Lexi scoffed. “Um, no. I leave this afternoon, and I need to see him now.”
“I’m sorry that would simply be impossible. Perhaps when you are next in town then,” she stated simply. Lexi rolled her eyes and walked around the desk completely ignoring the girl. “Ma’am, you cannot go in there.”
“Sorry. I need to see him,” she said rushing to the door. “Jack, can I come in?” Lexi asked knocking swiftly on the large wooden door. “You’re…uh…secretary said you were in,” she took another glance at the leggy blonde behind her who was just now getting out of her seat to stop her.
“Ma’am, he is unavailable,” Gwen said standing with her hands on her hips in frustration. “You can’t barge in there.”
“Oh, is it not locked?” Lexi asked smiling devilishly as she turned the handle and the door popped open.
“Stop, you’re going to get me in trouble,” Gwen cried rushing after her.
“Jack,” Lexi murmured seeing him sitting behind his desk.
“Gwen, I thought I told you no visitors this afternoon,” Jack muttered not even glancing up from his desk.
Lexi’s determination wavered at the sight of him. He was wearing a tailored navy blue suit over a crisp white button up. The top button was undone and his navy and silver neck tie was pulled loose. His dark hair fell over his eyes as he scanned through a report bound in a plastic cover with the Bridges Enterprise emblem displayed upon the front. She couldn’t even look past him to check out his amazing office as she was so utterly bound by his appearance and commanding presence.
“Sir, I certainly did not let her in. This young lady barged in demanding to see you.” Gwen gave Lexi a death glare.
“Well, see her out,” Jack said still not looking up. Gwen moved forward and latched onto Lexi’s arm. She attempted to veer her out of the room, but Lexi wouldn’t budge. When she started yanking on her arm, her long fingernails digging into her skin, Lexi couldn’t take it any longer. Jack still hadn’t looked up at her.
“Jack, honestly,” Lexi cried standing her ground.
“Lex?” he asked surprised to find her standing in his office.
“You know this woman, sir?” Gwen asked dropping her hands and placing them behind her back promptly. She looked between them with poisonous daggers shooting sparks at Lexi’s back. She was not too pleased that he knew Lexi. Somehow this didn’t surprise Lexi. She wondered if Jack had been sleeping with this woman. The anger at the possibility of him diddling his secretary reminded Lexi why she was there in the first place. She and Jack had a score to settle, and it had to happen today, right now.
“Yes, Gwen. It’s fine. You can go,” he said dismissing her without breaking his gaze which was still set on Lexi.
“Yes, sir,” Gwen said bitterly turning on her designer heels and stalking out the door.
“The door,” Jack called out to Gwen.
She stepped back into the room and yanked the handle slamming the door shut. “Well, she’s…something, isn’t she?” Lexi asked smirking.
Jack rolled his eyes and set his papers down on his desk. Lexi took that opportunity to really take in her surroundings. Like the exterior of the building, the entire perimeter of the office was cased in glass overlooking the city. The view was spectacular and at night time, Lexi could only assume, it would be even better. A large bookshelf was covered with material pertinent to his work as well as the only picture frames Lexi had seen in Jack’s presence since her arrival. One picture in a metal frame of him and Bekah vacationing somewhere on the coast stood out to Lexi. Another picture of Jack with the guys in Las Vegas was framed. His diploma was mounted on the wall in a stunning frame with a red, black, and white tassel displayed alongside it.
Lexi’s eyes moved to the other side of the room, which opened up to a bathroom. But what caught her eye wasn’t the fact that he, in fact, had his own bathroom in his office. Rather was the picture frame that took up the majority of the opposite wall. Her heart clenched as she stared at the picture she had described to Jack less than a week earlier. A picture he had claimed to have gotten rid of, because he couldn’t look at it any longer. The frame was different than the original and as she approached wide-eyed, she noticed that indeed there were a few minor tears in the print, but nothing that took away from the shot. The black and white photograph highlighted the beauty of a small creek with an old wooden bridge across the natural barrier. Hundreds of pine trees as tall as the eye could see surrounded the scene as the sun rose across the horizon.
Just as she remembered it. This was her favorite picture. Jack’s favorite picture. He hadn’t been able to get rid of it, despite everything.
“It’s still here,” she whispered glancing back at Jack. He was shuffling some papers around on his large mahogany desk, but glanced up at the sound of her voice.
“I had it reframed and brought up here from Savannah earlier this week,” he told her attempting to keep the emotion out of his voice.
Lexi shook her head unable to process the many nuances of Jack Howard. Here she was in his office wanting to be so angry at him for everything he had ever put her through, and then he did this. One simple gesture that reminded her why she loved him so much.
“Why?” she barely got out choking on her own words.
“What do you mean why?”
“Jack, come on. You made it pretty clear last night.”
“Last night I said what we did didn’t change things. And, well, it doesn’t, Lexi. Sex never changed things with us before.”
“Do you really believe that sex doesn’t change things?” she asked taken aback by the concept. She wasn’t a typical female who believed that sex necessarily meant an emotional commitment on either side. She had had her fair share of one night stands to prove that to herself, but Jack was not one of those men. And she knew that sex did mean something to him whether he was ready to admit it or not.
“I mean that it doesn’t change what I have to do or the decision that I have to make. It doesn’t make any of this easier.”
“A little birdie tells me it does,” she said turning her back on the picture.
“Oh yeah, who’s that?”
“Who is not the appropriate question,” she told him looking into his beautiful blue eyes from across the space of his office.
“Well, you don’t have to tell me who would tell you that things have changed between us, because I already know,” Jack said triumphantly taking her off guard.
“I suppose you could guess,” she said hesitantly not liking the change of subject.
“No guessing needed. I know what you’ve been trying to do,” he told her staring her down.
She gave him a completely flabbergasted look hoping maybe he could explain further what he was talking about. Wasn’t she the one who was supposed to storm in here and demand answers? Why was he the one completely confounding her over and over again? Her mouth opened and she tilted her head slightly trying to really assess the situation. The only thing she had been trying to do all week was figure out what the hell Jack was doing with his life. She wanted him…bad, but was only fueled onwards by his obvious desire for her. If he had been aloof and untoward, then she certainly would have done his bidding, hung out with her parents, and then hopped on the first plane out of here.
But that hadn’t happened. He had flat out told her that they were meant to be together. That after everything they had been through, he knew what he wanted and all he had to do was tie up some loose ends. Now he was saying that sex didn’t change anything along with other unthinkable things, and honestly, she was just lost.
“What am I trying to do besides get answers from you?” she asked unable to keep the confusion out of her voice.
“Don’t play all innocent with me. We both know you’re not that,” Jack said standing and tossing some paperwork into a basket.