Chapter 19

Jax

I stared at Reine as she stood next to my desk, my mind racing. I didn’t know what to make of her demands of the previous day. Of course, it was part of the contract that she got whatever sum of money she asked for, so long as it was a reasonable sum.

For some reason I couldn’t explain though, yesterday had put things into perspective. No matter how great the relationship between us was, it was still business. She and I were using each other to attain our objectives.

I had no idea what she needed the money to do and after the previous night, I had almost given in to the temptation of calling Dylan and getting him to send over what he had found on her. But I had told Reine I wouldn’t pry into her life and I was going to respect that promise.

She looked nervous. She stared at me for a few seconds then tilted her head to the side slightly and bit her lip. And I was taken back to the kiss.

It had lasted barely a few seconds, but I wanted to do it again. I wasn’t exactly sure if she had felt the desire that was emanating from my whole being. I was pissed, pissed at myself for wanting her so much, and pissed at her for having secrets that I didn’t have access to.

I wanted to strip her bare, in every sense of the word. I wanted to know all of her secrets, the stupid ones, the deep ones. I didn’t know where all of this was coming from, but I almost felt like I needed this woman. I had never had such strong feelings for any woman before in my life, especially not after we had known each other for a few weeks.

I shook my head and walked towards her, my gaze going down to her fingers playing with each other. I decided to ignore it, trying not to make her even more nervous than she already was and just talk about whatever we had to do during the board meeting.

“Do you have your ring on?” I asked.

She met my eyes for the first time since we had gotten into my office and nodded. It was a shy nod. The tension between us felt weird. It was like we were meeting each other for the first time again. I was not going to dwell on that though.

“I do,” she said in that enticing voice of hers.

I nodded, more as a way to distract myself from her, than as a way to agree with her.

“We’ve been together for a year and a half, we met each other when you came here to see Sandra and we got into a long-distance relationship. I proposed to you three months ago, but I didn’t want to make my life any more public than it already was. Anything else you have to add?”

She looked hesitant, but it was clear that she wanted to speak up. “Uhm, did you get involved with any woman publicly? I don’t want them to pick holes into our story.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I said, not wanting to admit that the past six months had been some kind of dry season for me. I had stayed away from women by volition.

Reine looked confused but she did not ask any questions. Just nodded her head then looked away. I wanted to hold her face and force her to look at me. I wanted to stare deep into her eyes and uncover the secrets that lay in their murky depths.

I was getting obsessed with this woman.

If I wasn’t obsessed already.

“Come,” I said brusquely.

My thoughts were taking another dimension that I didn’t want. It was clear that Reine was not the innocent I believed she was. And it was clear that she had just one objective: getting the money she needed for whatever shady deals she had and leaving. The last thing I wanted to do was attach myself to a gold digger. Or to someone that was going to use me and disappear.

She walked towards me and I fought the urge to close my eyes when I got a whiff of her scent. It smelled like an amazing mixture of cocoa butter and roses. I loved it. I didn’t want to be a weirdo though, so I opened the door and waited for her to get out. Then locked the door behind her and placed my hand on the small of her back as I directed her to the boardroom.

I felt Reine shake a little when my hand touched her back, even through the layers of clothing. It was nice to know that I affected her, maybe the same effect that she had on me.

I was conscious of all the stares, and I basked in it. There was some primal urge in me that wanted to turn Reine and kiss her in front of all of these eyes. But I knew how uncomfortable that would make her and I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. I was turning into a fucking pussy because of this woman. The thought got me annoyed.

We walked to the boardroom in silence, and when we got in, six pairs of eyes were staring at us. I smiled, a very flat smile, one they probably interpreted as something else. I could feel the nervous energy emanating from Reine, so I pulled her closer to me and rubbed her arm reassuringly. I didn’t know where these gestures were coming from. It was almost instinctive.

“Good day gentlemen,” I said, and they nodded.

Of course, Ben was the one who ushered us to our seats since apparently, the other men had lost all sense of courtesy. I pulled a chair out for Reine, then sat next to her. When she placed her hand on the table, I placed mine on hers, in their full view.

“This is Reine Graham, my fiancée,” I started, uncaring that they were supposed to ask me to do the introductions first. I didn’t know how exactly, but I knew that Reine was getting uncomfortable. And I didn’t want that. “Baby, these are the men who brought ColElectronics to where it is today.”

“Nice to meet you,” Reine said.

Her voice was surprisingly firm, and I was a little surprised.

“Let’s cut the chase, Jax. We know this is nothing but a stunt so you can be named CEO. You can stop pretending.”

I chuckled.

Of course, it was Ben, their “mouthpiece”. He had been so gentle the other day, and here he was all aggression.

“Enlighten me, why do you think so? You think me incapable of being in a serious relationship with someone?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.” It wasn’t Ben who spoke this time around. “You are known to be a player and I’m sure you’ve paid this cheap girl an insane amount to pretend to be your fiancée.”

Reine gasped. My mouth tightened.

It was one thing to attack my character, but it was another thing to drag in Reine. She was innocent in all of this, even if I had paid her, there was no reason to talk about her in such degrading language.

“Now…” I started, ready to pour my ire on the old men. But Reine’s small hand on my chest got me quiet. It was the first time she was touching me. And it didn’t matter that it was for show. It felt amazing. So, I stopped talking and looked down at her.

“Let me speak, babe,” she said softly, then she turned around and faced the men. “Gentlemen, I understand your reservations towards all this, and I would have tolerated questions and doubts about mine and Jax’s relationship. But what I do not appreciate is insinuating that Jax possesses no seriousness and that I am ‘cheap’ as you said.”

I couldn’t get my eyes off her. She was talking with so much confidence and her voice was soft but firm.

“Jax has not worked his ass off all these years, under you, under his father for you to say this. Jax has been wanting to make our relationship public for months, but I have refused, for personal reasons. And the only reason why I agreed was because you forced his hand. You don’t know me, even if you run an investigation on me, you still won’t know me. So, I would appreciate you referring to me in more respectful terms than that. Thank you.”

Wow.

I literally couldn’t say anything else other than wow. She had blown me away. I had never imagined that with how reserved she was, Reine would even speak up without being prompted. I wasn’t complaining though. Quite the contrary. It had made me proud.

“We will take our leave now, gentlemen. I hope all your doubts have been laid to rest,” I said with a sarcastic smile on my face. “Let’s go.”

Reine took my hand and we walked out of the boardroom. She looked up at me and I could sense the need for reassurance in her gaze. Some demon possessed me in that instant, and I led her to my office without saying a word. We got in and I locked the door.

I looked at her and said coldly, “My driver is downstairs waiting for you. Call me if you need anything and text me when you get home. I’ll accompany you downstairs and we’ll kiss. Let’s go.”