Chapter 10
"You can't resist me, can you?" His lips are on my neck the moment I walk through the apartment door. As angry as I am with him, I can't help but melt a little at the feeling of his hands on my waist.
I pull back slightly. "You already know the answer to that question." I pat him on his cheek. The entire way home from Garrett's office I envisioned slapping Jax across his face, but now that he's standing next to me and I'm staring into his beautiful brown eyes, I can't fathom ever intentionally hurting him.
"You didn't come home in the middle of the day so I could ravage your body?" The way he raises his brows playfully suggests that he already knows that I have an ulterior motive for not being at the jewelry store.
I wish it were that simple. I wish that I could fall into his arms and into our bed for the rest of the day. The thought of rolling around helplessly in Jax's arms for hours is heaven to me. I need that. I need him. I need to get through this conversation with us whole and together.
"I know that you aren't interested in helping me deal with Mark's estate." My tone is so harsh and the way he steps back from me suggests that he notices it too.
"I can't help you." It's an admission he hasn't made before. "I can't."
"I know." I slide the heavy grey sweater from my shoulders. "Because you hated Mark."
He reaches out to adjust the collar on the plaid dress I'm wearing. "It's not that."
My stomach drops at his words. "What do you mean it's not that?"
"I think you know what I mean." The fact that he reaches for my hand to cradle it tenderly in his signals that he's feeling some sense of guilt. It's the same gesture that he does whenever he brings home a huge bouquet of daises after we've argued.
"Why?" My voice cracks as I ask. "Why would you go behind my back like that?"
"Beautiful." His hand sweeps across my cheek. "This is business. That's all it is."
I shake my head slightly as I try to form the right words in my mind. "No. It's not business. It's us."
"I need those shares, Ivy." He pushes a piece of hair from my forehead. "I want my father's company back. Helping you deal with Mark's estate would be a conflict of interest for me."
"So you're going behind my back to get them?" It's more dramatic than I intend. He didn’t really go behind my back. He went to my attorney. He took the necessary steps he needed to in order to purchase a company that he wanted. It's the same thing he'd do with any other company. The only difference is that I owned this one.
"You're taking this all wrong." His tone is too calm, too measured for me. I'm fuming inside. "I'm going to offer you fair market value for them and you'll accept and that will be it."
He says it so effortlessly, as if it's fact. "You're assuming too much," I say the words in spite. I'm angry with him for not talking to me before I went to see Garrett.
"What does that mean?" He tips my chin up so I'm looking directly into his eyes.
"I was beyond humiliated today when I sat in that lawyer's office and heard that my boyfriend wanted to buy my dead ex fiance's shares from me." I feel too numb to let any emotion seep into the statement. "Imagine the shock on my face since I hadn't heard a word out of your mouth about it." I tap him on the lips with my index finger.
"You're confusing business with pleasure again." He tilts his head to the side. It's too playful of a gesture for me. It only incites me more.
"Maybe I am." I take a heavy step back. "Maybe that's not all I'm confused about."
His chest expands as he takes a deep breath. "What is that supposed to mean?"
My eyes close briefly as I feel the tears approaching. "It means that I thought we were moving towards something. Something…something that would mean that we'd share everything with one another."
"You're not making sense, Ivy," he says flatly. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I guess that's the problem, Jax." I push past him to head down the hallway. "I'll have Nathan call you with a number."