I Want You Back (Want You #1)(28)

Ooh, you can get in a really sharp dig right now. Tell him he’ll never find that intimacy with any woman if he continues to use his dick as a judge of depth of a woman’s character.

I opened my mouth.

Shut it.

Broke my gaze from his and glanced down at my hand still resting on his chest over his heart. “No, Jax, I haven’t had that connection since . . .” You went unsaid. “It’s easier on my heart and mind if I forget something like that even exists.”

“I can’t forget. I don’t want to forget. I dream of getting it back, knowing this time I’d treat it like the special thing it is.”

Maybe I got a little dizzy feeling his hands on me and my hand on the warmth and hardness of him. His scent, his heat . . .

“Mommy?”

Mimi worked her way between us until I stepped back, giving her room. “Yes?”

“Can we go shopping for Jocelyn’s birthday gift after we leave here?”

“Who is Jocelyn?”

“A girl from my class. I got invited to her birthday party this Saturday!”

“I planned to tell you about that,” Jax interjected, “but we got a little sidetracked.”

Understatement. We’d gone off the rails completely. I looked at our daughter. “We’ll have to shop another day after school this week since Aunt Lindsey is coming over for dinner tonight.”

She clapped. “Yay! I’ll get to show her the cheerleading routine Dallas taught me.”

My gaze met Jax’s. “She already learned a cheerleading routine today? I didn’t think I’d arrived that late.”

He grinned. “Dallas called her a little sponge. Said she noticed even at camp that Meems has natural athletic ability.”

“Guess we know where she gets that.”

Mimi lifted her arms. “Come on, Daddy. Let’s go watch the game.”

I wandered to the buffet and filled a plate. But I wasn’t alone for long; both Edie and Archer decided to eat. Coincidence? I think not.

Edie brushed her hand up my arm. “We’re so happy that you could join us today, Lucy.”

“Jax’s invite surprised me, to be honest. But now I know why he insisted on me being here.”

Archer moved in and spooned a pile of beans and weenies on his plate. “So, you had no idea he’d planned this announcement?”

“None. I guess the question is . . . did you?”

He stood in front of me. Archer Lund was a big guy, but not nearly as big as Jax. Both of his sons had inherited his striking good looks. Even at his age—what I guessed to be his early sixties—he was a stylish, distinguished man who commanded a room. That kind of power absolutely scared the crap out of me, especially after I’d gone to work at LI. While the CEO wasn’t my direct boss—he was still THE boss. I’d seen him in several roles: the devoted husband, the softhearted grandfather who made time for his only grandchild, the ball-busting CEO of a multi-billion-dollar family conglomerate. I’d never seen him as the flummoxed father, fishing for information on his son, as he was obviously doing now with me.

“Honestly? No. I believed his lack of enthusiasm was from getting acclimated to a different daily schedule, in a different town, with different people. I’d been prepared to give him another six months to let him settle in. I assumed . . .” His eyes moved to Nolan and Jax standing together chatting. “Seems I should’ve been listening to him, watching him more closely than just assuming. I admitted this to him, and to Nolan, so I’m not talking out of turn by admitting to you that Nolan and I have gotten into our own routine over the years, and neither of us considered what it would mean bringing Jax into it.”

I’d suspected Archer had separated me into various roles also: Jax’s former girlfriend, Mimi’s mother and LI underling. But his confession seemed a little personal for his son’s ex-girlfriend, so maybe he’d assigned me another role?

Edie slipped her arm around her husband’s waist. “Which just tells me that some part of you acknowledged that Nolan would be better suited for the job.” She smirked at me. “Literally. His tailor will be a busy man.”

I loved how perfectly Edie soothed her husband and brought humor into a situation that’d caught them off guard. I really hoped Jax understood just how lucky he was to have such supportive parents. But I still felt the need to relay a concern they hadn’t mentioned. “I spoke with Nolan a little about Jax’s plans with the bar and property he owns, because I don’t know that running a bar would be the healthiest option for him. Or for Mimi, for that matter.”

“That occurred to us too,” Edie murmured.

“Nolan believes Jax’s claim that he won’t be more than financially invested. He wants to make it a success and reap the profits.”

Archer smiled. “True Lund business acumen, right there.”

I smiled back. “Who knows? Maybe in a few years when he has more experience to bring to the table, he’ll ask to rejoin LI in some capacity.”

“I hope so.” Archer gave me a one-armed hug. “Damn, lady. You shouldn’t be toiling in PR. You should be putting your brains and common sense approach to work in HR. We could use someone like you.”

That perked me up . . . even when I had no interest in switching departments. I was just happy that the CEO saw me as an adaptable employee. If that was the new role he’d put me in? I’d take it. “You really think so?”