She rose onto her toes.
For leverage.
For more.
His hand settled at the base of her head, the other hand found her waist. When they broke apart, Jax’s voice came out rougher than before.
“Good to know you like being watched. Because I like watching.”
“With permission.”
Heat sharpened into something more dangerous—curiosity. “You watched?”
“Not the library. The cameras don’t reach there.”
“But I saw you leave. Saw how you looked.”
He awkwardly ran a hand through his hair, “I watched you. All day. Traffic cameras. Building security. The parts already recorded anyway.”
He met her eyes. Didn’t flinch.“I figured I should still confess. Just in case you wanted to throw something. Or press charges. Or make me beg.”
“I’m ready for punishment.”
The words lingered, playful on the surface, threaded with memory. She should be creeped out. She should be running. Instead—
“What if I don’t want you to stop?”
Jax’s expression become predatory. “Then we’re going to have a very good time, April.”
He crossed the space between them until he was close enough that April had to tilt her head back slightly to keep eye contact.
“And for the record,” he continued, voice dropping into something lower, more intimate, “watching you choose yourself? Watching you step back into him even with Arthur right there?”
“That was the good stuff.”
April’s brain, already working overtime on desire and consent and whether this was the best or worst idea snagged on the contradiction.
“Wait.” She pulled back slightly. “You just said the cameras don’t reach the library.”
Jax went still, not guilty. Just caught. “Some don’t.”
“Then how did you?” April’s eyes narrowed. “Arthur. Caleb. ‘Step back into him.’ You saw something.”
“I tried. Cut the feeds. Turned away from the screens. But I have access to building security, and I…”
He met her eyes. “I looked. Just for a second. Maybe more than a second. I’m not going to lie to you about that.”
April's pulse kicked again—different this time.
He'd tried.
He'd failed.
He was telling her anyway.
That was either the most honest thing a man had ever said to her, or the reddest flag in a field of red flags.
Maybe both.
