Rebel (Renegades 2)

She held her arms wide and glanced down at her sweater and shorts. “What? The guys on set don’t wear shorts?”

“They don’t wear shorts that short, and they don’t look like that in them. Wes was already worthless on set all morning. He doesn’t need any help. ” At the door, he paused and turned. “But you can wear what you want to dinner. Wes is grilling for us tonight. Come over about seven. ”

Rubi flipped back into her sassy cover, slid her sunglasses down her nose, and grinned at Jax over her shoulder. “You had me at Wes. ”

Lexi couldn’t even wait until Jax’s car started before she asked, “Are things better with Wes?”

Rubi’s unease whipped up again, flooding her body with anxiety. She turned toward her friend and leaned one elbow on the railing. “So are you going to do it? Are you going to plunge in feetfirst and move into this six-million-dollar mansion with your beau?”

Lexi’s enthusiastic smile fell. “Don’t try to change the subject. ”

She gazed past Lexi toward the opposite end of the canyon. “You should have some decent privacy here. Even if some jealous father of a rival designer hired a photographer again, he’d have to have one hell of a lens or a death wish to get photos of you and Jax up here. ”

“What’s going on? You know you’re not getting out of here without telling me. ”

“Let’s walk and talk,” Rubi said. “Show me this palatial new home of yours, little orphan girl from the white-trash slums of Kentucky. ”

Lexi turned with a sigh and linked her arm with Rubi’s as they walked back into the office. “It’s not mine. It’s Jax’s. Which is why I don’t like the fact that he needs my approval. ”

“Did you interview those students from Parsons?”

Rubi strolled down the marble hallway with Lexi’s chatter about her new interns floating around the edges of her brain. They paused in the foyer by the grand spiral staircase.

“So I’m setting up a small shop in another building nearby where the seamstresses will work,” Lexi said. “That way I can hop over there between fittings and client meetings if I need to. It sure would be nice to have somewhere close to come home to. ”

“You mean somewhere close that houses Jax to come home to. ”

She grinned, and the whole line of her body softened. “Yeah. ”

Lexi wore her typical light touch of makeup, coloring her lashes, perfecting her already perfect skin, brightening her cheeks. But that wasn’t what turned the woman from stunningly beautiful to truly radiant.

“Have I ever told you how much I hate the way Jax makes you glow?”

Lexi laughed and returned her attention to Rubi. “Stop. ”

“You want this house for the staircase, don’t you?” she asked, giving Lexi a sly grin. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Jax. ”

Lexi bit her lip against a grin and glanced over the railing, her hand sliding over the iron. “I swear I could stare at it all day. It’s like a piece of artwork. ”

She and Rubi burst out laughing at the same time. Rubi wandered away, through the massive living area. “Damn. ” She squinted through the glass of one French door and placed a flat hand at her brow, teasing, “Is that the ocean?”

“I think that would be the Los Angeles smog layer,” Lexi said, her voice thick with yeah-right attitude.

“Ah, yes. Smog. ” Rubi moved through a wide archway to a smaller sitting room—though small was all relative here. “Oooh, I like the bar. ”

“Have you heard from Dolph on your house?”

“Nope. Nada. Sixth offer unacknowledged. ” Rubi forced her voice light, like she always did, even though she knew Lexi could see right through her. She thought about the call she’d made to Dolph’s voice mail last night and pitched the rig’s concept. That was before she’d even seen the real thing—which was ten times more advanced than she’d expected. Maybe that would garner a phone call, during which she could broach the topic of buying the house—again.

She ran her hand over the tall, velour-covered chairbacks and glanced up at the six wide-screen monitors mounted high on the wall. “This will be where the Renegades sit when they come over. But you’ll have to get a few more chairs. Hell, you might have to turn this into a man cave. ”

“There’s a man cave downstairs. Complete with another bar, bigger televisions, and a pool table. ”

“Oh well,” Rubi huffed. “Excuse me. ”

They moved out onto the deep stone terrace running the length of the house. “My God,” Rubi said. “You could have one hell of a party out here. Maybe even…a wedding. ”

Lexi groaned. “Don’t mention marriage around Jax. ”