Page 5 of His Best Man's Baby

“It’s a question.”

“I know, but—”

“I’ve known you both for a long time,” he said, “and I watched the two of you together. You loved him, and he practically survived off every word that fell from those beautiful lips.”

She put her hand on her hip. “Are you trying to guilt-trip me?”

“Not at all.” When he touched a hand to her cheek, she gasped and stared up at him. “If you still love him, this will be hard for you, seeing him marry someone else.”

The unexpected empathy blew her away. Never in a million years would she have thought Jax would say such a thing to her. He and she were friends, but they never did more than flirt and tease. They didn’t hang out except when he’d double date with whatever woman had caught his fancy at the time with her and Daniel. He had always seemed nice but shallow.

/> She lowered her gaze and pulled out of his grasp. “I’m fine. Thanks. What Daniel and I had is in the past. I appreciate your concern.”

The elevator dinged a floor before hers. Jax reached out to play with a lock of her hair. A tingle of awareness raced through her system. “I like how you keep changing it, black one week, red the next, blond after that.”

She suppressed a grin. “You don’t see me often enough to know if that’s true.”

“Have dinner with me tonight.”

The elevator doors slid open just as she opened her mouth to turn him down. Words died on her lips when she came face-to-face with Daniel, an older woman, and a younger woman who could be her sister.

Chapter Two

“Tae, you’re here.”

“Hey, Daniel.” Tae didn’t get to finish her greeting before he dragged her off the elevator and into a bear hug. If she’d been aware of Jax’s sexy presence a moment ago, Daniel’s overwhelmed her senses and weakened her knees. His big arms encircling her generated both a feeling of comfort and one of panic. She pasted a smile on her face and fought to get free of his hold, stepping back when she did to put space between them. Despite the distance, her nostrils were filled with her ex-boyfriend’s scent, and all it did was evoke memory after memory of their time together.

“Let me introduce you to Alise,” he was saying, but Tae focused on the man himself. As usual, Daniel wore a suit. She’d teased him many times that he lived in them. Only when they dated had she convinced him to dress down. They’d had to shop for sandals for him the one time she had unbent enough to take him to a family reunion.

Daniel’s blond hair had been cut recently, she assumed, by the way it lay in perfect order. She’d always preferred it a little longer and somewhat disheveled, what she’d called the fresh-from-bed look. Only a hot white guy could pull off the look, and Daniel could, but that wasn’t his style. His blue eyes shone with happiness, and she had a twinge of jealousy, which she stomped down to pay attention to his words.

“This is my fiancée, Alise Harper and her mother Mrs. Juanita Harper. Alise and Juanita, this is a good friend of mine, Octavia Croft, but everyone calls her Tae.”

Alise wrinkled a cute little nose with a dusting of freckles on it. “What kind of name is Octavia?” Her skin tone was a close match to Tae’s if a hair lighter, and Tae suspected the wave in her hair didn’t come from a flat iron. Tall with long shapely legs, shown off in a minidress, the woman made Tae the cheap knockoff to the original, but her snooty attitude left a lot to be desired.

“It’s the kind of name my father gave me,” Tae snapped. “It was my grandmother’s name.”

“Alise,” Daniel scolded.

“Oh, sorry,” she said with clear insincerity. “I get pissy when I’m hungry. Danny, you know I don’t like waiting.”

Tae looked from Alise to Daniel to Jax, whose expression held amusement. Was Daniel seriously going to marry this chick? Tae drew in a breath and blew it out. She decided to extend Alise the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this was just prewedding jitters. Yeah, that must be it.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both,” Tae said between clenched teeth. “If you all will excuse me, I’m going to get settled in my room.”

Daniel grabbed Tae’s hand, saw the evil glare Alise gave him, and dropped it like a hot potato. “Tae, if you don’t have any plans for dinner, why don’t you join us?”

“I—”

Jax’s big hands settled on her arms. She’d forgotten he stood behind her and about his offer. “She’s agreed to have dinner with me.”

Tae gave him a break and didn’t call him out on the lie, but Daniel’s smile seemed forced. She noted the annoyance in his gaze. “The more the merrier. I made reservations at Nakato.”

“I thought you didn’t need reservations there,” Tae said.

Daniel smiled and took Alise’s hand in his. “I wanted to be sure everything worked out perfectly and there wasn’t a wait.

Of course, or she’d pitch a fit.

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