Chapter 45

MELODY

Tuesday

"No way,"I say evenly, my eyes trained on the corridor, my phone pressed to my ear as I sit behind my desk.

Standing in front of me, Mina looks at me.

"All right. Okay.Thank you so much," I say and end the call before dropping my phone into my bag,still processing the news.

Mina lifts an eyebrow.

"Anything for me to do?" she asks cautiously.

"No. Not really."

I suck in a short breath and rise from my seat, smoothing out my blue skirt.

"My offer has been accepted," I deadpan, and for a second, Mina doesn't know what I'm talking about becauseof howdrymy voice is.

"Your offer. Wait…"

Her hand flies to her mouth.

"You got that place?"

A small smile lines my lips as I absently leaf through the business report on my desk.

"It looks like it."

"Oh, my…" she says. "Congratulations?"

She rounds my desk and hugs me.

"I guess," I say, reserved.

She tears away from me.

"What's the problem?"

"There is no problem. I'm just going through the steps right now."

"You're not anticipating any problems, are you?"

"No. Everything should be fine."

I shift my gaze to my bag, itching to call him and inquire about this, but then again, what good would it do me?

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah. Everything is good, " I assureher, peeling my eyes away from my purse.

I need to call my mother and sister. And Alice.

Oh…We have that meeting this Friday. I completely forgot about that.

Do I want to go there and meet the girls, or not?

Uh… I'm still on the fence.I knowI told Melissa yes, but do I really want to go?

I have a new man in my life, emphasis on new.

I'd love to keep him all for myself for a while before having everybody's eyes on us.

I need to talk to him.

"Okay," I say.

"What's the plan for lunch?"

"I might go out."

"Sounds like an excellent idea. Let me know if you change your mind and want me to order food for you."

"I will."

She spins around and walks to the exit while I return to my seat, reach inside my bag, and pull out my phone.

After moments of deliberation, I send text messages to everybody to share the news. Excepthim.

My finger hovers over his name when I realize his number is still filed under TheImpossible Man.

I change it and move to someone else. Without hesitation, I taphername, and the line rings.

She doesn't answer, so I leave a voice message.

"Hi, Aretha. It's me. I, uh… I'll take a break from our sessions. If anything changes, I'll let you know. If not, it's been a pleasure working with you. We'll talk."

I put the phone down and ponder a little more before the replies arrive.

Everybody is excited about the news, especially my mother.

She calls me, and we chat. And then Alice rings me, and we spend a few minutes on the phone.When we're done, I call Jax.

He answers right away.

"I got the apartment," I say.

"Congratulations," he says as if he has nothing to do with it.

"Would you like to meet me there and see it?"

"Sure."

I'm a little excited that he wants to see my new place.

"The seller might still show it to other people, butwe can see it tonight."

"I'm sure they won't," he says, a smile tinging his voice. "We can see it this evening," hegoes on, more confident than I am.

"Okay. Sounds good. What time?"

"We can talk about that over lunch," he says, and a strange feeling washes over me.

I tip my gaze up and look at the corridor.

Just outside my door, a man wearing a sharp suit tips his chin down with a greeting and gives me a soft wink.

If I didn't have an image to protect, I'd probably jolt out of my seat and sprint to him with a telling grin on my face and my arms open.

Since I can't do that, I bite back a smile, collect my purse and phone, clear my throat, and tip my head up before squaring my shoulders.

His eyes glimmer with satisfaction, making it hard for me to hold my emotions back.

By the time I reach the corridor he looks me up and down, tosses me a compliment, and kisses my cheek in front of everybody.

Mina looks like she needs to be resuscitated.

"Any instructions for me?" she asks, wiggling her eyebrows in astonishment.

"No," I say in a clipped voice. "I'll be back after one," I add before Jax takes my hand and walks me down the corridor as if we're walking down the aisle.

MELODY

The firm is almost empty.

Almost.

Mina is still here, talking to her mother on the phone.

A few of my colleagues are catching up on their reports, and the cleaning crew is in.

Leaning back in my chair, I focus on the view outside, my phone against my ear.

Everything that has happened lately makes me feel on top of the world.

"So, you're coming?" Alice asks for the tenth time, not trusting my words.

I put her on speaker and set my phone on my desk.

"Yes. I told you I would. There's only one thing… I might bring a man with me."

"Is that a problem?"

"No. I just wanted you to know."

"Is that why you're so reluctant?"

"It's a new man, so things are, you know…"

"Do I know him?"

"No."

"New, new?"

"Uh-huh."

"When did that happen?"

I take her off speaker and bring my phone to my ear.

"It just did," I say cryptically.

I talked to Jax about this when we were having lunch today.

He took me to a fancy restaurant where we had shrimp ceviche, baked sea bass, mashed potatoes, and wine.

The food was delicious, but my focus wasmostlyon the manin front ofme.

I practically fawned over him, although he argued I was my usual self. We agreed to disagree. I couldn't take my eyes off him, and he wasn't that much different when it came to me.

We were like two teenagers in love.

Our chemistry had always been amazing.All that sexual tension we had pushed back had finally carved its way out.

But having sex had only poured gasoline on the fire, and establishing trust had made things spiral up.

We barely touched each other at the table.

His fingers brushed over minea couple oftimes, yet I felt like a fire charred my insides.

Taking me back was difficult to do. We walked to spend more time together.

This way we could stop along the way,pretend we wanted to look at the merchandise on display in a store window when all we wanted to do was see our reflection, his arm around my shoulders, his lips on my hair, temple, cheek, or lips.

I wanted to shout out my love for him to the entire world while his eyes let out things his lips refused to say, but it was soobviousto us and the casual onlookers that we were terminally in love.

I was nervous when I asked him if he could accompany me to the girls' event.

I feared he"d say no orthat he"dsay yes and feel like it was an obligation.

I'm still not sure it's such a great idea. As I've told Alice, things are too new to us, and introducing him to my friends will only add unwanted pressure.

He assured me he would survive acouple ofhours making small talk and not mentioning his background.

That should only be revealed on an ‘as needed basis' if and when deemed necessary.

He had one condition, though.

He wanted us to spend the night at the hotel.

I said yes to that.

If things don't work out, we can go upstairs, drink some wine, and have sex.

"You like him?"

"Mm-hmm."

My eyes go to Mina, who mouthstome that she's leaving. She gives me a wave, spins around, and vanishes down the corridor.

"Yes," I say. "He'sdifferent than the others."

"In what way?"

"He"s just different. You'll see him on Friday. I hope... if he doesn't change his mind."

"Well…" She sighs. "I'm glad to hear that. It's a step in the right direction. I started to get worried for a moment. Finding someone to trust is harder than finding someone to sleep with."

I laugh.

"I think it's equally hard if the bar is too high—and sometimes even if it isn't."

"Huh. So you two have gotten to that point already?"

"Uh… Yeah."

A few moments pass.

"And things are all right?"

"More than all right. You know how you spend time with someone, andhefeels likehe'syour man?"

"Yes."

"That's how he feels."

There, I said it. If I jinx it, so be it. I had to share this with someone.

It may be too soon to admit it, but it iswhat it is.

The time we spent at his place felt like we had been seeing each other for a while. Like we had a connection. There was no holding back. It wasn't necessary.

Sex was good.

And besides that, I trustedhim. Hedidn't give me any reason not to. I had never felt the way I felt with him.

There was always something going on with the other men.Masks that had never come off.Tricks that had spoiled everything.Games that had made things boring and predictable.

Jax was Jax.

He acted like a real man who had nothing to hide, and ultimately, that made him a good manin my mind.

I can face difficulties but can't stomach lies.

Alice is gleefully excited.

"I'm so happy for you. Please bringhimwith you."

"I'm trying to," I say, laughing.

"Your mother knows about him?"

"Not yet. Although she's met him."

"So she knows him."

"She doesn't know much about him, but she already has a crush on him."

"No way. I can't wait to see him."

"Haha. No pressure," I joke.

"I'm sure you'll be all right. I'm so happy it happened for youtoo."

Taking in a long breath, I glance at the corridor again.

"Okay. All right. I need to go now. I'm the only one in the firm now," I say before we end the call.

I gather my things, shrug my black blazer on, and run my hand down my white dress when my phone rings.

The name splashed across makes my eyebrows slide up in disbelief. I drop my purse and take the call, swiveling to face the view.

"Aretha?"

Only a second passes.

"It's him, isn't it?" she says, her voice a mix of jealousy, barely concealed anger, and the satisfaction that she's got it right.

"Him?"

"You and Jax London stopped seeing me at the same time. He is the man you ran into in Connecticut. And it's not Jack. It has never been Jack."

She is so direct I have no choice but to admit it, yet I'm not ready toput it into words.

My silence is more than telling, though.

"So he is Mr. Right," she says.

"There's nothing like a judgmental therapist," I retort with a contrived smile. "And, um… Is there a problem if he is?"

She sighs.

"No. The problem is, you thought I had a crush onhim."

"Since you put it so bluntly… Yes. I did think that."

I bite my lip, not to add that he said the same thing.

"You were wrong. I like Jax as a client and a man, but I'm involved with someone else."

"Okay."

"You don't believe me?"

"I sure do."

Not really.

"He's not my type," she goes on. "Besides, he's much younger than me."

I bite my lip again.

That's a direct allusion to the fact that he is younger than metoo.

I'm not getting into that with her, especially now that I see a side of hers I never thought I'd see. My therapist is jealous and petty while trying hard not to be.

I remain silent, which aggravates her even more, but she's too seasoned not to know how to turn things around.

"I'm happy for you," she says genuinely, although I can't trust the woman now. "You should've talked to me. No need to hide these things from me."

Yeah, talk to her… Uh-huh.And then get something like… ‘He'stoo young for you. Watch out. He might break your heart.'

I'd already said that to myself, and it took me forever not to be judgmental with him.

All the things I needed to unlearn.

She can't find her words, so I throw her a lifeline.

"I'm sorry, Aretha. I think I've grown out of that phase. I enjoyed our sessions, perhaps too much, but I want my training wheels off and to start taking some risks. I couldn't do it as I was questioning my every step. I hope you see the benefit of no longer seeing each other."

"I do. I surely do."

She truly appears sincere, and I appreciate that.

"Well, you two make a great couple. I hope things work out for both of you. Jax isa very smartman. I'm not surprised he's captured your heart. He knows people. His intuition is spot on, which is unusual for someone as young as he is. And he is very disciplined. Once he sets his eyes on something, he does whatever it takes to get that thing. He needs a solid woman, and you're perfect for him. I owe you that much. Despite his past, he is not a violent man. But he has his limits when the people he cares for get hurt by someone else. He'll always have your back. Don't forget that."

Her words stir new emotions in me.

I swallow down the lump in my throat before I speak again.

"Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," she says, and we end the call.