Page 28 of Burn With Me

“Jackson, good luck.” He looks at me and winks. “Ginny,well done.” Grabbing his briefcase, he ignores my silent pleas for him to stay and walks away from the table as Jackson grins at me.

“Hi, Red. Miss me?” He grabs another fry from Scott’s abandoned plate before pulling the whole thing over.

“Whyare you here? And scoot! Over!” Pushing him harder, he finally slides over an inch.

“You told me I couldn’t date anyone else for a month,” he says, as if that simple explanation clarifies why he’s here in the middle of the day during my shift.

“No, I said you couldn’t date anywomen. There’s a difference.”

“Well, the way I see it, if I can’t spend the next month with any other women, that just means I’ll be spending it with you.” He shoots me another close-lipped grin around a bite of French dip.

“Ginny, your break is over. You need to get back to work. Hi, Jackson,” Jacqueline, my shift manager, interrupts us.

Jackson turns to look at her, not bothering to give her a once-over or flash his pearly white teeth, sending a surge of smug satisfaction through me.

“Yeah, I know,” I tell her. “I’m clocking back in now.”

“Are you free tonight?” she asks him, ignoring me. “I know this great party where I’m sure we can have some fun.” Her valley-girl tone grates on my nerves. Jackson’s, too, if the look he gives her is anything to go by.

“Sorry, sweetheart.” He stands and reaches out to chuck her under the chin softly.

His eyes slide to mine as though heknowsthe gesture will piss me off. A sharp thorn pricks my chest, spreading green poison throughout my veins. Clenching my teeth, I follow him out of the booth.

“I’m on a thirty-day cleanse,” he says.

Jacqueline looks between me and Jackson, obvious confusion in her eyes as she asks, “What does that mean?”

Holding my gaze, his answer is like an antidote I didn’t know I wanted. “It means I’m taken.”

Jackson

When Ginny steps into our room at Désirer, I nearly choke.

She’s wearing thigh-high stockings, the tops trimmed in lace, with a nearly see-through thong. Her top is lace, as well, a halter style that cuts off just below her breasts. It barely conceals her rosy pink nipples, and I’m instantly hard.

The curtain is pulled back. It was like that when I arrived and was told she’s asked for it to stay that way for the remainder of our time together. As soon as the door shuts behind her, she grins as her eyes immediately settle between my legs.

“That’s exactly the reaction I was hoping for,” she says, reaching for a drink. A bottle of champagne has been set up on her side, glass already half-full of pink fizzy bubbles.

“You walked through the Grand Room like that?” Jealousy courses through me at the thought of anyone seeing her nearly naked.

She shakes her head as she takes a sip. “I came straight from the changing room. My robe is on the doorknob outside. They’re specially made to let the wings slip through the sides.”

Her answer pleases me. But I’m not, and have never been, a jealous man. The feeling is unpleasant and unwelcome.

There’s something about her tonight that seems different. It’s only been a handful of hours since I’ve seen her. But to her, we haven’t seen each other since Saturday—almost a week.

She seems…more sure of herself tonight: less Scarlett and moreGinny.

“You didn’t come Sunday. It’s been almost a week.” Steeling my tone, I try not to sound pathetic as I take a seat on my couch, absentmindedly running my hand over the velvet arm.

“Did you miss me?” She doesn’t take a seat on her side, but instead, comes to sit next to me.

Close.

So close that it would take barely a movement to reach out and pull her into my lap.

“I was worried after…last time,” I tell her honestly. “I was beginning to think you’d decided you no longer wished to see me.”

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