I Want You Back (Want You #1)(30)

“An investment banker? Seriously? Do I look like I’ve got a stick up my ass?”

I opened my mouth and he stopped me before I gave him an honest answer.

“Try again.” He shrugged. “Or don’t. Because you’re not gonna guess right.”

“Then I give. No, wait. You’re a commodities broker.”

He blinked at me. “Lucy Q, I don’t even know what the hell that is.”

“Me neither, but it sounds rich and fancy. That type of job would totally explain the car you drive. Maybe I’ll call you Mr. Rich and Fancy until you get annoyed and confess to being a car salesman, just to shut me up.”

He snorted. “Not a car salesman either.”

“Yeah, you smell too expensive to be hawking cars—even luxury models.”

Another slow, sexy blink from those arresting eyes made my heart race. “How does one smell expensive?”

“Your cologne is a custom blend, isn’t it?”

Surprisingly he nodded.

“I knew it! I’ve never smelled anything like it. Wearing a custom blend signals your need for exclusivity, which equals you’ve got the ka-ching to afford that privilege.”

“You’ve sniffed a lot of guys, have you?”

I tapped my nose and then his. “Careful, Mr. Rich and Fancy, or I might suspect you’re jealous that my nose has been in a lot of different guys’—”

“No need to finish that sentence,” he supplied.

Our food arrived.

I had three plates of food . . . to his one.

“You sure you’ll be able to eat all of that?” he asked.

“Watch me. I’ll even mop up every bit of syrup with my bacon.”

Jax teased me for using half a container of apricot syrup on one side of my waffle, and half a container of twinberry syrup on the other side.

I made a gagging noise when he dumped a pile of ketchup on his scrambled eggs.

He returned the sentiment when I covered my hash browns in Heinz 57.

Just normal date behavior for us.

With the exception that I’d never had a man look at me the way Jax did, with longing, lust, amusement and exasperation. Lately, though, the look of lust had gotten way more intense.

And I also really liked his affection, his need to be touching me in some manner, which further cemented this connection strengthening between us.

He finished his meal first and sipped his coffee, wearing that bemused smile as he watched me finish every bite.

The waitress cleared our plates.

“I am stuffed. That was so good. Great date idea.”

“You weren’t lying when you promised to eat it all.”

“Why would I lie about that when I don’t lie about anything else?”

Jax gave me a considering look. “You don’t? Not even a little white lie here and there?”

“Nope. Lying was my father’s specialty—a trait I’m very proud that he didn’t pass on.” As soon as the words tumbled out in a bitter rush, I wished them back.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you say anything about your dad.”

“That’s because the man isn’t part of my life.”

“Now? Or when you were growing up?”

“Both. I told you my parents divorced when I was ten. That event didn’t change anything about my day-to-day life, because Mom got the house and us. He moved out. As far as I know he paid child support, but we never saw him. He never called. Never came to any of our milestone events. When he ditched Mom, he ditched us too.”

Jax curled his hand around the side of my face. “I don’t know what to say to that, Luce. Sorry . . . Doesn’t seem like you’re sorry he moved on.”

“I’m honestly not. He was a salesman for a pharmaceutical company, with a big territory across the Midwest, so he came home every other weekend. If he wasn’t golfing on that Saturday, then he was at the club with his cronies. My mom half joked that he was too busy dipping into his pharmacy samples to make it home. It didn’t hit me until I was older that Mom had been referencing ‘male enhancement’ drugs, since Daddy-dearest was a proud philanderer.”

“He bragged about fucking around on your mom?”

“He didn’t hide it. I guess he didn’t apologize either. He maintained the ‘what are you going to do about it?’ attitude because he was the breadwinner and she was the homemaker. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now.” I reached for my water to try and break Jax’s hold on me. “So fill me in on our postdinner plans, Mr. Rich and Fancy.”

Jax kept a gently commanding hand against my face. “Don’t try and change the conversation.”

I tried to avoid those cool blue eyes but he wouldn’t allow it. “I hate talking about this.”

“Because it’s a painful part of your past?”

“No. Because I have an unpopular opinion on relationships. Which is why most men don’t make it past the first date with me.”

“You’re talking in riddles, babe. Since I’m the rare mystical male creature in your world that’s made it to the fourth date with you, that means you talk to me, not at me, not around me, not in generalizations. I’ve got nowhere else to be. We can stay here all night if that’s how long it takes for you to believe that I can handle the truth.”