Page 37 of Bully's Second Chance
But, he never did.
“Lily!”
I rolled my eyes as I paused halfway up the steps. “Yes, Jax?”
I heard him march out of his office. “You forgot to file the folders I told you to do yesterday.”
I peered over my shoulder. “I didn’t do them alphabetically because you never search for them alphabetically. I ordered them by date.”
He blinked. “Oh.”
I nodded. “Yep.”
He sighed heavily. “Well, next time, leave me a note and let me know that. Okay?”
I turned away from him and started up the steps. “As you wish, Your Highness.”
Whether or not he heard me, I wasn’t sure. But, today had been a grueling day of sharing his in-home office, and I needed a long soak. I eased into the bedroom I had been occupying for close to two weeks, and as I changed into a pair of bra and panties that could serve as a bathing suit, I couldn’t wait to feel the hot tub’s bubbles popping against my aching joints.
But, as I made my way outside and eased myself into the steaming hot water, I realized very quickly that I wouldn’t be alone. I didn’t even get ten minutes of peace before Jax came outside in the setting sun in nothing but a pair of swim trunks.
I swallowed hard, watching as he made his way for the poolside. He dropped his towel into a chair on the opposite side of the patio from myself, then chugged back what looked like some sort of mixed drink.
Then, he stretched his arms over his head.
Try as I might, however, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from his chiseled form. The way his abs rippled down his torso made me salivate. The way his hip lines disappeared beyond his swim trunks made me lick my lips. The veins bulging from his forearms matched the ones bulging from the inside of his thighs, and as he dove headfirst into the deep end of the pool, I had to force myself out of my trance.
He wasn’t in the pool for long before he joined me, though. “Nice swimsuit,” he said.
I looked down before I shrugged. “You’re lucky I decided not to go skinny dipping.”
He chuckled. “Well, in that case, I’d say I’m pretty unlucky that you decided not to. Because if I had seen you swimming around all naked and shit, I would’ve joined you in every sense of the word.”
My cheeks flushed. “Right, whatever.”
He stretched his arms out along the side of the hot tub. “And yet, you’re blushing like a virgin bride on her wedding night.”
I rolled my eyes, and he started chuckling. The comforting sound washed over me like warm waves lapping at a sandy shoreline. I loved it when he laughed.
“You’re easy to fluster, you know,” he said.
I shot him a look. “Just because it’s easy doesn’t give you the right to do it.”
His face fell a bit flat before he cleared his throat. “Look, I know you and I don’t have the best relationship, especially with how we grew up. But, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for how I treated you when we were kids.”
I blinked. “Some apology.”
“So, I take it you don’t accept it.”
I slowly turned to face him before my nose wrinkled. “No, Jackson, I don’t accept it.”
“Oh, the full first name. I’m fucked, aren’t I?”
I stood up in the hot tub. “I won’t accept your apology until you actually mean it. I deserve more than some half-assed bullshit you pulled out of your cockhole just so you could get laid.”
His eyes widened, but I didn’t let him speak.
“Yeah, you think I didn’t know why you slipped in here? You’re not very hard to read, Jax. You’re just like every other playboy out there, only putting on the moves and smoothing it on thick when you want something. You’re not better than them, and I deserve better than that.”
