Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding 3)

Lexi hated to tell him that she told him so. Probably not the best thing in this situation.

“Well, at least, the alcohol is cheering you up,” she said softly.

“No. You’re the first good thing I’ve seen since I left.”

He stared back at her from across the room, and she could feel the tension crackle between them. Not good. She needed to redirect and quickly.

“Are you sure you’ve only had three drinks?” she asked. She picked up the bottle and looked at how much was left.

“You want to pour me another?” He sank into the couch and ruffled his dark brown hair, which had grown out past where he normally got a haircut for Bridges.

She liked it better a little longer.

“I don’t think you need one right now.”

“I guess I still have some of this one,” he said, picking up the glass and tipping the rest of the whiskey down the back of his throat. He slammed the glass back on the table and smiled up at Lexi. He patted the cushion next to him. “Come take a seat, Lex.”

“Where did you get all this stuff?” she asked, trying to be casual as she sank down into the cushion.

“Seth,” Jack said with a shrug. “Sandy insisted that I take the stuff from their basement since they weren’t really using it. It’s not the best, but who the hell am I kidding? Everything else has gone to shit. Why would I need nice things? Next thing I know, someone is going to ram into my BMW tomorrow on the way to work.”

“Jack,” she whispered before swallowing hard. It was so difficult to sit here and listen to his pain. She wanted to help him and make it better. She wished there were a way for that to be possible.

“It’s all right. I’ll bounce back. I always do,” he said nonchalantly.

“You do,” she agreed. She bit her lip and kept her eyes trained forward.

“At least I still have you,” he murmured, resting his arms across the back of the couch.

She turned to look at him, surprised by the statement. “Uh…we’re friends.”

“That’s right,” he said with that killer smirk. “We’re friends.”

“Jack, don’t even try this with me right now,” Lexi said, shaking her head. “You can’t act like you want to be with me all of a sudden.”

She couldn’t believe she had gotten the words out when he was looking at her like that, but she knew that she had to say something. She had to stop it.

“I’m not acting like that.”

Lexi shook her head. She didn’t believe him.

“Trying to be your friend is the not the same as trying to be with you, Lex.”

“I know,” she said softly.

“It’s trying to be with you however I can.”

Lexi’s mouth literally dropped open at that statement. Well, damn, wasn’t the alcohol talking tonight?

She quickly stood in disbelief. What the hell was Jack thinking? He was still married. She was engaged. After all of this time, he was just going to try to lay this on her now…when he was desperate and in the middle of divorce proceedings with the Bitch he should have never married.

“I think I should go.”

“Wait…” Jack stood uneasily on his feet. “Fuck! I didn’t mean to piss you off, Lex.”

“I’m not pissed-off.”

“You look pissed-off. And really, it’s f**king sexy on you, but I honestly didn’t mean to,” he said, running his hand back through his hair again.

“It’s okay, Jack. I just think with you, um,” she said, eyeing him up and down, “a little drunk that it might not be the best idea for me to be here. Ramsey is waiting for me at home. He knows where I am. He trusts me.”

“That’s good. He should.”

“But I don’t trust myself around you, like this,” she admitted. “So, I think it’s best if I just…leave.”

“All right. I guess you should go then,” he said.

He stared straight at her in a way that made her wish she could stay.

Jack unnerved her like no one else ever had. He made her walls crumble and her heart melt, but at the moment, she was closer to a panic attack.

He walked her to the door, following behind her. She put her hand on the doorknob to exit, and his hand came down and covered hers. She turned back to stare at him, to tell him to let her go, but she got one look in those blue eyes and was struck silent, transfixed in that gaze.

Jack was so close, no more than six inches from her body. His hand was warm where it covered hers, and she could feel the heat radiating off him. He smelled like sex with a hint of whiskey. It was a combination she had grown used to in college, and it made her senses buzz. He looked so much like her Jack in that moment, and she knew she needed to get out of that apartment right now.

“You know what?” Jack asked, leaning forward over her, nearly closing the gap between them.

His breath was hot on her face, and she wasn’t even sure if she was even breathing. His hand reached forward and brushed a lock of curly brown hair behind her ear.

“Wha-what?” she stammered.

She tried not to flinch as his hand caressed her ear before retreating.

“You shouldn’t talk to me anymore.”

“What do you mean?” she whispered.

God, he was so close. If he moved any closer, his lips would be on her. And there was nowhere for her to go.

“You shouldn’t be around me anymore. You shouldn’t want to, Lex. Because all I see when I look at you is the woman I love, the woman I want to take home with me, the woman who I’ve spent damn near ten years messing things up with. And you should stay away because I know I’d do it all over again.”

Chapter 14

The sexual harassment charges never made it to court.

Lexi hadn’t breathed easily during the month and a half it took to schedule a paternity test and get the results back. It usually only took a week to find out who the father was, but Elisa had kept dodging them at every move. She had always had an excuse, whether it was conflicting schedules or her just bitching about how the paternity test wasn’t necessary because she just knew that Ramsey was the father.

After they threatened to sue her for defamation of character, Elisa had somehow managed to miraculously get the DNA swabs that they needed for the testing.

It had been the tensest month and a half of Lexi’s life. Ramsey had kept trying to reassure her that nothing had happened, and she had really wanted to believe him. God, did she want to believe him. He had kept telling her to trust him. After all the lies, she hadn’t known what to do.