by Lori Ryan
“You need to start reading the paper, Mom. Everyone knows who Jack Sutton is. Kelly’s rich now. I mean disgustingly rich. As in, filthy stinking rich with a capital R,” she said with very little tact or grace, and Jack laughed as Kelly’s face turned red.
An hour later Jack stepped out the back door of Kelly’s parents’ house and walked across the lawn to the oak tree where his new wife stood. Sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels, he stood behind her and followed her gaze out to the sunset that created purple clouds spreading across the sky.
“Beautiful, huh?” Kelly asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Incredible,” he said quietly, looking at her instead of the sunset. Kelly looked down at her toes and blushed.
“I’m so sorry, Jack,” she said as she looked up at him. She bit her lower lip.
His eyebrows shot up on his forehead. “For what?” Jack asked, genuinely confused.
“For the mortifying dinner conversation. One minute my mom is practically telling you what a ‘nice little company’ you have, and the next my sister is announcing your net worth.”
Kelly cringed, and Jack imagined she was playing back her interpretation of the night’s events in her head.
He laughed a genuine, full laugh which wasn’t something that happened often. “I’m very used to people talking about my money. And I happen to like your mom. She makes me think of my own mother and I like that, Kel.”
She craned her neck and looked back at him, and he hoped she saw he meant what he said.
Her blue eyes sparkled as she watched him and he caught the scent of flowers again. He stepped in closer to her. He wanted to lean in and breathe her in, soak up the scent of her. He wanted to touch and taste.
“I’ve been thinking, though, Kelly,” Jack went on, as he took her shoulders in his hands and leaned in to speak close to her ear, his breath whispering over her neck, the sweet scent of her doing wicked things to him. “If a newly married man comes to dinner at his wife’s house, and they sneak off into the yard together for a private moment….”
He turned Kelly to face him and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her up. He liked the way she felt there. “They would steal a kiss.”
He paused and looked into her as he watched her quiet gasp of understanding. A slow smile worked its way across his face.
Jack wanted it to look like they were really married, but he also had to admit he’d been wondering what it would be like to kiss Kelly, to really kiss Kelly, especially after that small kiss at their wedding a few days ago.
And, he was used to getting what he wanted.
He leaned down and brushed his lips softly along her neck before drawing back and looking her in the eye. “I’m going to kiss you now, Kelly,” he said, nothing more than a murmur.
He closed his mouth over hers, exploring her slowly, tenderly.
Jack didn’t mean to get carried away. Just a little show to make things look the way they should to the world around them.
Somehow that small kiss exploded between them, and he found himself deepening the kiss, pulling Kelly even tighter to him as he delved into her mouth.
He felt her hands come up to his chest and for a moment he thought she would press him away, but instead her small fists closed tightly, grabbing his shirt and pulling him even closer as she came up on her toes.
Heat erupted between them and he was lost. His entire body responded to this woman, going tight and hard in an instant.
Kelly had been forced to focus on keeping her voice steady and her hands from shaking while Jack stood behind her watching the sunset. With him standing so close, it felt as if her body were reaching out to him, or maybe it was his body reaching out to set hers on fire.
She felt the heat of him and knew if she leaned back she would feel hard planes and muscles, but at the same time, he’d be warm and soft and welcoming. She felt herself go damp at just the thought of being pressed against him, her back to his chest. She knew if she did, she’d feel the hard length of him pressing into her and that made her chest tighten at the thought of it.
When he turned her and kissed her, Kelly felt her world suddenly spin sideways, out of control. His kiss was filled with burning passion, and she felt a tingling sensation zip through her body as she fisted Jack’s shirt in her hands, pulling him tighter to her.
The second she realized what she’d done, Kelly gasped and let go of his shirt, pulling back from the kiss—but it was too late. She felt the strength of the attraction, the odd pull toward Jack.
He held her close, molding her body to his. Heat spread through her and she knew she had never felt a kiss like that before, and was fairly sure she never would again. And that thought terrified her because this was temporary. This wasn’t real. And she didn’t fall in love with men. She just didn’t…. Did she?
Jack looked as stunned as she felt, his deep brown eyes seeming to go even darker with pleasure as he looked at her.
He licked his lips and looked as though he might say something. Or kiss her again and God, yes, please that would work for her.
Before either could say or do anything more, the back door swung open and her brother was there.
“Stop pawing my sister and come in for dessert, mom says.”
“There’s a dessert joke in there somewhere,” Jack said, taking her hand and pulling her toward the house as her head spun and her heart stuttered in her chest.
Chapter 21
Jack was surprised to find he liked being married to Kelly more than he thought he would. She finished her registration for Yale and he sent the tuition in as promised, so she was all set to start school in September. Now they had the entire summer to spend figuring out what their lives would be like for the next year.
Over the next week, Jack, Kelly, and Mrs. Poole fell into a comfortable routine around the house. Jack left for work before Kelly got up in the morning so they didn’t see each other before work, but he started coming home for dinner in the evenings.
It was amazing how much he looked forward to the time he spent with Kelly at night; liked talking to her and having someone at home to be with at the end of the day.
Mrs. Poole often sat down and ate with them, instead of leaving a plate warming in the oven for him as she had before Kelly arrived. When Mrs. Poole headed back to her room, he and Kelly went into the den to watch a movie or TV together. After a movie, he would go into his office to work, and Kelly would read a book before heading up to her room.
After a week of falling comfortably into their newfound life together, Kelly got up earlier than usual and entered the kitchen as he stood behind the center island, eating yogurt and waiting for his coffee to brew.
He was still wearing his running shorts and T-shirt from his morning run, and he was sweaty and rumpled.
Still, he smiled at the unexpected sight of her. “Morning, Kel. What are you doing up so early?”
She took an orange from the refrigerator and started to peel it, holding the garbage can open with one foot as she tossed the peels. When she was finished, she climbed onto one of the bar stools at the kitchen island. “I’m going job hunting today. I want to see if I can find something other than temp work before school starts.”
Jack’s smile turned to a frown. “Kelly, I really will pay all of your expenses during law school. I’ll even give you spending money. You’re going to be working hard enough at school as it is. You should relax for the summer and then focus on studying when you start school. I’ll take care of everything else.”
He couldn’t believe Kelly wanted to work when she was being handed a free ride. She really had no idea the magnitude of the favor she was doing him by giving up a year of her life to save his ass.
And it wasn’t the first time Jack realized she was nothing like the women he knew and dated in the past. Hell, they would have taken what he offered and started running up tabs for clothes, jewelry and trips to the spa…. Instead, here she was getting up early to look for w
ork.
She shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t really want to take advantage, Jack. We had a deal for law school, but you don’t need to do more than we bargained.”
“Kelly,” he said and tried to figure out if she was for real. “You’re doing me a huge favor with this deal. I don’t mind making sure you don’t have to work while you’re in school. I mean it. Let me do this for you.”
Jack knew how to read people and right now she looked as if she was scrambling for some way to change the subject. She glanced down at his leg at the small Celtic sun tattoo on his left calf. “You have a tattoo?” Kelly said with a distinct tone of surprise in her voice.
Jack laughed as he let her switch topics, at least for the time being. “Yup. A bunch of us got them together our senior year.” He didn’t tell her he was drunk.
“What about you?” Jack continued. “Any hidden tattoos I should know about? I mean, in case someone quizzes me on ‘all things Kelly.’”
His grin faded and his mouth fell open when she casually hopped down off her bar stool and tugged the edge of her sweatpants down to reveal a tiny daisy over her right hip bone. It was no more than the size of a quarter, and the strip of skin she was showing was only two inches wide, but Jack was suddenly very grateful he was standing behind the island.
Her skin was creamy and soft and his hands itched to reach out and slide over the spot before dipping lower, exploring what was under the loose sweatpants.
He knew from that kiss the other day that her mouth would taste sweet and she’d melt into him if he put his hands on her again.
He stepped in closer to hide the effect her little reveal was having on him, and managed to choke out some kind of response before she went outside to grab the newspaper for her job search.
Jack watched Kelly leave the kitchen and realized he couldn’t live with this woman for a year and treat her like a housemate.
He wanted her, and he usually got what he wanted.
Where Kelly was concerned, he decided to make damn sure he did. He would convince her that their temporary marriage should include all the benefits of marriage while it lasted.
Chapter 22
After she grabbed the newspaper from the driveway, Kelly went inside and climbed the stairs to her room. She was relieved she and Jack coexisted as housemates more than as husband and wife since she wasn’t looking for anything further. She only wished she would stop fantasizing about the man every time she saw him—and, for that matter, when he wasn’t around.
She tried to ignore her physical reaction to him and figured it would go away eventually, but for now, the attraction was powerful and it wasn’t easy to put aside.
When she found Jack in his running clothes in the kitchen, hair damp and sweaty from his morning run and those curls of hair edging their way to his collar, it was a lot more than she could handle.
His T-shirt looked soft and comfortable as if it had been washed hundreds of times, and had well-worn, threadbare, see-through spots that gave more than a hint of the muscles underneath it. It had still been slightly damp from his workout so it clung to his abs, showing off the cut of each muscle on his stomach.
She felt like an idiot the second she pulled down the waistband of her sweats to show him her tattoo. He probably thought she was trying to throw herself at him in some lame attempt to flirt.
Kelly wasn’t an idiot. She knew Jack dated supermodels and had even dated a famous actress a few years earlier. Although she was confident about her looks and knew she was attractive, she wasn’t that attractive.
She saw herself as girl-next-door kind of cute—appealing in a sweet way, not in a hot, sexy, leggy-blonde-model sort of way, so Jack wouldn’t be interested in her. Besides, she reminded herself again, she didn’t want a relationship. The whole point of this marriage was for her to be able to go to school and get her degree, not to hop into bed with the man.
So, yeah, she needed to try to hide her reaction to him. The last thing she wanted to do was let him see that she was panting for him whenever she was near him. Or that he’d begun to star in some pretty x-rated dreams at night. Thank God they weren’t sharing a bed.
How mortifying would it be to wake up and find herself dry humping her husband in her sleep.
She groaned. This was bad.
Kelly opened the newspaper and spread it across her bed. Maybe she should get a job she could work at night so she was out of the house when he was home.
She could waitress. That could get her out of the house right at dinnertime.
Too bad she didn’t want to give up her time with him at night.
She scanned through the paper and spotted an ad for a legal clinic.
That might not get her out of the house at night, but it would be a great place to volunteer if she wanted to get some experience in working with legal issues.
And if Jack was really serious and he didn’t mind paying for her expenses, maybe she should take him up on it and volunteer at the clinic instead of getting a job.
She stood and left her room, planning to make another cup of tea when she heard the front door shut. She went to the hallway window just in time to see Jack getting into his car. He looked up and caught her watching him.
Because, of course he did.
She felt the heat rush to her cheeks but she didn’t duck out of sight. She raised a hand and waved goodbye.
He winked at her and grinned.
Of course.
Chapter 23
The following Monday, Jack sat in his office getting ready for a meeting when his Aunt Mabry showed up unannounced. His secretary showed her in, and Jack forced a smile to his face as he greeted her.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, Aunt Mabry?” There was a time when Jack would have said those words and meant them. He used to love his Aunt Mabry, but something changed her over recent years and he couldn’t connect with her anymore. She had become obsessed with seeing her only son, Chad, as CEO of the company.
He knew the intent was to hurt him, but he and Chad agreed long ago not to let her come between them. He’d play her games because she was Chad’s mother.
“Jack, darling…” She breezed into the room. “I’ve decided to redo my kitchen and the downstairs floor of my townhouse. Chad has a friend staying with him right now, so I need to stay at your place for a few weeks until my kitchen is completed.”
He had to work to keep from rolling his eyes. He knew perfectly well what she was doing. She wanted to spy on him and Kelly. There was no way she’d be redoing her kitchen if she didn’t want an excuse to stay with him.
And she would normally stay at the Omni downtown or at a spa by the water instead of with him. She had never stayed at his house before, not for a day in his life, even when his mother was alive.
His mind filtered through the excuses he could give her, but when he quickly weighed all of the factors, he decided it was best to let her move in for a bit to get her off their backs.
Besides, if his aunt were around, they’d have to pretend to be husband and wife a lot more often, and he liked pretending where Kelly was concerned. He had to hold back the grin that threatened to show at the thought.
With unexpected enthusiasm, he turned to his aunt. “Sure thing, Aunt Mabry. You’re welcome anytime. When do you need to move in?”
“Right now,” she said with a Cheshire cat grin of her own. “I’ll head over there right now.”
With that announcement, she sailed out of the office as breezily as she had waltzed in. Jack stared after her for a minute before reality dawned on him. He and Kelly didn’t share a room.
Oh, hell. His aunt wouldn’t buy the happily-ever-after marriage if she found out they had separate rooms. He grabbed the phone to try to catch Kelly or Mrs. Poole in time to warn them.
Kelly whipped through the house and up the stairs, calling out as she ran. “Mrs. Poole! We have to move! We have to move!”
Kelly continued yelling as she ran into her room and grabbed drawers full of c
lothes and piles of hangers with slacks and dresses on them.
Half of the items fell from the hangers and Kelly cursed as she scrambled to pick them up.
Mrs. Poole came up the stairs with a puzzled look on her face. “What on earth are you hollering about?” she said as she tried to enter the room.
She had to jump out of the way as Kelly made a mad dash to the master bedroom.
“We have to move all of my stuff into Jack’s room. His Aunt Mabry is on her way here, and she’s staying with us for a couple of weeks,” Kelly blurted out as she ran back down the hall to gather more of her belongings.
“Oh Lord,” Mrs. Poole rolled her eyes and followed after her.
She grabbed up clothes and toiletries and rushed down the hall to Jack’s room. They repeated the trip half a dozen more times as they transferred everything and set it into place. Mrs. Poole cleared out half of Jack’s dresser and closet and made room for Kelly’s things, while Kelly folded and put her clothing away.
She draped a few things over the chaise in the corner of his room to make it appear as though the two had been living in holy matrimony since day one.
Kelly pulled open the top drawer of the bureau and saw Jack’s boxer briefs folder neatly on one side. She shoved her period panties—the ones that were soft cotton and loose and so far from sexy she could cry—to the back of the drawer. She stacked the few matching lacy sets of panties and bras toward the front.
She never dreamed Jack would be looking at her underwear when she started this.
She looked around the room. Maybe she should just put her underwear in a box in the closet or something so he wouldn’t see it.
“I’ll run these things up to the attic,” Mrs. Poole said, grabbing the heavy clothing she’d taken from the back of Jack’s closet to make room.
