He stops in front of me and I have to work hard at keeping my distance. All I want to do is launch myself at him and rip his shirt apart to reveal that chiseled body he’s hiding underneath his tux. Tonight will be impossible if he’s going to look this good.

Slowly, painfully slowly, he twirls one of the loose curls that frame my face. With his other hand, he strokes from my cheek to my jaw with the tip of his index finger. I bite my lip, forcing myself not to take his finger in my mouth and suck it . . . hard.

He groans so quietly I almost don’t hear him. “I have no words to adequately describe how heart-stopping beautiful you look, Adalynn.”

Blushing scarlet red, I smile up at him. “You clean up pretty nicely, too.”

He offers me his elbow and I eagerly wrap my arm around his. Without another word to each other, we exit my apartment building to the waiting car. When I sit down, Jax helps gather the small train of the dress before closing the door and going around to the other side.

Noticing the empty limo I ask, “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you or anything, but where’s my brother?”

Jax ignores me and reaches into his pocket to retrieve his vibrating phone. “Hmmm . . . well this should be fun. Yeah I already got her. Yeah, see you in a bit, we’re just leaving.”

I give him my no-nonsense stare when he hangs up.

Sighing dramatically he says, “Logan has some last minute things to take care of so I offered to take you.”

I laugh. “So you’re my knight in shining armor, Jax?”

He rolls his eyes.

I’m debating what to say now since we’re sitting in traffic in awkward silence when a thought hits me. “Wait, what last minute things? Logan didn’t mention anything today.”

Jax looks momentarily panicked for a whole half a second, but he quickly masks it with the unreadable expression that he uses when he’s trying to hide something from me. “Guess he doesn’t tell you everything. You know, kind of the same way you withhold information from him.”

For a second I think he’s referring to us, though his sudden hostility baffles me. Then he adds, “You know how you told him about your date with the good doctor and all.”

And the lightbulb finally comes on. So that’s why he is so cold with me all of a sudden. “You wouldn’t be jealous, would you?” I ask, knowing full well that he is, even though he won’t admit it.

“Hardly,” Jax says.

Jaxon Chandler is jealous. There’s a first for everything I guess. If only he knew that he has nothing to envy. It’s him; no matter what, he will always be it for me. Too bad I can’t tell him, I have my own demons and I know Jax will never have the courage to take this further. He’s never been able to. That’s why we sneaked around when we were teenagers, because of idea of making our relationship public freaked him out.

“I know it’s popular belief that I tell my brother everything in my life, but I actually don’t tell him about the men in my life,” I say in the most condescending voice I can manage. I give him a glare that would kill a lesser man on the spot, but of course The God beside me just glares back.

Yeah, that’s right, Jax, I said men. Plural. Suck on that. If Jax wants to keep playing the hot and cold game, then fine, I’m all in. I shift in my seat and look out the window, trying my hardest to ignore the seething man beside me. Everyone wants me to live again, to find myself, so fine, I will. The old me would never allow Jax to continue pulling this crap and frankly I’m tired of it. Enough is enough.

I don’t know if it’s the recent events or how this magnificent dress makes me feel incredibly beautiful, but I can’t wait for the Rare Disease Charity Ball. I’m going to embrace myself tonight and I won’t let Jax giving me whiplash stop me from having a good time.

Once we arrive, a quick surveillance of the room shows me that I might have options. It seems that every single man here is checking me out, some to their dates’ disappointment. All thanks to the gorgeous dress Jax bought for me. My attention drifts to the ceiling. It’s covered in lights, as if they want it to appear like the night sky. Of course I think of my brother. I know he’s had a hand in this. I’ll have to compliment him once I see him. I turn. My “date” has mysteriously disappeared within the crowd. I do, however, spot the place to boost up my courage, a short distance away. There also happens to be a sexy guy leaning against the bar ogling me.

I’m still at the bar flirting shamelessly when I feel his eyes on me. I know he is somewhere close. I choose to step up my game and ignore him like I’ve been doing since we arrived.

Setting my hand on the stranger’s bicep, I lean closer than necessary to whisper, “Are you going to just flirt with me or are you going to ask me to dance anytime soon?” I lean back and gaze into his brown eyes and bite my lip suggestively.

He places both of our champagne flutes on the table, then takes my hand and whispers, “It would be my pleasure Ms . . .?”

I lick my bottom lip and say in what I hope is a sexy voice, “Let’s not get into names.” I wave my hand vaguely around the room. “Defeats the theme for tonight.”

His eyes get heated and I’m suddenly regretting my decision to flirt with a complete stranger. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. I feel his presence closing in on us and I know that I’m making the right decision after all. Jax keeps leaving me frustrated and I know this is the perfect idea.

I’m accompanying the handsome stranger to the dance floor when we see Connor and one of his blonde bimbos blocking our path. Connor is dashing in his tux and Phantom of the Opera mask. His date for the evening, if you can call it that, reminds me of all the stereotypical blondes that everyone hates. I bet her voice is even annoying. I refuse to learn her name since she will be gone by tonight . . . or within the next few hours, they never last until the morning. I look pointedly from his date to him. Connor just shrugs as if to say, “she’s hot.”

Connor leans in, gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “You look beyond words tonight Ada—”

“Thanks!” I say much too loudly so he doesn’t reveal my name to the stranger. “Have you seen Logan?”

The stranger beside me shifts nervously on his feet. I think it could be because of the person glaring daggers at him close by. I choose to ignore both and focus on Connor.

“Logan won’t be able to make it tonight, actually. He kindly told me at the last minute so that I would have the short car ride over to prepare my speech.”

I do the most ladylike snort. “I’m not even going to pretend to feel sorry for you. I would say something along the lines of, you can always talk your way out of anything and you’ll do great, but let’s face it, you don’t need to hear it. I’m sure you hear how great you are from the endless women on your arm.”

The bimbo, who was ignoring me and doing everything in her power to gain Connor’s attention, scowls at me. I smirk in response. There, payback for the whole crashing my date thing.

Without another word I yank on the stranger’s hand again and lead him to the dance floor. He pulls me into his arms and starts spinning me across the room. I have to admit, Mr. Mysterious really knows how to move. When he spins me back into his arms, I realize I’m having fun. He moves his hands to my lower back, which of course makes me step on his toe with my heel.

“Crap! Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Without taking his eyes off my mouth, he begins to descend for a kiss. Instinctively, I turn away at the last second so his lips graze the side of my cheek.

I can tell he’s irritated that I dodged his kiss, but I ignore it and continue to dance with him to another song. As the chorus comes through the speakers, his hand starts to roam again. I have no idea why I turned away at the last minute. I wonder if it has anything to do with Kohen, or worse with Jax. I tell myself I’m just not the kind of person to kiss random strangers.