Free Payable On Death: A Jax Rhodes Novel, Book One (The Jax Rhodes Series 1) by Rachel Rawlings

throat. "I don't think I've ever seen you with your hair down. You're absolutely stunning." He reached up with his free hand and brushed a stray strand of hair from my face.
    I fought the urge to flinch at the intimate gesture, succeeding apart from the small twitch of my eyes. Dane had to have caught it. He was too astute not to. A private investigator never missed an important clue in someone's body language.
    "A little lip gloss and mascara can go a long way." I reached the top of the stairs when I felt a little tug on my hand.
    I turned back to look at Dane and he moved in, slipping his right hand around my waist and backing me up against the wall. Before I knew it, his masterful lips were on mine and his hands cupped my face. He kissed and nipped until I finally opened my mouth allowing him to deepen the kiss. He pulled away just before I thought I might melt into a puddle at his feet.
    "Don't do that. Don't brush off my compliment like I'm some guy hitting on you at the bar and you don't believe it. I'll keep saying it until you do. You're beautiful." Dane McDonough was well on his way to winning more than our bet for a date. If he made it through dinner and my sparkling conversation, he just might win the grand prize.
    He kissed me again, softer this time, before resting his forehead against mine. "I've wanted to do that since I found you in the alley the other night."
    "Unable to resist a damsel in distress?" My chest heaved from an intoxicating combination of fear and desire. I wanted him and that scared the shit out of me.
    "I used to think so, until I met you and realized I don't want a woman who needs to be saved all the time. I want a woman who can hold her own."
    "Well, then, I'm your girl because no one can save me." The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them, a verbal bucket of ice dumped on the hottest moment of my life. Smooth, Jax, very smooth.
    Lazarus chose that moment to make his presence known again, lurking in the shadows across the hall from us. His hands caressed his groin while he watched the two of us entangled in an embrace. Four lesser demons crawled out from the darkness swirling around his feet and scaled the walls. Lazarus licked his lips suggestively. I tried to ignore them and the truth that I was terrified to reveal this part of my life to Dane. He hadn't sensed them, couldn't see them scaling the walls outside my apartment.
    My heart sank. I said I would go to dinner and I wasn't backing out, but my expectations for the evening had drastically changed. The dread I'd always felt about letting people in anchored itself to any hopes I'd had. I should have just blown out my hair and gone with the laundry day granny panties.
    Lazarus sneered. "The master will not be happy about this at all. I can't wait to tell him."
    I couldn't wait to figure out exactly what the hell was going on.

ELEVEN
     
     
     
     
    People lined the walls inside La Scala, some waiting for a table at the popular Sicilian restaurant while others waited for a turn on the indoor bocce ball court. Nino, the owner, was an Italian's Italian, with a passion for food and an appetite for life. From the moment you walked in, you felt at home and like part of the family.
    Nino waved over the throngs of people crowded around the hostess, motioning toward the swinging kitchen door. I'd eaten in the back more times than I could count. Tending a bar definitely had its perks; the staff here were regulars. One of Nino' nephews, interning for the summer while he finished culinary school, had sort of a thing for me a few years back. It never went anywhere, although I did score a permanent seat at one of the best restaurants in town. I preferred the small table wedged into an out of the way corner, surrounded by the hustle and precision of the busy kitchen, to the clank of silverware against plates and the melded background chatter of the dining area.
    Salvatore set the table, waiting for us to settle in before offering us the