Chapter Eleven

"Marry me."

Sparks began to fly from Brenda's eyes as soon as the words left his mouth, and although he found them very attractive, he was afraid of the consequences of his spontaneity. Tears welled up in front of the anger, and Brenda swallowed hard, trying to control them. He reached toward her, to put his arm around her, but Brenda backed away from him, shaking. She ran her hand through her curls that tumbled into her face, and simultaneously wiped away a renegade tear. "Brenda-"

"Don't. Take me home. Now. I-I-I---Just take me home, Jax."

**
The limousine pulled up in front of the cottage, and Brenda ran out of it before it had completely stopped, threw open the door to her home, and began pacing. By the time Jax made it inside, she had already burned quite a hole in the carpet, and was more than ready to face him. "Who the hell do you think you are, Jax? First you take my company, then my home! Do you think that entitles you to some stake in my life, for instance, the rest of it, til death do us part?"

Jax was cursing himself for thinking that she would ever agree to marry him, but in the moonlight, on the patio, and after that kiss. His train of thought stopped dead in its tracks as he realized that her brown eyes were shooting fire in his direction, waiting for him to respond. Maybe he should just confess. "No, I don't think that I'm entitled to some stake in your life, Brenda, but I have one just the same." She began shaking as Jax's hand came to rest on her back, fingers lightly toying with the curls falling there, but surprisingly, she didn't pull away. "You are so beautiful when you're angry. You have no idea. When your cheeks get slightly flushed, and your eyes look like two desolate flames. You look just like you did that day in the hotel. I've wanted you so badly since the moment I saw you." And even before that, Jax admitted to himself, thus missing the sly grin spreading itself across Brenda's face. Here voice lowered to the husky whisper that was like an audible caress to Jax.

"So you want me?" And before Jax could even respond, her lips met with the bronzed skin by his ear, and trailed their way down to the cleft in his chin, which she traced with her tongue. Brenda slowly unbuttoned his shirt, placing kisses on any and every bit of exposed skin, until she had made her way past the very last button, and stood up to face him, slowly running her body up against his, unable to ignore how much he wanted her. "THIS is why we have to get married?" His eyes were dark with passion, and half-closed, so that he was unable to see her mind working, much as it had the day of their first meeting. "Because you don't believe in pre-marital sex?"

Color seeped back into Jax's eyes, as he made his way to join Brenda on the sofa, where she had a very self-congratulatory grin on her face. It was time to raise the stakes. "No. Poor Brenda. Wants to make sure she's my first." His touch slowly burned a path from her knee, up her thigh, around her back, up her torso, until it finally rested just below her right breast. "No. You're definitely not my first. I'm a big-time believer in pre-marital sex, and if you'll let me, I'll make love to you like no other man ever has, or ever will."

Despite her body's reactions to the contrary, Brenda turned defiantly toward Jax, as his hand found the zipper to her dress. "No. Poor Jax. Because married or otherwise, you and I will never, ever, EVER have SEX!" As a slow smile spread itself across his face, and the blue fully returned to his eyes, Brenda couldn't help but wonder what in the world he was up to now.

"You're right, Brenda. We won't. Its not part of the deal."

(Background Photo courtesy of: http://www.compassnet.com/kirk/nthous.gif)