All the Wrong Places

by Jerilee Kaye

  She drew her brows together. “What is it?”

  He took a step away from her. Then he took a deep breath, looking rather nervous for a confident man. “Arabella, when I told your father that Jared needed to change his name to carry my surname, I didn’t just mean him. I wanted you to change your name too. You’re the only woman who deserve to be Missis Jin Starck. I want to make love to you at nights and see your smile in the mornings—in all nights and mornings of my life, from this point forward.

  “I love you so—so much. You are worth every risk, every fight. I should have told you this seven years ago, but you are worth every second of the wait. You deserve the best things in life. You deserve to live without limits and to be loved without end.”

  Then he pulled something out from his pocket. Julianne’s heart started pounding very loudly inside her ribcage. And when he knelt on one knee and opened the box, her heart stopped beating altogether.

  Tears filled her eyes as she looked down at the ring he was holding out in front of her. The band was made of yellow gold with a trinity knot. Halfway, it weaved into a swirl made of white diamonds until it formed the shape of butterflies on both sides. The wings were paved in yellow, pink and black naturally-colored diamonds. Then small pink diamonds made out the flower petal shapes surrounding a five-carat clear-cut diamond in the center.

  Julianne couldn’t take her eyes off from the ring. It was exquisite, it was ethereal.

  “If you allow me,” Jin continued. “I want to be that man who will love you without end, without limits, without reservations. Julianne Arabella, will you please—please marry me?”

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. She covered her mouth with her hands. She wanted to say something but no words came out.

  Jin was staring at her, holding his breath, waiting for her answer.

  Slowly, she nodded. Then finally, she found her voice. “Yes! Oh God, yes!”

  He took her hand in his and put the ring on her finger. It fit her perfectly. Then he stood up and snatched her into his arms and crushed his lips to hers.

  Julianne wrapped her arms around his neck and in spite of her tears, she kissed him with as much intensity as he was kissing her.

  Then he leaned his head against hers, and breathed in the scent of her. “I love you,” he whispered. “It feels good to say that freely now. I have been wanting to say that for a long time.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “Because I was scared that you would reject me. You wouldn’t even accept my gifts, how could I expect you to accept my love? Or my marriage proposal?”

  “And today you just decided to be brave about it?”

  He nodded. “When you ignored my calls, I was scared I was losing you. I realized how fragile our relationship will be unless we got these old issues out of the way. Today, I did plan to ask you about Jared. To tell you that I know he’s my son. I planned to propose. You didn’t have to answer right away. I just wanted you to know that I’m dead serious about us.”

  “Vanessa told me you’ve already finalized everything. She said, you left her apartment late and made it sound like you… advanced your honeymoon or something.”

  “You should trust me, Arabella,” he said, pushing a lock of stray hair away from her face. “I do not want Vanessa. She did see me on and off in the past. So did other women. I will not deny that. But nothing was serious. I couldn’t fall in love. Now, I understand why. I was still in love with you.”

  “Me too. For years, my world revolved around Jared. I didn’t date. I think the very first time I was out with another guy was with River. And it wasn’t even a date. Justin set us up. But we ended up just friends. He was the one who made me realize that I was still in love with you.”

  “So, after all those years… you didn’t see anybody?” he asked, his eyes twinkling.

  “No. Not even a date.”

  He pulled her to him. “So… after me in Paris, after your first time, the next time you went to bed with a man was here, at The Arabella?”

  She blushed from the roots of her hair. She pinched him on the side.

  “Owww!” He laughed. Then he gathered her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Well, aren’t I a lucky guy?”

  “Conceited too!” she murmured as she buried her face on his chest.

  “I’m not. I’m just proud! You’re beyond beautiful, did you not know that?” he said. “How you kept your virginity beyond the age of twenty was actually beyond me, even seven years ago when I took your innocence from you.”

  “Maybe most of the guys I met were dicks.” She laughed. “I was waiting for the right guy.”

  “And thank God you did,” he beamed.

  Julianne held her hands up to admire her ring. “This is exquisite.” She was afraid that it was very expensive. “The design is unique.”

  “It is,” he said. “I had it especially made.”

  She pulled away from him. “What?”

  “I have this idea in my head. And Frederic Beaumont is a good friend. I asked him to make the design for me.”

  She blinked back at him. Frederic Beaumont is one of the world’s most famous jewelry designers. “Frederic Beaumont designed this ring?”

  He nodded.

  “When did you get this done?”

  They’ve only been together for a month. Surely, that’s not enough time to design and make a beautiful ring such as this.

  “Seven years ago,” he replied in a low, serious voice.

  “What?”

  He smiled at her sheepishly. “I told you I was planning on proposing to you. While we were still seeing each other, I had my idea drawn up in a piece of paper. I asked Fredric to enhance it and actually make it into a proper ring design. Even after you left, I still had him work on it. I was hoping I would see you again someday. And this is the ring I would use to propose to you.”

  “And even when you didn’t find me, you kept the ring all these years?”

  He nodded. “I’m glad I did. It’s perfect.”

  “It is.”

  “It’s a ring that was made just for you,” he continued. “As unique and as beautiful as you are. All the Starcks use my great grandmother’s ring to propose to their brides.”

  “The ring that Vanessa couldn’t wait to wear.”

  “Well, she’ll never get her hands on it. Because that ring belongs to you now, too, as my fiancée. You own it but I just want to propose with a ring that I chose for my bride. The one that suited her, spoke about her—just as ethereally beautiful as she was.”

  “Well, I love it,” she whispered.

  He kissed her nose, then he pulled away from her and pulled her towards a corner of the glass house. “Come, I want to show you something.”

  “Really? Of all the surprises you gave me tonight, there’s more?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  There was a shelf sitting in one corner. It was covered with a white blanket.

  He pulled the blanket and revealed a glass cabinet containing a collection of at least one hundred pieces of mouth-blown glass perfume bottles.

  Julianne gasped. “Oh my God!”

  Jin turned on the spotlight inside the shelf so Julianne could better view the different bottles which came in different colors, shapes and designs. Many of them were adorned with Austrian crystals, which made them sparkle under the spotlight.

  “Jin, where did you get these?”

  He shrugged. “I travel a lot. Every place I went to, I collected a bottle or two.”

  “Why? You weren’t a collector of these babies.”

  “I wasn’t. But you were.” He smiled at her wistfully. “I guess, I was collecting them for you.”

  “Really? What was the last bottle you got?”

  He looked at the collection, looking for a bottle. Then finally, he pointed at a heart-shaped cobalt blue bottle with crystal lining.

  “That one,” he replied. “I got it in Yerevan.”

  “When were you in Armenia?”

&nbs
p; “Three months ago.”

  “You were still collecting it for me three months ago?”

  He nodded. “Love doesn’t make sense sometimes.”

  “I thought, you turned into a heartless monster after I left. You were so mad, it changed you.”

  He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her waist as they both admire the collection.

  “I guess I just couldn’t shake you out of my system,” he sighed. “I haven’t stopped loving you all these years.”

  Julianne was deeply touched by what he did. Tears rolled down her cheeks again.

  “Damn it, Jin Starck!” she giggled in spite of her tears. “I have been through so much these past years and I barely cried. Now, I lost count of how many times you’ve made cry today.”

  He spun her around and kissed her gently on the lips. “Well, I will be making you cry more tears of joy from now on.”

  She leaned forward and gave him a hug. “Thank you.”

  He pulled away from her and then he took her hand in his. “Come. You must be starving. I think dinner is ready.”

  “Dinner?”

  He merely smiled and led her back to the gazebo. There was a waiter there, and a guy that played violin.

  “How did you arrange all this?” she asked in surprise.

  “Gatwick is a very efficient assistant. I think he may partly be a magician. He can conjure things out of nowhere.”

  She laughed. “Remind me to thank him when I see him again.”

  They had steak and wine over diner while being serenaded by the violinist. After dinner, they danced under the lovers’ moon and the starlit sky.

  “I can’t wait to bring Jared home,” Jin whispered against her ear.

  “Me too. He already loved it here the first time. He loved his room. Oh my God, I haven’t even seen the bedrooms yet.”

  He smiled at her wickedly. “Oh, don’t worry. You will definitely see a lot of the bedroom tonight.”

  She smiled at him evenly. “Seriously? Just because you gave me a huge rock doesn’t mean you’re gonna get some tonight.”

  “I didn’t give you a rock just so I could score tonight. I gave you a rock because I love you and there’s no one else I would spend the rest of my life with but you.” He gave her a smoldering gaze. “Besides, I don’t think I need a rock to seduce you. I can do that with just pure sex appeal.”

  She laughed. “Jin Starck, you conceited prick!” She pinched him on the side again.

  He laughed and then he bent down and carried her in his arms like she was weightless.

  “Let’s see the second floor,” he said, carrying her inside the house.

  “Don’t you dare drop me!” she warned him when he began climbing the steps.

  “How could I drop something so precious to me?”

  He reached the top of the stairs. Her eyes widened when she saw the hall. There was a white cabinet with lamps in the center. Beside Jared’s room were two other rooms. He put her down on her feet so she could explore.

  The two rooms were the same size as Jared’s room. They were decorated simply, both with queen-sized beds in the center, a bedside table and lamps.

  Jared’s room remained the same except for the bed, that now has a headboard with square drawers painted in different colors to match a Rubik’s cube. She noticed the sixty-five inch screen on the wall, along with different game consoles in front of it.

  “Oh no.” Julianne shook her head. She raised a brow at Jin.

  “I know. We’ll set ground rules,” he said. “But please… I want him to have these.”

  “You’re going to spoil him.”

  “Why not? He’s my son. And I have six years to make up for,” Jin reasoned. “Jared is a first-born Starck.”

  “Oh, yes. He is.”

  “Soon, he will have responsibilities. He will handle the Starck Empire when I retire. So, let him have his fun while he’s still young.”

  “Okay. As long as we set boundaries,” Julianne agreed.

  Jin beamed. “I cannot wait to see his face once he sees all this.” He hugged her to him. “In fact, I cannot wait to see what his reaction is going to be once we tell him that I’m his father.”

  “He will be happy. You know he loves you already.”

  “I loved him even before I found out he was my son,” he said. “I regret every single day I wasn’t with the two of you. I wish we didn’t give each other fake names seven years ago.”

  “I’m not sure we would have worked out if we knew each other in the first place. I would have known you were Adrienne’s brother and you’d have known I was Justin’s cousin. You wouldn’t have pursued me. We have a common family.”

  “I doubt that I wouldn’t pursue you eventually. I fell in love with you at first sight, remember? One way or another, I would act on my feelings.”

  “And I don’t think I would have been able to resist you.”

  “No, you wouldn’t,” he teased. He spun her around and then he pulled her towards the bedroom.

  When he opened the door, she gasped. The bedroom had been extended too. It was now more than twice its original size. A brand new California king bed covered in rich white covers sat in the middle of the room. There was a white leather couch at the feet of the bed. A white plush fur area rug sat in front of the fireplace.

  “Oh my God, Jin,” she breathed. “This is… beyond amazing!”

  “Do you like it?”

  She nodded. “I love it!”

  He pulled her on one corner and showed her a white dresser with a mirror and drawers.

  “I wanna show you something else.”

  He pressed a hidden button at the back of the mirror and a secret drawer snapped. Julianne slightly pulled the drawer and revealed a jewelry compartment. She was shocked to see the necklace and the bracelet that he once attempted to give her. But now, there’s a matching ring and earrings too. And some other jewelry from Van Cleef and Arpels, Cartier and other brands.

  “Jin…” she shook her head. “I don’t…”

  He leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss. “I want to. You’re going to be my wife, Arabella. You deserve nothing less. You’re just gonna have to accept that I promise to give you roses all the time, but sometimes, they’re going to be accompanied by gold or diamonds.”

  She stared at him for a long moment. He held her stare. Then finally, she sighed and gave up.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Okay. But don’t go overboard okay? Stick to what’s… reasonable.”

  “Okay. What I find reasonable.”

  Julianne had a feeling that their definition of reasonable could be two totally different things.

  She turned around and faced him.

  “Thank you,” she whispered. She tiptoed so she could kiss his lips. “I love you.”

  “I love you more,” he said.

  Julianne was bursting with love and happiness. Finally, she would be able to give her son the future that he deserved—and a complete family! She knew she did the best that she could. But with Jin beside her, together, they can give their son a better and happier life.

  31.

  Jin lay on the rug in front of the fireplace, dressed only in his boxers. He was waiting for Julianne to come out from the shower.

  He stared at the ceiling with a big smile on his place.

  It’s over, Jin. Your dark days are finally over.

  He didn’t know what happened to him these past years. It was like he was living in a limbo. He owned his body but somebody else was driving it, controlling his thoughts and his actions.

  He’d been rude, ruthless, relentless. True, he’d been very good in business. Starck Corp. had made a lot of money since he took the reign from his father. But now, he realized what’s been missing in the way he ran business. It had all been logic, math and probabilities. It lacked heart. And in the hospitality business, you have to have plenty of heart.

  He realized that he didn’t have to be the rude,
brutal man he was. His heart was no longer broken and he had nothing to be mad about anymore. His future days would be filled with love and laughter.

  “Jin…” he heard the voice of the angel that changed the devil in him.

  He turned to her and instantly, he felt his blood stirring inside his veins.

  She walked slowly towards him, dressed in a cream silk robe. Her hair cascaded freely around her beautiful face.

  He reached out to pull her to sit beside him by the fireplace.

  “Hi,” she gave him a shy smile.

  “Hi, my beautiful.” He grinned at her mischievously. He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck. “God, you smell so good.”

  “So do you,” she murmured.

  He nipped at her skin, sucking on it. She moaned helplessly as she held on to him for support. Instantly, he felt himself turn rock solid. He couldn’t wait to be one with her, be in her, possess her.

  He removed the robe off her, kissing every inch of skin he exposed. He could feel his blood boiling, as heat emanated from his skin to hers. He kissed her more urgently. He invaded her mouth, seeking entrance to her soul, asking permission for her to surrender her all to him.

  He’s going to make love to her slowly… thoroughly. He told her many times tonight that he loved her. Now, he was going to show her.

  He undressed her, leaving trails of kisses against her skin. Then he pulled away from her and knelt in front of her so he could view her body—naked and hot under him.

  “God, you are beautiful, my love,” he said. “I’m never gonna get enough of you.”

  She gave her a naughty smile. “Good. Because you are not allowed to get enough of me.”

  He stared at her from head to feet, drinking on her exquisite beauty. His eyes lingered on her tattoo and he remembered the day he designed that for her. He couldn’t help the grin on his face.

  “What?”

  “I gave you the name Jas Mathieu,” he said. “But I had my real name tattooed on your ankle.”

  “What?” she blinked back at him in surprise. “You had your initial tattooed on me, yes.”

  He shook his head and touched the tattoo on her ankle. “No. See, this is the heart. Half of the heart was extended down to form the letter J. Beside it is a butterfly. The body of the butterfly with a dot at the top is the letter I. The top part of the butterfly wing, is actually curved to form the letter N. Didn’t you notice why those lines were thicker than the rest of the lines?”