20. Natalie
TWENTY
natalie
“Damn it.”
Jax wasn’t coming. I stared at the text, trying to read into it.
“What’s up?” Charlee asked next to me.
“Look at this. What do you think it means?”
We sat facing the street drinking limoncello spritzes, my friend completely up to speed on the day I spent with Jax, including the last bit about me taking a bag down to him in case I stayed the night at his place.
In case. Funny. As if there was a chance I wouldn’t. At least, I hadn’t thought so until now. Maybe he wouldn’t come at all. Maybe we wouldn’t be getting together tonight.
Maybe that was a blessing in disguise.
“I think it means he has a work issue, won’t be coming for drinks but will see you at dinner. At least, that’s what he said. Am I missing something?”
“I guess not.”
We continued to people watch, but Charlee knew me too well. Her expression said she was clearly not convinced. “Okay, spill.”
“I’m just being silly.”
“Because?”
I shrugged. “I was thinking maybe he had a change of heart.”
“About tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“What makes you think that? Ahh, never mind. Let me guess. The ex from hell.”
“Exes,” I clarified. “But yeah, college boy in particular.”
“Okay, but that was a long time ago and a totally different guy. Jax isn’t an immature asshole.”
“True. But what about the work thing? Is he talking about the inlet? Did something happen? Is he going back on the bet and moving forward with the sale anyway?”
“It’s not like you to be such a nervous Nellie. What’s really going on, Nat?”
I deflected. “That would be nervous Nat in my case.”
Charlee made a face. She wasn’t letting me off the hook.
“I dunno. It’s probably nothing. But if he doesn’t come, maybe that’s a good thing.”
“Because you’re liking him.”
I nodded.
“Is that so terrible? He actually seems like a decent guy, land-stealing aside.”
“He is a decent guy. I talked to him for a while last night,” Lucas said to Charlee’s right. We both turned to look at him.
“Sorry. Couldn’t help but overhear.”
“Anyway,” Charlee said dramatically, swatting Lucas on the shoulder, “you’re overthinking this. I think his text means what it says. Relax. Enjoy your spritz and have the night of your life when, not if, Jax joins us later.”
“You’re right,” I said. And I did just that. Brushing off my overthinking as nerves, I texted him back, “See you later,” and tried not to think about it.
Tried. But did not exactly succeed.
When Jax didn’t show up by the time salads were served, I stared at my second empty seat for the night.
He wasn’t coming.
“Look who the cat dragged in,” Charlee said, my friend sitting next to me again at dinner. The restaurant overlooked the sea, and we were in a prime location for a view. The bride and groom sat with their families across the room, the DeLucas and their extended Grado families making up more than half of the attendees. The mood was festive, and things were about to get more interesting. Because sure enough, Jax was walking toward our table.
He looked, in a word, amazing.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him wearing a sport coat, and with luck, it wouldn’t be the last. Model gorgeous, he turned more than one head in the room. But thankfully, he was looking straight at me. He sat, greeting Lucas, Charlee, Nate, and Zoe.
And then me.
“Sorry about the drinks,” he said. “You look stunning, sun—Natalie.”
Sunshine. I loved when he called me that. But I hated the question that I knew would burst from my lips at some point. Might as well get it over with.
“Thanks. You look great too.” Great was an understatement. “So, work emergency, huh?”
The question left no room for interpretation. But technically I hadn’t brought up the land, so I wasn’t in breach of our weekend agreement.
“Nothing to do with that,” he said. “Another deal in Jersey. Long, boring story, but it’s all taken care of.”
Although I was thrilled to hear it, I wondered what kind of deal he was talking about. More protected land, obviously, since that was his specialty.
“No frowning in Sicily,” he said, ordering a beer when the waiter came up to us.
Charlee agreed with him. Zoe apparently did too and made me laugh with her not-so-amazing Italian as she tried to share what she’d learned since coming earlier that week. Between Lucas and Nate’s Army backgrounds, and Charlee and Zoe’s ability to charm the pants off anyone, the six of us talked and laughed through dinner as if we were on a triple date. Only the toast Mazzie and Gian gave, thanking everyone for traveling for their wedding and giving logistical information for tomorrow afternoon’s nuptials, reminded us this was not just an ordinary dinner, but a very special occasion.
Mazzie had never looked happier, or more beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to see her tomorrow in her dress. “I still can’t believe they met here,” I said. “So you knew Gian when you were young,” I remembered. “Tell us about him.”
Jax shifted in his seat. “That guy,” he said, pointing to the groom, “is quite a bit different from the one I knew.”
“Really?” Charlee asked. “Do you think people change though? Or are they, at their core, always the same?”
“You really have to ask that question?” Lucas asked. “How many times have you literally said, ‘You’ve changed’ since I’ve been back?”
Good point.
Lucas and Charlee were high school sweethearts and had gone through a rough patch when he first got back. Apparently being an Army sniper did change a person slightly.
“But,” she argued, since Charlee would never let Lucas win an argument that easily, “deep down inside, you’re the same Lucas I knew before.”
“The same, but different?” he asked.
As the two of them debated back and forth, Nate and Zoe watching with rapt attention, Jax leaned toward me, whispering into my ear. “Speaking of changing, I hope you haven’t changed your mind about staying at my place tonight?”
His breath on my ear, Jax’s easy manner at dinner...everything about him had me anticipating tonight more than should have been humanly possible.
“I thought maybe you had,” I admitted.
His hand rested on my leg. All night we’d sat close but hadn’t touched, but now that his fingertips brushed the bare skin below the hem of my dress, I willed it to stay.
“Not a chance in hell.”
“What are you two whispering about over there?” Zoe teased.
“Nothing,” I blurted, making it obvious we very certainly were talking about something.
“Sure,” she said as our dinners were taken away.
Thankfully, Jax didn’t take away his hand. As dessert was served, a lemon cake we agreed to share as a table, his finger ran circles on my thigh. But he didn’t move his hand otherwise even though I wanted to grab it and push it upward. To come apart under the expert guidance of his fingers.
To come apart with him inside me.
“You’re a dessert girl, aren’t you?” Jax asked as I pushed my fork into the cake in the center of the table.
“You know it. No apologies for that.”
“Now why would you apologize for such a thing?”
Charlee looked at me as if to say, “Why indeed?” Mostly because my last dickhead boyfriend, who was also a fitness nut, thought sugar was the actual devil.
“Excuse me a sec,” Lucas said, getting up, presumably to use the men’s room.
Jax took the distraction to lean into me once again. “Thankfully I remembered how much you loved desserts and have something waiting for you back at my place.”
My head whipped toward him. “Really? What?”
“For me to know and you to find out.”
By the glint in his eyes, I had an inclination of what he was talking about.
“Something you like too?” I guessed.
“Mmhmm.”
Immediately a vision of me sprawled on his bed, Jax licking some sort of cream off my nipples, made me hope my imagination wasn’t running too far off course.
“Looks like the party’s breaking up a bit,” Nate said, glancing around the room. Sure enough, at least one table was getting up to leave. Was it too soon for us to go?
“Some of us are heading to the cafe next to the Duomo for nightcaps,” Charlee said. “But I have a feeling you guys are going to skip it?”
Astute of her.
I tried not to smile too broadly as I looked at Jax. “Up to you.”
He thought about it, or at least pretended to, before answering. “I did grab a bottle of wine in case you want to have a nightcap at my place. Or we can go with your friends. Up to you.”
Oh, the devil, making me decide. Making me admit I wanted to all but run out of this place. Before I could answer, his hand moved upward. Finally. I wasn’t sure if the others caught the movement, but I certainly could feel it.
He was teasing me. Taunting me. And if it were anyone but Jax, I’d probably laugh it off and go immediately back to his place. But this was Jax we were talking about, and pitting myself against his iron will came second nature.
As his fingers continued tormenting me, I said brightly, “You know what? Let’s go to the cafe. That sounds like fun.”
Jax let out a low groan.
Charlee and Zoe both laughed.
And I beamed, knowing, at least for once, I’d won this round of wits against a man who wasn’t very accustomed to losing. Very likely, I’d pay the price. But that was a problem for later.