Chapter 14 Lexi
LEXI
Hours later, I still couldn’t forget about the kiss. Damn him for reminding me how good he was at making me go weak in the knees with just his touch. I knew how good he was in bed, and I’d still turned him down.
I was an idiot, but I could deal with being an idiot in my personal life, as long as I was responsible for Evie.
Thoughts of steamy sex with Jonah plagued my entire evening, and I forced them out of my mind, partly because the stiffness in my back that had been nagging me all day was getting worse.
At five p.m., I picked up Evie and the two of us stopped for dinner at McDonalds before taking the subway home.
Sasha was spending the night with her fiancé, so it would just be me and Evie at home tonight.
An hour later, as we walked toward our apartment, Evie was skipping down the sidewalk, singing a song she’d presumably learnt at preschool when she slipped, going down hard, face first.
She let out a sharp cry, clutching her mouth, and to my horror, I saw blood flowing from her lips. My heart dropped.
I bent down, and scooped her into my arms, forty-eight pounds of trembling limbs, and carried her up the stairs to our apartment.
Each step sent a jolt through my spine, but I pushed through it, focused only on her.
When we got inside, I calmed her down enough to take a look and discovered, to my relief, that she had only bitten her lip and it was already starting to clot.
I cleaned her mouth as much as she would let me, dabbing around the raw skin with a clean cloth and holding her tight until she felt better.
It wasn’t until she was tucked safely into bed that I realized how much worse my back pain had become. My back throbbed in sharp, deep waves, and every movement was painful. I barely made it to the hallway before I had to lean against the wall, holding my side and breathing through clenched teeth.
If this continued, I couldn’t go in to work tomorrow. And I didn’t know how useful a mother I’d be if I was laid up in bed all day.
An hour later, I was sprawled on my couch with a heating pad wedged under my lower back and my laptop balanced on my stomach. I’d been trying to work in case I couldn’t do anything tomorrow, but I was failing because my darn back was hurting even more.
That’s when I heard a knock at our door. It was eight at night, and I wasn’t expecting anyone.
Groaning, I dragged myself upright with a hiss and shuffled to the door.
The woman standing there had sharp cheekbones, wore sleek black activewear, and had a collapsible massage table behind her.
“Lexi Haley?” she asked, looking bright-eyed and perky for this time of the night.
“Yes?”
“I’m Marla. Jonah Walkers sent me.”
I just stared at her. “He what?”
Marla smiled like this was completely normal. “Said you were being stubborn about your back and needed a professional massage therapist.”
“Wow,” I muttered as I stepped aside, wincing.
She noticed my pain immediately.
Pulling a bottle of oil from her bag, she continued, “Full ninety-minute session. He told me to make sure you were pain-free by the time I was done.”
My face burned.
He had noticed. And had sent a professional massage therapist who made house calls.
Marla wheeled her table inside and started setting up with practiced ease.
My phone buzzed with a new email. This one was from Jonah.
Subject: About your back
Lexi,
I won’t have you taking massages from anyone who isn’t a licensed therapist, so I found a licensed professional to take care of your back. Let her fix you. I know it hurts.
P.S. She’s discreet. So if you moan, she won’t tell anyone.
My entire body felt hot, and recalling that Jonah knew exactly how I moaned only made my head spin.
Marla glanced up. “You okay?”
“Yep,” I said, clearing my throat and trying to forget about the unspeakable things Jonah had done with me in bed. “Let’s get started.”
As Marla stepped out of the room, I carefully removed my blouse, slacks, and bra, leaving on my underwear. Moving slowly because of my back, I climbed onto the warm table and positioned myself face down, resting my head in the face cradle.
“Ready,” I called out.
Marla returned and draped a soft sheet over me, exposing only my back and shoulders.
As Marla’s hands got to work, my attention went to the radiating pain in my back, to the deep press of her hands and my thoughts drifted to Jonah.
He had remembered that I had a backache.
Even after I’d stormed out of his office after turning him down.
He could’ve gone out and found any other woman to take my place.
I was pretty sure he had plenty of women on speed dial who would go down on their knees for him. But instead, he was taking care of me.
And he hadn’t just sent anyone. He sent someone who clearly knew how to handle deep, stubborn, buried tension. He knew I wouldn’t take care of myself, so he had done it for me.
It was bossy, controlling, and more than a little arrogant.
And infuriatingly sexy.
My throat tightened. I wasn’t used to being thought of this way, to being seen. On the contrary, I’d been feeling invisible since having a baby. But Jonah made me feel so very seen.
When Marla’s session was done, I sat up, feeling mildly sore from the deep tissue work, but my back pain had completely loosened up. I could move without agony for the first time all day.
After getting dressed, I emerged to find Marla packing up her equipment.
That’s when Evie, rubbing her sleepy eyes, wandered out of her room, probably to use the bathroom.
“Mommy?” Evie looked up at me with big eyes. “Who is she? And why does she have a table? Is it someone’s birthday party?”
I knelt down beside her and wrapped her in a hug, kissing the top of her head and holding her longer than necessary.
“No, baby,” I said softly. “It’s not anyone’s birthday.”
I looked over at Marla, who was packing up her equipment with a smile, before turning back to Evie.
“It’s just … someone was thinking about me.”
Later that night, after I’d said goodbye to Marla and put Evie back to bed, I replied to Jonah’s email. I simply wrote a crisp thank you and included my phone number.
After I hit Send, I sat alone in my room, my back feeling much better, and knowing I had just escalated things between us.
On Thursday, our team was busy with a critical app update roll out that was scheduled for Friday. I worked late into the night after Evie went to bed, fielding emails and messages from my team to prepare for the next day’s launch.
After a successful 9 a.m. rollout on Friday, Rafael called us in for a quick team meeting. The mood was lighter than usual. People were discussing everything except work, when Rafael casually mentioned Jonah.
I froze at hearing Jonah’s name. Ever since I’d sent him my phone number, I hadn’t heard from him. It made me uncomfortable, thinking that perhaps I’d gone too far.
“Joe Walkers,” Rafael said, “is throwing a lavish birthday party for his father today. Can you believe that? He’s even flying in Garth Brooks, his dad’s favorite artist, in for the event.”
Garth Brooks? No way.
“I never read anything about that in the news,” Brian said with a grin. Turning to me he added, “And I always read the entertainment section. Ask me about any Hollywood scandal. Go on.”
“I get my news first-hand,” Rafael said, in a smug way. “Some of the directors who actually socialize with Joe Walkers were quite chatty when they invited me out last night. You wouldn’t find this in any newspaper, Brian.”
He looked out through the windows, a grim determination on his face like it was his personal mission to be one of those directors who got invited for drinks with Jonah.
“Joe’s even sending his private jet to bring his cousin from LA,” Rafael added with a laugh. “Word is the cousin’s been in and out of rehab and despises Jonah. But apparently, Jonah never says no to family. He’ll protect anyone close to him.”
It was strange hearing things about Jonah’s personal life from someone who wasn’t him. I wondered how much of that was true. Was this what being wealthy was like? People thought they knew you when they really didn’t?
“Now, all admiration for the super-rich boss aside,” Stacey said quietly, “can we start the meeting?”
Rafael shot her a dark look as he moved to the head of the table and called the meeting to order.
As I sat there, my mind drifted to all the things Jonah had done for me. Sending me work appropriate outfits, and arranging for a professional massage therapist. I suddenly understood that his actions were his way of protecting me, taking care of me.
He didn’t need to do that. And maybe it was time I stopped running from whatever this was between us.