Sea Breeze 01 - Breathe

it. You just drive.”
    Kane nodded, stepped back, and let Jax finish, but he didn’t move until he went to open the door for us. Jax sighed and motioned for me to go in first. He slid in behind me, this time sitting beside me instead of across from me.
    “He’s determined not to let me impress you with my chivalry and is taking all the glory.” He smiled.
    I no longer saw him as shallow and self-centered. Not after the scene I’d witnessed in the grocery store. For as long as I lived I would never forget the little girl’s face when Jax kissed her head.
    “Are you going to share those deep thoughts with me?”
    I shrugged. “I’m just remembering the little girl’s face. What you did was really nice. I didn’t picture you like that.”
    He frowned. “Like what?”
    “Well, I guess I didn’t think you would have acknowledged a little girl, and not only did you speak to her, you made a dream come true for her. I mean, you could have just blown her off and acted like you were not Jax Stone.” I stopped talking and gazed up at him because his mouth had formed a crooked smile. “What?” I asked.
    He lightly ran his finger from my ear to my chin. “I think you’re the first girl I have ever met who is impressed by my kindness to kids.”
    My heart thudded in my chest from his touch. Drawing breath into my lungs became difficult. “Well, you really need to be pickier about who you spend time with,” I managed to say without sounding breathless.
    He threw back his head and laughed, and I couldn’t help but smile. “You’re right, Sadie. I do, and I think I’ve found someone who I want to spend time with who happens to cry for little girls she doesn’t know who have lost their fathers in the war.”
    I didn’t want to think about the sweet little girl being fatherless. If I teared up again, I would seem ridiculous. “You’ll get tired of me quickly. I’m boring,” I admitted out loud before I realized it.
    He slipped a finger under my chin and tilted my face up. “Nothing about you is boring. Just watching you think is entertaining.”
    I frowned, and he kissed my head much like he did the little girl’s and laughed softly.
    “Don’t frown, beautiful. You fascinate me.”
    My face grew hot, and my heart pounded so hard in my chest I feared it might burst its way out. It wasn’t fair that he could affect me with so little effort.
    The Hummer stopped, and I realized we were sitting outside my apartment. I frowned at him. “I never told you how to get here.”
    He grinned and got out to open my door. “You work for me, Sadie. I made it my business to get your address from your file and give it to Kane before we left.”
    “I hadn’t thought about that,” I muttered.
    He exited the vehicle and held his hand out to me. I slipped my hand in his and stepped out.
    “Can I take your bags inside for you?” he asked.
    “No!” The thought of Jessica seeing him, or even worse, the thought of what she might be wearing, terrified me. “Um, I . . . It’s just, my mom is not real big on people coming in these days.”
    He opened the back. “Well, at least let me carry them to the door.”
    “Okay.” I walked with him to the doorway. My bike was propped against the tree closest to the apartment. I needed to thank Marcus for bringing it home for me. That was sweet of him to think about it. I turned back to Jax and took the bags from him, and then I reached in and took out the gum. I didn’t know what to say, so I just handed it to him, and his face lit up. A smile I remembered from the photos of him as a little boy appeared on his face. It wasn’t a smile the world ever got a glimpse of in magazines.
    “I take it I was good.”
    I nodded. “Thanks again for the ride and the company.”
    He bowed teasingly. “Anytime.” I looked at him one more time and went inside. I closed the door and leaned up against it. Jax Stone had just rocked my world, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Chapter Five
    JAX
    I had to stay away from her. That had been much too close. I wasn’t someone who could do relationships, and Sadie wasn’t the kind of girl who could do a summer fling. Even if I wanted to get a taste of her so damn bad it was driving me crazy.
    I stood at the window in my bedroom and looked down into the backyard. I could pretend I was staring out at the ocean, but I wasn’t. I was watching her. I was always watching her. But this time I would keep my distance. I couldn’t spend any