AVOIDING TEMPTATION (Avoiding #3)

1 Present The phone buzzed noisily on the nightstand. Lexi groaned. She wasn’t ready to get up and go to work yet. Throwing her arm out to the nightstand, she tried to switch off the alarm, but it continued to ring. Peeling her eyes open, she grabbed the phone off the nightstand. “Who is it?” Ramsey murmured, pulling her back against him. The screen flashed in her hand—Jack Howard. It was too early for that. She had to be at work soon, and she had far better things on her mind. “Jack.” “Too early,” Ramsey whispered, kissing her shoulder. “You read my mind.” Lexi clicked the Ignore button and let it go to voice mail. “I’ll call him back.” “Mmm…” His lips traveled up to her neck. “Time for you to get up anyway.” “No,” Lexi said, pulling the white covers up over her eyes. “Come on, you’re going to be late for work,” Ramsey said, prying the covers from her hands. She squirmed against him under the sheets, tangling their legs together. “Can’t make me,” she quipped, turning over and burying her face into his toned chest. “Oh…I can make you late,” he murmured into her mass of curly brown hair. His nose found her ear, and he lightly brushed against it, causing her to squirm for all new reasons. “Good,” Ramsey said. His hand trailed lightly down her spine before resting comfortably at the small of her bare back. She hummed into his chest as he kneaded the tight muscles. Lexi’s hands wound up into his hair, and she slowly peeked back up at him. The smile on his face was lazy, comfortable, and so incredibly endearing. She couldn’t believe that after everything they had been through, he could still look at her like she was the greatest prize he had ever won. “You’re so distracting,” she grumbled, pulling lightly on his blond hair. “I’m the one trying to get you out of bed even though all I want to do is keep you in it all day,” he said before kissing her forehead. “You’re going to make me late,” she teased, tugging harder on the locks of blond hair and pulling his lips down to her. He didn’t argue with her as their lips melded together. She couldn’t figure out how he always tasted so unbelievably delicious. She hadn’t felt him get out of bed to brush his teeth, but the faint taste of peppermint lingered on his breath. Nibbling slightly on his bottom lip, Lexi sucked it into her mouth. His breathing hitched, and he grasped her hips forcefully between his hands. She could feel the indents he was making in her lower back, which only fueled her forward. Sliding her leg across his body, Lexi straddled his hips and slowly started grinding herself against him. He assisted her in the movement, rocking her hips and pushing her harder against him. She could feel him growing for her through his green boxers. She wasn’t far behind him. “You can’t go into work,” he groaned into her ear. “I’m not letting you.” Lexi responded by pressing her lips to his. He smiled against her lips, encouraging her onward. He tried to push her harder, but she resisted, teasingly licking his lips as lightly as she could manage. He growled deep in the back of his throat and grabbed her head, crushing their lips together. Lexi opened her mouth, allowing their tongues to connect, and she responded with her own enthusiasm. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she relaxed into his eager embrace. He broke from her lips to kiss across her jawline, and she happened to take a glance at the alarm clock. “s**t!” she cried, rolling off of him. Ramsey groaned, reaching back for her. “Are you serious?” “I’m actually going to be late if we continue,” she said, lying on her side next to him. She watched his chest heave up and down. A smirk crossed her face as she realized how turned-on she had gotten him. “If you keep looking at me like that…” He trailed off, running his hand seductively down her side. She giggled and swung her legs off the bed. “Sorry, I still need to shower.” “I need a cold shower,” he mumbled, watching her stand up in nothing but peach lacy underwear. “Well, you can go after me. Must be nice being your own boss,” she said with a shrug as she walked to the bathroom. “I’ll let you boss me around.” Lexi twirled around, her hair swishing over her shoulder, to look at Ramsey. Her expression was scandalized as if she couldn’t believe he would say such a thing. She tried to remain serious for as long as possible, but the devilish look on his face as he stared at her like he was going to eat her up broke her resolve. “Get your ass over here,” he demanded, scooting up on the bed to get a better look at her. “You can watch my ass as I walk out the door,” she said, popping open the bathroom door. Ramsey’s playful expression faltered and then fell off his face. When Lexi realized what she had said, she anxiously pushed her messy hair behind her ear. She hadn’t meant it the way it sounded, but with their history, it hadn’t been exactly the best phrasing. Gulping hard, Lexi ducked her embarrassed face into the bathroom. She knew it was stupid to get so flustered about her statement, but some habits were hard to break. They’d had too many ups and downs to take her comment lightly—even if she had meant it that way. Two years just hadn’t been long enough for them to completely forget about their breakup—at least, not with everything else that had happened since then. Especially not with what had happened last month… She knew their relationship was strong, but sometimes, it didn’t feel as strong as it should. Sometimes, it felt like too many other things got in the way of their relationship. Sighing at her thoughts, she flipped on the shower and stepped inside, letting the water pour over her head. The water beat down on her as she tried to block out the heartbroken look on Ramsey’s face. Taking a deep breath, she held it in as she slowly counted to ten and then blew it out. The boiling hot water helped clear her head and dissolve the concerns that she still harbored. She couldn’t beat herself up about everything in her past and his past—their past. A knock on the glass door broke her out of her thoughts. Cracking the door open, she stuck her head out to see Ramsey standing before her, still wearing nothing but his green boxers. She smiled at him, thinking he was going to join her. “Jack keeps calling,” he said, holding up her phone to show her the two missed calls on the screen. “Why is he calling this early?” she asked, her brows furrowing. “Who knows?” he said with an easy shrug. “I thought you’d want to call him back when you’re done.” “Yeah, I will. Let me just finish.” Just as she said that, her phone lit up again with Jack’s name on the screen. “Damn it.” “Do you want me to answer?” Lexi immediately started shaking her head. “Nah, I’ve got it,” she said, reaching back and turning off the water. “Can’t even finish my shower.” Ramsey smiled at her and handed her a towel. She dried off as fast as she could. “Just answer it,” she told him, knowing she would miss the call if she waited any longer. “Hey,” Ramsey said, answering the phone. “Yeah, she’s right here. Just give me a second to go and get her.” Ramsey held out the phone to Lexi as she hastily knotted her towel. “Thanks,” she murmured softly, shaking out her wet hair and taking the phone out of his hands. “No problem,” he said, stripping out of his boxers and stepping into the shower she had just vacated. Asshole, she mouthed to him at the display before her. He just shook his head at her and shooed her on. She knew this was payback for leaving him on the bed, but she didn’t like it. “Hi, Jack,” she said cheerfully before sticking out her tongue at Ramsey as she left the bathroom. “Lex,” he breathed into the phone. Her heart stopped. She and Jack spoke on a regular basis but not like this. It had been a while—a long while—since she had heard the desperation, need, and desire in his voice. Had Ramsey heard it? Would he have known? She glanced back at the closed shower door and then felt bad for doing it. It had been two years since she and Ramsey had left Jack’s wedding together. Ramsey knew better. Taking a deep breath, she tried to act like she hadn’t heard it either. “Hey, what’s up?” “Do you have some free time today?” he asked. “I really don’t. I’m going to be late to work as it is,” she told him happily, trying not to feed into his mood. “What about after work or during your lunch break?” “What’s going on?” she couldn’t help but ask. Curiosity was getting the better of her, and she wanted to know what was wrong. “I just need to talk to you,” he murmured hastily into the phone. “Maybe after work,” she told him. She wouldn’t normally spend the time, but something in his voice kept her from denying him. “Thank you,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Yeah, of course. Jack,” she began, unsure of how best to proceed, “are you okay?” He paused before answering. It felt like forever as the silence dragged on between them. She knew the answer even before he said anything. There was no one she could read better. “I don’t know.” “Can I help?” she asked, concerned and confused. “I’ll meet you after work. Do you want me to pick you up?” “No, I’m driving today,” she told him. She didn’t mind driving through the city, but she despised parking, so Ramsey usually dropped her off just to avoid the hassle. “Okay,” he said wistfully as if he had been looking forward to picking her up from work. “Jack, really, what’s going on? I’m going to be thinking about this and stressing all day at work. I’ll be distracted, and you know I have that big case,” she reminded him. “I know, but we have to talk in person. I…I can’t talk about this on the phone,” he said, his voice cracking. Lexi’s mind was swimming with possibilities. She wished she had actually woken up on time. Then, she wouldn’t have to wait until after work to find out. “All right. I’ll see you after.” “See ya,” he said before hanging up the phone. Ramsey walked out of the bathroom a minute later, towel-drying his blond hair, nude. Her eyes traveled over his gorgeous body from his messy blond hair, to his bright green eyes, to his strong jawline, across his hunky shoulders, down the six-pack abs he had worked so hard for, to the defined V, leading to where she really wanted to look. “You checkin’ me out?” he drawled as if he hadn’t come out of the bathroom like that on purpose. “Yep. Wondering how late I can be without getting yelled at,” she said. Ramsey chuckled, wrapping the towel around his waist to cover up some of the distraction. “I don’t want you to get yelled at.” “It might be worth it,” she murmured, watching him walk into his closet. “So, what did he want?” Ramsey called from the other room. “Bah,” she grumbled, not really giving him an answer. “That good, huh?” “He’s so…Jack sometimes,” she said, putting on cream lace underwear with a matching bra. “Can he be anything else?” Ramsey asked. Lexi wandered into the bathroom and diffused her hair over the sink as she contemplated the question. Could Jack be anything other than himself? It was something she had taken a lot of time to think about over the past two years. It was something she didn’t really want to think about with his desperation still ringing in her ears. After applying her makeup for the day, Lexi tangled her hair into a tight bun on the top of her head. She thought it looked more professional in court than her wild curls. She walked back into the bedroom and changed into a pencil skirt and a mint-green silky blouse, giggling at the appropriateness of wearing this around her Ramsey.