Unable to Resist (14 page)

“Jase. I’m sorry.” I run into his arms to hug him. “Hi.”

He kisses me on the cheek and holds me at arm’s length.

“You look different,” he states.

I look down at myself, wondering what the hell he means. “What are you talking about?”

Jason’s eyes roam over my face, with a smile. “You just look different.”

“Different, good? Or different, bad?” I have no idea what he is talking about. I look down again.

He cups his chin with his left hand and twists me from side to side with his right. “Good. Definitely good.” He decides.

His conclusion throws me for a loop, but I put it away for later dissection.

“Duane,” I call, motioning for him to join us.

His predatory-like walk makes me think he might be jealous of Jason. He doesn’t need to be, but it’s sweet. My assumption is validated when he places his hand on the small of my back, almost staking claim.

Jason notices the gesture, his eyes wide, but says nothing. I’m sure he’s just adding this to the long list of crap he’ll bring up later when we’re alone. Not looking forward to that, let me tell you.

I give Jason a ‘shut-your-dirty-mouth’ look before I open my own mouth to introduce the two men. Jason understands my death glare and flashes his movie star smile. I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Jason, this is Duane, my…” I pause and look at Duane. He’s my lawyer. Obviously, but the lines seem to be blurring a bit. “He’s my...”

“I’m her lawyer, Duane Rynard. Nice to meet you.” He cuts in, moving his hand from the small of my back to extend it out to Jason. I feel the loss immediately.

Jason shakes Duane’s hand and smirks, looking at me.

The psychic ass knows. Dammit.

“Hey man, yeah, nice to meet you, too.”

I roll my eyes and turn for the exit, leaving Jason to smirk at the space I once occupied.

I hear the two men follow me, but I’m alone when I step out into the hot Arizona heat. It’s late September and unlike most of the country, it’s still blazing hot. Perspiration immediately oozes from my forehead and I wipe it away with the back of my hand.

Duane steps to the right of me on the curb of the terminal. “Holy shit, it’s hot here,” he states while he slides his aviator sunglasses on.

Stupid sexy lawyer man with sexy sunglasses. Damn him and his hotness.

I turn to my left toward Jason.

“Yeah, but you get used to it. Right, Ann?” He questions.

His bright blue eyes sparkle in the sunlight and I wonder how he’s still single. He’s tall, taller than Duane by a few inches. He’s got short black hair and a muscular body. The five o’ clock stubble of facial hair is pretty sexy, if I do say so myself. I’ve always found Jason attractive. How could I not? The guy is good-looking, plus he can act and sing most people off of any stage. I’m pretty sure that’s big points in the ol’ pro’s column for any woman.

I’ve just never wanted to be that woman. He’s a great guy, but there’s no—spark and that’s fine with me. I don’t ever want to lose him. I’m fairly certain he agrees, which is why we work so well.

“I guess so, but I’m used to Nashville weather. It’s pretty damn hot. I forgot just how sticky it gets when it rains here.”

“Yeah, it rained a bit this morning, that’s why it’s so muggy.”

Duane jokes and grasps the air. “I feel like I can touch the air. It’s thick. How the hell do you breathe?”

I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow. “Through your mouth.”

“Thanks for the tip, Red.” He playfully bumps me with his hip.

I open my mouth to retort, but the valet pulls up with Jason’s black Volvo C70. I’m not a big fan of cars, I’ve always been a truck kind-of-girl, but I love this car. It’s sleek, sexy and incredibly stylish.

Duane whistles. “Nice car, man.”

Jason grabs his keys from the valet and does that weird fist bump thing with Duane. Boys.

My ass burns when I sit on the back seat. Why the man has leather seats in the hot ass desert, I’ll never know. I hiss and put my hands under my flaming flesh. “Son of a bitch, Jase. Couldn’t you have at least put a towel down for me?”

I can’t see Duane’s face, but what I do see is his shoulders bouncing up and down, laughing at me. I smack him on the shoulder for good measure. He stops and squares his shoulders.

I smirk at Duane’s response and glare at Jason in the rear view mirror.

He gives me yet another questioning look and I bulge my eyes out as far as possible to shut him up. That does the trick; he looks away and pulls out into the crazy airport traffic.

I slip my Ray Bans on and take the win for what it is. I shut him up. It’s a freaking miracle.

“Hold on baby girl, they’ll cool off soon enough,” he says as he plays with the dials on the dash. Almost instantly, cool air rushes through the seats and my burning rear end begins to practically sizzle in happiness.

My body relaxes and I lean my head on the headrest, smiling happily.

Traffic is fucking atrocious. More times than not, I get lost and turned around at this airport. Add in the crazy drivers, I’m lucky I ever found my way out of this place. I’m glad I’m not driving.

Duane and I haven’t talked about what our plan is and, now that I think about it, that was probably stupid considering I have no idea what I’m supposed to expect.

Duane and Jason talk to each other up front, but the air conditioning is on full blast, and I can’t hear a word either of them are saying. I don’t know why it’s so important that they get along, but it is. Seeing them laugh and joke makes me glad.

As we pull onto the freeway, my childhood floats by as I stare out the window. Memories of my happy family visiting the zoo waft into my thoughts. It ended up raining while we were there for my tenth birthday, but I didn’t care. My dad held an umbrella over my mom and me as we happily strolled along the paved street going from animal to animal. I was soaked to the bone by the time we saw every animal in the zoo, but I was happy. That might have been the last time I was truly happy at home.

I suck in the sadness, and turn my eyes back to the men in the front seat. The conversation seems to have turned serious, they’re no longer laughing, and they seem to be talking in hushed tones. I drag my butt to the edge of the seat to hear them more clearly.

“It’ll be fine, Jason. I’ll take care of her,” Duane says, making his emotions drip from his words.

My heart does a pole vault in my chest.

I try to block out every other sound to hone in on their conversation.

“Can I trust you? Because I’ll be damned if I let anyone hurt her, Rynard. I’m fucking serious.” Jason begins to raise his voice. His blue eyes find mine in the mirror and I stare at him, pleading. For what, I have no idea.

It’s best to stop snooping, so I turn back to staring out of the window, avoiding the intense conversation in the front seat.

A tear drips from my eye and I quickly dab it away. My heart can only take so much.

Allowing Ann to fall asleep on me on the plane was a mistake. Those lines I like to think I drew when I found out I was representing her are getting washed away at an unhealthy rate.

It’s wrong. Right?

Fuck, it doesn’t feel wrong. Every touch with her seems right. She’s the missing piece in my life I never even knew I was missing.

Fucking frustrating.

When we meet up with Jason at the baggage claim, I’m a bit puzzled by their relationship. The way she talked about him on our trip here, I thought he was gay. Seeing this good-looking guy act so natural with Ann sort of threw me for a loop. I don’t know where they stand.

Hell, I don’t know where we stand. Watching them together makes me question things I thought I knew for sure before I got here.

Have they dated? Does he like her?

Those are things you shouldn’t be thinking about, Dickhead.

And his car? Could he get anymore Hollywood? Here I am, driving my old beat up truck while this guy is driving a fucking chick magnet on wheels. Not that I care so much about the chicks it attracts. I only care about mine.

Wait. Did I just say that?

Ann isn’t mine.

I breathe deep and rub my head together between my hands. Ann is in the back, chewing Jason out about his leather seats. It’s hysterical. Even through my jeans, my ass is on fire, so I can imagine her crinkled face as she attempts to relieve her burning ass. She whacks me on the shoulder, and I take that as my cue to shut the hell up. I’m not a stupid man. I do as I’m told.

The first few minutes of the car ride aren’t so bad. Jason tells me about a time when Ann got bucked off her horse and landed in horse shit, and I’m cracking up. I turn around to see Ann’s reaction, but she’s either asleep or not listening.

I twist my body back to the front to listen to Jason talk about Ann. He goes on and on about how great she is, and that she’s incredibly special to him.

To my utter fucking happiness, the more he talks about her, the more I feel like he’s talking about his sister. It shouldn’t calm me down, but it does.

We’re getting closer to the police station when Jason turns around to look at Ann. He flusters and lets out a frustrated sigh. I don’t know what the guy’s problem is.

Taking his sunglasses off, Jason puts his arm on the console.

“Listen man, you seem like a good guy.” He addresses me.

I situate myself, facing him.

Uhh, thanks?

“But you need to know she may look like she’s holding it together, but I can see it in her eyes. She’s having a hard time.”

I can feel that. She puts on a show for everyone, but I can see in her eyes she has some serious issues.

If I could do this trip alone, I would. I don’t want her to hurt.

I
don’t want to hurt her. This is confusing
.

There’s one thing that’s for certain, I’m going to protect her with everything I have. She’ll have me, no matter what. I’m here for her.

She’ll have me for as long as she wants me.

I have that epiphany and dart my eyes to the window. Storing my feelings in a metaphorical box and hiding it away in my mind is one thing, but really hearing it in my head is a whole other story.

“It’ll be fine, Jason. I’ll take care of her.” And I will. I’ll do anything for her. She’s never going to be alone.

My heart and head are clashing for the title of biggest idiot and I’m not sure which is winning.

Jason sighs in frustration and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Can I trust you? Because I’ll be damned if I let anyone hurt her, Rynard. I’m fucking serious.”

I bring my eyes back to look at him, man-to-man. Removing my sunglasses, I look straight into his protective eyes.

“You can trust me,” I whisper so Ann can’t hear. “I get it. You’re worried about her. I am too. I’ll do everything in my power to protect her. She’ll be safe with me.”

I flick my eyes to the backseat and see Ann wiping her face. I want to ask her what’s wrong, but it’s not the time or the place. I crank up the radio.

“She’s not just some client to me,” I admit.

There it is. Out in the open.

“I had a feeling.” A sly smile creeps onto Jason’s face.

We’re stopped at an intersection and he turns to face me. “She’s special you know. If you mess this up, it’ll be the biggest mistake you’ll ever make.”

I don’t have enough time to explore what he really means, so I give him a curt nod and put my sunglasses back on.

We pull up to the station and it looks like every other police station I’ve ever been to. Plain and void of character.

I open Ann’s door, offering my hand to help her out. She accepts and we walk in.

The lead investigator stands at the front, talking to a police officer. He dismisses the officer and looks to us.

I step around Ann and offer him a handshake.

“Rynard, good to see you. Is this Ann?” He gestures toward Ann, standing next to Jason.

With her hand wrapped around his arm, she’s saying something to him I can’t make out, but he has his eyes on me. I tilt my head, in hopes to get her to walk over. Jason understands and leans down to whisper in her ear. Her eyes slide to me, and she nods, walking to me in confident strides.