Love Me Like No Other

by A. C. Arthur

  She licked her lips then said in a shaky voice, “Linc, please. I can’t do this with you anymore.”

  “Just give me a few minutes, Jade. A few minutes to state my case and if you still want me to leave after that I will. I’ll do whatever you want.”

  She didn’t want him to do whatever she wanted. She wanted him to follow his heart, to love her the way she loved him. And since that was not going to happen she didn’t want anything. But if he’d come here he must have something to say. Whether or not she wanted to hear it remained to be seen. She looked past him through the window because staring at him caused an unbearable pain. She saw Mario standing in front of the car wearing the shades she’d given him and smiled. Mario waved and she waved back.

  “I wish I could make you smile again,” Linc said softly.

  She instantly sobered. “Say what you have to say, Lincoln.”

  He nodded in agreement. “But before we go any further, I have something for you.” With an extended hand he offered her an envelope.

  She stared at it mutely. Her mind wrapped around the fact that it was an envelope but was too leery to be curious as to what it held.

  “Go ahead, take it. It won’t bite you.” Linc dangled it toward her with a devilish grin.

  “Like the serpent in the garden, whatever you offer turns out badly,” she sighed.

  “Ouch! I guess I deserved that.” He took a step closer, lowered his voice. “I want you to take this, Jade. I promise it won’t hurt you.”

  She looked into his eyes—big mistake—and found herself reaching for the envelope. She ripped it open and pulled out a check. Recognizing the name at the header she frowned. “Where did you get this?”

  “From Charles Benson.”

  “But why? How?” Opening the envelope had been relatively easy compared to trying to figure out how she’d come to be holding a check from Charles in the exact amount he’d stolen from her account.

  “I tracked him down. Told him he was a scumbag and that he owed you money.” Linc shrugged. “He agreed.”

  Jade stared at him skeptically. “Charles would never agree. What did you do to him?” She couldn’t believe it. He’d found out about Charles and instead of blaming her, instead of thinking it was her loss, he’d tracked him down and made Charles pay her back. And this was the man who called himself self-centered.

  “Me? What did I do?” He feigned innocence, his act making her lips tilt momentarily in a smile. “Okay, okay. I may have threatened him a bit. But he really did come around quickly. Especially after he found out Trent was an ex-Seal.”

  A giggle did escape then and Jade fanned the check in front of her face for a moment. “Thank you,” she said slowly.

  “Don’t mention it. I didn’t come here for gratitude, Jade.”

  “Then what do you want?” she asked nervously. He was looking at her with hunger in his eyes. But there was something else about him that she couldn’t quite explain or wasn’t willing to accept.

  “Like I said, I have another proposition for you.”

  She shook her head quickly. “I’m not interested in any more of your propositions.”

  He moved closer until they stood only a breath away. “I think you’ll be interested in this one.”

  She huffed, a renewed sense of discord coming to life between them. “Oh, you are still so very sure of yourself, aren’t you? Well, I’ll have you know that I am not impressed by you or your high-handedness, Lincoln Donovan!” She emphasized each word by poking a finger into his chest. He hadn’t budged. “I’m sick and tired of you thinking that the world revolves around you and what you want. And while I’m on the subject just let me say that if you continue to think you can sleep with women and then turn them away on that foolish excuse that you are never marrying, then one day, one woman is going to be time enough for you to make you pay for all the heartache you’ve caused.”

  He grabbed her wrists and her mouth snapped shut. “You’ve paid me back already.”

  Out of breath and instantly heated by both his proximity and his touch Jade blinked before asking, “What? How?”

  “I’ve been absolutely miserable since the night you walked out on me. Now I know how you must have felt that night I left.” He eased his grip on her wrists then lifted them to his mouth and kissed the backs of her hands.

  “Don’t,” she whispered.

  “Don’t what? Don’t tell you how sorry I am that I hurt you again? Or don’t tell you that it’s taken all this time for me to figure out I was an idiot for letting you go not once, but twice?”

  She was stunned into complete silence.

  “Because that’s the absolute truth, Jade. I never wanted this feeling because I knew I couldn’t control it. I knew once it happened I’d be lost. My identity and all I worked for would be lost because this feeling would take precedence over everything.”

  “I…I don’t understand.”

  His thumbs stroked over her hands as he pulled her closer until her breasts brushed against his chest. “I thought I had my life all planned out. That all I needed was success. But then when I had that success I still felt incomplete. And then you walked back into my life and instantly filled that gap. It was stupid of me to think that I could have you without giving myself totally. You said you wanted a man to love you so much he couldn’t think straight and that’s exactly what you deserve.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that I was wrong to offer you an apartment and a relationship with no real commitment. No real feelings.”

  She wanted to pull away to stop this twister of emotion from whirling through her. She was angry with him. She was brokenhearted. She was not happy that he was here and she did not believe a word he was saying. Yet she heard herself asking, “Why?”

  “You were looking for a knight in shining armor to come and rescue you. Instead, you’re the one who rescued me.”

  Tears welled in her eyes and she began shaking her head in disbelief. Cupping her face in his hands he stilled her motions. “Yes, you did. If you hadn’t come into the casino that day I never would have seen you again and I never would have accepted what I knew eight years ago. That I’d fallen in love with you.”

  “There would have been someone…else,” she stuttered through her tears.

  His thumbs caught the falling drops, wiping them away. “No. There would have been no one else. Because I’ve loved you from the start. It just took me a minute to realize it.”

  “You were too stubborn.” She giggled then slapped a hand over her mouth.

  He chuckled. “I guess you’re right.”

  He moved her hand and traced her bottom lip. Her heart stilled with anticipation. She didn’t know what brought him here and she didn’t care. She didn’t know who had made him see that he was wrong because she knew that Linc was too in control to ever see his own errors or faults, but she didn’t care. He was here now and that’s all that mattered…well, that wasn’t all that mattered.

  “So, I’ll ask you again, Linc, what are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to make you an offer you can’t refuse. But first,” he said, putting a small amount of distance between them, “I need to tell you that I am so in love with you that not only can’t I think straight, I can’t work or eat. And my mother threatened to disown me if I didn’t come to my senses and make things right with you. So I hope that with every beautiful ounce of your being that you can forgive me for messing up,” he added a smile, “again.”

  She smiled. She couldn’t help it. She’d waited so long to hear these words from him. She’d dreamed of the possibility, prayed for the reality and now here he was. And she was absolutely clueless as to what she should say. “I don’t know what to say, this is all so…so…”

  “Do you love me, Jade?” He kissed her palms. “Please tell me it’s not too late.”

  “You’re wrong, Linc.”

  His head shot up with lightning-fast speed. “Excuse me?”

  “
You are my knight in shining armor,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck pulling him closer in the process. “You have saved me from another broken heart. And if I didn’t already love you, I would have fallen the moment you walked through that door. “

  Linc smiled, dipping his head to kiss her. Long and slow the kiss lingered on, their old rhythm renewed with the confession of love.

  Then Linc abruptly pulled away. “But that’s not what I’m here for,” he said, a huge grin spreading across his face.

  “It’s not?” She blinked. “Then what are you here for? Oh, your new proposition. What is it?”

  With a hand at the nape of her neck he dropped a kiss on her forehead then one on her ear and whispered, “Double or nothing.”

  She frowned. “You want me to spend two weeks with you now?”

  He laughed. “No, baby. I want you to spend forever with me.”

  Epilogue

  The ballroom of the Gramercy casino was decorated in shades of peach and white as the newlyweds made their way from the stretch limousine that Linc insisted on renting, driven by Mario, of course.

  They’d exchanged vows in a private ceremony on the Donovan estate, at Beverly’s request, then headed straight for Vegas for a gala reception, at Linc’s request. He wanted the world to see that he’d taken a wife, effectively putting an end to the Triple Threat Brothers.

  Adam and Trent, although they’d accepted Jade with sincere apologies for overreacting and butting into her and Linc’s relationship, were ecstatic about their brother’s happiness but in no way ready to concede themselves.

  “To each his own,” Adam said holding up a glass of champagne.

  Linc smiled. “Your time will come, little brother.” He lifted his glass, too.

  Trent laughed. “I known mine won’t. You two are crazy for even entertaining the idea.” His was the final glass lifted to clatter with the other two in a toast to their future.

  “Who said I was entertaining the idea?” Adam asked while his brothers drank.

  Both Linc and Trent laughed at the fraught sound of his voice. “Calm down, bro. It’s not as bad as we thought,” Linc offered.

  “How would you know? You’ve been married all of three hours.”

  Glancing across the room Linc caught his wife’s eye and smiled. “And it’s been a fabulous three hours. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me…” He handed Trent his glass and made his exit.

  “Look at him.” Adam nodded in the direction Linc had gone. “Totally whipped.”

  Trent downed his glass of champagne and Linc’s. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I’m not even considering the thought.”

  “Me, neither,” Adam said more to himself since Trent had abandoned him to make another trip to the bar.

  He didn’t want another drink but he did need some air. All this marriage talk was starting to bother him. For as long as he could remember Linc had taught him the ins and outs of dating women. His firm rule had been never to trust them. He’d made the mistake of not listening to Linc once and had been severely bruised. He vowed not to make that mistake again.

  In the hallway he inhaled deeply and exhaled. He was happy for Linc and Jade. They made a good couple and he knew that Jade would make his brother happy. But he didn’t need that type of happiness. He took one step forward and attempted to turn the corner when he collided with her.

  Linc and Jade were trying to sneak off to find a moment to themselves when she spotted Adam, his hands on a woman’s shoulders in the hallway.

  “Well, well, well, would you look at that?”

  Linc followed her gaze. “Look at what?”

  “Adam’s found a friend.”

  Linc recognized the gleam in her eyes and frowned. “Don’t even think about it. Adam is never getting married. That you can count on.”

  Jade lifted her left hand, dangling her fingers so that the four-karat marquise-cut wedding ring sparkled in his face. “That’s what they all say.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-5409-5

  LOVE ME LIKE NO OTHER

  Copyright © 2006 by A. C. Arthur

  All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For permission please contact Kimani Press, Editorial Office, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ® and TM are trademarks. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and/or other countries.

  www.kimanipress.com