I Want You Back (Want You #1)(11)

“Well, lookit you, Lucy.” Her eyes, identical to Jaxson’s in shape and color, perused me from head to toe. “You are a vision in that dress.”

I blushed. “Thanks. It’s a little formal for daily office wear, so I pull it out when the occasion warrants it.” I’d worn it on my date with Damon too.

“I have a closetful of special occasion dresses, most of which I’ve worn exactly once. Part and parcel of being wife to the CEO, but it seems like such a waste.”

“You should take them to your seamstress. I’ve seen her work and she’s amazing. She can repurpose and refashion them.”

“I love that you’re so practical. I was going to let Mimi have them as dress-up clothes.”

“God no. She’d take scissors to them and make clothes for her stuffed animals.”

Edie laughed. “True. Where is my sweet girl?”

I frowned. “She’s with Jax this weekend. Didn’t they hang out with you and Archer?”

“No. I didn’t hear a word from them.”

“Huh. Well, Jax is coming to this party with Mimi.”

“I’ll just text him and find out where they are. I think Lola is ready to escape, and he’ll miss her if he doesn’t arrive soon.”

My return to the party went unnoticed—just how I liked it. I fussed around the food table. Rearranged the presents. Checked my watch.

Just then my little ray of sunshine burst in, looked around for me and then made a beeline in my direction. The girl was out of breath by the time she reached me.

“Mommy. You’ll never guess what we did last night!”

“Wrestled alligators?”

She giggled. “No. Better than that.”

“You ate the sundae extravaganza at Minnehaha Scoop?”

“Huh-uh. Even better than that!”

“Oh, sweetheart, there ain’t nothing better than that.”

She was shifting from foot to foot with excitement. “Cinderella is better than ice cream.”

“What?”

“Daddy took me to see the play Cinderella! There was singing and dancing and princess dresses and it was so awesome! Then he bought me a sparkly crown and Cinderella princess pajamas! And he even let me wear the crown to bed!”

Getting tickets for a musical? That didn’t sound like something Jax would do on his own. “Who went with you?”

“Nobody. Just me and Daddy.”

Before I could ask her anything else, Jaxson sauntered into the room. He took in the crowd, giving a nod or a dip of his chin to people he knew. When his eyes met mine, he stopped moving.

Immediately I felt the silent pull between us that we’d both attempted to ignore. Even now that wistful feeling of want flowed through me. And the sardonic twist of his lips let me know he felt it too.

Jax started toward me, and I didn’t feign interest in anything or anyone else.

With his long-legged stride eating up the distance between us, his eyes seemed to eat me up too. By the time he finally reached me, my heart pounded like a snare drum.

His big body blocked mine from everyone in the room. So no one saw him circle his massive hand around my biceps and lean in to brush those perfect lips over my jaw as he murmured, “Hey, Luce.”

My breath caught.

“You look phenomenal, as usual.” His lips skated up, across my cheekbone to the spot in front of my ear. “Christ, you smell even better.”

“Jaxson.”

“There’s Grandma!” Mimi said and raced off.

His sweet, focused affectionate side still had the power to affect me.

“Sorry we’re late.” He eased back just enough to look into my face.

“No biggie. I have to stay and clean up.”

“Need some help?”

I locked my gaze to his, momentarily losing my train of thought when I saw the sincerity in those mesmerizing eyes.

He grinned. “Babe. That wasn’t a trick question.”

Babe. That term snapped me out of my moon-eyed gaze. Wasn’t that Jaxson “Stonewall” Lund’s default term when he couldn’t recall his flavor of the night’s name? “No need to stick around. I’m sure you’ve got better things to do.”

Jaxson’s smile dropped. “That wasn’t what I asked. Are you pulling the ‘I’m a one-woman band’ bullshit line like you always do when anyone offers you help?” He paused. “Or is it only when I offer help?”

My cheeks flamed. Damn man saw too much. He always had when I’d interested him enough to look. “You want to vacuum up cake crumbs, have at it.” I looked away.

“See?” He crouched down to force my attention back to him. “That wasn’t so hard. And I’m fully versed in janitorial duties after another summer of pushing the broom at Camp Step-Up, remember?”

That caused me to smile. “I still can’t believe that Jensen couldn’t find a position for you besides in the janitorial sector.”

“That’s because my cousin is aware that I have few usable skills besides shooting a puck.”

Automatically I said, “That’s not true.”

“Yeah? Ask me what I’ve been doing the past six months at LI.”

“Okay. Jaxson Lund, eldest of the next generation of the Lund family dynasty, what have you been doing in these hallowed halls since your retirement from your glorious hockey career?”