Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(92)

“Um…sure,” she said, taking another hesitant step backward. She didn’t know what he was going to ask her, but her unease was peaking.

“You dated Jack a long time, right?”

“Um…no. We’ve never dated actually.”

“But you were together.”

“Well, not exactly.”

“Sleeping together,” John offered.

“Um…yeah.”

“And you’ve been dating Ramsey now for over two years?”

“Yeah. Two and a half.”

“That seems pretty committed to me.” John arched an eyebrow.

“I just said that getting me to commit is the hard part…not impossible.”

“Committed to Ramsey and still seeing Jack though, right?” John asked, stepping into her again.

Lexi took a few more steps to put distance between them again. Brushing her hair behind her ear, she glanced away and tried to wrap her mind around where John was going with this. What did any of it matter to him? And why did he look so angry? His hazel eyes were dark under his thick black lashes, and his body was stiff where he was normally relaxed.

“Jack and I are just friends. We’re not seeing each other. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove in this conversation, but I think we should leave,” Lexi said, trying for her best courtroom voice.

“You’re friends with someone you slept with since college?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes, some people do learn to grow up,” she spat back. Then, it hit her. “How do you know about me and Jack? I haven’t told you about our relationship. Who did you talk to? How do you keep finding all of this out?”

John just shrugged.

“Why do you want to know all of this anyway?” she asked. “What do you gain from it?”

John strode forward quickly, and Lexi took another unsteady step backward. Her back hit the wall, and he hovered close over her. She held her breath as he stood there. A million scenarios went through her mind at once.

She didn’t want whatever he was offering. She liked him, and they got along, but he also put her on edge. Most of the time, it was because of the physical attraction that was still there between them but not at this moment. This felt different. She could feel the physical need simmering underneath it all, but there was something else there that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“I told you once that I wasn’t going to play fair. You don’t play fair, so I wasn’t going to. The more that I found out about you, Lexi, just proves that you’ve never played fair—leading Jack on for years and forcing Ramsey to be around Jack. All the while berating Ramsey for being around Parker when you’re around Jack.”

“What is the point of all this?” she snapped. “Don’t judge me for the life I live! You don’t know what I’ve gone through to get here, and I’m perfectly capable of making my own decisions.”

“Walk away from it all.”

Lexi’s eyes bulged at the comment. Where the hell had that come from? Walk away from her life? From the life she had fought tooth and nail for?

Was he mentally insane?

There was no way that she was going to walk away from Ramsey. They had their ups and downs, but he was the real deal, the sure thing. As long as Elisa was behind them and she could trust him around Parker, then they would be fine.

And Jack…

Well, Jack, she had finally made peace with. They were friends. Just friends. Nothing else. Not ever again.

She wasn’t going to give that up now that it was finally working. She never thought that she would be able to call Jack her friend in any real sense. The sexual tension between them had always been too palpable, but they had made it work. And she needed him.

“Walk away from what? My life?”

“Just leave it all behind,” he said softly. He looked like he wanted to reach out and touch her, but he didn’t.

“I can’t leave my life behind. Do you know how crazy that sounds? I just want to get out of here,” she said, pushing against his chest to try to walk past him.

John caught her wrists and pulled her in against him. The breath whooshed out of her lungs as her chest collided with him roughly.

“I’m offering you an out. You want to get away. I want you to get away with me. Come back to New York. Hang out with Chyna. Spend time with me.”

Lexi shook her head back and forth and tried to wrench her hands back from him. “No. You can’t tell me to give up my life because you want to date me. I already told you no…a year and a half ago. Now, let me go!”

“Why do you fight like this?”

“Because you’re hurting me,” she said, gesturing to where he still held her in place.

John released her, and she pushed back against his chest again.

“I told you no. I’m sorry that you can’t accept no, but my answer hasn’t changed. I love Ramsey. I’m dating Ramsey.”

“Do you want to marry him? You said you’re not the marrying type…is he?” John asked.

“That’s none of your business. You seem to know everything else about my life. How come you don’t know the answer to that question?”

“I already know he is. I just want you to see how wrong you are together.”