All the Wrong Places

by Jerilee Kaye

  Fucking hell!

  Before he knew it, he was knocking on the door. His heart pounded inside his chest as he waited for what seemed like an eternity for her to respond.

  Will she even open the door?

  Then he heard a clicking sound. Slowly the door opened and Julianne peeked out. She looked shocked the minute she saw him standing outside her room.

  “Can I come in?” he asked in a low, hoarse voice. He was trying his best to steady his nerves.

  “Somebody will see…”

  “The kids and the maids are all sleeping. Christine and Jac are out of the country. Justin and Adrienne are still drinking in the gazebo,” he said. “No CCTVs in the hall.”

  She nodded and then she opened the door to let him in. He stepped inside. The room was just as big as Jared’s. Obviously, it was one of the guestrooms, designed for temporary occupancy. There was nothing fancy about the room either. No luxurious lush chaise lounge or gold-trimmed dresser with a life-size mirror. No walk-in closet, just a small white wardrobe. Her room was smaller than half of Adrienne’s room in Paris. Jin expected more for someone in Julianne’s stature.

  He turned to face her. She was looking at him with blank eyes. He took a moment to look at what she was wearing. It was a pink silk robe over a matching sleeveless top and shorts. Her hair was carelessly tied in a bun and she looked fresh from a shower. His blood stirred and he could feel desire creeping through his veins.

  A blush crept over her cheeks when she realized that he was studying her. She closed her robe over her body.

  “Well, what is it?” she asked.

  Yeah? Why am I here in the first place? What was it that I wanted apart from seeing her one last time before I go back home?

  “I just came to…” he started saying but trailed off, completely clueless about what he would say next. No woman had rendered him tongue-tied before.

  She raised a brow at him.

  Shit!

  And because he genuinely didn’t know what to say, he followed his instincts and stepped closer to her. In one swift motion, he was cupping her face with his palms and he was kissing her thoroughly.

  Electricity was shooting up from every part of his body and he could feel himself growing hard. She always had this effect on him.

  He backed her up against the door and pinned her body between it and his body. He could feel her resistance waning. Her body was responding to him with full abandon, like it always does.

  Soon she was kissing him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He cupped both her butt cheeks and lifted her off her feet, making her wrap both her legs around his hips.

  “Oh God!” she breathed. He knew that she could feel him—hard. And he wanted nothing more than take her—right then and there.

  He nuzzled her neck, sucking on her skin. She moaned as she pulled him closer. He breathed in the scent of her. And he realized what’s been killing him all afternoon.

  “Did he kiss you, Arabella?” he suddenly asked.

  “What?” she blinked back at him.

  “River Jefferson,” he replied. “Did he kiss you?”

  Understanding dawned on her face and he was afraid that she would mock him for being jealous. Because he was—insane with jealousy. But instead, she smiled at him weakly. Then she touched his cheek with her soft palm.

  “No,” she replied, while gently shaking her head. “I didn’t. I… couldn’t.”

  Relief washed over him like a cold bucket. And he captured her lips in another searing kiss. He squeezed her butt cheeks as he pulled her closer to him, effectively rubbing her center against his arousal again. She moaned his name once more.

  He could take her. Right there. Right now. And he wished he didn’t have to leave so soon. She told him they couldn’t make love again after the last time. But now, they both knew they couldn’t stay away from each other.

  He slowed down his kisses. Then gently he settled her on her feet. When he pulled away from her, he saw that her face was flushed and she looked disoriented.

  He smiled at her gently. “I have a flight back to Paris in two hours. I need to be at the airport now,” he said. “I want you so badly, but I promised myself that next time we’re going to make love, it will be in a proper bed.”

  She bit her lip and kept quiet.

  Jin pulled her to him gently and kissed her forehead. Then he looked into her eyes and said, “I have business to attend to in Paris. I’ll be back in a week.”

  She nodded.

  “Will you wait for me, Arabella?” He knew that he wasn’t asking. He was pleading.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Well… for one, we’re not finished here yet,” he replied in a teasing tone. “And I want to see you when I get back.”

  “Jin… we’re walking on thin ice,” she said. “No one can know what’s happening between us.”

  Damn!

  If it were up to him, he would shout out to the whole world that she was with him.

  “Justin… Adrienne. I can’t hurt them. We can’t…”

  He silenced her with a kiss. Then he said, “Okay. They won’t find out. But you can’t ask me to stay away from you, Arabella. I tried that before. It’s not going to work! And don’t fight it. Don’t deny it. You want me too. So, stop asking me to stay away from you. I won’t!”

  She closed her eyes for a moment. She didn’t say anything more. He knew he was winning her over.

  He pulled her to him again to give her a tight hug. He breathed through her hair. She smelled like strawberries and mint. He knew that scent would linger in his thoughts for a very long time.

  He slowly pulled away from her. “Seven days,” he said again. “Okay?”

  She didn’t answer.

  He raised a brow at her. “Okay?” he repeated.

  Finally, she smiled and said, “Okay.”

  He kissed her again. Then he leaned his forehead against hers and sucked in a deep breath. He didn’t want to let go. But he was a few minutes away from missing his flight.

  “Now, I wish I didn’t have to go,” he whispered.

  He heard her take a deep, heavy breath.

  “In another lifetime, I would ask you to stay,” she whispered. She said it softly, but the blow he felt was hard and inexplicably painful. All he could do was hug her to him tighter.

  “You’re mine, ma belle,” he whispered.

  She shook her head. “Only until you walk out that door.”

  He sighed. “Then let me stay just a little while longer.”

  He felt her nod against his chest. He continued holding her for another one hundred twenty precious seconds. Then with a heavy heart, he pulled away. She took a step away from him.

  He felt like his chest would explode when he reached for the knob of the door. And without another word, he stepped out of the room, wishing they lived in another lifetime, where their lives had no complications, and she would be his forever.

  20.

  “Finally! The devil has returned,” Jin heard Alexandre Martin say. Alexandre is t second cousin of his father and he had been serving as his father’s right hand for many years.

  Jin gave him a hard look. Alexandre looked up towards the second floor for a moment and then he said to him, “Come to the library with me first. I must brief you before you face your father.”

  “That’s hardly necessary,” Jin said.

  “Oh no. This time it is. Trust me.” Alexandre turned around and walked towards the library, leaving him without a choice.

  Jin followed Alexandre to the library. Once inside, the latter poured a glass of whisky for both of them.

  “First, your father is going to ask you why you had to stay in the States for longer than you should have. He’s going to ask you how White Rock was and how the event for the Morgan-Murphies went,” Alexandre began briefing him.

  Jin opened his mouth to say something but the older man cut him off. “You don’t have to tell me your answers. It’s your father you are accounta
ble to.”

  Jin nodded, drinking his whiskey.

  “And he’s also going to ask you about Patrick McAllister.”

  Jin’s brow shot up.

  How did his father know about Patrick McAllister?

  “You’re wondering how he knew?” Alexandre asked. Jin didn’t answer. “Because Patrick McAllister is such a baby. His father had to fix his mess for him.”

  “His father?”

  “Yes. His father asked Pierre to retract the charges you filed against Patrick on White Rock,” Alexandre explained. “He said those charges are going to be bad for their family’s reputation. Especially since Patrick is eyeing the Senate.”

  “Good luck with that,” Jin smirked before bringing his glass to his mouth.

  “He mentioned in passing that his son was severely beaten up, you’re lucky that they aren’t suing for physical assault.”

  “Frustrated murder is more like it,” Jin said in a humorless tone.

  “Your father is going to ask you why you beat Patrick McAllister black and blue.”

  Jin knew that his father knew him well. It wasn’t like him to get his hands dirty and engage in a random fist fight. He knew how to keep his cool and not many things in this world could make him lose control.

  “Then he’s going to demand for answers about the Bernards. Vanessa had been calling here non-stop. She said she couldn’t get you on your number. I see that you didn’t give her your personal number.”

  “I’m not stupid,” Jin murmured.

  “I know. You have a number for business and a number that only your family and very important people in your life know about,” Alexandre said. “Mister Bernard demands to know why until now you haven’t made your engagement to Vanessa official. You know, whatever the Princess wants, the Princess gets. And right now, the toy the Princess wants the most, is you.”

  Jin’s grip on the glass tightened. Vanessa Bernard was pretty, he’d give her that. They had dated on and off last year. But he wasn’t serious about women then. He was just passing his time. He had forgotten that he had a heart. But he had needs, and feelings didn’t matter anymore. When Arabella left him, his heart didn’t seem important. He just couldn’t feel anything for any other woman after her.

  Vanessa was the only heiress to the Bernard hotel empire. Jin was offering to buy their company since she didn’t seem interested or capable of running it after her father. Jin offered them a huge amount of money. But Arthur Bernard didn’t want to sell. He wanted Vanessa to still own it. Instead, he made a proposition to Jin. If he and Vanessa got married, the whole Bernard empire would be his.

  Starck Corp. had been behind the McKenzie Hotel Group in terms of market share. For years, Jin had been obsessed with making Starck Corp. the number one hotel company in the world.

  To get over his broken heart, after failing to find Arabella, he consumed all his attention to their business. He was so close to the top. If he married Vanessa, and acquire Bernard Hotel Group, he would be way ahead of their number one competitor. At the time that Arthur Bernard made the proposition, nothing else mattered to Jin.

  But now…

  “Before you accepted Arthur’s proposition, your father told you to think about it one hundred times,” Alexandre reminded him. “Unfortunately, you didn’t even think thrice.”

  Jin stared at his whiskey quietly. He remembered his father’s exact words to him.

  “Think about it. One hundred times, if you need to,” Pierre said. “We hadn’t had divorces in the family in more than five generations. My son is not going to be the one to break that. And you know… I’ve taught you this ever since you were a child. In the Starck family, our word is gold. That’s why we never give it thoughtlessly.”

  “I didn’t want you to marry Vanessa Bernard,” Alexandre said. “Same as your father. But you were the one who insisted on this, remember?”

  Jin took a deep breath. “I remember,” he said. “Now, I can’t remember why I didn’t listen to you.”

  “It’s not like you to back out on your word, son,” Alexandre said. “And your father will not let you do it. Our word is gold, remember?”

  Jin put down his glass on the bar table to a slight slam.

  Damn that our-word-is-gold shit!

  He felt Alexandre’s hand on his shoulder. “Petty bar fight,” he said. “I would start with that, while you’re still figuring things out.”

  “What?” He raised his brow at the older man.

  “Your father will ask you why you beat the hell out of Patrick McAllister. If I were you, I’d just say that it was a petty bar fight. Patrick McAllister was drunk and causing trouble. You need not say anything more.” Alexandre gave him a meaningful look.

  Jin nodded and poured himself another glass of whiskey. Then he stared at Alexandre with narrowed eyes. “You know, don’t you?”

  Alexandre sighed. “I always know, son.”

  Jin drank his whiskey. He shook his head and heave a frustrated sigh. “I can’t seem to unbind myself from her. Not then. It’s damn impossible now!”

  “I know,” Alexandre said. He gave Jin a measuring look before he added, “And I know you will never get the… er… confirmation done yourself. Because in your heart, you already know. But since I am the steward of this family, I had to make sure. I had to protect this family from the unforeseen future.”

  Jin’s eyes widened as he stared back at his Uncle, instantly getting what the older man was trying to say.

  “Uncle… don’t tell me…”

  He felt a sudden flush of anger. Good thing, he was able to quickly control himself before his fist could land on his uncle’s body.

  “Forgive me, Jin,” Alexandre said. “I had to. I need to. You know what’s at stake here. Being a first-born son of the Starck family has a certain level of privilege… and responsibility.”

  Jin knew exactly what Alexandre was getting at. He was the only son of the Starck family now. He stood to inherit the entire Starck empire. And his first-born son would inherit it after him.

  “How did you even manage to do that without me knowing?” he asked Alexandre.

  “You’re not the only one with Ninjas on your beck and call, son.” He winked at him. “In fact, you must have learned those tactics from me.” Alexandre paused for a moment. Then he asked, “Do you want to know what I learned?”

  Jin drank his whiskey straight and put the glass down with a slam. He wanted to laugh. Unlike Alexandre, he didn’t need to use science. When it comes to family matters, he listens to his heart, he trusts his instincts… he answers to the call of the blood. In fact, many years ago, that’s how he found his long-lost sister, Adrienne. He felt their connection. He followed his intuition.

  “No,” he grunted. “You don’t have to tell me. You know I already know the truth.”

  Alexandre nodded. “Well, then, you’re going to need a lot of luck, son.”

  Jin stood up from his seat. It wasn’t like him to rely on luck. But he had a feeling that his uncle was right. He was going to need it in the coming days. Nevertheless, lucky or not, it was time to face his father and clean up his mess.

  Damn that word of gold!

  Pierre Starck was talking to somebody on the phone when Jin entered his study. The older man held his hand up, telling Jin to stay where he was. Jin went to the bar and poured himself another glass of whiskey, while he waited for his father to finish his phone call.

  “Jin Adrien Starck!” he heard his father’s booming voice behind him.

  Slowly, he turned around to face his old man.

  Pierre Starck was looking at him sternly, raising a questioning brow at him.

  “Okay, so where do you want to start?” Jin asked in a low, controlled voice. “I’m sure you have plenty of questions.”

  “Okay, so how about we start with, ‘What the fuck have you done to my son?’”

  Jin didn’t answer back. He drank his whiskey slowly. He knew better than to cross his father when he was this mad.<
br />
  “First, you need to explain what happened at that party. You knew the program! You agreed to Arthur’s proposition and you were supposed to propose to Vanessa on that stage! Everybody was expecting it. Vanessa was expecting it. The whole of Bernard clan was expecting it!” Pierre said, trying to control his anger. “But you went on babbling some bullshit on that stage. Then you ran off, going all over the hotel, looking for God-knows-what! You told me and your mother you would explain your actions someday. Well, I’m tired of waiting. I need answers now!”

  Jin poured himself another glass of whiskey while his father waited for him to reply. He wanted to tell him the truth about everything! From the beginning. But he knew it wasn’t time yet. He was not the only one who would suffer the consequences if he didn’t play his cards right. If it was just him, he could take all the blame, all the pain. But there was Justin and Adrienne. And most importantly, there was Julianne and Jared.

  Jin shook his head slightly. “I cannot marry Vanessa.”

  Pierre’s eyes widened at him. “Jin… I don’t understand. You gave your word.”

  Jin bit his lip for a moment. Then he said, “I’m gonna have to break it.”

  “That’s not how the Starcks do it,” Pierre asserted. “You know that!”

  “I never forgot,” Jin sighed. “But you have to give this to me, Dad. Just one time. Let me break this Starck code. Just this once.”

  “This one time has a huge implication, Jin,” his father argued. “On our business! On our family reputation. We don’t want to make enemies of the Bernards.”

  “We won’t,” Jin assured him. “I will talk to Arthur myself. I will take full responsibility. I always do.”

  “I know. You are probably the most responsible kid any parent could ever ask for. That’s why I cannot understand why you are doing this.”

  Jin stared at the polished parquet floor, trying to compose his thoughts.

  “Jin!” Pierre called in a frustrated voice.

  Jin took a deep breath and said, “I miscalculated some things. There are things that are beyond my control… events I wasn’t expecting. When I agreed to Arthur’s proposition, I had every intention of marrying Vanessa to acquire Bernard Hotel Group and effectively increase our market share. I was using my brains then.”