Unscathed

"So what's London like?" he asked.

"Wet," I said without thinking.

"Now I could say something funny about you being wet," he said with a mischievous grin. "Do you want to hear it?"

"No thanks," I blushed, already regretting what I had said.

"So what's London like when it's not wet?" he smiled. The waitress arrived, placing the shakes on the table.

"Busy, like any other city, I guess," I said, lifting the shake and slowly drinking through the straw.

He watched me suck some of the drink up into my mouth. He was watching my lips again. I shot him a stare and he looked from my mouth and up into my eyes. I thought I saw him blush – just a little – but it was there all the same. I knew what he was thinking. I knew what he was imagining my mouth doing. I didn't need a camera to see that.

"I get the impression you don't want to talk about home much," he said, slurping up some of his shake and looking at me over the top of his glass.

"There's not a lot to say," I lied. I missed my home very much.

"Running away from something?" Jax asked.

"Sent away," I said without thinking. I wish I could've taken that back already.

"Sent away by whom?" He didn't miss a trick.

"Forget it," I said, sipping from my straw again.

"You can't ask me to forget something like that," he said, sitting back in his seat and looking at me. "You have me intrigued."

"I'd really rather not talk about it," I said, folding my arms across my chest.

"Was it some kind of guy trouble?" he smiled.

"Why does it have to be guy trouble?" I stared at him.

"Is there any other kind?" Jax asked with a grin.

"I guess not," I half-smiled, not really wanting to. I was fast discovering that Jax had the habit of being able to make me smile when I least wanted to.

"So it was a guy then?"

"Okay, so it was a guy," I sighed. "Happy now?"

"Why would I be happy?" Jax frowned.

"That you were right," I said back.

"I didn't mean to pry."

"Yeah, you did," I said, looking down at my shake.

"Why would I want to pry?"

"Because if I'm hung up on a guy, that suggests I’m the clingy type." Then, thinking of the constant stream of women I'd seen him lead into his house as I'd sat and secretly watched him, I added, "Guys like you don't like clingy."

"How do you know what sort of girls I like?" he asked, putting his shake down.

How did I answer that?

"I sat and watched you check out at least six women during the short amount of time you were in that bar," I said, hoping that this was a reasonable enough explanation.

"So you were watching me?" he asked.

"I didn't say that," I said.

"Yeah you did – you definitely said you were watching me."

"It might have been what I said, but it wasn't what I meant," I said, wanting to squirm in my seat. Jax was staring at me again with those dark eyes of his. Was he enjoying watching me look uncomfortable? I wish he would stop looking at me like that.

"So what did you mean? You must have been watching me if you know exactly how many girls’ asses I looked at." He wouldn’t let it go.

"Don't flatter yourself, Jax. I couldn't care how many girls you were mentally undressing," I said, trying to regain some ground. "I recognised you from the coffee bar, and..."

"So what were you doing in Rowdy's anyhow?" he cut in.

"I was meeting a friend there..." I started to lie again.

"What? Wearing a pink T-shirt, denim hot pants and sneakers? Rowdy's isn't the kind of place you dress like that," he said.

Was he growing suspicious of why I was really in the bar?

"I didn't know there was some kind of freaking dress code," I snipped back. Having a simple shake with Jax was starting to feel like some kind of interrogation.

"Who was this friend anyway?” Jax asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Won't he be just a little bit pissed that you've just got up and left...?" he said, starting another line of questioning.

I pushed my shake aside and got up. "Who said I was meeting a HE? Or are we back to the guy thing again?" Before he had a chance to say anything, I added, "Can you give me a ride back to my car now? I want to go home."

Reaching the door to the diner, I felt Jax grip my arm. "Hey," he said. “I didn't mean to upset you."

"So what did you mean?" I said, pulling my arm free and gripping my phone in my hand. "It felt like you were interrogating me."

Looking at me, Jax said, "What I meant was, if I was the guy who had arranged to meet you at Rowdy's tonight, I would have been pretty pissed off to discover that you had left without me.”

His comment took me off guard and I wasn't sure how to respond. I looked away. "Why?" I asked.

"Because you look good in those hot pants," he smiled.

"They're denim shorts," I said, looking at him.

"Yeah but you make them look hot," Jax grinned.

"Give me a break," I said, both of us knowing that he had made me smile again.

Chapter Nine

Jax

Wow, this British chick had serious attitude – and I liked it. I mean, she was pissing me off for a bit, but I think she was testing me, playing hard to get. And anyone who knows me knows I love that. To a point, anyway.

I tossed a twenty on the table and led her back out to the truck. I made sure to open the door for her, knowing what she expected. She had a death grip on that iPhone of hers and I wondered if she maybe had another guy she was with or talking to, the way she was so protective of it. Some people are just glued to their phone I guess.

She didn’t say anything on the drive back to Rowdy’s, and when we arrived, the parking lot was still full and I felt a bit disappointed that we hadn’t spent much time together. I got out and opened her door, and offered her a hand to help her out. Her skin felt warm and soft under my calloused mechanic’s hands and it made me smile.

Being the gentleman I was trying to prove I was, I walked her to her little blue sports car, and as we reached it, she fumbled with her keys a bit, then hit the fob to disarm its alarm. The parking lights lit up as she did so, and I noticed one of them was out.

“You’re gonna need to replace the bulb on your left front parking lamp,” I said lamely.

Oh, my God why am I talking about her stupid car?

She grinned. “I’ll keep it under advisement.”

I stepped closer to her to test the waters. She didn’t shrink back from me, but I did notice she kept looking behind me. I had noticed her doing this in Denny’s, too. I didn’t want to turn around to see what she’d been looking at. I had to pretend I didn’t care.

I licked my lips and looked down at her. “So, uh, do you think I could get your number?”

She grinned up at me. “Hand me your phone and I’ll put my number in.”

I slipped it from my jeans pocket and placed the phone into her soft hands, purposely letting mine linger on hers a little too long. She held my gaze, then eventually flicked her eyes down to my phone. She seemed to have to fumble with it a bit, as it was an Android device and not an Apple. Mina eventually figured it out, and after a few smooth keystrokes with her long, tanned fingers, she smiled triumphantly and handed it back.

I glanced down at the phone and chuckled. “Just Mina, huh? No last name?”

She shook her head. “No… unless you know more than one Mina?”

Okay, I’ll play. “Maybe I do.”

“Well you don’t have any of their numbers in your contacts. I’m the only one,” she said playfully, biting her lip again.

Damn, I wish she’d stop doing that.

“So what is it?”

She looked confused. “What is what?”

“Your last name? Let me guess. Devonshire? Cambridge? Holmes? Cooper?”

She rolled her eyes then laughed. “I’ll never tell.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I suddenly crushed my lips to hers. They were soft and warm, and pressing my body against hers, I felt her stiffen up. I lightly ran my hands along her bare arms and I could feel goose bumps pop up at my touch and it made me smile. I lightly snaked my tongue into her mouth and then felt her wrap her arms around my neck.

I turned my head slightly to the side, intent on devouring more of her mouth, when she made a noise in the back of her throat and began to shake. I pulled away, slightly alarmed, and looked at her. She was giggling.

“What?”

Reaching up to touch her mouth, she rubbed her lips. “Your goatee tickles.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Do you like being tickled?”

Ignoring my remark, Mina removed her arms from around my neck, slowly running them down my chest and over my shirt. As they came to rest at her sides, she jingled her keys again and said, “I’ll be seeing you later, Jax.”

She maintained eye contact with me as she got into her car. I watched her drive off.

I walked back to my truck. Climbing in, I looked at the flashing lights of the club. It was only eleven, and I still had my hand stamp and could probably go in and party some more, but then Trent and Gabe would know I struck out.

Can’t have that…

I wasn’t much in the mood anyway, so as I drove off towards home, I thought about Mina. She was quite different from any girl I’d met. She was a good kisser, even though my goatee tickled her. I’d like to know if she was ticklish anywhere else, I smiled to myself. I could certainly listen to her talk all day long with that wicked cool accent of hers. I had so many questions to ask her, but she seemed to get defensive with most of them. I figured I’d better tread lightly. It seemed she’d been screwed over by some guy in England. I briefly wondered at this, wishing she’d have given me more detail, but decided I probably shouldn’t bring it up again, as she seemed hurt by it. We all had stuff that hurt us. I knew that all too well.