Page 131 of Burn With Me

“Earth to Jackson.” Stacey snaps her fingers in front of my face, pulling me from my trance. “HowisGinny?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying to give her space that she keeps saying she doesn’t want, but so much has happened that I don’t think she knows what she really wants.”

“Jesus Christ, you idiot,” Stacey mutters.

“Hey, don’t be mean to him. Jackson doesn’t understand how feelings work, Tace. You gotta explain it to him like he’s five.” Tripp reaches over and claps me on the back.

“It’s okay, Jackson. I’ll spell it out for you. If Ginny says she doesn’t want space, don’t give her space. She’s going to think you don’t want her. Listen to what she says she wants, and then give it to her. However, I can’t promise that will always work because women are cold, cruel creatures who like to change their minds at the drop of a dime, and it very well could always turn out that what they say they want isn’treallywhat they want and what they say they don’t want is apparently somehow exactly what they want?” He takes a deep breath after finishing his run-on sentence as Stacey and I stare at him.

“You really need to get laid,” Stacey says as she shakes her head.

“Yeah, that reminds me. Jackson, I demand an invite to this super exclusive sex club of yours,” he says.

Of mine.

Désirer is now partly mine.

Or—at least I have a stake in it. I should talk to Carmela.

It hits me so suddenly, the answer to all the questions I’ve been asking Ginny. It’s so simple I almost laugh at how stupid it is that I never thought of it before.

Reaching for my phone, I send off a message asking if Carmela is available to talk. Her reply is almost immediate.

“Where are you going?” Stacey asks as I get up. “It’s the middle of the day, Jackson.”

“He’s the big boss now. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone,” I hear Tripp say behind me, explaining it to her like she isn’t already aware of this fact.

She sighs. “Like he ever answered to anyone before?”

“I need you to secure a room for me tonight. And inform Ginny that she’s been booked.”

Carmela looks from her computer screen to me, raising an eyebrow as she replies, “It’s not a Friday or a Saturday.”

The way she says it is slightly accusatory—more than simply knowing those are the days Ginny worked at Désirer. The gleam in her eye is telling as her crimson-painted lips turn up in a smile.

“You knew?”

“I know everything that goes on in my club, Jackson. I knew the second you had two cards made the first night you were here. Morroni’s men answer to me, not to Mick, and they certainly didn’t answer to your uncle.”

“Why didn’t you tell him? My uncle?”

She sits back in her chair, fixing me with an introspective glare before she speaks again.

“I didn’t like you at first, you know.”

“Gee, really? I couldn’t tell.”

Carmela lets out a snort. “I always keep my cards close to my chest. Telling your uncle right away would have just caused more problems. I may not have liked you, but I wanted to give you a chance. And I watched the way you changed for her. She’s made you a better person, Jackson. And while that’s wonderful, have you madeherbetter in return?”

“Yes.” My reply is immediate. “She needed a place where she felt safe, but it could have been any man who walked into her room at Désirer. Any man who would have taken what they wanted from her without a second thought for her feelings. What I did with her, what I helped her realize about herself…even if she ends up walking away from me, she’s confident enough now to know her boundaries and her limits. And even if shedoesdecide I’m not what she wants, I’m proud as hell to be a part of her growth.”

Carmela watches me for a long time without saying anything. So long that I begin to wonder if she will respond at all.

Finally, she says, “Iknow that. I just wanted to see ifyoudid as well.”

She pauses, pursing her lips as she steeples her fingers in front of them. “I can’t promise that she’ll agree to go. She quit, you know?”

For the first time in a long time, my signature cocky smirk finds its way to my face. “Tell her that her stranger will be waiting for her.”

---