Jax drained the rest of his drink, then crossed to the water fountain a few feet from Vanessa to fill the bottle before heading to the treadmill. She’d kicked the flip-flops from her pedicured feet and brought a foot up to rest on the chair with her arms wrapped around her bent leg. She looked like a pixie princess in casualwear perched on her leather throne while overseeing her subjects.
He grinned as he studied her profile from the corner of his eye. A pixie. That’s definitely what she reminded him of with her wild hair, pale skin, and graceful willowy frame. Even her facial features gave her an elfin look. Her pert nose turned up ever so slightly at the end, her lips were full but not overly wide, and her ears had the slightest of rounded points at the top.
But her personality was anything but delicate, and anyone who got in her way learned real quick the age-old lesson of never judging a book by its cover.
Just as he turned to head to the treadmill, Jax caught a sight that held him in place. Akana had approached Vanessa and was now flirting with her. But it wasn’t the harmless kind. He was actually making a play for her.
Jackson’s muscles clamped down on his bones. Unable to stop himself, he strode over, prepared to send Akana off with a threatening glare every man understood meant back the fuck off.
“The kid bothering you, V?”
She glanced up at him with a smile and said, “Not at all. Danny here was kind enough to offer me his services. He said he could show me how the local boys do it around here,” she said with enough sarcastic innuendo to choke a donkey. Or embarrass the hell out of a dude who’d obviously been a little crude with his come-ons.
Jax glanced at Akana, gauging his reaction. “Awfully neighborly of him.”
V nodded. “Wasn’t it, though? Unfortunately, I was just about to inform him that I don’t do anything with boys, local or otherwise, and I already have a man for the job.”
Well, color him shocked as hell. The kid’s jaw shifted back and forth, no doubt grinding his molars into a fine dust, and his face looked a little too flushed, considering he hadn’t done even a single jumping jack.
“You heard the lady, junior. Job’s taken,” Jax said. “Now go start your block training before Coach has you scrubbing my jock with your toothbrush.”
Akana didn’t say anything with his mouth, but his eyes said a whole lot of fuck you. Jax just raised an eyebrow in a silent challenge, daring the kid to start something, but soon he spun around and stalked off in the opposite direction.
“Nice work,” he told her with a wink. “You doing okay?”
“Are you kidding?” she said as she stood and stretched. “If I’d have known watching sweaty men with gladiator bodies could be so entertaining, I’d have done this years ago. Next time, I’m bringing popcorn.”
He chuckled and stepped in to her. He couldn’t help himself. The hand not holding his water settled in the dip of her lower back as he bent his head to her ear, using the pretense of needing to whisper so he had an excuse to feel her skin and inhale her citrusy scent. “We can leave whenever you want. Say the word and I’ll pack my gear.”
“Aw,” she said with a pout in her voice. “Are you tired already? ’Cause that’s okay if you are. You shouldn’t feel like any less of a man for it.”
His head fell back on his shoulders as he let out a quick oh no she didn’t laugh. Then he sobered and gave her his warning with his lips brushing her cheek. “That’s the start of your punishments for later, woman.”
Making a sound like she’d just bit into a Godiva truffle, she took a step back and gave him a saucy wink. “You might just wanna keep a running tab for those, stud.” Then she smacked his ass before walking away and loudly informing the entire gym they’d be “eating their junk for lunch” if they stepped foot in the locker room within the next five minutes.
A dozen men froze in place, suddenly wary of their pretty mascot and no doubt afraid for their “junk.” Realizing her casually tossed threat turned out to be quite the showstopper, she laughed, the tinkling sound echoing on the tile walls as the door closed slowly behind her.
Every other man in the room may want to turn tail and run from a bold and sassy woman like Vanessa, but Jackson had the exact opposite reaction. He wanted to tackle her to the nearest surface, strip her naked, and make her scream his name.
And he would, too. Maybe not now and maybe not in the next few hours. But soon.
He felt his boxer briefs shrinking and huffed a sigh of frustration as he headed to the cardio area. “Wonderful,” he muttered. “Now I have to do a ten-mile run with a hard-on.”
Fucking hell.
He was in so much trouble.
…
Vanessa felt like a complete ass.
As Jax worked through his training routine, her jaw worked at not gaping in awe. She wanted to kick herself for not paying better attention when Lucie had talked about her brother’s and Reid’s fights over the years. She hated being ignorant in any situation, and at the moment, she felt like the biggest ignoramus on the planet.