I Want You Back (Want You #1)(84)

“I can see that. But surely Jax’s office is exempt from the mess? I’ll wait there.”

“Well, Jax doesn’t have his own office. We share the space.”

Of course you do.

“Come in, and watch your step.”

The inside had been gutted to the rafters in the ceiling. The only thing left was the enormous hand-carved bar. I said, “You’re keeping that?”

“Yes. It’ll be the cornerstone element of the speakeasy.”

I had a pang of nostalgia when I realized the wall that separated the bar from the back room had literally bit the dust too.

Then I heard, “Lucy?”

I watched Dallas amble toward me, wearing a dusty pair of overalls and a yellow hard hat and carrying a clipboard. She looked so damn cute—not that I’d call her that to her face. “Dallas. Looks like you’re in your element.”

She gave me the widest smile I’d seen from her in ages. She’d stopped smiling altogether the last few months she’d worked at LI. “I am! Since we got underway with the new construction company, things have gone as smooth as a kale and acai smoothie straight from the blender.”

That comparison actually made sense. Then I realized she’d said, “new construction company,” which meant Jax wasn’t using his cousin Walker’s company, a development he’d forgotten to share with me. I shot Simone a look out of the corner of my eye. Seemed to be quite a bit Jax hadn’t shared.

“Anyway, what are you doing here?”

I held up the envelope. “Annika sent me to hand deliver these to Jax.”

“Gimme gimme.”

“Keep those grabby hands to yourself, sister. This info is for Jaxson Lund only. It says so right here.”

Dallas squinted at the envelope. “I don’t see anything.”

“Because it’s written in invisible ink that only the recipient can read.”

Simone snorted.

“That is hilarious.” She cocked her head, not caring that her hard hat slipped to the side, and perused me head to toe. “But you I can read as easily as a newspaper. Why are you so tense? And why am I seeing a dark spot on your aura, like an unresolved memory that recently resurfaced?”

I withheld a shudder. The woman was spookily intuitive. I wonder what she’d see between Jax and me now.

Sexual frustration in his aura probably.

“Be patient, Lucy,” Dallas said softly. “You’re missing one important piece before everything falls into place, but you won’t find it in the past.”

Gooseflesh erupted.

Then Dallas was hugging me . . . and tugging on the envelope for Jax. “Nice try.”

She smirked. “Can’t blame me. Before you go, if you want a tour of the upstairs, come find me.”

After she left, Simone said, “No matter how many times I see her do that, it still freaks me the fuck out.”

“No kidding.”

We ended up at what looked like a freestanding closet. Surely this couldn’t be . . .

“Welcome to our office.”

Inside wasn’t as rough as the outside, but it was jam-packed with paperwork and odds and ends. I moved a box of coffee pods from one of two chairs. I expected she’d leave me here, but she plopped into the chair opposite mine, apparently ready to chat.

Great.

“Look, Lucy, I’m sorry I called you Lucifer.”

“No harm done. It’s been a while since anyone has called me that, which tells me you’ve been involved as Jax’s partner longer than I realized.”

“Four years. We met at the height of his hockey career and the lowest point in his personal life. It was the common thread between us.” She set her elbows on the desk. “There’s no need to skirt the truth. Jax and I slept together a few times early on until we recognized we were better off as friends. I’ve got no interest in him besides a business partnership. That said, we are very close.”

“Why are you telling me this, Simone?”

“I want to be clear that I’m not the competition.”

I returned her forthright stare. “I appreciate you saying that. But my competition for Jax’s love never has been another woman; it’s been hockey.”

That response shocked her. Then a smile bloomed across her face. “Damn. He wasn’t kidding about your brutal honesty. He needs that, now that he’s back in a place mentally where he can handle it.” She paused. “He wasn’t kidding about your eyes either. He swore they were the most arresting shade of brown and when he met you it was like you could see into his soul.”

“Jax said that?”

“Granted it was in his drinking days. Then he’d play ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ over and over on the jukebox until I threatened to have it removed.”

“Will it bother you if I say that Jax hasn’t said anything about you except you’re his business partner?”

Simone shook her head. “He compartmentalizes his life. In some ways it’s good; in some ways it’s not. He keeps the bar stuff from you. He keeps the personal stuff from me.”

Just then Jax burst into the room saying, “Simone, have you seen—”

“Lucy?” she supplied.

His gaze zoomed in my direction and stayed there. Two strides later, he stood over me. He smiled and murmured, “Hey, beautiful,” and then he kissed me. More than a chaste peck on the mouth, less than a tongue teaser. “What are you doing here?”