She glanced at the knowing glint in her friend's eyes. "I just don't want anyone to run him off with questions."
"If he can't handle questions from Ava and Serena, then maybe it would be better if he ran off, because I don't see you being comfortable with anyone who doesn't like your friends."
"You're right."
"And you definitely like him," Lexie said.
Knowing that her cheeks would probably burn again if she tried to lie, she just said, "Maybe I do. But don't make a big deal out of it, because it's not a big deal."
"If you say so. Come on, let's eat. I need to get something before I go back to the gallery."
She forced herself to look away from Jax, knowing that her feelings about him were turning into a much bigger deal than she'd expected, and she had no idea whether that was good or bad. She'd become wary of relationships in recent years. Every time she started to trust someone, started to get deep, something usually fell apart. And with those men, she'd seen very few red flags, whereas alarm bells went off in her head every time she saw Jax. But she couldn't seem to make herself listen to those warnings. That might be something she would come to regret. But as she'd told Jax earlier, she wasn't the kind of person to avoid risk if it could lead to something great. She was taking a chance, maybe a big one, but her gut told her it was worth it. Hopefully, her gut wasn't wrong.
Chapter Fourteen
Jax woke up Saturday morning, feeling restless, but also eager. He found himself wanting to get out of bed, eager to see what the day would bring. He'd enjoyed the barbecue more than he'd expected. Having braced himself for endless questions, he'd been pleasantly surprised when no one had dug too deep. He didn't know if that was because Kaia had spread the word to go easy on him or whether they were just a naturally easygoing group who let people talk when they wanted to talk.
His only regret was that he hadn't had a chance to kiss Kaia again. She'd seemed determined to put space between them at the party, and he didn't know why. Maybe she regretted the kiss. Maybe she just wanted to give him space to find his own friendships. Whatever the reason for the distance, he just wanted to get rid of it today. And that felt strange, because he'd once been so determined to keep her away from him.
As he made coffee and grabbed a banana, he could hear voices out in the courtyard, female voices, which immediately drew him to the window. Emmalyn and Paige were talking by the pool, already having staked out loungers for the day, but there wasn't any sign of Kaia, and that was disappointing. His coffee finished brewing, so he went back into the kitchen to pour himself a cup. Then the knock he'd been hoping for came at his door.
Setting down his mug, he hurried across the room and opened the door. Kaia gave him a nervous smile, looking sexy as hell in white cutoff shorts and a navy-blue tank top that hugged her breasts. Her red hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, and gold earrings dangled from her ears. She definitely had a lot of distinct looks, and he liked every single one of them.
"Good morning," she said. "How are you?"
"I'm good. How about you?"
"Same. Uh, I wanted to talk to you for a minute."
He waved her inside and shut the door. "I wanted to talk to you, too."
"Really? What about?"
"Well, it wasn't so much talking I was interested in," he said with a grin.
Sparkling lights of desire filled her brown eyes. "Well, I am interested in talking," she said, killing his hope with a few words. "But first…"
And just like that, the hope came back. As she moved toward him, he opened his arms and pulled her against his chest. They came together in a hot, scorching kiss that was even better than the ones in his memory. Kaia kissed like she did everything else, with passion, fervor, and a little recklessness, and he loved that combination.
"Okay," she said finally, pulling away with a breathless note in her voice. "I really did have a question for you."
"Does it have something to do with going into the bedroom?" he asked hopefully.
She hesitated, then shook her head. "No, not at the moment."
"Too bad."
"I'm not saying that question won't come up later."
He met her gaze. "Good to know. So, what's on your mind?"
"I looked up the antique shop owned by Anita Chapman's daughter, Ella. It's open today, and I want to go there and see if I can talk to Ella about her Aunt Reina. I'm hoping you might want to come with me to San Diego."
Despite wanting to spend time with her, her continued pursuit of Reina made him nervous. "What are you going to ask her?"
"If Reina is alive, if she's married, that kind of thing. I'm not entirely sure."
"I don't know if that's a good idea. Have you heard from Walter again? Because if he's satisfied with the love song, maybe we should leave it at that."
