Social worker Ivory Black has seen the effects of addiction too many times to count. The latest: A baby girl whose mother died in an overdose. What would have been an easy case turns into a fight for her heart when bad-boy Jax Morgan enters the picture.As the only living relative, Jax is by law, the child's assumed guardian. As Ivory struggles to open Jax's cold heart to the child, and keep her own protected from him at the same time, Jax is dealing with severe PTSD. Addiction is never pretty, but Ivory can't stop wanting Jax.
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Excerpt:
“Is there anything else?” Her hands turned to butter, and she gripped the cup in her hands tighter. She didn’t dare raise it to her lips otherwise Jax would know just how nervous she felt.
“Not about Ashley.”
Appearing to be cool, calm and collected, he leaned against the high back of the barstool, but at the slightest movement, Ivory knew the man would coil into action. “I want to know more about you.”
“Me?” Ivory’s droll tone earned her a disapproving bearing of his teeth.
“I think that’s what I just said.”
She closed her eyes and tried to shut out the sound of the loud jukebox and raucous patrons. She focused on staying calm because if she didn’t, she might bolt for the safety of her Jeep. She wasn’t quite sure if she needed to be safe from the patrons at the bar or from Jax and his pheromones.
He studied her, his thick fringe of eyelashes lowered slightly, and Ivory felt a curious tingling ascend her spine. “Are you always rude?” she asked.
Jax’s lips pulled into a smirk. He tapped his finger against the bar in time with the hard rock. “I don’t see many people, babe, except through the end of a scope.”
A chill crashed over Ivory. A scope, as in sniper’s rifle? She clenched her drink harder. More than the little bit of knowledge he’d given her, the alpha male sitting next to her made her body react in a way she hadn’t let herself feel in a long time. Not since college. She felt heat coat her stomach, flames lick the center of her core in time with the rips of a guitar. She sensed his need and her body responded. The last time she’d given herself to a man, he’d broken her heart.
He leaned in, the heat of his skin so close her flesh grew warm. She drew in the scent of his cologne, something airy, like cool water. How could a man be so hot and cold at the same time? She bit down on her lip.
His smirk continued to taunt her. “Don’t worry, Miss Black. I don’t bite” He took a sip of his drink then pushed the glass away. “Unless you ask me to.”
He rose to his full height, tossing down a few bills. “Trixie, for both our drinks, and you,” he called out, his deep voice loud enough for the woman heard him from the other end of the bar.
Ivory felt too hot as he stood, gripped her elbow, and steered her toward the door. The light pressure of his fingertips against her elbow burned all the way to her core. She clenched her thigh muscles against the growing need. She never had a one night stand in her life but Jax could make her want it. Oh, God, he could make her want to do things she had never wanted to do before and that was the problem.
Outside the bar, the sudden quiet made her ears ring. Instead of leading her toward her Jeep, he pushed her deeper into the shadows. Ivory dug her feet in, but he tossed a look over his shoulder. He propelled her toward the wharf, the docks.
The smell of dead fish didn’t bother her, but the man taking her away from the safety of light and her car did. She felt around for her weapon again. “Where are you taking me?”
“I need some air.”
Ivory yanked on her elbow and pulled her arms out of reach. He stopped half-way down the dock, turned to face her. Ivory tilted her head back, stared up into those blazing eyes and nearly melted. Had a man ever wanted her the way she sensed he did? The way he looked made her toes curl, her womb throb.
How could he make her feel this way with just a look? On principle, she didn’t even like the man. She had no respect for anyone who could turn a back on a child. On top of that, he killed people. He killed people. Ivory took a step back.
“Going to run?”
Ivory felt for her 1911 again, confidence in the cold piece of steel strapped to her body making it easier to breathe. Her lungs seemed to work again. “I don’t run, Captain.”
“Jax.”
Ivory notched her chin up at him, clamped her lips shut. He took a step forward, and they danced that way. She retreated. He advanced. She felt the rough wood of a fishing shack at her back and glanced up. No lights. No one around. The bar music vibrated on the wind. If she screamed, no one would hear her. But oh, man, she really did not want to.
Even though she’d trained in all forms of martial arts over the years, thanks to her absentee father’s monthly stipend, taking down the six-four giant with a body of iron would be hard for her. If he pinned her, would she even be able to get to her gun? Would she even want to? Her thoughts chased themselves around and around until he placed two massive palms on either side of her body, his cool breath smelling slightly like liquor.
Despite her growing apprehension, her body continued to groan in need. She hadn’t been with a lover since Nathan. She needed release, and Jax seemed to want to give it to her. Her nana’s voice echoed through her mind. Don’t give it all away on the first date, Cha-cha.
Ivory’s breath came rapidly. He leaned in close, and his breath fanned her ear, which sent signals of pleasure racing to her brain. She jerked at the torture of him so close, the heat invading her clothes despite the cool night.
“What do you want from me?”
Jax nipped at her lobe. “I think you know want what I want.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m going to give it to you,” Ivory shot back.
Jax lowered a hand to her waist and pulled her against the hard wall of his body. A very specific bulge burrowed against her stomach. Her knees turned to jellyfish. His wide palm splayed against her back, then slid under her jacket to the skin beneath. The heat seared her flesh, and to her horror, she whimpered.
“I’m not going to take you,” he murmured.
He licked the bundle of nerves just behind her earlobe, and Ivory sank her nails into his shirt, astonished to feel the fire and granite of his chest, the ridges and valleys of his pectoral muscles. It had been way too long without sex, and now she found herself ready to give herself over to a stranger, on the docks no less.
“At least, not tonight,” he rumbled seconds before he licked a scorching path up her neck, pressed her harder against him.
Ivory wrapped her arms around his back, tired of the game he taunted her with. “I don’t even know you,” she panted.
“Baby, you’re going to know me, real well. That’s a promise.”
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