by Melody Anne
She gave him exactly what he wanted and demanded. Her body let go and she cried out his name over and over again as her body convulsed around him and she felt the release in every cell, every atom. He continued pumping inside her, drawing the orgasm out, making her pulse over and over again until she didn’t think she could bear it any longer.
She felt as if she were gliding along in the sky, and during that moment, that moment where the release began to ebb, she heard him cry out as he tensed, buried deep inside her, and then he shook, his own release washed through him, his hardness sending his seed deep into her womb.
Blake collapsed against her, and their bodies were both burning up. She clung tightly to him, not willing to let this moment go, not willing to free him from her hold. She was exactly where she wanted to be and fear, fear that the moment would end the second they spoke, kept her cleaving desperately to his embrace.
But soon the moment faded, and Jewell felt almost bereft when Blake rolled off her. Her limbs grew cold, and an ache and an emptiness unlike anything she’d known before was filling her stomach.
“You belong to me, Jewell. I won’t share you with other men,” Blake told her. He reached for her again, pulling her tightly against his side.
“What are you talking about, Blake?”
“The man at the bar. You shouldn’t have done that.”
“The man at the bar?” She was lost for a few moments in her sex-induced coma. Then her eyes snapped open, and Jewell drew back so she could look at Blake. “Wait! Was that was this was about? Another man spoke to me, so you had to fuck me to show me you’re better?” she asked with horror.
“No,” he said, his voice almost deadly. “I have been holding back because I thought that was what you wanted — needed. When you allowed yourself to be vulnerable with another man, I decided it was time for me to remind you I was here,” he told her, not releasing his hold on her. “Ready, and definitely waiting.”
“But…this makes no sense, Blake. We’ve seen each other almost daily for weeks and you haven’t touched me, and then we’ve lived in this house just over a week and still you haven’t touched me. Why would my speaking to another man upset you?”
“I told you, I was trying to give you space. But I’m done with that now. I’m so hungry for you, I can’t even think straight. And you are just as hungry for me. I could hardly miss your response to me just now. We belong together and it’s time you just accept that.”
He rolled back on top of her and pressed against her core. She wasn’t even surprised when her body instantly responded to his.
“I just assumed you knew you had made a mistake, Blake, that you knew it couldn’t possibly work between us,” she told him. Why not? While lying in his arms fully naked, she couldn’t hide any of her body’s secrets from him. She might as well open her heart up too. If he was going to crush her, she’d rather he do it in one fell swoop than keep dragging her suffering out relentlessly.
“You assumed wrong, Jewell. What we have here, so to speak, is a failure of communication, and that’s going to end right now. I will marry you,” he said, making her heart skip a beat before he continued. “I’ll do it for the business deal and for your brother and because this thirst you make me feel will never be quenched.”
His words hurt her more than she would ever admit to him, but she was also powerless to fight him anymore. She’d already agreed to marry this man, and her future was in his hands. One thing that she had confidence in was that, at least for a while, the two of them would be able to please each other well. The fire that burned so hot didn’t appear to be running out of fuel.
Jewell covered up her sadness by reaching for his head and pulling him down to her, by being the one to initiate the kiss this time. When he groaned into her mouth, she felt her sense of emptiness begin to ease. Yes, their relationship was nowhere near perfect or conventional, but it was working, and Jewell knew she was already in too deep to make it out unscathed if he should leave her. So she really had nothing to lose by giving herself to him completely.
“I want you, Blake,” she said, instead of saying what she so desperately wanted to say.
Blake didn’t reply. His body joined with hers, and he loved her again until the early hours of the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Tyler and Byron looked at Blake and Jewell with varying expressions on their faces. Jewell shifted nervously on her feet, looked up at Byron’s black eyes, and then down at the floor. She had always thought Blake was intimidating. Well, Blake seemed to have nothing on this little brother. Byron was terrifying.
When she next looked up, she found Tyler beaming at her, and then before she could even think of stopping him, he rushed over, took her from Blake’s arms, and wrapped her in his. “Congratulations, Jewell. I’m delighted to welcome you to our family,” he said. He then bent down and gave her a loud, smacking kiss.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Blake grumbled as he pulled her away from his overly enthusiastic brother.
“Aw, come on, Blake. She isn’t married yet,” Tyler said with a laugh, and Jewell had to cover her own smile when she saw Blake’s eye twitch. She rubbed his arm, and he turned his look from his brother to her, and then she watched a miracle happen — his shoulders relaxed and the sparkle returned to his eyes.
“Sorry, Jewell, I know Tyler is doing it to get a reaction from me, but when I even think of another man touching you, it fills me with rage, so think how I feel when I have to stand here and witness it.” With a rueful smile, he brushed his lips lightly against hers.
“I am going to tell you a secret,” she said quietly, and he leaned closer. “I love that you are possessive. Just don’t be ridiculously so,” she added, and gave him a kiss. There was protective and then there was psycho. She didn’t want Blake to cross over the line into boiling bunnies on her kitchen stove.
“I knew it was going to happen anyway. Blake has been a mess since meeting you,” Tyler said.
Blake stiffened. “I am not a mess, Tyler,” he said indignantly.
“Sure, brother,” Tyler told him. “It’s okay; really it is. Even the hardest of asses fall eventually.”
“I don’t see that it’s funny to mock a man who’s under the thumb of a woman,” Byron said. Then he turned his eyes on Jewell and she felt singed to the spot.
“Back off, Byron,” Blake warned his brother. “This isn’t about you.”
“It sure as hell is about me. Anything to do with our family is about all of us,” Byron said. Jewell watched as both brothers’ shoulders stiffened, and she grew scared as sin as they tried to stare each other down.
“Oh, come on, guys. This is a special occasion,” Tyler said, and Jewell noticed how he moved just slightly so he was standing between his two brothers.
Was fighting a normal thing between them? And did Tyler often break it up? She was too afraid to even speak as the tension continued to mount despite Tyler’s attempt at intervention.
“And when is the happy day?” Byron practically sneered.
Jewell wished she weren’t standing there now, because the fireworks were just about to really start. But Blake’s arm was wrapped around her, and she really had no choice but to witness the explosions when Blake answered Byron’s question.
“Tomorrow,” Blake said.
“Tomorrow?” Byron practically thundered.
“Do you have a problem with my wedding date?” Blake asked tautly.
“Why in the hell are you rushing this?”
“I don’t see why that’s any of your business.”
“It’s my business,” Byron told him, “because I don’t understand why you’re allowing yourself to be snatched up by some woman who is obviously out to get whatever she can from you.”
Jewell’s mouth dropped when Blake released her so fast she nearly tripped, and then she was watching his fist come up and knock Byron in the side of the jaw. She had no idea what to do. There was no doubt in her mind that Byron would retaliate. Men
and their machismo…
Instead, after turning his head and spitting out a bit of blood, the man looked straight at his brother, who was staring daggers at him. “I’ll let that one pass, Blake, since you’re obviously screwed up in the head right now,” Byron said.
“Who in the hell do you think you are?” Blake shouted.
“I’m the brother who has been with you through thick and thin, and I’m the one you normally would listen to. Don’t you realize this woman has you so messed up that you’re choosing to please her even if it upsets the balance of your family?”
“Look, guys, emotions are high right now, but we really don’t want to say something that can’t be taken back later,” Tyler interjected.
“I don’t regret anything I’m saying,” Bryon said.
“No, because you’re a complete asshole, Byron. Jewell will become my wife tomorrow, and I’d like to have you there, but if you can’t be, then I understand that.” Blake took a step back.
Jewell was finally able to gulp in a breath of air. It looked like the fight might be over.
“I’ll be there, Blake, not because I support this marriage, but because you’re going to need me when you realize what a mistake you’ve made,” Byron said, and then he looking back at Jewell and piercing her with his brutal gaze.
“I’m sorry you’re so bitter,” Jewell told him. “But you’re wrong, Byron. I don’t want to take anything from your brother.” It was a moment before she even realized she’d spoken.
“Ha. A woman always has a plan,” Byron replied, dismissing her words as easily as he was dismissing her.
“I won’t have you there if you can’t treat Jewell with respect,” Blake warned his brother.
“I won’t say another word to her,” Byron said. “No problem.”
He might not be saying another word to her, but she could feel his animosity; the very air around them all was thick with it. Jewell suspected that she and Byron would never be friends, not because she thought he was evil — though he showed signs of being pretty dang close — but because Byron didn’t seem to allow anyone to ever get close to him. It made her feel sad for him. What a lonely, thankless life the man must lead.
“Well, we got that all out of the way, so why don’t we go celebrate with a nice dinner?” Tyler said a little too eagerly.
“That sounds good, Tyler,” Blake told him.
Jewell was more than happy when they all left the office building, which was where Blake had decided to inform his brothers about tomorrow’s wedding. It wasn’t going to be a fancy wedding. It wasn’t about love, after all. But still, he had managed to arrange a simple ceremony at their house. Well, at his house. Jewell didn’t know whether she’d ever be able to consider it fully hers.
Yes, for the past two weeks the two of them had been getting along great. Blake had gone from demanding and arrogant to more considerate and asking her opinion. Well, everywhere except for the bedroom. There, he was insatiable and very, very demanding. And she loved it.
His business deal had to be going well, because he was happier than she’d ever seen him be. She just wished he were happy for a different reason. But no, they didn’t speak of love, and no, she wasn’t under the illusion that they were marrying because of love. And that really sucked because somehow in the midst of all of this she was falling in love with him.
She couldn’t pinpoint the moment when it had begun happening. Maybe it was like those survivor stories where two people under extreme circumstances fall in love with each other. The Stockholm syndrome, perhaps? she thought will a grim chuckle. Maybe it was just because she felt so dependent on him. Whatever the reasons, she was simultaneously excited about her marriage to him and dreading it.
This was a fairy tale, Jewell knew, but a fractured one. She wasn’t a princess, and Blake most certainly was not Prince Charming. This long, strange dream seemed almost certain to end in a rude awakening.
Byron backed down a little during the dinner they shared that evening, and later that night the brothers took Blake with them for an impromptu bachelor party. Jewell was restless, tossing and turning for hours in her lonely bed.
Wasn’t the night before a woman’s wedding day supposed to be filled with dreams of happily-ever-afters? Not for her. Hadn’t she decided long ago that she wasn’t one of those people who was destined to win that perfect life? Still, she was luckier than most, she reminded herself.
She had her brother and she had Blake — for now.
Chapter Twenty-Six
You do realize that if you don’t breathe, you’re going to pass out, don’t you?”
Jewell met McKenzie’s gaze in the mirror and she attempted a smile, but there was no power great enough to accomplish that. Her stomach was nervous, her eyes almost wild, and her body felt as if it didn’t even belong to her.
“What if I’m making the biggest mistake of my life?” Jewell asked.
McKenzie knelt down by her and turned her chair. “Jewell, I’ve made many mistakes in my lifetime, so trust me when I tell you, this isn’t a mistake,” she said, and she completely surprised Jewell when she leaned in and gave her a hug.
McKenzie looked so much softer in her light blue chiffon dress, which brushed the top of her knees in the front and flowed down in the back. Her makeup was minimal — she possessed an amazing natural beauty — and her hair was up in a stylish bun with a few strands falling around her face in a lovely frame.
It was odd, but she looked so different, so…innocent was the word that kept popping into Jewell’s mind, that it calmed the jittery bride. “You’ve been good to me these last few months, McKenzie. I don’t know how I can ever repay you,” Jewell said, feeling tears trying to break through.
“I like you, Jewell. I didn’t expect to find friendship with you, but I genuinely like you,” McKenzie told her.
“I like you, too, McKenzie,” Jewell said. “And maybe someday you will tell me your story. You know mine, after all.”
“I might just do that,” McKenzie replied, instead of retreating into silence the way Jewell expected her to do. “But right now it is your wedding day, and you have an anxious groom out there waiting on you.”
“I don’t think he’s anxious, McKenzie. Remember, this is for his business deal,” Jewell said with more sadness than she cared to admit she was feeling. “And, of course, so I can get Justin back permanently.”
“You can say anything you want to make yourself feel better, but I know that look in a woman’s eyes. You love him, Jewell.”
“I…I’m doing this for Justin,” Jewell insisted, though the words got trapped in her throat.
“You’ve done a lot for your brother,” McKenzie said, and then a look in her eyes alerted Jewell to the depths of pain this woman had borne for some reason. “Just remember to not lose yourself,” she added. “Enough of this, though. Let’s focus on what matters today — your wedding.”
“If you need to talk, I’m always here to listen,” Jewell told her.
“I think I know that,” McKenzie said with a shaky smile. “Now sit down. Let’s get this veil on you and get you down that aisle. I think the groom will start manhandling people if you don’t get out there on time.”
If only that were true, Jewell thought. But no, this was a business deal. If she was developing feelings for Blake, they were unimportant. This wasn’t about her, or about Blake for that matter. It was about her little brother and doing everything she could for him.
And it was absurd to be so selfish, if only in her thoughts. She was getting a second chance at life, and if she dared to ask for too much, then she was setting herself up for heartbreak. She had Justin, she had an incredible sex life with Blake, and she had security. That was more than so many people had, so she would damn well smile and appreciate her blessings instead of focusing on what she lacked.
Her veil in place, Jewell turned to look at the image of herself in he mirror. Her gown was simple, made of white chiffon that flowed to the ground, with delicat
e beadwork on the bodice, and with sleeves that billowed until they reached her wrists. The dress was molded to her torso, and it floated around her legs, making her feel like she was walking through a breeze with each step she took.
Even her jewel-encrusted shoes sparkled as her toes peeked out with each step she took. She looked like a happy bride, and she was surprised by how quickly the wedding had come together. She’d expected nothing more than a quick exchange of vows in front of the justice of the peace down at the county courthouse. So silly of her to think that a simple wedding would mean the same thing to a billionaire as it did to mere mortals like her.
They were about to wed in the backyard of their home, and every time she sat out on the deck, she’d be able to remember this day. And when the marriage ended, as it inevitably would, she would leave this place behind and, if she was lucky, leave the memories behind too.
“You look stunning,” McKenzie said as she came and stood beside her. “Blake is a very lucky man.”
“Sissy, are you ready?”
They both turned to see Justin standing in the doorway. He was so grown up at only ten, looking more handsome than ever in his little black tux, his hair combed into place, and no smudges on his cheeks.
“Oh, Justin, you look wonderful,” Jewell said as she bent down and held out her arms.
He didn’t hesitate to run to her and wrap himself around her. “I love you so much,” she told him, squeezing just a little too tight and not even thinking about her dress.
“I love you too, Sissy,” he responded before he backed away and coughed as he pulled himself together.
She stood up and took her brother’s hand, and they followed McKenzie out to the back doors of the house, where she heard the music begin.
“I’m so glad you’re walking with me, because from here on out everything we do will be together,” Jewell told Justin.
“I really love Blake, Sissy,” he said, his eyes shining up at her.
“I know you do, Bubby. He loves you too,” she assured him.
