Page 33 of Against the Rules (Harts of Passion 1)

An image of what he probably did do with them played in my mind. I felt my face flush and wondered what it would be like to feel his hands caress my skin all over followed by his lips.

"Grace?"

I jumped as his fingers waved in front of my face. "Um, sorry, I was thinking about something else." I was pretty sure by his smirk that he knew exactly what I'd been thinking about.

He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and removed a small piece of paper and held it out to me. "This is for you."

My eyes shifted to his as I tentatively accepted it, our fingers brushing during the exchange. Was it just my imagination, or did they seem to slide along mine unnecessarily?

I unfolded the paper, still warm from his body, and found it to be a check to the tune of fifteen thousand dollars and signed by Jaxson Carter. I was stunned. After a check bearing the logo of JAC Enterprises came in my mail earlier this week, I figured that was the end of our association.

My fingers trembled as I gaped at it. "What is this?"

"It's a check, a piece of paper authorized by a bank and commonly used in place of cash but just as valuable."

I rolled my eyes. "I know what a check is."

"Then why'd you ask?"

I waved the paper in his face. "Because this is a huge amount and the name is left blank. I don’t understand."

"Because I promised you that I'd get you a replacement check, and I'm a man of my word. My company will pay for the dinners. I wanted to make my own donation. I wasn’t sure who to make my donation out to.” He sounded sheepish.

"But you already sent a check. And how do you know I won't run off and take a cruise around the world with it?”

"If you do, I recommend spending extra time in Italy. Beautiful country. Lots of history and art and great food."

I stared at the check in my hands and pretended to ponder the suggestion. "I'll send you a postcard as a courtesy thank you."

"Your manners are impeccable." When he smiled, I understood the old cliché; his face did light up, from the relaxing of his features to the glimmer in his eye.

I tried to get back to the matter at hand. "Seriously though, you could've asked to sign the old one. Or handed this one to me earlier. Or with your obvious skills of tracking me down, I'm sure you could have mailed it. Why go to all this trouble? Why come here today?" I waved the check in his face, eyeing him suspiciously. "Was this just to impress me? A way to try to buy me?"

He looked horrified. "No!"

"Then why, Jax?"

He playfully tugged a section of my hair that had fallen forward before tucking it behind my ear. He let the back of his fingers linger on the sensitive skin of my neck before trailing along my cheek to my jaw. I had to fight not to close my eyes and lean into his hand.

"The first time we spoke, right after you kneed me in the balls,”—I flushed at the memory and started to look down, but he held my chin in place—"you said you wanted to make me smile. And you did. And you have each time I've talked to you." His expression grew more serious. "I had a rough start to my day. I wanted to see if you could do it again." His eyes lightened as he smiled again. "I'm starting to think it's your superpower."

Wow. I think that's the best compliment I'd ever gotten. "I, um, I'm sorry I hit you there."

He smirked. "Let's just say it was predestined because if I didn't deserve it then, I certainly did after the way I treated you in my office. There's no excuse for my behavior. I promise I was raised better than that."

I missed his hand as it dropped from my face, only to tingle as he grabbed both of my hands. "Grace, I'm sorry for many things, including abandoning you at the reception, embarrassing and harassing you in my office, as well as invading your privacy to seek you out today, although I'm less sorry about that last one than the rest." He drew my hands to his mouth, pressing his lips first to the back of one and then the other.

Any anger I harbored for him was snuffed out. I wasn't one to linger on much anyway, but his look that accompanied his apology was genuine.

Damn. He'd be so easy to fall for!

"I'd still like to take you out to dinner."

He's emotionally unavailable.

But he seems so sincere!

He doesn't do relationships like you deserve.

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