Shit! Apparently, Harlow hadn’t left out any of the details of our agreement.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why does everybody make such a big deal out of that? It’s not like I’ll die without a damn date. When I was a SEAL, there were times I didn’t even see a single female for months at a time.”
Recently, for some unknown reason, I’d had zero interest in dating at all, but he didn’t need to know that. Knowing Marshall, he’d dig at me until he knew why, and I didn’t have the answer to that question.
Marshall cleared his throat. “I think you gained your reputation because you’ve never been photographed with the same woman twice. It seems to me that the media makes such a big deal out of your one-and-done dating habits that every time you do it again, the reporters lose their minds.”
“I guess I’ve never really cared what they thought,” I grumbled.
“Can you really blame Harlow for turning down your offer to take her out?” he asked earnestly. “Maybe you didn’t care what the media thought, but she obviously did, and you know those reporters would have made her life hell for at least a week or two. Or until they had a new target.”
“It was definitely an ego-damaging experience,” I responded, trying to make light of the whole incident. “I’m not holding a grudge, if that’s what you’re asking. Well, no more than any guy would who had a woman laugh in his face when he asked for a date. Honestly, that particular day might have been the only time I actually regretted my reputation.”
Whether it was true or not, I preferred to think that Harlow would have said yes if it hadn’t been for my reputation as a player. She’d seemed perfectly comfortable discussing her research with me. It was only after that dinner invitation that she started looking at me like I was a lunatic.
Looking back, maybe I shouldn’t have just impulsively blurted out that dinner offer in the middle of our business discussion.
Even now, I wasn’t quite sure how it happened.
I’d never been that asshole boss who hit on every attractive Montgomery employee. In fact, my brothers and I made it a point not to date employees, and we took any sexual harassment complaints within the company very seriously.
In the end, I’d chalked my unusual behavior up to a moment of temporary insanity, even though I’d never had one of those episodes before or since that day.
Yeah, Hudson had fallen off the never-date-an-employee wagon after he’d met Taylor. However, my older brother could hardly say he’d only lost his mind temporarily. When it came to Taylor, Hudson was completely deranged all the time.
“Your ego obviously recovered,” Marshall drawled. “Don’t screw this one up, Jax. I think Harlow really needs you, and I’m going to turn all of her advisor responsibilities over to you.”
“I don’t plan on failing,” I assured him. “Just brief me on what you know, and I’ll take it from here.”
I wasn’t sure if Harlow really needed me. In fact, I was almost certain that she’d prefer to never see my face again.
Nevertheless, she could definitely use a friend and advisor who understood what she was going through. So, like it or not, Dr. Harlow Lewis was just going to have to get used to me being a huge pain in her ass in the very near future.
Strangely, I suddenly realized just how much I was actually looking forward to that.
Harlow
“What are you doing here?” I asked as I answered the door. Squinting from the bright sunlight, I gaped at Jax Montgomery, who was leaning against the doorjamb like he’d been waiting forever for me to open the door.
“Are you okay?” he questioned. “I rang the doorbell eight times before you answered.”
“Um…yeah. I was just taking a nap. It’s not like I knew you were coming here unannounced,” I finished defensively.
If I’d known it was Jax Montgomery ringing the doorbell, I probably wouldn’t have answered. This isn’t exactly the way I want to admit that he won.
I raked a hand through my hair as I continued to stare at him, knowing I was a total mess. I hadn’t slept well the night before, so I’d fallen asleep on the couch. It was possible that he had rung the doorbell quite a few times before I’d finally woken up.
I sent him my best withering glance of displeasure, but all he did was grin back at me.
God, it was incredibly unfair that a guy with Jax’s wealth and success was also one of the most gorgeous men I’d ever laid eyes on.
I couldn’t see the compelling green eyes that I knew were hidden beneath a pair of dark sunglasses, but every other attractive feature he possessed was on full display.
He kept his brownish hair short, probably just a little longer than it had been in the military. Obviously, he spent a lot of time in the California sun, because he had some lighter highlights in his hair that looked completely natural.
Even dressed casually in a pair of stonewashed jeans and a yellow T-shirt with some kind of surfing logo on it, Jax Montgomery was breathtakingly handsome. The way those everyday clothes hugged one very tall, muscular, droolworthy body was enough to make any woman stare.
Yeah, beautiful men were everywhere in Southern California, but it wasn’t just his hard body and his perfect features that made him so attractive.
Maybe it was his intelligence.
Maybe it was his confidence that bordered on cockiness.
Maybe it was the fact that he seemed to exude an overwhelming amount of male hormones.
Hell, I didn’t know what it was that made my heart trip every time I saw Jax Montgomery, but there was something about him that made the man almost irresistible.
He grinned a little wider as he looked at his watch. “I’m actually late. It’s been two weeks, twelve minutes, and about…fourteen seconds since we made our agreement.”
“Did you come here to gloat?” I asked as I ran a self-conscious hand through my unruly hair again. Maybe I didn’t like him, but it was almost impossible not to feel a little embarrassed when my hot boss showed up at my door, and I knew I looked like crap. “Okay, you won. Are you happy? I didn’t plan on being a sore loser. I was going to call you.”
As soon as I was ready, which might have taken a day…or three.
He shook his head. “I didn’t drop by to brag about winning,” he said earnestly. “I just wanted to see you. Can I come in?”
I reluctantly opened the door wider. He obviously wasn’t going away, so I might as well deal with him now. “My place is kind of a disaster. I haven’t had a chance to pick up.”
So, that statement wasn’t quite accurate. The truth was, I hadn’t been motivated enough to care about picking up, and keeping my small apartment as tidy as I normally did. Admittedly, that wasn’t something I really wanted to share with Jax. My complete lack of interest in anything made me feel like a total slug.