Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

“Jack keeps calling,” he said, holding up her phone to show her the two missed calls on the screen.

“Why is he calling this early?” she asked, her brows furrowing.

“Who knows?” he said with an easy shrug. “I thought you’d want to call him back when you’re done.”

“Yeah, I will. Let me just finish.” Just as she said that, her phone lit up again with Jack’s name on the screen. “Damn it.”

“Do you want me to answer?”

Lexi immediately started shaking her head. “Nah, I’ve got it,” she said, reaching back and turning off the water. “Can’t even finish my shower.”

Ramsey smiled at her and handed her a towel. She dried off as fast as she could.

“Just answer it,” she told him, knowing she would miss the call if she waited any longer.

“Hey,” Ramsey said, answering the phone. “Yeah, she’s right here. Just give me a second to go and get her.”

Ramsey held out the phone to Lexi as she hastily knotted her towel.

“Thanks,” she murmured softly, shaking out her wet hair and taking the phone out of his hands.

“No problem,” he said, stripping out of his boxers and stepping into the shower she had just vacated.

Asshole, she mouthed to him at the display before her.

He just shook his head at her and shooed her on. She knew this was payback for leaving him on the bed, but she didn’t like it.

“Hi, Jack,” she said cheerfully before sticking out her tongue at Ramsey as she left the bathroom.

“Lex,” he breathed into the phone.

Her heart stopped. She and Jack spoke on a regular basis but not like this. It had been a while—a long while—since she had heard the desperation, need, and desire in his voice. Had Ramsey heard it? Would he have known? She glanced back at the closed shower door and then felt bad for doing it. It had been two years since she and Ramsey had left Jack’s wedding together. Ramsey knew better.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to act like she hadn’t heard it either. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Do you have some free time today?” he asked.

“I really don’t. I’m going to be late to work as it is,” she told him happily, trying not to feed into his mood.

“What about after work or during your lunch break?”

“What’s going on?” she couldn’t help but ask. Curiosity was getting the better of her, and she wanted to know what was wrong.

“I just need to talk to you,” he murmured hastily into the phone.

“Maybe after work,” she told him. She wouldn’t normally spend the time, but something in his voice kept her from denying him.

“Thank you,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, of course. Jack,” she began, unsure of how best to proceed, “are you okay?”

He paused before answering. It felt like forever as the silence dragged on between them. She knew the answer even before he said anything. There was no one she could read better.

“I don’t know.”

“Can I help?” she asked, concerned and confused.

“I’ll meet you after work. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, I’m driving today,” she told him. She didn’t mind driving through the city, but she despised parking, so Ramsey usually dropped her off just to avoid the hassle.

“Okay,” he said wistfully as if he had been looking forward to picking her up from work.

“Jack, really, what’s going on? I’m going to be thinking about this and stressing all day at work. I’ll be distracted, and you know I have that big case,” she reminded him.

“I know, but we have to talk in person. I…I can’t talk about this on the phone,” he said, his voice cracking.

Lexi’s mind was swimming with possibilities. She wished she had actually woken up on time. Then, she wouldn’t have to wait until after work to find out. “All right. I’ll see you after.”

“See ya,” he said before hanging up the phone.

Ramsey walked out of the bathroom a minute later, towel-drying his blond hair, nude. Her eyes traveled over his gorgeous body from his messy blond hair, to his bright green eyes, to his strong jawline, across his hunky shoulders, down the six-pack abs he had worked so hard for, to the defined V, leading to where she really wanted to look.

“You checkin’ me out?” he drawled as if he hadn’t come out of the bathroom like that on purpose.

“Yep. Wondering how late I can be without getting yelled at,” she said.

Ramsey chuckled, wrapping the towel around his waist to cover up some of the distraction. “I don’t want you to get yelled at.”

“It might be worth it,” she murmured, watching him walk into his closet.

“So, what did he want?” Ramsey called from the other room.

“Bah,” she grumbled, not really giving him an answer.

“That good, huh?”

“He’s so…Jack sometimes,” she said, putting on cream lace underwear with a matching bra.

“Can he be anything else?” Ramsey asked.

Lexi wandered into the bathroom and diffused her hair over the sink as she contemplated the question. Could Jack be anything other than himself? It was something she had taken a lot of time to think about over the past two years. It was something she didn’t really want to think about with his desperation still ringing in her ears.

After applying her makeup for the day, Lexi tangled her hair into a tight bun on the top of her head. She thought it looked more professional in court than her wild curls.

She walked back into the bedroom and changed into a pencil skirt and a mint-green silky blouse, giggling at the appropriateness of wearing this around her Ramsey.

“We’re still on for dinner, right?” Ramsey asked, peeking around the corner of the closet to stare at her as she threw on a blazer over the blouse.

“Fuck,” she said, whirling around. “I thought that was tomorrow night.”

Ramsey shook his head. “Tonight. Can you still make it?”

Lexi bit her bottom lip. “I just promised to meet Jack, and I have that case right now—”

“It’s okay. We can reschedule,” he said, his expression falling. He disappeared back into the closet.