Page 11 of Just My Luck

The air in the boutique suddenly felt entirely too thin.

Nailed it, I thought.

Jax didn’t say a word for three long seconds. He just stared, his chest rising and falling in a slow, heavy breath, a raw, unvarnished intensity in his gaze that made my skin tingle far more than the silk dress did.

“Jax?” I prompted softly, my heart rate spiking. “Do you like it?”

He swallowed, clearing his throat as he forced himself to stand up. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, though he couldn’t quite mask the rough, low edge in his voice. “Buy it.”

“Is it that good?” I teased, trying to break the sudden, suffocating tension. I turned around to show him the back and heard him suck in a deep breath.

Jax paused, his eyes dropping to the low V before snapping back to mine, his jaw set hard. “It’s so you. It’s perfect.” His voice was low.

A thrilled, nervous flutter went off in my stomach. I turned back toward the fitting room to change, a triumphant smile spreading across my face. The gold dress was perfect. I knew that tonight, I wasn’t just going to secure the Onyx account. I was going to see exactly how long Jax Mylonas could keep pretending he wasn’t interested in me as anything other than a friend.

We spent another hour wandering the Strip, enjoying the early afternoon air and the craziness that was Vegas.

“Look at that,” I laughed, pointing toward a garish souvenir shop overflowing with standard Vegas kitsch. “I need to get something for Sofia. A token of my appreciation for her dying under Leonard’s paperwork.”

“If you buy her a light-up slot machine hat, I’m making you carry it,” Jax warned, though he followed me inside anyway.

I ended up finding a ridiculous, oversized glitter pen shaped like a flamingo wearing a showgirl headdress, complete with a tiny marabou feather boa. It was loud, completely impractical, and exactly the kind of thing Sofia would unironically use to sign off on corporate memos just to spite Leonard.

“Perfect,” I declared, tossing it onto the counter. “Tactical weaponry acquired, silly best-friend tribute secured. Now we need to get back before I run out of time to pull off the gold dress.”

By the time we got back to the penthouse suite, the floor-to-ceiling windows were framed by the glittering, golden grid of the evening Strip.

We stepped into the shared space and stopped in our tracks.

Sitting on the coffee table was a massive, arrangement of pure white orchids and pale roses—easily a three-hundred-dollar statement piece. Tucked into the center of the stalks was a heavy, embossed black envelope with my name written across the front in a sharp, authoritative cursive.

My stomach did a tight flip. I walked over and pulled the card from the envelope.

Nova,

A spectacular performance in the boardroom today. Your insight into our international expansion was refreshing. I look forward to exploring exactly how deep your expertise goes tonight.

The concierge at Prime has been notified. Present the enclosed card at the velvet rope, and they will escort you directly to the private wing.

— Kit

I reached into the envelope and pulled out a heavy, matte-black metallic card stamped with the gold Prime insignia.

Jax stood back and scanned the massive floral arrangement, the sweet, heavy scent of the blooms filling the space between us. Then his eyes locked onto the black metallic card in my hand.

The easy, relaxed expression he’d worn all afternoon vanished instantly. His jaw set so hard, a muscle twitched beneath the stubble, and his blue eyes darkened into a dangerous storm-cloud gray.

“Let me guess,” Jax said, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly register that vibrated right through the quiet room. “A little hospitality from our client?”

I nodded, unsure of what to say that would soothe the frustration from his features.

“Don’t worry, you know I like white and purple peonies, not orchids and roses,” I added.

“I’m going to shower and change,” he said, offering a casual salute before heading toward his room.

Well, damn it. I didn’t want Jax to get the idea that Kit had a chance with me, but the truth was, I was hoping this would be the slight push Jax needed and that my new gold dress was going cause the man of my dreams to finally break the one rule he had held to all this time and fall madly in love with me.

Damn it all.