“Jack, what are you doing here? How did you get inside? How did you know where I was?” she asked letting loose a string of questions that had flown through her head at the sight of him.
He stared at her in awe. He stared at her like he had never seen her before. He stared at her like she was his lifejacket and he was sinking.
“Jack,” she whispered the earlier memories that she had briefly evaded her were clouding her vision once more.
He stood quickly and scooped her into his arms. “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered sweetly into her ear.
Goosebumps cascaded up her arms as she circled his neck. “I’ve missed you too,” she admitted.
When he pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes breathing her in. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. She felt like she was so drunk that perhaps she had passed out and was dreaming about Jack being here.
“Don’t ask that. I’m sorry for everything. I ended it with Kate. All I saw was you when I looked at her.”
“Me.”
“Yeah. I was an idiot for staying with her. You’re what I want.”
“Me?”
“Yes, Lexi. You.”
“Oh,” she whispered breathlessly, pushing her fingers up into his dark, thick, mess of hair and twisting the strands around her fingertips.
“I shouldn’t have come like this.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” she agreed shaking her head.
He pulled back to look at her and her breath caught again as his brilliant blue eyes locked onto her. “I really am sorry for everything, Lex.”
She nodded knowing he meant it. She let the memory of him telling her that he loved her for the first time wash over her. It had been so long since she had allowed herself to think of that without tears springing to her eyes. He was here for her. He had come to New York for her.
“I didn’t mean to scare your friend.”
“Don’t mind Chyna. She’s probably already asleep. How did you get inside anyway?” she asked her brow furrowing.
“One of your roommates let me in. I told her I was a friend of yours and that I’d wait to see you,” he said sheepishly.
“Ugh,” she groaned, “you could have been anyone. I’m going to have to talk to them about this.”
He pulled her closer against him again. “Aren’t you glad they didn’t turn me away?” he asked, his mouth turning into his characteristic smirk.
“Very glad,” she agreed allowing his lips to fall on hers and savoring the taste of him. In fact, what was going on in her head was how glad she was that she hadn’t gone home with Armani Guy, because what she had come home to was nothing compared to what she had found at a club. She applauded herself for her stubborn nature.
“Lex?”
“Yeah?” she mumbled licking her lips.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said for the first time, allowing herself to tell him how she really felt. Then she got lost in Jack’s kiss once more.
CHAPTER 17
PRESENT
“Mmm,” Jack grumbled holding onto Lexi’s waist tightly, “where ya goin’?”
Lexi sighed back into his embrace loving the feel of him pressed against her. At the same time, her stomach rolled knowing that she shouldn’t be wrapped up in him like she was. She had been lying there half the morning, her stomach knotting and unknotting for every thought she had about Jack. They had talked the night away and managed to stay closer to the friend’s side of the spectrum, but she knew they couldn’t stay there. She knew she didn’t want to stay there. Nor did he. In fact, he had been the one that said that he wanted to be with her. Luckily, she had kept her wits about her long enough to tell him she wanted him, but only if she could have all of him.
Yet, it was still nagging at her. If she had really meant that, she would have left last night. She wouldn’t have stayed up with him and imbibed a bottle of wine. She wouldn’t have woken up this morning with his arms wrapped around her.
“I…I’m going to make some coffee,” she whispered attempting to extract his hands from around her middle.
“No. Don’t leave me, Lex,” he begged nuzzling into her neck and trailing light kisses across her skin.
Her body reacted wonderfully to his touch, forcing her back to arch and head to lean back. “Jack, you can’t do that.”
“But I wanna,” he mumbled obviously still half-asleep. “You taste so good.”
She giggled at his slurred speech and attempted to push him away again. That only made him latch on harder to her. “Jack, come on.”
“I love it when you talk dirty,” he muttered seductively, biting down on her earlobe.
Lexi smacked him playfully on the arm and wiggled out of his embrace. “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t be too long,” he said, his face nearly covered by the covers once again.
Lexi trekked out of the room in nothing but her red boy short underwear and one of Jack’s old band t-shirts that was much too big for her. She padded down the hallway and into the living room. Her eyes roamed the maze of candles displayed around the room and sighed at the memory of last night. She had promised herself she wouldn’t do this. But the only way to change it was to leave the apartment and return home this minute.
But she couldn’t do that. She was not physically capable of leaving him like this. Yes, things had happened in their past that made her angry with him. Yes, he was as arrogant as they came. Yes, he had a girlfriend who he had been thinking of marrying.
Despite all that, she couldn’t leave. She had wanted to be with Jack for so long that the thought of leaving him without finding out if they actually could be, would break her heart all over again. She knew that she had probably given him more chances than anyone else would have bothered with, but those women didn’t understand what she was going through. If they weren’t willing to push through the hard times and savor the good times, then they didn’t understand men at all. Everything wasn’t always going to be peachy keen, and Lexi knew that, but she had been around Jack long enough to know how he worked. And one thing she knew, the one thing that kept her going through it all, was how she felt about him.
She had never wavered in her affection for him. Six years was a long time to wait for someone. And though times had been trying, Lexi knew deep down that Jack was what she had always wanted. Everything and everyone else had just been a distraction to help her forget him.
Lexi pressed her cold hand to her head hoping to soothe out her concerns. Exhaustion was starting to set in and the last thing she needed was to add a headache to that mix. She fumbled around in her purse until she located her cell phone, then trudged into the kitchen and began brewing a pot of coffee.
She had a missed call from her parents that she knew she ought to return right away. She was supposed to have gone home yesterday, but with everything that had happened with Jack, Ramsey, and Bekah, she hadn’t been able to get away. Guilt pushed past exhaustion on the top of her list as she cleared away her parent’s number, and punched Chyna’s instead. She couldn’t face her parents yet.
Chyna picked up after a few rings, and by the sound of her voice, she must have still been sleeping. “Hmmm? Hello?” she mumbled into the phone.
“Morning, sunshine.”
“Alexa, is that you?”
“Yep. Sorry I didn’t call you back.”
“I’m sorry, am I supposed to know who you are?” she grumbled irritably into the phone. “The Alexa I know never forgets a phone call.”
“Oh, shush you. It’s not like you never forget to call me back.”
Chyna yawned loudly. “Fine. What’s up? I’m sleeping.”