Page 58 of One Good Crash

"Not long."

I considered the time. It had been hours since his argument with Morgan. Surely, he hadn't been sitting there the whole time?

No. Definitely not.From what I'd overheard earlier, he'd hustled Morgan off to some sort of meeting, which meant that he'd been away for at leastsomeportion of the morning.

He flicked his head toward the stairway. "You ready?"

I was too distracted to be ready. And why? Because he looked so darn appealing.

Last night, he'd looked amazing in his tux, but now I realized that its formal lines had been hiding a physique that was even more impressive than I'd imagined.

And I'd been imagining plenty.

Now, with him wearing a basic black T-shirt, I could see his bulging biceps and perfectly defined pecs. His stomach was flat, and even through the dark cotton of his shirt, I could see the vague outlines of the tight ab muscles underneath.

He gave the stairway another glance. "Ladies first."

I hadn't said yes to his invitation, but who was I kidding? This might be my last decent meal for a while, and I'd be stupid to refuse.

Plus, breakfast with Jax? I couldn’t say no tothateven I were stuffed, which I definitely wasn't.

And yet, an hour later, I was wondering if I'd made a huge mistake – not because the pancakes hadn't been wonderful, but rather because it became glaringly obvious that he'd invited me out for a reason.

And whatwasthat reason?

To grill me like a slab of bacon.

Chapter 26

The waitress had just cleared away our dirty dishes when he said, "So, what was your plan?"

I wasn't following. "What do you mean?"

"Last night," he said, "were you waiting for someone?"

My cheeks grew warm as I considered where he'd found me – stranded outside like some sort of vagrant. I glanced away. "Well, I did call my roommate."

"Yeah? And where was she?"

I really didn't want to say, so I gave a half-hearted shrug. "I had some trouble reaching her, that's all."

"But why didn't you wait inside?"

Hadn't we been through this already?"Because, the party was over."

"And…?"

"And nothing." I made a sound of frustration. "Actually, I'm not sure what you're getting at. I didn't know it was your house, okay? And I didn't want to intrude."

"On who?"

"Whoever."

His gaze locked on mine. "Were youaskedto leave?"

I bit my lip, but made no reply.

His mouth tightened. "So you were."