Sea Breeze 01 - Breathe

lucky girl.” I dropped my hand and turned to walk away.
    “What if she already has, but her heart is taken?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then turned to glare at him. “Then she isn’t the right one.”
    He walked toward me in one long stride. “But what if she’s wrong?” he asked, right before his mouth came down on mine.
    I was stunned at first, and then I panicked. I couldn’t be doing this. I put both my hands against his chest and pushed him away before turning and running. I ran straight to my bike and pedaled home as hard as I could.
    The phone rang. I’d just reached my road and was out of breath from pedaling so fast. I pulled over, sank down against a tree, and took a deep breath. I needed to answer this. I would talk to him about the actress when he got home, but I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions while he wasn’t here to defend himself. Even if the pictures were rather incriminating.
    “Hello,” I answered.
    “Where are you?” Jax’s voice sounded hard and strained.
    “Uh . . .” I realized it was two in the afternoon and I was almost home. How could I explain this?
    “Well, I’m pulled over on the side of the road talking to you,” I said in the lightest tone I could muster.
    “Why are you not at my house?” His tone sounded a little less hard, but still very strained.
    “Well, um . . .” I did not want to lie, but I did not want to tell the truth, either. At least, not over the phone. “I’m going home early.”
    He paused for a minute. “Are you going to tell me why?”
    “Do I have to?”
    “Yes, I think you need to.”
    “I have a headache.” It wasn’t a lie.
    “Jason just called me. He witnessed something from his window about thirty minutes ago.”
    I sighed and laid my head back against the tree.
    “This is something I wanted to wait and discuss when you got home.”
    “It can’t wait. He said you were crying and he said . . . he said Marcus kissed you.”
    The last part sounded so hard and angry I feared for Marcus.
    “There’s a lot more to it.”
    “Then tell me.”
    I knew this wouldn’t end until I told him everything.
    “Marcus’s sister, Amanda, saw pictures of you online taken last night with Bailey Kirk, and you were really very friendly and touchy in them. You seemed happy. I had a hard time with the photos, and Marcus said a few things about our relationship I didn’t want to hear, and I cried a little. He stopped me and tried to console me, and I started to leave again and he just . . . he just kissed me.”
    Jax didn’t say anything for what seemed like a lifetime. “He’s fired, and I’m on a plane home now.”
    “Jax, no! He, he . . . I think he’s in love with me.”
    Jax let out a hard laugh. “I know.”
    “Well, he’s just worried about me, and he was trying to convince me someone like him would be a much better match for me.”
    Jax hissed. “He’s fired
now
! I told you I wouldn’t fire him unless he said something against you, and he did. He tried to convince you I don’t love you.”
    I sighed. I couldn’t stand this. It was all my fault. “I didn’t kiss him back, and I pushed him away quickly. No harm done.”
    “I know you didn’t, and I know you pushed him off. Jason saw all of it. He also saw you run like hell and fly down the driveway on your bike at a breakneck speed. He called me immediately and told me. I walked out of a photo shoot and called my pilot. I’m on my way to you now.”
    “You have explained the photos to me before. I just wasn’t prepared to see it firsthand, and reading the reporter’s words wasn’t much fun either. I tried to handle it without getting upset.”
    Jax sighed. “Every one of those photos was taken last night by her publicist. She’s going to be in a new movie, and they needed the buzz. They told me what to do in all those pictures.”
    Relief washed away the pain, but guilt still weighed on me because Marcus was going to be out of a job.
    “Thanks for explaining everything to me.”
    He chuckled this time, and it was the warm sound I loved so much. “Wait up for me. I will see you soon.”
    “I will.”

Chapter Thirteen
    JAX
    I knew posing for those photos last night was a bad idea. But I’d agreed hoping it would end the gossip about some girl in the south keeping all my attention. I’d been afraid they’d find out about Sadie and completely bombard her world. I liked keeping her safely tucked away from the