Dangerous Exes (Page 31)

“How much did he drink?” she asked.

“Well, he took the bag and dumped almost all of it into the damn hot water. How much did you think he drank?”

She started mumbling.

“What are you doing? Goo-Poh? Hello?”

“Praying,” she whispered. “He will be ready for you soon.”

“I don’t want him ready for me soon!”

“Oh, Isla.” She laughed so hard I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “You do not have a choice. Even now his body is readying itself to give. You must now ready yourself to accept.” Why did I even call her?

“Thanks.” For nothing.

“Oh, you’re so welcome. Now, I know your parents wouldn’t approve, but you must bless the family by being bountiful with children, so you lift those legs, Isla, lift them like you’ve never lifted before.”

“Lifting.” I sighed. “Love you, Goo-Poh.”

I hung up the phone to more prayers and chants.

Great. So she had prayers and chants and tea. There was no way I was leaving this hotel room without getting pregnant, was there?

I slid the phone into my robe pocket and cracked the door open. Jessie didn’t look any different, in fact he looked . . . relaxed.

I opened the door wider, my eyes narrowing as I took a few steps toward him. His hands were flying over the computer keyboard like it was his, not mine.

“Jessie?”

“Hmm?” He didn’t look up.

“How’s the, uh, headache?” And penis, how’s that? Hard? Painful? Dying a slow, choking death inside your sweat pants? “You feel any . . . different?”

“I feel great.” His eyes didn’t meet mine. “Maybe a bit tired, but it’s a relaxed tired. I don’t know what the hell was in that tea but I feel . . . alive.”

Oh, sweet ancestors. I was going to murder Goo-Poh!

“That’s . . . just . . . good for you, Jessie.” I patted him on the shoulder. He grabbed my fingertips and let out a little moan. Uh-oh.

“Your skin,” he whispered. “It’s so damn soft.” He clenched my fingers in his as his head fell back. “By the way, I hope you don’t mind, but I altered a few of the things in your business plan, it was open. The trajectory for the next ten years is off with all the clientele you’re getting, and I noticed you were going to hire two more PIs, but I think you need to hire at least five. I added a few notes, you can delete them, but—”

My heart thundered against my rib cage. “You . . . you took notes for me?”

He kissed my hand. “Yeah, like I said, if I overstepped—”

“Notes,” I repeated. “You typed out notes.”

“I highlighted them in different colors too,” he just had to freaking add.

I was ready to maul him right there, ready to shove my computer onto the floor and accept my blessing, alright.

Wide.

The doorbell to our suite rang.

“Shit!” Jessie rubbed his eyes. “Is it already time for dinner?”

My entire body revolted.

No.

No dinner.

He took notes!

In different colors!

I was ready to lick from navel to chin, and I was tealess.

Jessie released my hand and stood, clearly not noticing the way my chest rose and fell, or the way I had to clench my thighs together to keep myself from doing something stupid.

So stupid.

I really needed to stop wanting him.

My body and brain did not want distance between us. My heart said, He took notes! My body went, Damn, his ass looks good in those sweats.

And my brain said it hurt too much to think of all the reasons we couldn’t at least have him one more time.

Inside us.

Accept your blessing.

Hah!

Thanks, Goo-Poh. She was probably on her hands and knees chanting right now, that’s why I was feeling funny.

And maybe the tea made him more likely to do something nice?

I made a mental note to ask him later.

Colin and Blaire piled into our room dressed for a fancy dinner while I was still in a bathrobe. “Give me like five minutes!”

“Jessie, man, you too?” Colin shook his head. “What were you guys doing anyway?”

“Working,” Jessie answered for me. “Sorry, I got distracted, I was looking at her business plan, and the contracts.” His face lit up. “It was impressive, sucked me in a bit, to be honest.”

Blaire’s eyes widened in my direction.

I waved her off, meaning Drop it.

Which in Blaire’s world meant Please pursue him like a bank robber, use aggression if necessary.

“Well, Isla really is the brains behind this whole operation, I’m glad you’re helping her out, that’s not really my thing, I’m more of the muscle than the brains.”

Lies. All lies. She helped me write the whole thing!

She winked.

I prayed for patience and disappeared into the bathroom. A hard knock came on the door, I pulled it open a crack. Jessie stood on the other side with clothes in hand. “Sorry, I just noticed you brought your dress in here.”

“No, come in, what’s up?”

He gave his head a slow shake and then pressed a hand to his chest. “Sorry, my heart just feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest.”

Shit, was that a side effect? Racing heart!

“Let’s get you some wine tonight,” I said helpfully. “That should calm you down.”

“Yeah . . . okay.”

“Did you need to use the bathroom?”

“No. Yes.” He took a deep breath. “I just need to make sure my hair isn’t a mess and brush my teeth.”

“Do both.” I kicked the door wide. “I just have to shimmy into this dress and brush my hair and I’m done.”

“Great.” He sidestepped me and hung up his suit.

The shirt was a light blue.

It was gorgeous.

And his pants were a dark gray.

I tried not to stare as he stripped, then I quickly turned around and dropped my bathrobe and grabbed my white strapless cocktail dress. It was simple. Classy.

I stepped into it and pulled it up just in time to feel Jessie’s hands at my hips as he slowly moved his fingers to my zipper and pulled up.

Without me asking.

He just. Knew.

He really was getting harder and harder to hate.

When he was finished, his hands lingered on my shoulders. I could feel the heat from his chest. The temptation to lean back was so strong I held my breath. Slowly, he ran his hands down my arms and backed away.

I hated the loss of those hands.

That heat.

His body.

The tea was seriously messing with my mind.

When I turned around he was already dressed and brushing his teeth. It was such a normal thing to see him doing, it almost made him look approachable, human.

When he wasn’t any of those things.

He was a football legend who had more money than most Hollywood actors and who just happened to want to end me. At least I was going to cling to that threat even if he was being nicer, because if I acknowledged things were changing, I really would shove him up against the sink and lick him.

Why was he suddenly taking notes?

Was it to really bring me down?

Or was he finally seeing he could trust me?

My head spun with the possibilities as I brushed out my hair and wrapped it in a low, messy bun at the nape of my neck.

“Ready?” He was watching me with such intensity I wanted to lock the door and see what the tea was made of.