"Me? Hell no." He gave me the ghost of a smile. "I’m an angel."
He was obviously joking, but I couldn’t ignore the truth of his words. He might not realize it, but during the last few weeks, he'd been my own personal guardian angel, coming to my rescue just when I needed him most.
And he was still doing it.
As the light turned green, he added, "And remember, don't delete the texts."
I knew which texts he meant. He was referring to the texts between me and my mom, where she'd informed me of the day and time I could pick up my things.
I saw his logic. Combined with the key, those messages would make it doubly hard for my mom to cause trouble. Still, I doubted that she would. "Honestly," I said, "I don't think it matters. Probably, she'll just be glad to have the bedroom back."
He gave me a sideways glance. "No. What she'll be is ticked off that the stuff's gone."
"What makes you say that?"
"She was giving you the runaround, right?"
"A little," I admitted.
"A little, huh?"
"Oh, alright. A lot."
"Right. And you wanna know why?"
"Why?"
"Because your things were the bait."
I wasn't following. "The bait?"
"Yeah." He frowned. "To lure you back."
I hated that he was frowning. For one thing, I didn't anticipate my mom "luring" me anywhere. And for another, our trip had been a raging success, all thanks to him.
I was happy. And I wanted him to be happy, too.
Looking to lighten his mood, I said with a laugh, "Oh sure, because I'm such a juicy catch."
When he gave me an inscrutable glance, I suddenly realized how ridiculous that sounded.Juicy? Seriously?
Once again, I'd managed to say something incredibly absurd without thinking. I didn't normally do that, but with Jax, I found myself saying – and thinking – all kinds of crazy things.
Like right now, I was thinking how much simpler life would be if only he were just a regular guy – someone I met at the beach or maybe at work.
I gave him a long sideways look. He didn't look like a billionaire, not now, sitting behind the wheel of this beat-up van. Rather, in his plain T-shirt and ratty jeans, he looked like the sexiest working stiff I'd ever seen.
I almost sighed out loud.If only that were the case.
If only he moved boxes or swung a hammer for a living. Then, it wouldn’t be so hard to imagine us together, to dream that our friendship might blossom into something more, or to believe that he wasn't helping me out of pity or obligation.
But hewasn'tjust a regular guy, and I wasn't naïve.
Now, I did sigh. I was no pediatrician. Or professor. Hell, I wasn't even a college graduate, which meant that he was so far above me on a social scale, I'd need a ladder just to lick his boots.
I gave a little shudder.Lick his boots?At least, I hadn't saidthatout loud.
Trying to rein in my thoughts, I turned my head to gaze out through the passenger's side window. Outside, it was a beautiful sunny day with hours of daylight remaining.
