Anna observed as Jaxxon and Connor’s gazes met and, instead of the verbal and physical explosion she was expecting, there was that same electrical exchange of pure, primal need between them that she saw at the charity event. Just like then, the people around them were caught up in the moment, in the excess sparks of desire that surrounded the couple. It was there and then that Anna came to a conclusion about Jaxxon and Connor: as much as their craving for each other was primitive and raw, their connection couldn’t be on just a physical level. A link that intense couldn’t only survive on sexual hunger. It would need the involvement of the mind and the soul just as much as the body.
Jaxxon continued to hold his eyes as he stalked toward their table at a casual, non-threatening pace. He stopped before her and slowly bent down, pressing the softest lingering kiss to her lips. She wondered why she hadn’t slapped him yet. She wanted to. Really wanted to. But instead all she seemed to be doing, despite her anger, was devouring the sight of him. Their gazes never left each other’s the entire time that two more chairs were added and Anna and Warren took positions on either side of her, almost as if protecting her and Connor from each other. That then left him opposite her, which made it easier to snarl at him.
Anna, scowling wildly at Warren, spoke first. “We were just about to order starters before you interrupted our meal and, also, our holiday.”
Warren gave her a pleading expression. “Look, how about we enjoy the meal and then we’ll talk about it when we get back to the challet?”
“Translation: let’s not argue in public?”
Back to the challet? Jaxxon held back a growl. So not only had they interrupted the holiday but they were planning on staying. And in their challet. For them to have gotten inside it, Anna had to have left the key for them somewhere outside. Jaxxon would deal with her later. When she was sure she could speak without the sound being animalistic.
“Garlic bread,” drawled Warren. “Haven’t had that in a while. What about you?”
“The soup,” Anna said through her teeth. As much as she was glad to see Warren, she wanted to throttle him right now. So far there had been no outburst from Jaxxon. When she was silent, it wasn’t a good sign.
Warren turned to the lump of stone on his right. “Connor? What do you want for Starters?”
“For starters…” He hardened his gaze on Jaxx. “You can tell me why you left for France without even a goodbye.”
Hoping to distract Jaxxon from giving Connor a very heated response, Warren quickly turned to her. “And you, Jaxxon? What’re you having?”
Only one thing had stopped her from lashing out at Connor after his remark; she knew that was what he wanted. A reaction would show she was ruffled, unsettled. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her lose it. Plus, if she did lose it that would show she cared and he couldn’t be allowed to know that. She was resolute on keeping her rage controlled. But that didn’t mean she was going to sit and have a civil evening with him. She consulted the menu. “I’ll have the ‘Get Over The Fact That My Business Isn’t Yours You Prick’.”
“I had to find out days later from Dane,” said Connor. “My two best mates knew exactly where you were, but I was purposely kept out of the loop.”
She could almost believe he was genuinely hurt by that.
“You couldn’t even manage a text message to let me know you were going away for a week? All you would’ve had to do was press a couple of buttons. Wouldn’t have even taken you two minutes.”
“You’re going on at me about the simplicity of text messaging when you’ve just flown all the way to France to argue with me?”
“Oh I don’t just want to argue with you.” The implication was in his voice, in his eyes.
“Do you always follow your bed-buddies abroad?”
Warren nearly choked on his wine, but no one at the table seemed to give a shit.
“You’re not my bed-buddy,” said Connor quickly.
“Oh?” She arched a brow. “Then what am I?”
You’re mine, he found himself wanting to say. He leant forward in his seat. His tone was grave, cautioning. “Don’t ever make out that I think that little of you, Jaxx.”
The appearance of the waiter was welcome, giving her a reprieve from her stare-out with Connor. They all ordered their starters and main meals. Other than those coming from Warren, each order came out robotic. It was then that Jaxxon noted that Anna’s mood was no better than her own. Maybe she hadn’t played a part in their coming here. The poor waiter nearly jumped out of his skin when Connor growled.
“What was that for?” she snapped when the waiter scarpered.
“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”
Anna snickered. “That was nothing compared to the stares she’s been getting over the past few days.” Yes, she wanted to cheese Connor off just like he had cheesed her best mate off. “If you thought you being here would discourage that, I’m thinking you’ll be proved wrong. Why do you think we got such a fab table? And then there was the complimentary bottle of wine. We’ve had a load of freebies since we got here because of how admired she is. Aww there was this one bloke who stuck a piece of paper with his phone number onto her ski pole. And another who sang a song to her on the karaoke.” She left out the fact that Jaxxon flipped him off.
Noticing that Connor was getting even more frustrated, Warren gestured for Anna to leave it there. But with a wide smile on her face, she continued. “It was hilarious when that tall, blonde Viking-like bloke asked her to write her autograph on his pecks. It wasn’t so hilarious when that little old bloke asked her to. She’s had quite a few people come up and ask to have a photo with her. I don’t know how they even recognised her with all her ski clothes on. I think a lot more would’ve approached her if she wasn’t known for telling people to sod off.”
There was a little silence then; Connor striving to remain in control, Anna trying to think of how else she could wind up Connor, Warren wishing he could get his beautiful girlfriend to shut up, and Jaxxon condemning herself for the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss that Connor had given her a few minutes ago. He’d never kissed her like that before, it was actually affectionate. And that fourteen year old girl in her wouldn’t let that fact drop.
The Starters came then. The silence continued as they ate; Jaxxon and Connor staring at one another while Anna glowered at Warren and he looked at her apologetically.
The way Jaxx seemed so calm and collected was nibbling at Connor, mocking him. Here he was digging deep for the strength not to drag her out the place, make her promise never to jet off like that again and then f**k her ’til she couldn’t take any more. She, on the other hand, was calmly sipping her soup and her posture was totally relaxed. He wanted her as prickly as he was. “The challet’s great, isn’t it. I can’t wait to try out my bed.” Connor held onto Jaxx’s gaze. “I picked the room that overlooked the outdoor hot-tub.” Her room.
Jaxxon didn’t give him the rise he wanted. “It’s quite comfy that bed. I always end up falling asleep on the couch so you’re welcome to it.”
“Not joining me?”
“You came all this way for a shag? Oh, Connor, you should have just sent me a simple message saying you wanted to break off our agreement then you could have f**ked who you wanted right on your doorstep.”
He leant forward. “If you keep talking about f**king I’m going to lose my composure and throw you over my shoulder again. You remember what happened last time I did that?”
Just the memory of that night, just thinking about him being inside her body again, had her cl*t throbbing. “Yeah I remember. It was alright.”
“You’re doing a lot of pushing, Jaxx.”
“Oh I’m sorry were you expecting a show of open arms?”
“I don’t need your arms open, babe, just your legs.”
His cocky smirk had her gritting her teeth. I won’t give him a reaction. I won’t give him a reaction. I won’t give him a reaction. But then, as if her hand had a mind of its own, it flicked the spoon in his direction and the dollop of soup splattered over his face and the top part of his black shirt. The giggle literally popped out of her. Anna was chuckling too. Warren seemed an equal blend of horrified and amused. Connor, however…well he looked like he wanted to rip her liver out and eat it.
Grinding his teeth, Connor wiped away the soup and dumped the serviette back on the table. He had told himself that he wouldn’t retaliate, but she was still giggling and it was grating on his nerves. He took another bite of his garlic bread then slung it at her face. He managed to keep his laugh silent but he couldn’t stop his body from shaking. Both Anna and Warren seemed to be bracing themselves for Jaxx’s wrath.
Jaxxon was totally dignified in her movements as she removed the buttery grease and breadcrumbs from her face and hair. Then, moving too abruptly for him to have prepared himself, Jaxxon snatched her dessert spoon and launched it at Connor. It hit his forehead with a thunk, which only made her chuckle again. Then he sloshed his glass of white wine all over her favourite cashmere sweater, hence Anna’s horrified gasp, and he had more or less signed his death warrant. She booted him hard in the shin and simultaneously flicked vinegar and salt at him. Pre-empting what she going to do next, Connor seized the opened bottle of wine and placed it on the neighbouring table. That just pissed her off even more. She reached onto the table behind theirs and grabbed their bottle of – ah ha – red wine. Connor warned her with a look but she just smiled as she splashed as much of the contents of it on him as she could. Then she slammed the bottle down onto the table and glared at him.
“You drowned me in red wine,” he said disbelievingly.
“That’s right, prick.”
“And I reek of vinegar.”
“You ruined my favourite top.” She turned to Anna then. “Toilets?”
Although Anna was terribly conscious of the deathly silence and the amount of eyes on them, she didn’t feel the need to shrink in her seat as she normally would have. No, it was the boys’ fault and, besides that, she was drunk so for now it didn’t matter. As if what was happening was perfectly normal, she casually gestured to the ladies’ restrooms as she sipped more wine from her glass. Jaxxon, of course, stomped off.
As she stood examining the stains on her sweater, debating whether it could be saved or not, a string profanities flew from Jaxxon’s mouth. God she wanted to kill that bloke! It wasn’t enough for him to turn up out the blue and interrupt her holiday, oh no he had to go and ruin her favourite top as well! Sure, it was only a sweater but it was the first thing item of clothing she bought with her first wage from Ollie. It had sentimental value. She didn’t have many things that could be considered sentimental to her. She had always made a point not to have any such things having grown up in a place where things generally weren’t yours for long. Just when she tried snapping out of the mind state of not relaxing or treasuring anything…Urgh! If he had any sense of self-preservation the miserable little arsehole would be scarpering out of here! At that very second, the door slammed open, arsehole barged in and locked it behind him. So he didn’t have any sense of self-preservation.
Connor had entered the restroom with every intention of giving her an intense verbal rollicking, but then he found her stood in only her bra and pants and his intentions quickly changed. He slowly advanced on her.
She shook her head wildly, gasping at the barefaced cheek of him. “Do not think you’re having your way with me, McKenzie.” Her eyes helplessly dropped to his muscled chest as he removed his soup/vinegar/wine-soaked shirt. She forced them back to his face. His own eyes contained lust and heat and desperation and…something else, something she didn’t recognise. “Look, you’ve had your fun: you’ve ruined my holiday, you’ve ruined my evening, you’ve ruined my favourite sweater! Just go, and don’t ever come near me again.”
He halted. “You think I came here to mess up your holiday? You think I would do that? That I would ever want to do that?”
“Yeah, to punish me for daring to go somewhere without asking you first.”
“This isn’t me punishing you or playing some game.” Dane had been right, he was going to need to tell her the truth if he had any hope of stopping her from finishing this.
“You expect me to believe that you got on a plane and came all the way here just because you felt like a shag?”
“I came here because I missed you.”
That shocked her to silence. She might have laughed if he didn’t look so serious. He must have meant he missed being inside her, it had simply come out wrong. “And you couldn’t wait until Monday?”
“No, I couldn’t. As much as you drive me bloody mental and make me want to spank your arse, I missed you.”
There it was again. “Your dick missed me, you mean.”
“My dick as well, yeah.” He began advancing on her again.
Completely knocked by the things he was saying, she found herself suddenly mentally off-balance and was backing away rather than standing her ground. She hadn’t even taken four steps before her back met a wall. She should have been fighting him, condemning him, cursing him. But those three words had totally thrown her, especially when the desperation in his eyes gave emphasis to that claim; desperation that she could also feel sizzling in the air. He had never looked at her like that before. And so, instead of denying him, her body reacted by sending tingling sensations to her cl*t and releasing a rush of moisture from her core.