Gian looked as if he wanted to burst out laughing. Charlee, the traitor, had already abandoned me, probably gone to find Mazzie.
“I fell in the lake,” I burst out to Gian and Neo. “Right in front of Jaxon’s rental property.”
“How does an expert rower fall out of a kayak?” Neo asked.
“Ask him,” I said, uncharacteristically snippy. “I need a drink.”
I turned to walk away but Jaxon stopped me. Looking down at where he’d grabbed my arm as if the guy had leprosy, I tried to give him the evil eye. But Jaxon’s expression had softened.
“I’m sorry for teasing you,” he said. “Let me make it up to you. What’d you want to drink?”
Of course he let go of my arm, but oddly I missed the touch. Wanted him to grab me again. Maybe pull me toward him. I imagined our bodies slamming together, his lips on mine. Instinctively, I knew without a doubt he’d be a good kisser.
“I’m good,” I said before my fantasies got way out of hand.
“I got you,” Gian said. “Vodka soda? Deep Eddy’s and water?”
I really did need a drink and could probably endure Jaxon’s presence for a few more minutes. “Deep Eddy’s,” I said. “Thanks, Gian.”
Jaxon continued to look at me. I held his gaze, not wanting to be the one to look away. His was so intense, though, it began to make me uncomfortable in a squirmy kind of way. My heart raced as our staring contest continued.
“What?” I snapped finally.
“Just trying to figure you out,” he said. “Have to admit, I liked the Natalie that was on my deck better than this one.”
“Oh yeah?” I couldn’t help my tone. Not with him. “I liked the Jaxon who stayed in Pennsylvania better than this one.”
His laugh. Dear lord, I loved that laugh. How was such a thing possible? To hate a man but love the way he laughed.
“Touché.”
“Here you go.” Gian reached around Jaxon to hand me my drink.
“Thanks,” I said to Gian. “I’m gonna find Charlee and Mazzie.”
Without a backward glance, I did just that. The singer was on break, and Mazzie was talking to him, Charlee by her side. I caught the very end of their conversation.
“I’m happy to come back anytime. Probably should get ready for the next set,” the singer and guitar player said.
“I need a drink,” Charlee said as I approached. “Sweet tea vodka?” she asked, seeing mine.
“Yep.”
“Excuse me a sec,” Mazzie said. “Be right back. I’ll grab you a drink, Charlee.”
We stood to the side as the singer kicked off his set with “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Guaranteed crowd pleaser.
“Sorry I didn’t ask Gian to get you one too. Someone,” I said dramatically, “scrambles my brain so I can’t think straight.”
“Nat,” Charlee said as if she were telling me some big secret. “I think he likes you.”
“Likes me?” I nearly screeched. “Are you kidding me? We hate each other.”
We backed away from the singer even more, finding it hard to hear. “Yeah, well, you may hate him but I’m not sure he feels the same. I’m just saying...the way he looked at you. Teased you. The guy is into you. Guaranteed.”
I really should be appalled by the thought, but just the opposite was true. Only someone as warped as me would be into the guy trying to steal a beautiful piece of protected land to make a few bucks.
“Uh.” Mazzie came back, handed Charlee a drink and looked at me oddly. “I kinda have some news.”
“Not good news by the looks of it,” Charlee said. “Thanks for the drink.”
“No problem.”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.
“No reason,” Mazzie clearly lied.
“Spill it,” I said, glancing back at the bar. Why did I have a feeling it had something to do with...him?
“It’s just that...” Mazzie looked back and forth between Charlee and me. “Jaxon, or Jax, or whatever...may or may not be coming to the wedding.”
My drink froze midair. I put it back down. “Excuse me?” No way Mazzie just said what I thought she did.
“Gian invited him.”
“And he said yes?”
“Apparently.”
I wanted to say a hundred things, but all of them were selfish. This wasn’t about my first trip to Italy, or a vacation ruined. It was Mazzie’s wedding. And that was all that mattered. Taking a deep breath, I told her that.
“It’s fine. I can behave myself. No big deal. The only thing that’s important is you having an amazing wedding.”
Charlee didn’t even let me finish before she started laughing. “Bullshit. You are two seconds away from strangling the guy, and it’s one hundred percent not okay.”
I gave her a good-natured glare.
Mazzie smiled. “I appreciate you taking one for the team, but I agree with Charlee. I know you want to hate the guy but secretly have a thing for him. It’s a tough place to be in. I get it. Pretty much felt the same way about Gian.”
“Gian,” I reminded her, “was a bit of a playboy who needed taming. Jaxon is a full-on land-stealing—”
“Natalie,” Mazzie interrupted. But I continued.
“—cocky—”
“Nat,” Charlee tried to stop me too, but I was on a roll.
“—smug bastard,” I finished.
“Jax,” a voice at my back said. “I really am going to insist on you calling me Jax. You changed in my bathroom,” he continued without me turning around. “Wore my clothes. I think we’re on a nickname basis by now.”
The girls’ expressions said it all.
Shit.
I turned around to pay the piper, as it were.
“Tell me how you really feel,” he said, half smiling.
“No need,” I said as my traitor friends left me. “It appears you’ve just eavesdropped and know exactly how I feel.”
“First, I did not eavesdrop but simply came over to apologize. Again. Second, I may be a cocky, smug bastard, but I’m not stealing anyone’s land. There’s a process. And I’m following it.”
“Forgive me if I see it differently.”
“Natalie.” I hated that he talked to me like I was ten. But at least I was getting to him, that much was clear. Seeming to make up his mind about something, out of nowhere, Jaxon took my drink and put it, along with his own, on a nearby high-top. He then proceeded to grab my hand and pull me onto the dance floor just as a slow song started.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, aware of his hand. Aware that he was putting his arms around me. Aware that my heart was about to beat out of my damn chest.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Natalie. Just dance with me.”
It sounded very much like an order, and not a request. But as the song played, his arms firmly around my waist, there was zero chance in hell I was going to do anything but put mine around him and do what he said.
And so, we danced.