He nodded subtly toward the bar.“There’s an idiot over there who hasn’t stopped glaring at me since I put my hands on you.”
I followed his gaze, and my heart stuttered.Chase.
Standing by the bar, jaw tight, drink forgotten in his hand.
Jaxon leaned back, the corner of his mouth lifting in satisfaction.“Told you,” he murmured.“Working like a charm.”
4 | You Seriously Drew Up A Contract
Jaxon
Thebuzzingwouldn’tstop.
At first, I thought it was part of the dream—don't ask me why my subconscious thought it was a good idea to conjure a bank robbery and make me the getaway driver.
I groaned when the buzzing stopped, then was back again.When I cracked an eye open and saw my phone lighting up across the nightstand, I realized it wasn’t my imagination.
Cursing, I reached for the phone, half-burying my face in the pillow.“Yeah?”
There was a pause, then a silky voice followed, too sharp and composed for a Sunday morning.
“Why do you sound like you’re still in bed?”
Savannah.
“Because Iamstill in bed.Pretending to be your boyfriend is exhausting work, you know.”
“Oh, I'm sure it is,” she drawled in a monotonous tone.“Attending fancy parties, smiling, drinking thousand-dollar champagne.The pain you must be feeling.”
I smiled, laying back lazily on the arm behind my head.“See, you know how I feel.”
She scoffed, and I could almost picture her rolling her eyes.
“Anyway, if you're finished being…you,the reason I called is because we need to discuss the rules of this little arrangement.If we’re going to keep up this act for the next three weeks, we're going to need some boundaries.”
I yawned.“I'd say we were pretty well last night without rules.”
“Barely,” she muttered.“I'm thinking of last night as a test run—one that you barely passed.”
“Barely passed?”I chuckled.“Babe, all eyes were on us last night.Prince Charming looked just about ready to slice my arm off, and the so-called bride-to-be couldn't stop drooling every time I moved.I'd say it was mission accomplished.”
There was a beat of silence before she said, “We’ll talk about that, too.But we discuss the dos and don’ts for this—just so that both parties are aware of the stakes.”
I grinned into the pillow.“Relax, Jessica Pearson, this is just a simple situationship.Boy meets girl.Boy helps girl with revenge plot.No need to get—”
“Are you free this afternoon?”
I glanced at the clock on my wall—10:13 a.m.I had a consult with Wolfe at noon, something about touch-ups on a sleeve piece Nerissa started three weeks ago.“I’ve got to be at the shop soon, but we can meet there if you want.”
“The shop?”
“Yeah,” I said, sitting up and running a hand through my hair.“Cage Ink Studios.It’s my tattoo parlor.”
A pause.Then, with what sounded dangerously close to curiosity, she said, “You own a tattoo parlor?”
“Mm-hmm.Well, co-own it, technically.Jesse and I manage day-to-day, and Benji handles most of the numbers when he's free.”
“Right.”She hesitated, and I could almost hear her recalibrating whatever image she had of me.“I suppose that’s… impressive.”
