Chapter 1: Present
A sing-song tune echoed from a distant location far removed from the king-sized bed where Lexi Walsh lay curled up amongst the sheets. The muffled chorus of a popular radio song hit her ears causing her to roll over and bury herself farther into the depths of the bed. She felt an arm wrap around her waist and the warmth of a body pressing itself against her skin. The man trailed his fingers gently against her stomach, down the curves of her side, and over her toned thighs. She giggled as the touches turned a bit more demanding and rocked her body back and forth.
"Mmm," she groaned. "It's too early."
"I know," he agreed moving his hands back to her flat tanned stomach. "Too early for your phone to be going off," he whispered into her ear.
Lexi sighed heavily and nuzzled into his chest. "Agreed," she mumbled lacing their fingers together
"Are you going to answer that?" he questioned, his breath hot against her earlobe.
Lexi lazily shook her head and shifted ever so slightly imploring his lips to touch the sensitive skin around her ear. "Mmm, no," she said breathily.
"You sure?" he asked further succumbing to her wish.
She angled her body allowing herself a look into his hazel eyes and smiled. "Do I look like I want to get out of bed?"
A confident smirk crossed his face. "Not in the slightest."
"There's your answer," she muttered nuzzling further into his chest and yanking the sheet up around her bare shoulders.
He responded by holding her tight against him as his other hand swooped up and ran through the long thick strands of chocolate brown hair. He splayed the curls out across the creamy white pillow and brushed her bangs off her forehead. Leaning forward in bed and being careful not to adjust her easy slumber, he planted a light kiss on her forehead.
"That feels nice," she murmured into him.
"I thought you'd fallen back asleep already."
Lexi kissed his chest and held onto him a little tighter. "Not quite."
"So who could be calling you so early in the morning?" he implored conversationally.
Instantly, Lexi's heart sped up to an outrageous speed. She knew the reaction was entirely irrational. The last time she had been awoken at an early hour on a Saturday morning Jack had called her. That fateful conversation nearly a year earlier had led to an outrageous week where she had not only traveled to Atlanta to see Jack and his new girlfriend, Bekah, but had been suckered into attempting to convince said girlfriend that Jack was ready for marriage. What a sham that had been!
She had been set-up by Bekah and, inevitably, after a few rather inappropriate experiences with Jack, had convinced him that he was, in fact, ready to marry Bekah. And he had proposed. After six years of trying to work things out between her and Jack, he had proposed to another woman with a duplicate of the ring he had promised only belonged to Lexi. She had walked away with the closure she had desired from Jack, but returned to New York with a whole new world of heartache she hadn't exactly been prepared for.
But Jack hadn't called her since she had left him standing alone at the airport in Atlanta, and she knew he wouldn't be calling her now.
That didn't lessen the thumping of her heart though.
"I…I dunno," she told him turning back to face the open loft so that he couldn't see the dejected look on her face.
She had a list of people who could be calling her this early in the morning, but, regardless, she did not want to be forced from her tranquil environment to face the realities of the real world. And if she was honest with herself, a part of her was afraid that one day Jack would come crashing back into her existence.
Jack. The man who had taken her from a brilliant, confident, controlled woman to a love sick, low self-esteem, uncontrollable girl at the first glance from his blue eyes. Together they had ruined relationships, friendships, and families with their heated desire and relentless passion. She never thought the day would come where she dreaded the sight of her former lover, but he had forced it upon her by sleeping with her only hours before proposing to his girlfriend, now fiancé.
The familiar lyrics began playing again, and this time Lexi could pinpoint the location of her purse amongst his impeccably clean décor. She sighed heavily wishing the noise would stop allowing her the peace she so desired.
"Perhaps you should attend to that," he muttered into her ear, "while I go fix you some breakfast."
Lexi groaned as he shifted next to her hauling his tight ass across the bed and over to the enormous closet stocked with expensive suits. He threw on a pair of black boxer-briefs and took the stairs two at a time down to the landing. He returned a second later with her designer purse and placed it gently on the bed. She smiled up in his angular face and was rewarded with a kiss on the lips full of promises.
"Answer that," he commanded pointing at the phone that was still lit up from the previous phone call. "Come down when you're finished."
She watched his backside retreat down the stairs and out of sight before picking up her purse and fishing out her new cell phone. Up until a couple months ago, she had had the same old, dinged-up, flip phone since college. The thing had lasted nearly seven years much longer than modern technology afforded. They had had their rough spots along the way when she had lost all the numbers after dropping it in the toilet once, but it had been good to her nonetheless. Chyna, her best friend, had finally convinced her to get something a bit flashier. The day Lexi had been on the way to the store, Chyna had surprised her with the phone claiming it was a graduation present since Lexi absolutely abhorred the thought of mooching off of her best friend's exorbitant wealth.
Her new touch screen came to life at the tips of her fingers and she grumbled at the early hour. Her night had been pretty insane, and the only way she compensated was by sleeping through much of the day. The last thing Lexi wanted to do was be awake at that moment. She groggily clicked on the message that claimed she had two missed calls.
Lexi cursed under her breath as the name filled the screen: Ramsey Bridges.
She could think of a million and a half reasons for him to be calling her. None of which she wanted to deal with at this moment in time. The only good thing about him calling was that it wasn't Jack.
Lexi threw her head back roughly against the incredibly soft down pillow and bit the inside of her lip to keep from cursing aloud. Just as she was about to swing her legs over the side of the bed and trek downstairs, the phone lit up one more time. This time it was a text message and a preprogrammed ding filled the empty bedroom.