Avoiding Commitment (26 page)

After a minute, Jack lifted himself onto his
wobbly elbows, and began to stroke her hair back from her forehead.
“That was amazing,” she muttered weakly, her eyes still closed.

“I should probably move, but you feel so damn
good,” he murmured kissing her on her swollen lips.

“Ugh,” she grumbled as he rolled off of her
and began fumbling around for their clothes. She could
not
believe that had just happened.

They quickly put their clothes back on, and
began to walk hand-in-hand towards the beach house. There was no
need for words after what had happened. Anything they needed to say
to each other could be left for another day…another time.
Everything was too blissful and almost surreal to break the mood
with thoughts of tomorrow.

As they drew nearer, sounds and jeers
emanated down the beach. They both knew what that meant: the guys
had actually gone through with their skinny dipping plans. Trekking
up through the sand away from the waterline, they attempted a
stealthy entrance as they closed in on the beach house. It was
clear that there were a few bobbing heads in the water, but the
last thing they wanted after what had just happened was to get
caught red handed. Jack held his hand out to stop her steps as they
heard something crash against one of the surrounding bushes. A
light barely illuminated the entwined couple revealing Seth with
one of the other bimbos he had brought along. Lexi breathed out in
relief knowing that this meant Sandy was still likely fast asleep
upstairs. Edging around the oblivious couple, Jack and Lexi
sprinted up the stairs taking them two at a time and into the
vacated den.

After standing silently in the den and
verifying that there weren’t any lingering individuals awake, Jack
kissed Lexi briefly on the mouth and then pushed her towards the
bedroom. She surreptitiously entered the room to find Sandy snoring
into the pink comforter. After she changed clothes, she crawled
into bed and let her mind wander to the amazing night she had just
had, and how close they had been to letting the cat out of the
bag.

Before slumber took her, she couldn’t help
wondering what
was
going to happen in the morning. She had
no idea what their relationships would be like after what they had
done tonight.

She knew one thing though: nothing would ever
be the same.

CHAPTER 11

PRESENT

The balcony was spinning.

Lexi was almost certain that the balcony was
spinning. She could feel it through her entire body. She was being
swept up and away as if she was trapped in the
Wizard of Oz
.
Her feet were lifting off the ground. Or wait, were her feet on the
ground at all?

No, something was off. She couldn’t actually
be lifting off the ground. Her conscious told her that things like
that didn’t actually happen to people. Then why did she feel like
she was spinning?

Then she remembered where she was. Ramsey’s
sweet lips were covering her mouth. He was kissing her. She felt
her mouth moving against his automatically. He tasted good.
Surprisingly he didn’t taste like liquor though. He tasted of
peppermints. God, she could keep kissing him all night with how
good he tasted. She felt his tongue caress her bottom lip sending a
shiver through her body. A low moan escaped her, and he reacted
with more enthusiasm. He held her tight against his body, and she
could feel the rippling muscles in his chest pressed to her. Her
mind was whirling a million miles a minute. Yet, there was
something she was missing.

Party. Shots. Dancing. Balcony. Ramsey.
Kissing. She couldn’t put her finger on it. There was something
else she should remember.

Ramsey pulled back from her mouth to catch
his breath. She gulped in two healing breaths in an attempt to
clear her foggy head. He smiled at her sweetly and rubbed his thumb
back and forth against her jaw line. It was a pleasant sensation,
and Lexi’s thought process ceased again. She let him kiss her some
more, enjoying the tender emotions he was portraying with every
touch. When he pulled back this time, her mind began to clear and
she knew what she was forgetting.

Blue eyes.

Bright blue eyes staring at her from the
balcony window. She could pick out those eyes anywhere. She
shivered unintentionally as the spinning stopped. Everything came
to a standstill as the realization hit her inebriated mind. Jack
had seen her kissing Ramsey.

Oh God! Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit her
harder than before, and she thought at any moment she might vomit.
The last thing she had wanted was for Jack to see her with Ramsey.
She hadn’t even
meant
to kiss Ramsey! She certainly didn’t
like Ramsey.

In fact, he annoyed her. Sure he had been
there for her moment of weakness, but that didn’t mean she liked
him. And that certainly didn’t mean she wanted Jack to think she
was whoring herself out when she was supposed to be visiting him.
Not that he had been quite as kind earlier in the evening.

She quickly covered her mouth as the
dizziness returned. She would
not
throw up. How humiliating
would that be?

“Are you alright?” Ramsey asked with concern
apparent in his voice. He had just seen her near to tears; there
was no way she was going to throw up in front of him. Vulnerability
wasn’t exactly high on her list of things she liked to show in
front of complete strangers. Especially not ones she had just been
making out with.

“Fine, thank you,” she said hopping down off
of the railing and avoiding his gaze. That was quite enough of the
affectionate stuff for her today. She would much rather close
herself back off. It seemed to work better. It also usually kept
her from making out with random guys while her
sorta-non-ex-boyfriend was watching. Ugh. She cringed just thinking
about it.

As she turned to walk back into his
apartment, she found herself wobbling and weaving. She didn’t
remember drinking quite enough to make her feel so out of control,
but perhaps that sexy kiss had something to do with that. No, she
wasn’t supposed to think about Ramsey’s delicious peppermint
kisses. That would just get her drunk ass in trouble. And really
how much worse could she make her situation?

Just then, her favorite pair of black
alligator skin stilettos caught on a nook in one of the wooden
planks and sent her toppling to the ground. Ramsey was instantly at
her side. Just before she met disaster, he scooped her up into his
arms, and cradled her body in a gesture that strongly resembled a
tango dip. Her cheeks were burning from a combination of mortified
embarrassment, relief, and the fact that he was holding her in such
an intimate position. She sucked in a few calming breaths, her eyes
remaining locked into his emerald orbs. They were beautiful with
flecks of gold spiraling away from the onyx pupils. And how had she
missed that he smelled kind of like peppermints too? Peppermints
mixed with something uniquely his own. Whatever it was, it was damn
addictive. And maybe that was just her damsel-in-distress
intoxicated view of the world, but he really was unbelievably good
looking. Oh and look, his lips were so close once again.

She smiled coyly almost challenging him. He
seemed to take that as confirmation that he could close off lines
of communication again, and bent his head down to meet her waiting
lips. Lexi was overwhelmed with his touch this time. Apparently,
her challenging look had changed his mood, because now he was
kissing her with fury and reckless abandon. It was
invigorating.

Just as their tongues began to move against
each other the back door spun open wide nearly knocking Lexi in the
head. Ramsey popped his head up towards the door in surprise, and
came close to losing his balance with Lexi in his arms at the
unexpected interruption. Lexi let her head loll backwards to get a
look at the intruder. Striking blue eyes filled with venom met her
own eyes, and she shivered at the sheer amount of malice he was
sending off in waves. Ramsey quickly righted her placing a
steadying arm across her shoulders. She gulped.

Jack.

Oh Jack.

She hadn’t quite realized his infatuation
with her when she got angry until that moment. He looked smoking
hot. Shit! Her beer goggles were fogging up with how gorgeous he
was.

“What’s going on out here?” Jack spat through
gritted teeth.

“I…uh…” she began.

“Lexi wasn’t feeling well. I think she drank
too much,” Ramsey interjected smoothly. “I thought she could use
some fresh air.” Ramsey glanced from Jack’s furious face to Lexi’s
sheepish grin. She looked like she had just been caught with her
hand in the cookie jar. Something was up between the two of them.
He just wasn’t sure exactly what it was.

“Hey baby, ready to go?” Bekah asked
announcing her presence in the lit doorway. Her bright smile began
to fade as the tension in the air hit her. Something was up. She
couldn’t figure out why this Lexi girl caused commotion everywhere
she went. Was it completely necessary to put everyone’s emotions on
end all the time?

“Um…did I miss something?” Bekah asked, her
tone concerned.

Ramsey’s eyes remained locked on Jack’s face.
He was really curious to know what was going on between them. Why
would he invite Lexi to Atlanta when he quite obviously had
feelings for her? Were they having an affair? That just didn’t make
sense to him. There would be no point in introducing her to Bekah,
and keeping up pretenses if that were the case. Bekah was smart
enough that she would see straight through them. At least, he hoped
that she was capable of being an unbiased judge about the whole
situation.

No, there must be something more to the
situation. Something that Bekah quite possibly knew about. He
wanted to know what was going on. While he was stuck under Jack’s
lethal gaze probably wasn’t the best time to start asking
questions.

Or maybe he just liked Lexi. There was
something so real…so raw about her personality. She didn’t hold
back. She wasn’t afraid to be blunt, to say things that you weren’t
expecting, to completely ignore someone with wealth and influence.
These were not things that people did, especially not the people he
hung out with. Everyone was so desperate to please him all the
time. And much of the time they were only interested in him for his
money. Up until their kiss, which he attributed to the compulsive
personality he was beginning to become fond of, he hadn’t even
really thought that Lexi liked him at all. More like she resented
him for the very virtues that everyone else flocked to him for
having.

“I don’t think so,” Ramsey finally answered
breaking the silence.

“Why you are all so tense?” she trilled
hoping to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, Jack, why are we all so tense?” Ramsey
couldn’t keep himself from asking.

Jack’s face immediately lightened some. “I
don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not tense,” he said
shrugging his lifted shoulders.

“Alright, well can we just get out of here.
I’m tired,” she pleaded her blue eyes opening wide as she looked up
at him. He didn’t even have a glance for her as his eyes remained
locked onto Ramsey and Lexi who were still huddled together.

“Yeah, we were just leaving,” Jack growled.
“You ready?” he asked nodding his head towards Lexi.

“Oh, well I’m not ready to leave. We just got
here,” Lexi said lamely. Actually, she had no idea what time it
was, and didn’t particularly care.

“No, Lex, it’s past eleven. Bekah and I have
to work early in the morning so we’re heading out. You have to come
with us,” he demanded.

How had she missed that they had been at
Ramsey’s for over three hours? Time had just flown by. Lexi’s eyes
shifted from Jack to Bekah and then up at Ramsey. She knew there
was some reason she hadn’t wanted to come to this party. Where was
she going to sleep now that she was hammered? She couldn’t stay at
Jack’s. They would definitely end up sleeping together. She was
already turned on, and with all his bubbling anger she was sure he
wouldn’t be able to control himself. There was no way she was
staying in Bekah’s ridiculous Easter egg house. Honestly, she
didn’t have the money for a hotel, but there was no other
option.

“Oh, I see,” Lexi said wobbling even in
Ramsey’s grasp.

“Well, let’s go then,” Jack said reaching for
Lexi’s arm.

Ramsey could see the reluctance on Lexi’s
face. He vaguely remembered her telling him that she was supposed
to be staying with her parents tonight nearly an hour away from his
apartment. There was no way she was going to make it there in her
condition. For some reason, he instantly felt protective of her. He
didn’t want her to stay at Jack’s house. Something deep inside him
told him that it would be bad news if they were stuck in the same
house together.

“She said she didn’t want to leave,” Ramsey
said his voice turning business-like. He had moved just a fraction
of a step forward, but it was enough to make Jack drop his hand.
“She can stay here and party more if she wants. It’s not like
anyone else is going to be leaving at eleven.” He hadn’t intended
for his words to come out quite so condescendingly, but he had
managed to get his point across. Jack and Bekah both were looking
at him curiously. Almost as if it were the first time they had ever
looked at him.

“Ramsey, can I talk to you for a minute in
private?” Bekah asked, her voice oozing with sisterly
affection.

He glanced from Jack to Lexi and back. He
didn’t want to leave them alone. Something was gnawing at him, and
he didn’t know what it was. But it’s not like he could always deny
them alone time if Lexi was here visiting Jack, and he’d never been
able to deny his sister anything. Reluctantly, he nodded and Ramsey
and Bekah retreated back into the kitchen closing the door behind
them.