Wrapped Around My Heart

by Kelly Collins

“We get to decorate it and put presents under the tree. Do you have a present for me?” I glanced back at Bethany, who shrugged her shoulders and made no excuses for her son. It appeared the apple didn’t fall far from her tree.

  Really, though, it wasn’t a surprise that Ben would focus on presents. First of all, he was a kid, but probably more importantly, his mom was all about what she got. I didn’t understand how two completely different women could have been raised in the same house.

  “Ben, that wasn’t a nice question.” Jess placed two cups of steaming hot cocoa on the table in front of us before she brought one to her father. “Christmas isn’t about the presents. It’s about the people.” Jess took a seat in the recliner on the other side of the sofa. She was too far away, but at the perfect place where I could stare at her and people would think I was watching the game. She was far more interesting than pigskin and goalposts.

  The little critter sat on the edge of his seat and pushed the top of a marshmallow. He laughed when it bobbed down and floated up. Had life ever been that simple for me?

  “I know.” Ben sighed. “Sasha told me it wasn’t the gift that counted but the thought behind the gift.” He blew on his cocoa and then turned to me with what I’d call the perfect boardroom look. Serious. Confident. No nonsense. “I don’t have a present for you either, but I’m going to draw you a picture because handmade gifts are the best. They contain heart. That’s what Sasha says. Can you draw me a picture too?”

  “You bet, sport.”

  When halftime came, Jim turned his focus from the television to me. “So, Mark, where’s your family?”

  Any talk of my family required copious amounts of alcohol. I pulled my lips to the cup and sipped; this was no hot chocolate, but the best Irish coffee I’d ever had—Jess had added enough “adult” to it to make my nose burn. I gave her a grateful look before saying, “My mother has passed, and my father has passed through my life.”

  “What about a girlfriend? Surely a successful lad like yourself has a girl.” He sipped his hot beverage and tapped a fist to his chest. “That’s some good cocoa.” He winked at Jess.

  This interaction between child and father was fascinating to me. Mine came home long enough to complain to the staff about my upbringing and left again. I got a regular dose of judgment, enough to last a lifetime, never a wink or a smile.

  “I’ve never really had the time to seek a relationship.”

  “No one? That’s a shame. Family is everything. You can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have family, you’re still poor. Family is a man’s gold.”

  “Dad, Mark is far from poor. Not everyone is designed for family life.”

  “Nonsense. A man needs a good woman in his life.” He looked over his shoulder toward the kitchen. I knew he was glancing at Amy. They were really a perfect couple, and I saw the love and affection he had for her written plainly on his face.

  “There is someone I’m interested in, but it’s too soon to tell. I’m pretty sure she’d be my gold, but I fear I’d be the gravel left after a lucky strike.”

  I stared straight at Jess, hoping she’d understand that it was of her I spoke and seeing her smile, I knew that she knew.

  “Just remember, son. Family is everything.”

  “I’ll remember that.” It was a foreign concept, but then again, so was eating sushi until I gave it a try.

  “Dinner’s ready,” Amy called from the table. While Jim had been talking about family, Bethany and her mom were setting the table.

  Jim took the head of the table while Amy sat on the opposite side. Bethany and Ben sat on one side, leaving Jess and me on the other.

  I’d never had a regular family dinner, so I waited to see how it all went down. It started with a prayer of thanks. Silently I said my own prayer of thanks to the snow gods who’d stranded me with Jess. It wasn’t what I had planned, but something told me it was what I needed.

  As soon as grace had finished, Jim asked, “Could you please pass the potatoes, lovey?” Amy passed the heaping bowl of butter-laden goodness, and Jim scooped a large helping onto his plate. The next thing I knew, bowls and plates were flying around the table. It was as if Jim serving himself was the green light for everyone else to eat.

  It was a simple meal, but one of the best tasting I’d had in a long time. That was until Bethany soured it with her negativity.

  “Is my sister a good secretary?”

  Even though Jess wasn’t touching me, I sensed her stiffen. Trying to be discreet, I moved my hand under the table and gave her thigh a gentle rub. She immediately softened at my touch.

  “Jess is an executive assistant.”

  Bethany turned toward her sister and said, “Isn’t that the same thing as a secretary?”

  “Not at all,” I said. “Jess is instrumental in every facet of my business. She does research and proposals and prepares contracts. She’s the perfect liaison with clients.”

  Bethany looked between us. “So she’s like a librarian who types.” A smug smile marred her face.

  It suddenly dawned on me that Bethany didn’t feel superior to Jess. She knew she was inferior so she did everything in her power to make my Jess’s life miserable. My Jess. I liked the sound of that. And because I did, I acted in defense of what I considered mine.

  “Tell me, Bethany. What did you study in school? You did go to school, right?”

  I looked around the table, and all eyes were on the wicked sister. Amy and Jim had probably spent years trying to bridge the gap between the two girls, but you can’t shore up a relationship when one pillar stands on quicksand and the other on solid concrete.

  “Of course I did. I studied hospital management.”

  “And is that where you work? At a hospital?” I knew she didn’t work, but she didn’t know that I knew.

  “No, I don’t work.”

  I gave her my classic I don’t understand look: squinted eyes mixed with a look of confusion. “If you don’t work, what is it you do all day?” I was leading her down a path of no return.

  “I raise my son.”

  “Motherhood is a full-time job, I hear.” I looked over at Ben. “He’s a great kid. Who’s the Sasha he keeps talking about?”

  “My nanny,” Ben chimed in. “We have her and Rosa, our cook, and Tia, our housekeeper. Michael does the lawn, and Stephen takes care of the pool in the summer.”

  “You have a lot of help to raise one child.”

  She fidgeted in her seat. “What can I say, I married well.”

  “I hear there’s an art to that.” I smoothed my hand over Jess’s thigh and felt my heart lurch when she squeezed my hand in hers. “In fact, I think there’s an entire show on marrying well. Something about housewives of Beverly Hills. I hear it’s quite the depiction of women who marry well.” I shake my head. “Not very flattering, I’m afraid.”

  “I live in Connecticut,” she said with an edge as sharp as a switchblade.

  “You should check to see if they’re casting there. I’m sure you’d fit right in, being that the only requisite is marrying well.” It wasn’t really my place to put her in hers, but I was tired of her taking jabs at Jess. I didn’t like the way she looked at my girl. I didn’t like the way she talked to her.

  When I finished talking, everyone was staring at me with a different face. Amy and Jim sat with looks of respect like I’d said something they wished they could have. Ben just looked at me with a blank expression. Bethany looked at me with daggers. When I turned to look at Jess, all I saw was love.

  I rose from my seat, with my near empty plate in my hand, to break the silence. “Can I help clean up?”

  “No need, Mark. The girls and I can get it,” Amy said.

  I walked my plate into the kitchen, set it on the counter next to the sink, and returned to the dining room. “Then, if you don’t mind, I have to go over a contract.”

  “Do you need help?” Jess too rose from the table with her empty plate in her hand.

 
“No. You enjoy your family. I’ll be fine.” I turned and walked up the stairs to my room.

  Just before I closed the door, I heard Bethany say, “He’s an a-hole,” followed by Jess’s comment that I was amazing.

  I had no idea what family dinners were supposed to be like, but this one had gotten my adrenaline pumping. Jim and Amy were gracious hosts though weak when it came to putting Bethany in her place. Ben was as cute as could be, and it was a wonder he wasn’t already poisoned with his mother’s venom. Then there was Jess, who took it all in. Deep inside I knew she knew what I did—her sister felt inferior—and that was why she didn’t fight back. She was a bigger person than I would ever be.

  A few minutes passed and there was a slight knock on the door. “Come in,” I said from my perch on the bed.

  In walked Jess with a glass of milk and a plate of cookies. “I didn’t want you to miss out on dessert.”

  Chapter 15

  Jess

  I said the words like I was sitting on the plate rather than frosted sugar cookies.

  “Close the door and come sit by me.” Mark set his computer to the side and patted the space next to him.

  I set the offerings down on the table next to the bed and climbed up beside him.

  “I don’t want to interrupt what you’re doing.”

  “You’re not interrupting.” He turned his computer screen to face me. He had Googled Christmas traditions.

  “You really have no idea how to celebrate, do you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not totally inept. I know some carols. What I’m really disappointed in is the fact that nowhere in your parents’ house is mistletoe. There are Santas and snowmen everywhere but not a single sprig of mistletoe. Why is that?”

  I snuggled in next to him. “It’s poisonous, and Mom is afraid Ben will eat it, but we can pretend there’s a piece hanging over our heads right now.” I turned my face up to his and melted when his lips touched mine.

  “If this is dessert, I’ll take a second helping.” His kisses were like wine—sweet and intoxicating enough to want more, but not enough to became stupid drunk on them. He did other things with his tongue that made me feel dizzy and out of control. “Are you dessert, Jess?”

  We slipped down so we lay side by side. His fingers threaded through my hair, pulling me deeper into the kiss. His free hand slipped under my silly sweater and made its way to my breasts.

  “My parents think I’m helping you with a project.”

  “You are.” He pulled my sweater from my body and ran his lips across my stomach. “You’re helping me get my head straight.”

  I felt his head. It was indeed straight, not to mention hard and pressed firmly against my thigh.

  I glanced at the door and back at Mark. “You’re a bad influence. What if someone walks in?”

  In one swift movement, he leapt over me and locked the door. On his way back, he discarded his overshirt, his T-shirt, and his shoes.

  “No one is walking in now.” He unbuttoned the jeans and let them fall to the floor. There he was standing in his full naked glory. His rod pointed directly at me like Uncle Sam’s finger in a recruitment poster, only so much bigger. “You make the call, Jess. I’ll let you go if that’s what you want, but if you stay, I’ll make this the best dessert experience of your life. One word. Yes or no?”

  I chewed the inside of my cheek. How was I supposed to turn down a dessert offer like that? One more glance at the locked door, and I unhooked my bra and dragged the jeans down my hips. “You can’t make me scream.”

  His look said he had something different in mind. “Oh, baby, I’m going to make you scream on the inside.” He tugged my jeans free and tossed them with the other discarded clothes on the floor. With hunger in his eyes, he slunk up my body until his face was inches away from my core.

  He breathed a stream of air across my sex that both heated and chilled me. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

  He ran his tongue through my slick heat. “I can’t believe you made me wait this long.” Long strokes up and down my sex had me lifting my hips into his mouth. I pulled my fist to mine and pushed the pad of my palm against my lips to stifle the sounds coming from me: deep guttural sounds that erupted from my soul; primal noises that I couldn’t have stopped if my life had depended on it. Mark licked and sucked with vigor until my thighs shook and my core clenched.

  Afraid that my moans would bring unneeded attention, I turned my face and whimpered my release into the soft cotton pillowcase. My body quaked and quivered as he brought me down with long strokes of his velvet tongue.

  Base need was what I felt when he crawled up my body and nudged at my entrance. “Hurry.” I gripped his hips and pulled.

  His head shook back and forth ever so slowly. “I won’t be hurrying today, love. A dessert this sweet and rich should be savored and enjoyed, not rushed.”

  A flex of his hips pushed him inside me. Just enough that I knew he was there, but not enough to satisfy. “I need more.”

  He kissed me gently and whispered against my lips, “I’ll give you everything.” In and out he slid his hard length. Never giving me all of him, but never denying me either. He pressed and retreated until he was fully seated and pulsing inside me.

  “I’ll take it all,” I said out of desperation. “When you’re inside me, it’s the only time I feel complete.” I wanted to take those words back, but I couldn’t. They were pure and honest. It didn’t matter if this was short term or something that would bloom into forever—I still wanted Mark to feel my love for him. I was positive that he’d never felt love without expectations before.

  “So damn perfect.” He increased the speed and pressure until my body began to vibrate from within. My core heated and coiled into a delicious quivering mass. Braced above me, he looked at me with eyes full of passion. Passion I had ignited in him.

  “So good,” I panted. My fingernails dug into his butt with each thrust. He shifted and brought the pressure to my tight bundle of nerves, and those uncontrollable sounds surfaced again until Mark covered my moans with his mouth. I pulled up my knees so each thrust hit me just where I needed.

  My release started in my toes and snaked up my body until my insides felt like a kaleidoscope of butterflies circling inside of me. The heat peaked and exploded from within. My walls pulsed around him, sucking him deeper inside me until he stilled and the pulse of his release splashed against my insides. He breathed the sound of his pleasure against my lips before he collapsed beside me. His head lay on my chest while his fingers danced across my stomach.

  We lay in each other’s arms. The room spun around me as I regained my breath and composure. The man made me lightheaded on a good day, downright dizzy on a great day. Today was a great day.

  “Hey, Jess.” My sister’s voice came from the other room. I bolted out of bed and dove for my clothes, but I wasn’t fast enough. She’d already walked through the bathroom and stood in the doorway, looking at my naked body. Her gaze went to Mark, who was pulling the sheet over his lower half.

  “Oh. My. God,” she said in a whisper-yell. “You’re screwing your boss. That’s how you got that job.”

  Mark leapt from the bed, letting the sheet fall as he rushed to confront my sister.

  “I won’t have you make something beautiful into something ugly.”

  She looked down at his length, which was still impressive even as it softened. “You’re doing your secretary. How cliché is that?”

  Mark and I looked at each other and snapped, “Executive assistant.”

  Bethany looked at me with an evil glint in her eyes. “I hope you get paid extra for that service.”

  Mark took another step forward, and Bethany escaped out the door and down the hallway to her room. I tugged on my pants and pulled on the ugly sweater. “I’ll take care of it. Get dressed and have a scotch with my dad. This is going to get ugly. No matter what you hear, keep my parents and Ben downstairs.”

  I kissed him firmly on the
lips and stalked down the hallway to my sister’s room. I walked inside and slammed the door behind me. Bethany looked for an escape, but there wasn’t one.

  “What the hell is your problem?” My voice rose to a deafening pitch.

  “My problem? I’m not the one sleeping with my boss.”

  I fisted up my hands and clenched them behind my back, so afraid I’d let one of them loose on her face. “No, you didn’t wait to get the job, you screwed him during the interview. Got pregnant and forced the bastard to marry you.”

  Pain sliced her smug expression. “Why would you say that?”

  “Because it’s the truth.” Last year, during our annual Christmas gathering, Matt had had a little too much to drink. “Your husband told me over a bottle of scotch.”

  “That’s not true. It was love at first sight. We took one look at each other, and that was it.”

  I paced her room, wondering how much I dared divulge. “Was that the first time he saw you walking into his office, or when you sat in the seat across from him and pulled a Sharon Stone Basic Instinct move? Matt said you shaved.”

  She let out a gasp followed by a flood of tears. “You don’t know what it’s like being your sister.”

  I let my fists unfurl. “No, but I do know what it’s like being yours, and it isn’t much fun.”

  “You’re taller and prettier, and you got Mom’s green eyes while I got the shit-brown ones. You graduated summa cum laude, and I barely graduated. You have a skinnier ass and nice set of tits. Your hair, well, what can I say, it’s perfect like the rest of you.” She buried her face in her hands and wailed.

  It was hard to show empathy for someone who’d never shown signs of having an empathy gene herself, but I’d always tried to lead by example, so I sat on her bed and pulled her into my arms.

  “You’re a good person, Bethany; you really are. It’s just that you hide that goodness behind this person you created. She’s a bitch.”

  “I’m not a good person.” She rubbed her snotty nose into my shoulder. “Tell me one thing that’s good about me.”