Page 24 of For the Promise (The Raider Brothers #2)

“Now that was unexpected.” ~ Blossom

Blossom

I spend the rest of dinner batting questions away from Jaxon. I had to open my big mouth and tell the people at the table he’s part owner of the distillery? I shouldn’t have, but they were looking down their noses at us and I couldn’t stand it.

Especially after Crispin said Alan expects to come into money. Come into money? Is that what we’re calling stealing these days?

Jaxon brushes the hair off my neck. “How are you doing?”

“Wondering how much jail time I’d get for beating up a wedding guest.”

He chuckles. “The jail cells in Smuggler’s Rest are quite nice.”

“How would you know?”

“Have you not met my brothers?”

I giggle. “You have a point.”

“I think Eli’s debating between donating money for a new jailhouse or hiring a matchmaker for my brothers. ”

“I pity the women who fall in love with Kai, Zane, or Miles. They are not going to be easy to pin down.”

“I think Kai has already found a woman.”

“Really? I haven’t heard he’s dating anyone.” And, trust me, I would have heard. Gossiping is an island sport. A competitive sport.

“They’re not dating. She won’t give him the time of day.”

My jaw drops. “No way. A Raider brother was shot down?”

“As I recall, your best friend, Dakota, shot Rhett down plenty.”

I sniff. “He deserved it.”

He drops a kiss on my nose. “I believe you.”

He needs to stop with the little kisses and touches and caresses. If I didn’t know better, I’d think our relationship was real. But I do know better. Our relationship is fake. No matter how comfortable the diamond ring feels on my finger. We are not real.

“Do you want to hang around longer? Do some dancing?”

I raise an eyebrow. “I think you’ll break my toes with these shoes.”

I kick out my foot to show off my high-heeled sandal.

“I wouldn’t want to break your toe.” His voice is gruff and when I meet his gaze, his eyes are flaring with passion. Passion? I decide to test the theory and cross my legs. He groans before adjusting himself.

“No dancing then. Do you want to stay for the cutting of the cake and all the other silly wedding traditions?”

“Silly traditions? You don’t enjoy weddings? ”

My nose wrinkles. “I enjoy them just fine when I don’t know the bride and groom aren’t spending money they expect to steal from me.”

He stands and offers me his hand. “Let’s go then. You can soak in the hot tub on the deck while the sun sets with a glass of wine.”

“Can we steal a bottle of wine from here?” I ask as he pulls me to my feet. My feet protest but I ignore the pain. I am not complaining about walking in heels when Jaxon thinks they’re sexy.

He chuckles. “I should have known.”

“It’s not actually stealing since we’re guests,” I claim.

He leads me to the bar with a hand on my lower back. I shiver at the feel of those big, capable hands touching my body. The material of my dress is thin, but not thin enough. I want his hands on my naked body.

“Do you want a bottle of red or white?”

“Duh. A bottle of bubbly.”

“Why did I ask?” he mutters.

We’re nearly at the bar when Alan steps in our way.

I force a smile. “Congratulations, Alan. I hope you’ll be happy for many years.”

“I won’t allow you to disparage my wife.”

“Your wife? I thought I was your wife.”

Jaxon growls. “You’re my wife.”

Alan’s nostrils flare as he faces off with me. “You know who I mean. I won’t allow you to treat Stacey this way.”

“What way? What are you talking about? ”

I have a sneaking suspicion the bride has been lying about me. Big surprise there. I had her pegged as a saint who never lies. Not. I bite my tongue before I laugh in Alan’s face. I don’t want to escalate the situation.

Alan grinds his teeth and his ears turn red. “Don’t act all innocent. You know what you did.”

“Um, no. I don’t.” This is technically not a lie. Since I didn’t disparage Stacey.

He steps closer but Jaxon pushes me behind him. “Stop. You don’t intimidate my wife. You don’t get up all in her space and spin lies about her.”

My body gets all tingly at Jaxon’s words. A man hasn’t defended me since my dad died over two years ago. If you had asked me this morning what I think about a man defending me, I would have told you I can defend myself.

But now? My nipples are pebbled, and my panties are damp. I haven’t been this turned on while dressed in forever. As in it’s never happened before. Oh my. Jaxon is one sexy beast.

Alan stabs Jaxon in the chest with his finger. “What about how your wife treated my wife this morning? Stacey came back to our hotel room in tears.”

“If Stacey was in tears, I had nothing to do with it.”

Alan tries to push past Jaxon to get to me, but Jaxon maneuvers him away.

“You lied to her,” Alan says. “You told her to enjoy her marriage with a man who won’t be faithful to her.”

“I’m not hearing the lie in this statement.”

“I have never cheated on Stacey. ”

I peek around Jaxon and lift a brow at Alan. “Really? This is me. The woman with photographic proof of your inability to keep your tiny dick in your pants.”

“I only cheated on you because you were a horrible lay. A dead fish would be better at sex than you.”

Jaxon growls before he steps forward. “Do not speak about my wife and sex again or you’ll regret it.”

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do, nerd? Hit me with a physics book?” Alan pretends to search for a book on Jaxon. “Your hands are empty. No nerdy books to be found.”

“I’m warning you one more time to shut the hell up before you regret it.”

Alan snorts. “I’m not afraid of you.”

Jaxon smirks. “You should be.”

And then – bam! – Jaxon punches Alan in the nose. Blood spurts everywhere as Alan screams in pain. It’s possible I’m cheering but only on the inside. If I had pompoms, it would be different.

“You asshole! You broke my nose!”

“I warned you.” Jaxon fiddles with his cufflinks as Alan yells for help.

“Police! Police!”

I tug on Jaxon’s hand. “We should go. I don’t want you to get arrested.”

“Don’t worry. I know all of the police officers on the island. They’ll never arrest me.”

“You’re crazy. Certifiable. How did I not know this about you? ”

Hudson rushes into the room, followed by a bunch of security.

Alan points to Jaxon. “I want him arrested. He punched me without reason.”

Jaxon glares at him. “There was a reason. Do I need to remind you?”

“He’s threatening me! You heard him!”

“I’ll handle this,” Hudson says as he motions for Jaxon to proceed him out of the room. I rush to follow them.

We arrive in an office and Hudson shuts the door behind us. “We’ll sit this out in here until Alan is calmed down. But I advise you not to return to the party.”

“We are not going back to the wedding. The groom is an asshole.” Jaxon rubs his hand.

“Shit. Are you hurt?” I pull his hand to me to examine it. “Your knuckles are bruised. We should get you some ice.”

“Alan has a hard head.”

I snort. “You’re telling me. I don’t think he listened to my advice once when we were together.”

Hudson’s brow wrinkles. “Why did you go to the wedding of your ex if you don’t like him?”

I wrinkle my nose. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ll probably hear it from my wife, Nova.”

“No, you won’t,” Jaxon grumbles. “No one is going to spread Blossom’s private business around the island.”

I bump his hip. “You better stop being nice to me or I’ll think you like me. ”

Hudson’s gaze ping pongs between us. “Aren’t you two married?”

“It’s a—”

“… long story,” he finishes for me.

There’s a knock on the door. “Hudson. We could use your help out here.”

Hudson sighs. “I hate wedding season,” he mutters before opening the door.

A man hands him an ice pack. “This is for Rocky Balboa.”

Jaxon accepts the ice with a purse of his lips. “Rocky lost. I did not.”

“The groom is throwing a fit. I think speaking to the Hudson Clark would go a long way in helping to calm him down.”

“I’ll go,” Hudson steps into the hallway. “You can sneak out the back hallway.”

“But I didn’t get to steal a bottle of wine,” I complain.

He chuckles. “I’ll have a bottle of champagne sent to your chalet if you promise to behave.”

I raise my hands. “I’m not the one with the fisticuffs.”

Jaxon grunts. “As long as Alan doesn’t spread any more lies about Blossom, I’m good.”

Hudson’s eyes narrow. “He’s spreading lies about a local? I guess he’s getting his wish to meet me now.”

I hurry to the door and watch Hudson prowl down the hallway. His anger is evident in every step he makes.

“Thanks for calling me a local,” I shout after him.

He flicks his hand in what I assume is a gesture of ‘you’re welcome’.

“You ready to get out of here?” I ask Jaxon.

He offers me his hand, but instead of leading me out of the room, he hauls me near. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay? I didn’t punch anyone or break my nose.”

He leans his forehead against mine. “Alan said some nasty things about you. Words can hurt.”

My heart pounds in my chest. This man is everything. His knuckles are bruised and yet he’s worried about me. And why are his knuckles bruised? Because he was defending me.

There’s no denying it. I have utterly failed to keep my heart encased in steel. I’m falling for Jaxon.

I cuddle into Jaxon’s warmth. “Yeah, words can hurt. But when a man defends you by breaking the speaker’s nose it’s all good.”

“You’re good?” I nod. He squeezes me once before motioning to the door. “Then, let’s get out of here.”

He wraps an arm around my shoulders and we make our way to the chalet. All the while my heart is beating out of control.

I’m falling for Jaxon. And we only have one more night together.