Afterburn (Afterburn & Aftershock #1)(4)
Author: Sylvia Day

Later on, I’d recognize the ripple of awareness that shimmered across my skin for what it was. At the time, I thought it was foreboding, my instincts warning me that the deal had tanked long before we’d sat down at the table.

Then, I saw him.

Everything in me stilled, as if the predator couldn’t see me if I didn’t move. He came into the bar with a sultry stride that made my hands curl into fists beneath the tablecloth. That walk of his was easy and smooth, confident. And yet it somehow signaled to the female brain that he was packing heat between those long, strong legs and knew how to use it.

God, did he.

Dressed in a gray V-neck sweater and dress slacks of a darker hue, he looked like a successful man with the day off, but I knew better. Jackson Rutledge never took a day off. He worked hard, played hard, fucked hard.

I reached for my water glass with a shaking hand, praying he wouldn’t recognize me as the girl who’d once fallen hopelessly in love with him. I didn’t look the same. I wasn’t the same.

Jax was different, too. Leaner. Harder. His face made more stunning by the new sharpness in the angles of his jawline and cheekbones. I took a deep, quivering breath at the sight of him, reacting to his presence as if I’d been physically struck.

I didn’t even realize Ian Pembry was walking beside him until they stopped at our table.

* * *

“WHAT ARE THE chances Jackson Rutledge is related to Senator Rutledge?” Lei asked with silky evenness as we slid into the backseat of her town car. “Or any of the Rutledges for that matter?”

Her driver pulled away from the curb and I fumbled with my tablet just to have an excuse to keep my gaze averted. I was afraid to reveal too much, that her perceptive eyes would see how shaken I was.

“One hundred percent,” I said, my eyes on my tablet screen and the gorgeous face I’d thought—hoped—I would never see again. “Jackson and the senator are brothers.”

“What the hell is Ian doing with a Rutledge?”

I’d been asking myself the same thing as the deal I’d worked so hard on fell apart in front of me—we’d come with contracts and pen in hand and left empty-handed. Unfortunately, I’d lost track of the conversation the moment Jax had allowed Stacy to press an exuberant kiss to his cheek. The roaring of blood in my ears had drowned out everything.

Lei’s crimson-tipped fingers tapped a silent staccato on the padded door handle. Manhattan spread out all around us, the streets crawling with cars and the sidewalks with people. Steam billowed sinuously from the subways buried below, while shadows claimed us from above, the sun kept at bay by towering skyscrapers that choked out the light.

“I don’t know,” I answered, slightly intimidated by the energy she radiated, that of a tigress on the hunt. Did Jackson have any idea what he’d stirred by getting in Lei’s way?

“Jackson’s the only one of the Rutledge males not serving in political office somewhere in the country,” I continued. “He manages Rutledge Capital, a venture capital firm.”

“Is he married? Any children?”

I hated that I knew the answer to that question without looking it up. “Neither. He plays the field. A lot. Prefers pedigreed blondes in public, but won’t turn down a roll in the hay with something…flashier in a pinch.”

I couldn’t help remembering how Jax’s cousin-in-law, Allison Kelsey, had once described me. You’re flashy, Gianna. Guys like to fuck flash. Makes ’em feel like they’re banging a porn star. But that’s what turns them off, too. Enjoy him while it lasts.

Allison’s melodious voice and cruel words echoed in my mind, reminding me why I straightened my naturally wavy dark hair and had stopped maintaining the French-manicured acrylic nails that had made me feel sexy. I couldn’t do anything about the genetics that gave me an overly generous ass and big boobs, but I’d toned the rest of myself down, striving to be classy instead of flashy.

Lei looked at me sharply. “You got that from a five-minute search?”

“No.” I sighed. “I got that from five weeks in his bed.”

“Ah.” Her dark eyes took on an avid gleam. “So he’s the one. Well, this just got interesting.”

* * *

DURING THE REMAINDER of the ride back to the office, I braced for Lei to tell me the conflict of interest was a problem. I scrambled to find a way to downplay it.

“It wasn’t serious,” I told her as we rode the elevator up. At least not for him… “More like an extended one-night stand. I don’t think he even recognized me just now.”

And hell if that hadn’t stung. He hadn’t even looked at me.

“You’re not a woman a man forgets, Gianna.” She looked thoughtful. “I think we can work around this, but are you up for it? If this is going to get personal for you, we need to talk about that now. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I also don’t want to put my business at risk.”

My first instinct was to lie. I wished Jax had meant as little to me as I had to him. But I respected Lei and my job too much to be untruthful. “I’m not indifferent to him.”

She nodded. “I can see that. Glad you’re honest about it. Let’s keep you on this for now. You’ll throw Rutledge off balance and we’ll need that. And you’re my in with Chad Williams. He likes doing business with you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. She was wrong about Jax, but I wasn’t going to blow my shot by pointing that out. “Thank you.”

We exited onto our floor and were buzzed through the glass doors. The receptionist, LaConnie, raised her brows at me, obviously picking up on our agitated vibe. We should have returned triumphant, not frustrated.

“Any idea why Rutledge would have a sudden interest in the restaurant industry?” Lei asked, returning to her earlier question as we headed to her office.

“If I had to make a guess, I’d say one of the Rutledges owed Pembry a favor.” That was the way the Rutledge family operated. They worked together like a tightly knit team, and even though Jax wasn’t a politician, he still played the game.

Lei went directly to her desk and took a seat. “We’ll need to figure out what chip he’s cashing in.”

I caught the undercurrent of annoyance in her voice and understood it. Ian Pembry had been undermining Lei in countless ways for years, but Lei had bided her time—it had been a study in patience that she admitted had made her a better businesswoman. She was determined to prove she’d learned his last lesson in betrayal well and I was determined to help her.