Intercepting a jQuery.ajax() call with confirm()

I have an ajax call bound to a link via jQuery, and I want it intercepted by a confirm dialog. But the ajax call fires regardless of which option is selected (even if the user just closes the dialog).

Is there a way to get the confirm to work as it does in synchronous contexts?

HTML:

<a href="#" class="removeItem delete">remove</a>

jQuery:

$('.delete').click(function () {
    confirm('Are you sure you want to delete this?');
});


$('.removeItem').click(function (event) {
    event.preventDefault();

    $.ajax({
        url: 'myUrl',
        type: "POST",
        data: {
            // data stuff here
        },
        success: function () {
            // does some stuff here...
        }
    });
});