Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(62)
Author: K.A. Linde

Then, the banging started again. This time, she was sure she hadn’t imagined it, and it definitely wasn’t a dream.

“Jack,” she murmured, rocking his shoulder, “wake up. I think someone’s at the door.”

“Hmm?” he asked as she slowly pulled him out of his slumber. He slung an arm around her waist and pulled her into him. “You smell like me.”

Lexi giggled. “I wonder why that is.”

“I had a dream that you came home to me, and we had sex all night.” He still hadn’t opened his eyes.

“That wasn’t a dream,” she said, pressing her lips to his lightly.

“Mmm,” he groaned. “Another round in the morning? Fuck, I love you.”

Lexi laughed aloud that time. “I love you, too. Maybe another round after you answer the door…if you’re lucky.”

“I have you, Lex,” he said, opening his eyes. The crystal-clear orbs stared wide-eyed up at her. “I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

Lexi sighed softly while she looked down at Jack. He smiled lazily up at her before cupping her face and pulling it down to meet his lips. She laughed as the banging started again and then pulled away.

“Go answer the door. Jesus,” Lexi said.

“All right. All right,” Jack said, rolling out of bed, completely nude.

She admired his gorgeous backside as he searched around for his boxers, shorts, and a discarded T-shirt that he hadn’t even bothered with last night.

“Don’t go anywhere. I want to think about you lying around nak*d in my bed.”

She laughed again, but he waited for her to nod before walking out of the door and down the hallway.

“Coming!” she heard Jack yell.

The banging on the door finally ceased.

Lexi stretched her arms up over her head as she waited patiently for Jack to return and ravish her body. She heard the door open, and soft voices echoed down the hall toward her. She hoped Jack would just tell whoever was there to get lost, so he could come back to her. She would give him a couple of minutes, and then if the person wasn’t gone, she would be happy to help him get rid of whoever it was.

The door closed again, and Lexi smiled until she heard the faint click of high heels on the hardwood floors. High heels. Huh. Lexi sat up, listening harder to try to make out what was going on in the living room.

Then, she heard what she had been dreading. That voice.

“Jack, please…”

Oh, f**k no!

Lexi swung her legs out of bed, and she pulled on a pair of Jack’s boxers and one of his T-shirts. She thew her hair into a high ponytail and walked down the hallway as if she were oblivious to what was going on.

“Jack!” Lexi called. “Is someone here?”

She crossed the threshold into the living room where she saw Bekah standing next to the couch with the coffee table between her and Jack.

“Oh, hey, Bekah,” Lexi said with a smirk that spoke volumes.

“What is she doing here?” Bekah snapped, her eyes shifting to Jack.

“She’s here with me,” Jack told her, leveling her with a serious gaze. “She’s with me.”

“She’s with you?”

“Yeah,” Lexi said evenly.

“I bet Ramsey would be very interested to know that you’re here,” Bekah said, turning up her nose snootily.

Bekah thought that she had Lexi then. It actually made Lexi smile.

“He already knows,” Lexi said defiantly. “And seeing as I broke up with him…it’s really none of your business.”

Bekah had the decency to look surprised. Lexi had actually surprised the Bitch who seemed to know everything. It was a gratifying experience.

“You weren’t good enough for my brother,” Bekah said, gloating.

Lexi glared at her. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Visiting my husband, you whore.”

Bekah’s eyes roamed Lexi’s body, clad completely in Jack’s clothing, like she was some two-cent slut Jack had picked up on the street. Lexi stood there, letting Bekah assess her, without so much as flinching.

She knew that Jack and Bekah had been legally separated for nine months, and as long as they weren’t living together, they could date whoever they wanted in that time. Lexi knew the law. There was absolutely nothing Bekah could do about it unless it had been happening before Bekah filed for divorce, but it hadn’t.

“Bekah, you’re divorcing me. I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Jack cut in right away.

“You know what?” Lexi said, stepping forward. “You remember the time I saw you after the temporary hearing? I really meant it when I said that none of this was your business. I still mean it.”

“Well, he’s still my husband,” Bekah said with a sadistic smile. “And we were having a conversation. So, you can just run along now.” Bekah actually rolled her eyes and flitted her hand at Lexi like she was a fly that needed to be shooed away.

Lexi took a deep breath before surging forward, ready to claw the Bitch’s face off, but she was cut short when Jack spoke up.

“The answer is no,” he said. “I don’t know what made you change your mind, but I don’t want us to try to work it out. Maybe nine months ago when you first gave me the papers. Maybe. Even then, I don’t know.”

Lexi stared with her mouth slack. Bekah had come here…to try to win him back. What the fuck? What would possess her to do that after nine months into a divorce with only a week before the whole damn thing became official? Bekah had worked her ass off to make sure that Jack was seen as the supposed cheater that he was, going as far as pressuring him out of her own company. Why would she try to get him to come back? What possessed that crazy woman?

“It’s Lexi,” Jack said. He took a step toward Lexi, found her hand, and laced their fingers together. “She’s what I want.”

“You don’t think that it’s disgusting she broke up with my brother and decided to jump into bed with you?”

“No,” Jack said flatly.

“Oh, that’s perfect,” Bekah said, taking a step back. “You’re both perfect sloppy seconds. Not good enough for anyone else but another lying, cheating scumbag.”

“Bekah,” Jack warned, his eyes fiery.

She raised her hand and stopped him. “Oh, please…save it for court. You’ll need all the help you can get.”

“You should get the hell out of my place,” Jack said, raising his voice and pointing his free hand at the door. “Right now.”

“Allow me to leave you to your adulterous ways,” she said, throwing her hands up and backing out.

Bekah turned to say something to Lexi, but Jack cut in front of her line of vision.

“Don’t you dare say one more word to her. She’s too good for your bullshit, Bekah,” Jack growled. “Now, get out.”

Bekah opened her mouth to say something else, something likely villainous, but Jack snapped his fingers in front of her face.

He repeated himself, “Out! Get the f**k out!”

And Bekah did the unthinkable. She actually turned and walked out of Jack’s apartment without saying another word. Lexi wasn’t too sure if that was for the better with the way her devilish mind worked, but she was just glad to have Bekah gone. Jack had told her to leave…and she had.

Lexi was still reeling from the outburst when Jack scooped her up in his arms and started to carry her back into the bedroom.

“Wha—”

“I don’t want you to think about what she said for one second,” he whispered, walking into the bedroom and tossing her back onto the bed.

“I’m not worried about her, Jack.”

“I know you’re not, Lex,” he said, crawling across the bed to her and brushing aside the hair that had fallen out of her messy ponytail.

“How can you even imagine that I could be thinking about anything else but you telling her that I’m what you want?”

Jack’s smirk returned with full force, and he kissed her lips until she had to pull back breathlessly.

“You’re all I want,” he whispered, his mouth touching her lips. “You’re all I want,” he repeated. His lips dropped onto the corner of her mouth.

He repeated the phrase each time he kissed her cheek, her nose, her eyelashes, each temple, her earlobe until she was smiling from ear to ear, lost in the words echoing through her mind.

You’re all I want.

She was all he wanted.

Chapter 24

Lexi knew that it wasn’t a good idea to walk into the courtroom with Jack.

As a lawyer, she knew that she wasn’t in the wrong in her relationship with him. She knew that they could be together right now while he and Bekah were separated. But the lawyer in her also knew that walking into a courtroom for his divorce proceedings when his wife was trying to prove that he had cheated on her was idiotic. She would kill her client if the person even thought about it.

Jack’s attorney, Richard, had basically said the same thing when Jack addressed it at the follow-up meeting that Lexi had attended with him. Even Lexi had looked at Jack like he was a crazy person when he had suggested it, but Jack hadn’t backed down.

How long had they been in hiding? How long had they pushed their relationship aside to deal with the rest of their lives? Well, they didn’t want that to define them going forward. Jack wanted to show solidarity. He wasn’t afraid of Bekah, and based on the evidence, he was certain she didn’t have a case that could prove he had cheated on her—because he hadn’t.

Lexi had gone through the paperwork sent over by the Bridges’ attorney, and she just felt like something was missing. She didn’t know what it was, but with how thorough Bekah had been with all of her other evil plotting, Lexi just didn’t find it airtight. But they could only work with what they had sent over, so Lexi tried to let the feeling pass.

And even though she knew it was a bad idea…she couldn’t possibly stay away. She not only wanted to be there for Jack, she needed to be there for him.

That was how she ended up with the day off work, the first official day since Chyna’s wedding, standing outside the courthouse with Jack at her side. This was her job, her specialty and it felt strange being in court, not dressed to take down her next unsuspecting victim. Without the case, the power suit, the certainty that she was in this to win, she felt vulnerable.

She had picked out a sensible square-top black dress tapered to a fitted waist with a flare A-line skirt. She had paired it with a gold belt, long gold necklace, and her trusty pair of black Manolos. She had braided the front of her hair back with half hanging loose in spiral to the middle of her back. She completed the ensemble with neutral makeup and the softest pink lip gloss—Jack’s favorite.

“Please stop fidgeting,” Jack whispered, taking her hand and wrapping his other arm around her waist. “You’re going to make me nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” Lexi said, showing the air of confidence her stomach didn’t have.

Jack looked gorgeous in a gray suit with a tie to match his eyes. He had even gotten his hair cut even though she had begged him not to. What was she supposed to hold on to?