Page 22 of Fierce-Jax (Fierce Matchmaking #18)

TOO SOON

C arolyn squared her shoulders and knocked on the locked glass door of Patrick Dermatology.

The office wouldn’t open for another thirty minutes, but she knew someone was there and, since there was no one at the front desk, she was banking on that person being Dillion.

When there was no answer, she knocked a second time and was just getting ready to call, though she was positive she’d get a machine, when Dillion rounded the corner.

She plastered a smile on her face and waved excitedly.

Dillion returned the smile and strode forward to unlock the door. “Good morning, Carolyn. What brings you by?”

“I’m so sorry that I hit you with wanting to set you and Jax up and then never got the information to pass on.

That was wrong of me, but shortly after I came down with a little bug and didn’t want to expose anyone.

I’m one hundred percent myself now. I thought if I snuck over here early, I could get your number to pass on and not worry about witnesses. ”

Dillion was grinning at her. “I can give you my number,” she said.

“Perfect,” she said. “I’ll run up and see if Jax is there this early or not. If not, I can call and talk to him easier to pass it on. I’m positive you two will get along wonderfully.”

“That’s great to hear,” Dillion said.

Carolyn put Dillion’s number into her phone. “I won’t bug you anymore,” she said. “Have a great day.”

She ran out the door as fast as she could and hoped that Jax was in his office too.

She wanted to get this done before the two of them changed their minds.

When she was waiting at the elevator, it opened and there was Jax.

“Oh, I was just coming to see you.” She walked into the elevator and Jax reached over to hit the number six for his floor. “You don’t have to hit the number twice,” she said.

“I wasn’t thinking,” he said. “What was it you wanted to see me about?”

“I just got Dillion’s number. I was going to pass it on. I know Garrett told you I was feeling under the weather last week.”

“He did,” he said.

“And I didn’t want to do this when others might be around. Can I give it to you now and then I’ll let you get on with your day?”

“Sure,” he said. “Why don’t you read it off to me?”

She pulled it up from her phone and then shared it with Jax. The elevator doors opened on the sixth floor and he got out, but she stayed in, gave him a huge exaggerated wave, and hit the ground level button to escape before anyone could backpedal.

There, her work was done.

Jax waited until the elevator was on the first floor, then he walked to the stairs and made his way back to the third to see Dillion.

She was waiting by the door when he came around the corner laughing. Not surprising.

She swung the door open and then turned and locked it, pulling him toward her office and then shutting them in there.

“Wow, what’s come over you?”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” she said. “I want a kiss.”

He leaned in to give her the kiss that she wanted. Maybe he was missing her some too since he’d left her house on Sunday.

They’d talked that night when Gianna was in bed, but yesterday only had a few brief texts with each other.

If he wanted to call her again last night, he told himself to slow the hell down. It was too soon for them to be in each other’s space that much.

Since they didn’t always show up at the same time for work, it was hard to plan that and they’d missed each other yesterday. The same with today since he saw her car already here and had texted to say he was on his way up to see her.

“That was nice,” he said. He looked at his watch. “What time do your staff get here?”

“In about twenty minutes,” she said. “We’re good. We don’t start as early as you.”

“I’m assuming you talked to Carolyn since she just caught me in the elevator and gave me your number.”

“I did,” she said. “It was pretty funny. I thought you might run into each other here and that would have been hilarious.”

“Yes,” he said. “It would have been. Did you tell her we’ve been dating?”

“And ruin her fun?” she asked. “No. She didn’t give me a chance either. She asked for my number, and said we’d get along wonderfully, which I agreed was nice to hear, then she all but ran out the door as if I had a scalpel in my hand and was going to cut something off her body.”

“You scrape,” he said. “Not cut.”

“I scraped you, but others get cut. Anyway,” she said, waving her hand, “what did she do with you?”

He snorted. “The doors opened on your floor and there she was waiting to get on. I had a panic moment and hit the button on my floor after she said she was coming to see me. She didn’t notice it wasn’t lit up and explained I didn’t have to hit it twice.”

“Good catch,” she said.

“She gave me your number and then didn’t even get off the elevator and went back down. I waited until it was on the first floor and then took the stairs.”

“You’re so smart,” she said, running her hands up the front of his shirt. “Afraid some of your staff might see you?”

If she wasn’t smiling he might be worried that she thought he was hiding their relationship from people.

Which was something they were going to have to talk about at some point too.

“I’m not,” he said. “Are you? You said your parents know we are dating.” Hard not to since they watched Gianna last weekend and were going to do it again this weekend.

“I’d like to let my family know if you’re okay with it.

At least Roni. Otherwise she might find out from Carolyn that they ‘set us up’. ”

He’d lifted his fingers in quotes and they both started to laugh some more.

“They really did,” she said. “Because, you know, slow.” She popped her finger into his chest as she’d said that.

“Well,” he said. “We know you’re not slow and I’m very thankful for it.”

“You tried to slow me down in the bedroom enough over the weekend,” she said, her hands dropping and going around his waist and pulling his hips into hers.

Who the hell was this woman?

The one who said she threw out hints he couldn’t see before.

A man in a coma could understand what Dillion wanted now.

“Not everything has to be fast,” he said. “Some things could be savored.”

“And we’ll get to do that this weekend,” she said.

He leaned down to kiss her one more time. “So you’re good if I let Roni know about us? She won’t say anything to anyone with the last name of Fierce.”

“You can tell your sister,” she said. “Let me know how it goes. A little heads up might be good if she reaches out and gives me the younger sister talk.”

He laughed. “She’s never done it before, but there could be a first.”

Jax left and returned to the staircase. No reason for someone to see him getting on this floor because he knew his staff would be coming in now.

He was unlocking his door when the elevator opened behind him. He turned to see a few of his staff and his sister.

Today seemed to be the day for surprise visitors.

“Morning,” he said.

Roni waited for his staff to go in while he held the door. “Did you take the stairs?” Roni asked.

“I did. Were you coming to see me?”

“No,” Roni said. “I need to check out the small space down the hall quickly for something. But then I was going to come and say hi. Why?”

“I wanted to talk to you anyway,” he said. “Come see me when you get a minute.”

“I can do it now,” Roni said. “It’s not like anyone is in that space.”

His sister walked ahead of him and they went to his office and he shut the door.

“I’m dating someone,” he said.

“That’s great,” Roni said. “Who is it?”

“Dillion Patrick. She was my dermatologist.”

His sister burst out laughing. “I know who she is. I’ve met her, remember. This is one of those Fierce things, isn’t it? I knew they were trying to set you up. They’ve probably thrown enough hints at you and her and you are playing with them, aren’t you?”

“We’re playing with them, but not like you think,” he said and explained what had transpired.

Roni was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes. “You actually said yes when they asked to set you up?”

“You know how it’s been with me and women,” he argued. “I liked her a lot. I thought she liked me too. It was always so easy when we talked in the building.”

“And you didn’t want to ruin what you had if she wasn’t thinking of you the same way?” Roni asked.

“Yes. But the Fierces have an excellent track record. I took that as a sign. I thought, what could it hurt to have some help on my side.”

Roni rolled her eyes. “They had to be so stunned someone took them up on it,” she said. “No one ever does.”

“Well,” he said. “I did. And because I didn’t have a way to reach Dillion, I had no idea they went to talk to her next and she took them up on it too.”

“Okay,” Roni said. “I find this very sweet. It’s almost as if you two were feeling the same thing and just afraid to take that step. Which is funny to me because, you know, you’re not afraid of much.”

“Women,” he said. “No, that’s wrong. Relationships. That’s what I’ve been afraid of, but I like her a lot. I think it might have hurt worse than anything else if she just wanted to be friends. I was stupid and didn’t see it, but now I do.”

“I’m glad. I’m happy for you,” Roni said. “Are you going to tell Mom and Dad?”

“I will in the next day or so,” he said. “Dillion’s parents know about me.”

“Can I ask what the story is with her?” Roni asked. “She has a child, so is she divorced or just split from her ex?”

“He died,” he said. “When Gianna was five weeks old. All I know is he was an ER doctor and they worked together and he was shot and killed. She has dated no one since.”

“That’s sad,” Roni said. “I did not know. I won’t say a word.”

“I didn’t think you would,” he said.

“I hope you don’t get it in your head that since you’re the first relationship she’s had since Gianna’s father that you’re a rebound or her first try back into the dating pool.”

He hadn’t until just then!

“Thanks, Roni. One more thing for me to worry about now.”