Stare Me Down (Stare Down) (20 page)

“Golf?” He swung around to look at her after the door was unlocked and creaked open. “Are you any good?”

If she weren’t mistaken he sounded worried. Was this a weakness? “I can beat you, I bet.”

“Hm.” He eyed her. Trying to figure out if she was serious. Wow, was the mighty Dom worried that she could beat him at golf? “I’ve never played a woman before.”

“Ha! Tell me another one, Lothario.” She sauntered past him and was nearly through the exit when he smacked her ass. “Ow. Not fair. I was only teasing,” she said and dramatically rubbed her butt cheek, hoping to make him feel bad. She should have known better. A guy like him would never feel bad about that because he knew his own strength and how to wield it.

“Did you happen to take acting classes in college? You’re quite proficient. And I was only teasing too.” He leaned down and added, “But just so there’s no future confusion about this—” he reached around and gave her ass cheek a squeeze, “—I’ll show you the difference. Tonight. Maybe I’ll bend you over my knee.”

When he walked off all superior-like, she thought hell, no. She threw the football at his back, hitting her mark, because he was too dang big to miss.

He didn’t even stop. Not even a flicker of an acknowledgement that her throw had connected. But then she heard him say, “Was that a little bee sting at my back? It sure felt like one. A tiny, wee little one.”

He was such an ass. She shook her head and walked forward to pick up the ball, thinking she could get used to spending Sundays with him.

“Yeahhhhhhh!”

“What the?” She looked up and saw six ten-year-olds barreling out of back door. They were gunning right for her. She didn’t even think. She just threw the ball aside and put her hands in front of her face, waiting for the tackle…‌that never came.

“Thanks for finding the ball, Jaxx,” Aaron said, smiling from ear-to-ear. “We really weren’t going to tackle ya. Uncle Aries said just to make it look like we were. Are you playing?”

She glared and pointed toward Aries, who was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed and smiling. “Depends. Is he playing?”

“Yep.”

“Then count me in.”

“Awesome!”

*****

Aries stood, waiting for everyone to get settled for the last quarter. Jaxx was on the opposing team, and he saw she had a couple of fans. He watched Aaron inch closer to her as they talked. The kid was a snake-charmer just like his dad. He shook his head over that one and was going to look away, but then he saw Jaxx smile and Aaron stand up straighter and, son of a bitch, he was jealous of a ten-year-old. Not that he blamed the kid. Jaxx’s dimples, combined with that laugh, had the power to nearly bring him to his knees.

She’s beginning to matter to you.

Beginning to? There was no beginning about it. The minute he went into that shed to mess with her he knew it was game over for him. She was coming out of her shell. Responding to him in such an open way he was humbled by it. He thought about that and realized he was in too deep not to be completely honest with her. But first he needed to be honest with himself. Truth was, he’d been straddling two lifestyles for the last few years. A concept that had worked for him right up until he’d met her. But now it was different.

She was the link. The connection he’d been missing while he’d been silently battling which way to lean. Before he always thought he needed to embrace one way of living over the other, but now he knew for a certainty this wasn’t true. With a woman like her he could have the best of both worlds and that suited him just fine. His own little vanilla doll who wasn’t really vanilla at all. He loved keeping that secret from the rest of the world. In his mind it made their relationship that much more special and unique.

He caught sight of her. Damn, she looked great. With most of her hair loose from the clip, her cheeks pink from playing the game and her T-shirt smudged with dirt and grass from when he’d tackled her earlier‌—‌it was worth the penalty‌—‌there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hades he was giving that up.

She waved to him, and he waved back. Even as he thought about how he could make this work for them. That’s when it hit him. If he wanted this kind of special he’d have to cut all ties with the club. And how did he feel about that?

Right then a part of Jaxx’s summation during their test came back to him.
You’re not as kinky as you think you are.
On the one hand she was totally right, but on the other where it really counted to both of them, she was very, very wrong. And yet none of that had anything to do with the club. He was almost shocked when that came to him.

“We’re up, buddy.” He’d been so distracted that when Dan punched the ball hard into his stomach, he sucked in a breath.

“What the fuck?”

His friend banged him on the back a couple of times and said, “Oh, that’s for the drum set, you rotten motherfucker. We have a two-year-old who barely sleeps as it is.”

Aries took a deep breath and nodded. ‘Cause yeah, maybe he hadn’t thought the whole wannabe-the-rock-star-gift giver thing all the way through. He’d forgotten about their little one.

“What’s a matter,
babe
? You worried you’re going to lose?” Jaxx said as she sauntered past to switch sides.

“No.” And he wasn’t, because he was going to tackle her again. Screw the penalty. The win for him came every time he broke their fall and propelled them into a roll. With her hair wrapped around them and breasts crushed into him as she laughed? Hell, if that wasn’t a victory, he didn’t know what was.

“Uncle Aries! You’re phone’s buzzing!”

Aries frowned. There were only two people who had his cell number and since Jaxx was here that could only mean Shar was calling with a problem at the club. He hated problems and lately they’d been drowning in them.

Aaron snatched Aries phone off the picnic table and said in a teasing sing-song voice, “It’s Wild Shar!”

Damn.

*****

The following morning, Jaxx listened to the newest member of her group and made the occasional note as she was determined to stay focused on her class instead of Aries. She put aside the doubt and anger that surfaced every time she thought about how quickly he abandoned her last night. With little to no explanation after he got the text that had effectively left her high and dry after all the verbal foreplay about spankings and punishments.

They’d barely finished their ice cream and cake when he’d announced he was taking her home. And once there she was left alone with her suspicions and disappointment. They nearly strangled her until she consciously decided she didn’t want to be that woman, so she’d swallowed all the hurt and fears she had, that maybe Maggie was right about him, and did the grown up thing. She ate more ice cream and wallowed in self-pity until she fell asleep with a stomach ache.

“But I’d rather not say.”

Jaxx’s pen stilled and she looked up. Lisa Monreo, her newest patient had clammed up part way in the telling of what incident brought her here. This wasn’t good, but before Jaxx could coax her to share, she caught sight of Harriet at the back of the class covertly stuffing a piece of fern in her mouth.
Son of a bitch.

“Harri—”

Trill.

The phone buzzed and she knew it was Maggie. She held up a finger in Harriet’s direction and answered, “Hi Maggie.”

“There’s a delivery for you. I’ve sent him down.”

That’s all she heard before the phone clicked in her ear. She blew out a sigh over Maggie’s terseness, but didn’t have time to even think about it when the knock sounded.

“I’ll just be a second.” She announced to the class. Hanging up the phone she tried to ignore the whispers. By the time she got to the door she guessed they were all placing more bets on that pool they had going.

“Good Morning, Dr. Gavin. Just sign here.”

Jaxx eyed the large cellophane wrapped package with the attached card and got that floaty feeling again. She knew it was from Aries. Who else would be sending her something like this? She signed on the dotted line and then asked, “Could you leave it on the hall table, next to my office over there?” She pointed to the door on her right as the bigger room between her and Maggie’s office was where she held her group sessions. “I’ll see to it after class.”

“I can do that, but the instructions were for you to open it right away. That’s what I told the other doctor when she suggested the same thing.”

No wonder Maggie broke her silent treatment to call. “Oh, all right then. I’ll take it. Thanks.”

When she got back to her desk she plucked the envelope off and said, “Sorry about this, guys. But I’m supposed to see what’s in here right away.”

There was a picture of a funny little mouse wearing a cardigan on the front of the card and when she opened it there was only one sentence.

I hope this helps saves the green. A.

She thought he was talking about money until she undid the blue and green cellophane and found a large glass bowl shaped like one of her Oscars filled with penny-sized Swedish fish. On a fin he stuck a Post It Note with the words,
Put this on the plant stand, and save the green. The fern will do better on the window sill
. She almost laughed out loud as she did as he instructed. Feeling infinitely better about things with him now. Yes, she was sure it had been legitimate business that had dragged him away last night. Otherwise why would he have taken the time to be so thoughtful this morning?

“All right.” She sat down and checked her clipboard. “Where were we? Lisa,” She eyed the young woman and said, “It’s imperative you share honestly with group. No matter how painful that honesty is. Now you were saying you caught your boyfriend cheating on you and you—” she checked her notes to make sure she had the right phrase, “—wigged out?”

“Yeah. I beat him with a garden gnome.”

Jaxx snatched her glasses off and fell back in her seat. “A…?”

“I felt bad afterward. The poor guy.”

Lisa had a smirk on her face as she looked around at the other patients in the room. She liked attention. Not a good sign. “I’m glad you felt bad, did he forgive you?”

“Who?”

“Your boyfriend.”

“I was talking about the gnome.”

Now that smirk stretched into a deep grin while the rest of Jaxx’s patients laughed. Even Harriet and she never laughed at anything. Taking a moment to digest the news, Jaxx had to admit it was kind of funny, but she couldn’t let on that she did. Instead she asked, “Did you break him?”

“Oh yeah. He cried like a baby when I threw the dwarf through the windshield of his nineteen-sixty-five Mustang. You might say it instantly became a dual convertible.”

The room erupted with more laughter and Jaxx knew this was going to be a long, albeit entertaining session. So when it finally ended and she was alone, she picked up her phone and spied a text from Aries waiting. Smiling, she eagerly read it.

I want to make up for last night. I’ll pick you up at six. Italian sound good?

She didn’t hesitate to text back. Great. And thank you for the fish bowl! The green is saved and currently enjoying a spot on the windowsill.

Perfect, but I wasn’t referring to the fern. I was referring to your wallet. No more expensive pest control to order.

Oh.

Jaxx?

Yeah.

Wear something tonight you know will please me. Something my hands can get into or up without too much of a struggle.

She blinked when she read that. Who said shit like that?

Make sure it’s comfortable though. I’ve been thinking about you on your knees in the shed. God, I fucking loved your cheek rubbing on my cock. You loved it too, didn’t you?

And there she was standing all by herself in the classroom blushing up a storm. To have his kind of bold honesty would be‌—‌she closed her eyes and took a deep breath‌—‌wonderful. She deserved wonderful, didn’t she?

With shaking hands and before she could change her mind she text back, I would have loved to have sucked your cock better.

When the beep of a return text sounded she cringed, closed one eye and narrowed her open one as she read, Now you’re learning. He inserted a smiley face with devilish bracket above the half colon eyes. See you tonight.

*****

Aries stayed close to Jaxx. Insisting they sit on the same side of the huge booth together even though they were the only ones in this private dining room. He’d known last night that she was hurt and possibly unsure about the change of plans to their evening, but it couldn’t be helped. His conditional purchase of the warehouse unit had to be solidified as there appeared to be another interested party sniffing around so he didn’t want to take any chances. And thanks to Shar’s quick thinking he’d begun the process. Now all he had to do was wait for the returned documents showing that the kick out clause was removed.

“I answered your question. It’s only fair you answer mine.” He waited for her to stop fiddling with her wine glass and look at him. Then he coaxed, “Come on. It can’t be that bad.”

“All right, here goes. My parents handed me a hundred bucks when I turned eighteen and told me to have a happy life.”

That pronouncement was the last thing he’d been expecting so he wasn’t prepared for the instant fury that surfaced when he wanted to jump to her defense and find the fuckers to make them suffer.

“I don’t understand.” He took her hand and squeezed it. He wasn’t one to shy away from the tough topics. No matter how awkward. “Why?”

“I probably should have told you first, that on my sixteenth birthday my father shared his philosophy with me. He said, since my mother insisted they adopt me so he’d stop screwing around on her and my arrival hadn’t change that, he or rather, they shouldn’t have to continue paying for me once they weren’t legally responsible anymore. When their marriage fell apart and they went on to separate lives I was sort of on my own anyway.” She shrugged. “It made for one hell of an eighteenth birthday bash.”