Cara always says “a watched pot never boils,” so I leave the room. I pop open the new pot of lip balm and swipe some on, and then I rip into my candy bar and decide to drown my feelings in chocolate and peanuts.
I lie back on the pillows on my bed and just begin to settle in when I hear a knock on the glass door in the kitchen, which is directly downstairs from my bedroom. The open stairwell goes a long way to hearing the noises, which makes all of Ryan’s past breaking-and-enterings more miracle and magic than they already were.
I know who it is. There’s no one else who would be down there at this hour, let alone in the backyard. I want to ignore him, but I shouldn’t. I need to just get this over with like a grown up. So I make my way down the stairs and see Ryan looking like his face is made of thunder. I have no idea what he could be pissed at me about.
I unlock the door and slide it open a tiny bit, barring his entrance from my home. If I thought he was mad before, he’s certifiably pissed now.
“What the fuck?” he asks.
“I think it’s best if you go,” I say quietly. “And don’t come back.”
“Can I ask why?”
I wait a beat and swallow back the tears I haven’t yet cried over him before I answer. “I saw you tonight. I know you lied when you said you were working late. And I also know you were with a woman.”
“And?”
“And you don’t deny it?”
“I was supposed to work late, but MacKenzie called and asked me to dinner,” he says. Hearing her name spoken allowed is like a knife to my belly, and my heart feels like it breaks all over again. His face softens when he sees my crestfallen expression.
“I think you should go,” I say again. I’m going to cry. I stayed so strong for the last hour, and now it’s all going to come out. I think he’s going to leave, but then he puts his palm to my belly and gently shoves me back a step so he can follow me through the door. Once he’s inside, he shuts the door behind himself and throws the lock too. “I asked you to go.”
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” he says. “But first, let’s talk about the other bullshit you spewed a minute ago.”
“What bullshit?” I question. Everything I told him was true.
“Let’s talk about the woman you saw me with tonight,” he says.
“I’d rather not.”
“I’m sure you’ll change your mind when I tell you who she is,” he states with a smile on his face.
“Too young for you, that’s who she is,” I mutter under my breath.
“That—” He laughs. “—and she’s also my kid sister, so that’s all kind of eww.”
“What?”
“That was MacKenzie, my baby sister.”
“The one who flies jets?” I ask stupidly.
“That’s the one.” He smiles gently at me. “She’s in town for training before she deploys again. So she looked up her old brother and asked him to dinner. I tried to see if you wanted to come with and meet her, but you had already left the building and weren’t answering your cell phone.”
“Oops.”
“Yeah, oops.”
“I’m sorry,” I say instantly.
“That’s all right, baby,” Ryan replies gently. “But what’s not all right is assuming the worst of me and then locking me out without giving me a chance to talk it through with you.”
Shit. He’s right. I did do that.
“I’m sorry,” I say again.
“Good. Now kiss me.”
And I do.
I press up on my tip toes, and Ryan lets me kiss him for about two seconds before he takes over the kiss. I open my mouth under his when he licks my bottom lip and moan into his mouth.
When he breaks our kiss and I drop back to my heels, he leans forward and puts a shoulder to my belly and lifts me up, making me let out an “eep!” He carries my like a sack of potatoes up the stairs and drops me unceremoniously onto the bed, where I bounce but only once, because he follows me down and covers my body with his.
And there’s something about all the emotions that are riding me hard and the way he wants me that sets me on fire, and I go wild. I pull at his clothes, and he pulls at mine, and when we’re finally naked and pressed together on the bed, Ryan parts my legs and slides deep inside me.
“Yes,” I breathe. He feels so big inside me with no preamble, and I want more than anything for him to move.
I wrap my arms around his shoulders, and he grabs my thigh in his hand and wraps my leg around his waist. And then he finally moves. He holds me tight as he draws back and slams into me, making the bed jerk against the wall.
And then he pulls back and drives into me again and again.
“God, yes.”
I rake my nails down his shoulders as he drives into me and wrap my other leg around him and use the leverage to try to draw him deeper inside me. Something about the way I hold onto him, the way I want him, makes him finally snap, and he pounds into me harder and faster with a savageness to him. And it’s that beautiful brutality I need to send me over the edge.
Ryan feels me clench around him in my climax, and he calls out my name as he plants himself deep inside me and comes.
We lay entwined in each other for I don’t know how long as our breaths intermingle, sawing in and out of our lungs. And then finally he pulls his head from where it was pressed against the crook of my neck and looks me in the eye, and what I see there changes everything. Ryan lets all his emotions he keeps so close to the vest play out across his face—hurt, vulnerability, and last… love.
“Don’t try to leave me again,” he says quietly.
“I won’t.”
“Promise me,” he orders softly.
“I promise,” I say instantly, and he relaxes against me.
“I don’t know what I would do if I lost you,” he says.
“You won’t lose me.”
“You have to know, Jules,” he says tenderly. “I’m in love with you.”
“That’s nice,” I say gently. “Because I realized recently that I’m in love with you.”
It’s then that he smiles full-out. In fact, he’s still smiling when he presses his mouth to mine. He pulls out and heads to the bathroom to clean up before coming to bed. Something he does regularly. But when he steps in the doorway and flips on the light, I watch as he freezes in his tracks. And it’s in that moment I remember all the pregnancy tests.
“Jules?” Ryan calls out.
“Yes, Ryan?”
“You wanna tell me why there’s about seven hundred positive pregnancy tests on the counter in here?” he prompts.
“They’re positive?” I ask.
“Every last one of them.”
“Oh my God,” I whisper, and suddenly he’s there, crawling on the bed and back over me. He frames my face with his hands and gets close.
“Are you having my baby?” His voice is low and rough, brimming with emotion.
“Yeah.”
And then he presses his mouth to mine. I wrap my arms back around him, and Ryan shows me just how happy he is. In fact, he does it rather enthusiastically. And then we fall asleep with smiles on our faces, in each other’s arms, never knowing tomorrow would bring nothing but nightmares.
"Could Rocky Love Triangle Cause Rift between Popular BFFs POTUS and Fairchild?"
Chapter 21
I trusted you
Today, I’m going to have a quiet day. I downloaded What to Expect When You’re Expecting onto my e-reader, and I’m going to veg out and relax while Ryan goes to spend the afternoon with his kids. We’ve decided not to tell them about the baby yet, because we’ve only just found out about it ourselves, and I haven’t had a moment to get into see an OBGYN.
I’m actually at the point where I may have to ask Grace to pull some favors for me with hers. But that would also mean telling Grace she’s not the only one knocked up in this neck of the woods. I kind of just want to keep it to ourselves for a little bit longer.
Ryan kisses me g
oodbye and then heads out to meet up with the kids for lunch. He’s been gone for about an hour when my phone rings.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Hey, sis,” Gil says. “I’m in town again. Want to catch lunch with your big brother?”
“I would love that!” I tell him. And I would. I breathe a sigh of relief that we can move on from here. I love my brother and I don’t like fighting with him. It’s rare that we disagree. Mostly, we’re just vastly different people with a huge age gap between us. There was never anything like toys or treats to tangle over because he was mostly grown by the time I came along. I don’t like that he’s taken our mother’s side, but I also know that I can just avoid the conflict until it goes away. Eventually, the media will give up and they will have to as well. I just have to smile and nod my head and then wait them out.
“I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes.”
“Sounds good,” I reply. “I’ll be ready when you get here.”
“See you then,” he says and disconnects.
I jump up and race upstairs. I brush out my hair and twist it into a messy ballet bun and then swipe on some soft makeup, because it would not please my mother to see photos of us and I look like hot garbage. I pull on dark skinny jeans, a blush-pink draped chiffon tank, and a winter-white blazer. I put on my signature jewelry and step into my bone-colored Louboutins.
I’m just walking back down the stairs when there is a knock at the front door. I pull open the door, and Gil is standing on my front porch.
“Ready to go?” he asks me with an easy smile on his face.
“Absolutely,” I reply and lean in to give him a hug.
“Great,” he says. “There’s this new place I’m dying to try.”
“I’m sure it’ll be good,” I tell him as I lock my front door and head down the walk. I climb in the front seat of his car and buckle my seatbelt. And all the while, I just feel like something is… off.
I brush it off as our having not cleared the air yet since our last dinner. He drives farther and farther away from the city and into a part of town I’ve never been before. In fact, it doesn’t look so great.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“It’s just a little bit farther,” he tells me, but he keeps his eyes pinned on the road and doesn’t look at me. “We’re almost there.”
“But where is there?” I ask as he pulls up to an old warehouse. Maybe it’s some kind of new popup restaurant. I hear those are all the rage lately.
“Change of plans,” Gil says as he reaches for something in the pocket of his door.
“What’s that?” I ask, but then he’s moving faster than I’ve ever seen him move before, and I yelp as the needle pierces my neck.
“You should have done what you were told,” he snarls, and his face changes to a look of rage that I’ve never seen on him.
The last words I say to my brother before everything goes black are, “I trusted you.”
Never will I make that mistake again.
Probably because I’ll be dead.
"Funeral Plans are Pending"
Chapter 22
Mistakes
Ryan
“Everything all right, Dad?” my son asks, and I have the sinking feeling that everything is not all right.
“I don’t know,” I hedge, not wanting to upset my kids. I tried to call Jules to see if she wanted me to bring her a sandwich home from this little deli I know she likes. But no matter how many times I try to call her, she doesn’t answer.
I hang up and try another number. Rick answers immediately.
“Hey, man, what’s up?” he asks.
“Not much,” I tell him. “Hey, are you guys at home?”
“Yeah, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve been trying to call Jules, but she’s not answering.”
“I’ll head over now,” Rick says.
“Thanks, man.” And then I disconnect.
“Maybe we should go check on her,” my daughter, such a sweetheart, suggests.
“Why don’t you guys head back to your mom’s,” I tell them. “And I’ll go check on Jules.”
“I hope she’s okay,” Lacy says.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” I lie. By the look on my son’s face, he knows something’s wrong. I just don’t know what yet.
I hug my kids goodbye, climb in my SUV, and head back to Jules’s house, all the while knowing it was a mistake to have left her alone today.
Rick
“What was that?” Cara asks me.
“That was Ryan,” I answer immediately. “He said Jules isn’t answering the phone, and he’s worried about her.”
“I hope everything’s okay,” my beautiful wife says.
“I’m sure it is,” I lie, not wanting to upset her if something is not right with one of her closest friends. I won’t be able to shield her from it, but I can do my best to soften the blow if I can. “Do me a favor and call Jake and give him a heads up.”
“Of course,” she says.
I slide my feet into a pair of running shoes and grab my keys off the hook. I kiss my daughter’s forehead where she sits putting together a puzzle on the coffee table in front of her mother. And then I drop a kiss on Cara’s lips and touch my palm to her slightly rounded belly. We’re not telling anyone yet, but I’m over the fucking moon.
And then I walk out the door, climb in my SUV, and head toward Jules’s house, knowing the entire time we’ve made too many fucking mistakes with this mess. I should have pushed and demanded more answers. I shouldn’t have let Jake convince me to go in soft. When someone is blackmailing the President of the United fucking States, you demand action and retribution.
And I did not. I went in soft and have nothing to show for it.
I pull up in front of her house, and I instantly know something is wrong. As in really fucking wrong. It’s too still. And the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. I don’t like it.
When Ryan pulls up behind me and lets us into the house, I know just how wrong it all is.
We’ve made way too many fucking mistakes. And now Jules and Ryan are going to pay the ultimate price.
Fuck.
Jake
My phone rings.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Hey, Jake, it’s Cara,” she replies. “Something’s up with Jules, and Ryan can’t get ahold of her. Rick is going over there to check things out, and I think Ryan is going to meet him there. I’m sure it’s overkill, but Rick told me to call you and tell you what’s going on.”
“Thanks, honey,” I tell her. “I’ll look into it.”
“Thanks.”
“All right, I’ll call you in a bit when I know more.”
“Thanks, Jake,” she says. “Hug Grace for me.”
“I will,” I reply and then disconnect.
Fuck. This is not good.
“What’s going on?” Grace asks. Shit. She moves like one of those damn cats she loves so much. I don’t even hear her coming anymore, and they call me Ghost. I’m clearly getting soft in my old age.
“Not much,” I lie. “I’m just going to step into the hall and make a phone call.”
“Okay,” she says. “Hurry back.”
“I will.”
I don’t step into the hall, but I do leave the room. I go to a hidden safe I have stowed away in the back of the closet, punch in the code, and pull out an unregistered Colt 45. I tuck it into the back waistband of my jeans and then step out into the hall.
“Sir,” Gus greets me. Thank God he’s here today. He’s one of few people I can trust.
“Ryan can’t get ahold of Jules,” I tell him immediately. “Rick and Ryan are both on their way to her house now.”
“What would you like me to do, sir?” he asks.
“I know you’re on duty today and you can’t leave your post, and I wouldn’t ask you to,” I say. “But could you keep a line of communication open with them?”
“Yes, sir,” he says,
and then he leaves the room.
I’m just about to follow him, when the door opens and my father steps inside.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“I need you to be quiet and listen,” he tells me.
“There is nothing you have to say that I want to hear.”
“It’s about Jules and Black,” he states, and suddenly I’m listening. He knows he has my attention and smiles. “It’s bigger than you realize.” My father always was a fan of theatrics and drawing it all out. I can’t stand it.
“Get on with it.”
“It was never about her,” he says. “She was just a pawn. Like you were supposed to be, but you won’t play the game.”
“What game?” I ask.
“The one where America falls.”
“You’re a traitor?” I question, and color me surprised. An asshole, sure, but a traitor to his country? I had no idea.
“Traitor is such an ugly word,” he says. “I prefer businessmen.”
“And how do you figure that?”
“Because they pay better,” he replies. “But Jules didn’t play her part, and they’re going to kill her for it.”
“What was her part?” I hope to God I can get the information out of him before it’s too late.
“She was supposed to marry you, and when she couldn’t seal that deal, she was supposed to marry me.”
“And what would that have done?” I ask as the door swings open and a gun goes off. I watch in shock as my father falls to the floor with a hole in his chest and dies.
I look to the door where Mark Jeffries stands with a gun in his hand, staring at where my father had been previously standing.
“He was always weak,” Jeffries says.
“That’s true,” I agree. I mean, what else am I supposed to fucking say here? He’s not exactly wrong.
“I knew he would come right here and spill his guts to you, because he was fucking weak,” he snarls. “You all are. Why couldn’t you just do what you were supposed to?”
The Press Secretary's Passion (A Presidential Affair Book 3) Page 18
