Wild Zone (Rough Riders Hockey 4)

She skimmed the faces and passed over Jax’s before halting and scanning back.

Yes, he was there. Dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and crimson tie—as if choreographed. His hair was shorter, combed off his face in a sophisticated style. He looked so incredibly handsome, Lexi’s head went light.

He was standing and clapping along with the rest of the audience, but Lexi’s hearing seemed to have gone, because it all sounded muted now. All she could focus on was the beam of his smile, the sparkle in his eyes.

This was the moment each designer brought out those significant to the line and shared them with the audience in a show of appreciation. Designers often brought their wives, husbands, business partners, or a special model onto the runway. Lexi had always been up here alone.

Now, she managed to reach out to Jax.

When he stepped forward and took her hand, everything turned dreamlike. The applause dimmed. Her vision narrowed to include only Jax. And time seemed to float as Lexi tugged him forward. With one smooth leap, he stood on the runway with her.

She circled his waist beneath the blazer. Jax’s hands cupped her face, and he looked down at her with love and tears in his eyes. His lips moved as he spoke, but Lexi couldn’t hear a thing over the noise. She didn’t know if he was with another woman now, didn’t know if he still saw their differences as too large to bridge, only knew she needed to feel his lips on hers. Lexi pushed up on tiptoes to kiss him.

“I told you to come as you were.” She forced the words louder than felt comfortable to make sure he heard them.

He leaned down, put his mouth by her ear. “I did. This is part of who I am too. I was just resisting that uncomfortable merge.”

He pulled back, and the expression in his eyes when he looked down at her again was filled with so much love, Lexi’s heart flipped in her chest.

Jax pulled her face close, pressing his mouth hard against hers. Then he opened to her, and in that moment she knew he was still hers. A whole new sensation of relief and gratitude and excitement flooded her body.

Sound and sensation rush back in. The applause pierced her eardrums.

In her peripheral vision, Lexi saw two of the models approach Jax from behind. She smiled into his eyes and lifted her hands to the knot of his tie at the same moment as the models stood on either side of him and slipped his blazer off his shoulders and down his arms.

He darted a surprised look at the women, then a questioning look at Lexi.

“I love all of you,” she said as she loosened his tie and unfastened the buttons of his shirt to the increasing roar of the crowd. “And I want them all to see my inspiration for the new line.”

Then the models slipped the shirt from his shoulders. Lexi couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him the way she wished she’d been able to kiss him for the last six weeks. Jax kissed her back, his mouth generous, his lips unsteady with laughter and emotion. She guessed it was the actor in him that played up to the crowd and leaned her into a deep dip onstage, kissing her until she couldn’t breathe.

He finally brought her upright and pulled out of the kiss. Lexi beamed, held tight to one hand, and turned toward the roaring crowd with a sweeping gesture toward all his stunning male beauty, including his tattoo.

The crowd exploded with approval. Jax laughed, bowed graciously, then swung an arm around Lexi’s shoulders and turned her toward the archway, walking her offstage.

Jax’s heart was hammering as they walked through the rows of lingerie-clad models, all grinning and clapping. As soon as they stepped off the runway, Jax pulled Lexi aside and kissed her like he was possessed.

She didn’t flinch, didn’t push him away. Even as models and announcers and others passed by, she just kept kissing him.

She finally broke away, stroking his face with warm fingers and taking him in as if she’d never seen him before. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

Tears streamed down her face. He lifted a hand from her waist to wipe them away. “Baby…”

He couldn’t find the words. He was overwhelmed. He’d never felt so completely accepted or loved in his entire life.

“Excuse me,” a voice said behind them. “Lexi, can we have a minute?”

Lexi glanced past Jax, and he turned to see Martina standing nearby with another tall woman. One of the models came over and handed Jax his clothes. Along the runway, the audience remained abuzz.

Jax’s nerves returned. “I’ll give you a minute.”

“No.” She squeezed his hand. “You’re part of my life, and if they want me, they have to take all of me, which includes you. Stay with me.”

Martina looked both contrite and excited as she introduced the head of Galliano’s board of directors. Neither of them looked Jax in the eye again after a quick acknowledgment, which didn’t bother him in the least. The only woman whose opinion mattered to him was Lexi’s.

She patiently listened to Martina’s retraction of her earlier statements and the board director gush over Lexi’s designs. When the offer for the partnership came, Jax squeezed her hand.

Lexi grinned at Jax briefly, then turned to the women. “Thank you. It’s a fabulous offer, and I’ll seriously consider it. I’ll get back to you next week sometime.”