Page 122 of Love Unspoken

I smiled, sitting beside him, feeling a genuine sense of contentment. "You did. Your friends are great. I felt…welcome."

He reached out, taking my hand in his, his touch warm and reassuring. "You are. Always. I never expected to have the connection we built…you know, without the…."

"Sex?" I volunteered.

He laughed. "Yeah, without that."

There was something in the way he said it that made me think he knew more than I'd given him credit for. Maybe he could sense the shadows that still lingered around me, the remnants of my past with Lucas that I hadn't fully shaken off. But Jax didn't demand anything more than I was ready to give. And maybe that was precisely what I needed right now.

"I'm not over him," I whispered. "Do you think that's why we are not happening?"

"I don't know, darlin'. But I'll tell you one thing, I think you're damn attractive, and I'd love to fuck you."

I gasped. And here I thought we didn't have any chemistry.

"I'm a guy. You're hot."

"That simple?"

"Yep. You know what they say?"

I tilted my head, amused. "What do they say?"

"That for men, sex is like pizza; even when it's a day old and cold, it's a slice, and we're game."

I licked my lips and straightened. "Kiss me."

Jax quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Stop looking like you're walking into a war zone, darlin'; it's hurting my fragile ego."

I rolled my eyes. "Bud, your ego is monumental and not frail at all."

He leaned, cupped my check, and drew me to him. He gently placed his lips over mine. I could taste the martini he'd just had and the cigar he'd smoked.

"Open for me, Amara," he growled softly, and I did as he asked. My heart thundered. I was anxious. Nervous. This was the first time I was kissing someone who wasn't Lucas in over three years.

He kissed like a dream. His technique was ten out of ten. His hands moved over my body, and it felt damn good to be touched.

I was slightly breathless when he lifted his head.

"Fuck, you're sexy, Amara. I can see what you'd look like when I make you come," he whispered, stroking a cheek.

I licked my lips, feeling like an ass. As good as the kiss had been, all I wanted right now was to burst into tears. I'd kissed a man who wasn't Lucas, and it felt like cheating.

Jax kissed my nose and smiled, that easy, confident smile that I had become familiar with. "Darlin', you're not ready."

Tears filled my eyes. "When will I be ready?"

He shrugged. "I'm still waiting as well. Someone broke my heart a long while ago, and…sure, I've fucked since then, dated casually, but it always feels like I'm steppin' out on her."

"We make quite a pair," I sniffled.

"How about we can the serious talk and go have dinner, drink some more, maybe dance and have a good time?"

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the room in a warm, golden glow, I realized something important: I didn't have to have all the answers right now. And that was the most freeing thing of all.