Page 45 of True Abandon

The warm night air is making my skin clammy. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here.”

He sticks his hands deep in his pockets and looks up through long lashes. “You did plan for us to go to the luau tonight, did you not?”

“I just thought that maybe you were…”

“Indisposed.” A wicked grin licks at his lips. “Once the initial sting wore off, I have to say I rather like it.”

“For the record, I wasn’t planning on you getting a wax. It was a byproduct of our deal.” I roll my shoulders back. “You fell into that one.”

“I realized that when I was on the second bucket of ice you sent up. Thank you for that, by the way.”

I nod my head slightly. “No problem.”

He removes a hand from his pocket and runs his thumb across his bottom lip. “On the bright side, my cock looks huge.”

I hit him in the arm in admonishment. “Jackson! Decorum, please.”

He leans in closer but speaks in unhushed tones. “I assume you got a Brazilian, too. If not, you broke the arrangement, and in that case —”

I try to hush him. “Yes, I did. There’s no need for the whole party to hear.”

He twists his mouth and sways from side to side. “I don’t know. I have my doubts. There’s only one way to know for certain if you got you pussy waxed and that’s for me to get down on my knees and—”

I leap forward and place my hand over his mouth. “Will you shut up? First of all, if I say I got my lady bits done, you’re just going to have to believe me. Inquire with the spa if you must, but you are in no way inspecting them. And second, when the hell did you become so crude? It’s like an alien came and inhabited your body. You look like Jackson Davis, but when you speak you sound like some moron who doesn’t know how to talk properly to another person.”

“What am I supposed to say?” His words are muffled by the palm of my hand.

“Maybe start with, Hi, Trish.” I release his mouth and turn my shoulder to face the stage.

He walks up behind me, his chest flush against my back. He smells like mango and warm honey. “Hi, Trish. You look pretty tonight.”

I close my eyes and give my head a little shake. “I didn’t say you had to say that.”

His lips are close to my ear as he whispers, “No. But I should. Because you do.”

With eyes wide open, I take a deep breath. “Thanks.”

He backs away, and I feel the loss of his presence.

“You want to walk around?”

“Yes,” he answers rather quickly.

I turn to see his face lit up.

He quickly shuts down his emotions and points to the buffet area. “Do you want to get something to eat?”

“I already ate.”

His lips pull in. “Chocolate cake doesn’t count as dinner. Come, I’ll even let you pick the most vile thing on the menu for me to eat.”

His offer is tempting, so I follow him toward the pit where the crowd was cooking. Men are using white towels to pick up a net over the animal submerged in a giant hole in the ground. When it’s raised, there’s a large, charred, whole pig. People cheer and take pictures.

My stomach turns at the sunken-in eyeballs and bared teeth coming from beneath the blackened snout.

Jax places a hand over my eyes and turns me away from my favorite animal in the whole world.

“I’m gonna guess you just killed your appetite. Sorry, wrong word.” He takes his hand off my face and slowly pulls me away from the pit. “There are some vendors by the water, and I have some cash to burn. Spend? Work with me because you look like you’re going to pass out.”