Jaxie's Menage (3 page)

Kelsie returned her
attention to Jaxie.

“
If the pain
doesn’t go away within a few days, give me a call. Or if the pain
gets worse, come back in right away.”

Jaxie nodded.
Despite the good news, she didn’t feel much like celebrating. She’d
just had a close encounter with death.
It
could have gone the other way…

“
Rachel seems
more relieved than you are. Why the frown?” Kelsie asked in a
gentle voice that almost sent Jaxie over the edge into a washer of
tears.

No, she wouldn’t lose it.
Not yet. Not until she was home and alone.

“
Are you
kidding? Jaxie is going to be fine. She is the strongest woman I
know. I’m so proud of her. So glad she’s okay.” The underlying tone
of pride in her friend’s voice made Jaxie suck up her momentary
depression.

Rachel was right. She
needed to stay strong. Needed to get back to living, but this time
she would work and play fast and furious. She had a bucket list to
work on.

Man, she’d been so
incredibly lucky.

Without warning, Rachel
swooped down and embraced her again. Wow, Rachel really cared. But
Rachel had always cared for Jaxie. They’d known each other since
they’d been able to walk. As they’d grown older, they’d been
partners in a newspaper route and then both had gotten jobs as
servers at the local ice-cream shop. When they’d both been sixteen,
Rachel had moved away with her mom and dad.

They’d lost touch over
the years. When tragedy had struck Jaxie while she’d been in
business college and she’d lost her mom and dad and two younger
siblings in a plane crash, Rachel had reconnected with her, albeit
long distance. After the death of her mother, Rachel had eventually
moved back to town with her ill father.

Rachel had recently put
her father into a long-term-care facility, and Jaxie had tried her
best to cheer up her sad friend. It was why she’d gone out skiing
today with her. To help cheer Rachel up.

“
You’ve got a
waiting room full of anxious friends. I am afraid they can’t all
come in here. So with your permission, I can let them know you’ll
be fine,” Kelsie said with a warm smile.

“
I’ll do it!”
Rachel volunteered and quickly headed toward the door. “I can’t
wait to see the smiles on their faces when I tell them how Jaxie
looked death right in the eye and told him to stick it.”

Silence permeated the
room as Rachel left.

“
After your
close call, it’s normal to be rattled,” Kelsie said as she sat on
the edge of the bed beside Jaxie. She lightly patted Jaxie’s
wounded hand.

“
If you need
someone to talk to you can give me a call. Or I can set you up with
a professional…”

“
I think I’m
going to be okay,” Jaxie lied. Was she really going to be all
right?

“
The offer
stands,” Kelsie said and then she stood.

“
Thanks.”

Tears bubbled up in her
eyes and thankfully, Kelsie had already turned and was heading
toward the door. Jaxie quickly wiped away the stray tears with the
back of her good hand.

At the doorway, Kelsie
hesitated and turned.

“
I’ll send
Rachel back in to help you get dressed. Then you’re free to
go.”

Jaxie nodded. “Thanks,
Doc.”

“
No problem.
I’m just glad that you’ll be okay.”

When Kelsie disappeared,
Jaxie’s thoughts began buzzing about her bucket list and a wickedly
delicious idea hit her. She was going to throw a Masquerade Ménage
Ball, she was going to go, and she was going to make sure she
experienced her hot ménage.

That ménage was top of
her list of things to do.

Mercy! She was alive!
She’d been given a hell of a wake-up call and she wasn’t going to
waste any more time in making her dreams come true. And that
included indulging in her naughty fantasies too.

* * * * *

Ewan absently poked a
fork into his chicken salad and frowned as he read the newspaper
laid out on the table. There was an article about how Jaxie had
escaped death. His gut clenched as he remembered digging the
hard-crusted snow from around her head and then while Rachel, Royce
and the other guys kept digging, Ewan had fused his mouth over her
cold blue lips in an effort to get her to breathe.

“
She’s one
lucky lady, don’t you think?” Royce said from immediately behind
Ewan. He turned and gazed up at his friend who winked at him and
nodded at the paper.

“
Yeah. Lucky,”
Ewan replied.
Too close for
comfort
.

Ewan reached out and
folded the newspaper, then pushed it out of his way. He didn’t need
to be reminded about the terror he’d experienced thinking that
Jaxie was going to die. He never wanted to live through something
like that again. No way.

“
You know what
they say about second chances…” Royce said softly and let the words
dangle over Ewan’s head like a hangman’s noose.

Ewan didn’t reply. Now
was not the time to think about Jaxie, although he had to admit
that was all he’d been doing since they’d broken up and now he’d
been obsessing about her since the avalanche.

An unpleasant silence
followed. He could almost hear the wheels churning in Royce’s mind
trying to figure out how to work Jaxie’s unpleasant experience into
Ewan’s subconscious.

“
Well, speak
of the devil,” Royce suddenly blurted.

For a second, he thought
Royce was talking about one of his many ex-girlfriends who dropped
in occasionally with meals for Royce. He had no idea why the guy
didn’t stay in one relationship for long. Yet all his
ex-girlfriends kept him around as a friend. Why couldn’t Ewan be
like that with Jaxie? Just keep her around as a friend.

“
Hey,” came a
soft voice Ewan immediately recognized. Shivers melted over him as
he turned to peer over his should at Jaxie standing in the
lunchroom doorway.

It had only been a couple
of days since her run-in with the avalanche, and aside from several
yellowing bruises on her face, she looked sexy as sin in a
violet-colored spring jacket that she’d unzipped, showing off a
light-gray business suit with a low V-neck blouse that showed him
the lush valley of her breasts.

He inhaled
slowly in the hopes his heart rate would relax. It didn’t. As a
matter of fact, excitement shot through him at the way Royce moved
toward her like a man on the prowl. Like a man who
wanted
her.
Owned
her.

Ewan blinked as stunning
shock waves swept over him.

Why had he
never noticed Royce’s interest in Jaxie before? Why didn’t it
bother him that it suddenly appeared that another man wanted
his
woman?

Confusion left Ewan
staring at Royce. When Royce reached her, his arms went up and he
placed his hands on each side of the doorjamb, preventing Jaxie
from entering the room.

“
What brings
you to our icy domain, lucky lady?” Royce purred.

To Ewan’s surprise, Royce
lowered one of his arms and brushed a finger along a bruise on
Jaxie’s right cheek. It seemed such a gentle, tender touch that
Ewan wondered if something was going on between them.

An odd sizzle of
curiosity snapped through him. Were they seeing each other? Had
Jaxie come here to see Royce?

The vulnerable way she
looked at Royce, as if she might have feelings for him, mesmerized
Ewan. She used to look at him like that too. Exposed, needy,
wanting him.

Damn, he’d really screwed
things up with her, hadn’t he? His gut clenched as a huge wave of
loss swept over him. A couple of days ago he’d almost lost her and
fought like crazy to breathe life into her. Now it was as if he
were losing her all over again. Yet, he couldn’t allow himself to
spill his guts and just tell her how much he still loved her. For
all he knew, she’d already moved on with her life.

With Royce?

Royce said something to
her in a low voice that made her smile sweetly.

Man, why couldn’t he be
that easygoing around her?

Royce muttered something
else and Jaxie’s blue eyes sparkled happily, as she said something
back. Royce chuckled and she laughed softly.

The sweet sound of her
laughter carved a hole right into his heart. She’d been flirty and
sexy with him once upon a time, until they’d ended up married to
their careers instead of each other.

She giggled again and
then frowned as she gazed past Royce’s shoulder over at
Ewan.

Royce must have noticed
her reaction, because he suddenly backed away from Jaxie. She
whispered something to him and he nodded and then quickly left the
room.

“
Ewan, I need
to talk to you for a minute,” she said, as a moment later, she
pulled out the chair beside him and sat down.

Man, she smelled nice.
Like spring flowers and fresh air.

“
So, talk.”
His voice sounded gruff and he immediately regretted what he’d just
said. He should apologize for being brusque, but when she
unexpectedly placed her warm palm over the back of his hand, all
thoughts disintegrated into a rush of lust. His cock hardened and
his heart squeezed with the need to wrap her in his arms and tell
her how much he still loved her.

“
I want to
thank you for saving my life.”

He could only nod as he
stared at her perfectly shaped fingers and the delicate shade of
white polish with a tiny pink jewel placed in the middle of each
seashell-shaped fingernail.

“
Rachel told
me that you wouldn’t give up on me. That you kept trying to breathe
life into me when most would have given up.”

Irritation at Rachel’s
betrayal made him pull his hand from hers. He ignored her
expression of surprise as he quickly stood.

“
Look, just
don’t read anything into it. I was just doing my job. I would have
done the same for anyone. Okay? So, just relax and let’s go on with
our lives, like it didn’t even happen.”

Hurt screamed at him from
her shocked gaze and his stomach twisted as if he’d just been
sucker punched.

Damn! Why was he treating
her so badly? Suddenly he wanted to get away from her before he
hurt her again.

“
Sure,” she
said with a wobbly smile. Her cell phone began to ring and she
cursed softly.

“
You’d better
get that. I know how busy you are. Thanks for dropping by. I—I need
to get back to work.”

Without saying goodbye,
he rushed toward the exit of the lunchroom. He couldn’t get out of
there fast enough.

* * * * *

Royce’s fists tightened
and he frowned as Ewan left the lunchroom through the other exit. A
glimpse into the room showed Jaxie close to tears and her hands
shaking as she clumsily dug a cell phone from her purse.

He’d been listening at
the other door and watching as Jaxie thanked Ewan. Anger flooded
him at Ewan’s ungrateful reaction.

Man, what was wrong with
Ewan, treating her like that?

He’d been about to walk
into the room and give Ewan shit for behaving so badly toward a
woman he still obviously loved, but his friend hadn’t given him the
opportunity. He’d left like a bat flying out of hell.

One minute the guy was
giving his all to save her life, and when she’d started breathing,
he’d kissed her. Now he was doing an about face and getting away
from her as fast as he could.

Royce watched her as she
chatted on the phone. He should leave and give Jaxie some privacy,
but he just couldn’t.

Something inside of him
fluttered whenever he looked at her or even thought about her. She
was so cute. He liked looking at her. He enjoyed the elegant,
sultry way she moved.

He also enjoyed how she
changed her looks like a chameleon whenever he went to visit the
Key Club. One week she’d be a hot redhead, and the next week she’d
be a daring, black-haired minx.

She was always cheerful,
too, whenever he showed up at her club. Royce liked her because she
made him feel at ease. She treated him like a long-lost friend
whenever they saw each other.

Lately, he’d been going
there quite often, just to gaze at Jaxie while he nursed a beer
after work. She was a busy woman and was always helping her staff,
so he knew she didn’t have much time to talk, but she always spent
a couple of minutes with him when he came in.

She’d ask how
his day had gone or if he was at the Club with a girlfriend. Truth
was, he didn’t keep his girlfriends for very long. He just couldn’t
commit to a relationship because he hadn’t found the right
one
. Instincts told him
Jaxie could be that special someone. He would have asked her out on
a date a long time ago, if she hadn’t been engaged to
Ewan.

Ewan was a good friend,
and despite his breaking up with Jaxie, Royce knew Ewan was still
in love with her. His behavior the other day when he’d desperately
tried to revive her, just reinforced what he’d known all along.
That Ewan was still in love with her.