Take Me - A Bad Boy Steals a Bride Romance

by Layla Valentine

  Jada threw open the door. “You son of a bitch! You really think I’m simple enough to be appeased with a fucking bouquet?!”

  Jada grabbed at the flowers and threw them into a puddle just outside her door. Jackson’s face showed shock and confusion, but he’d already proven how good an actor he was.

  “No! You can shove it! You may have been able to buy my hand in marriage, Jackson Hays, but there’s no way you can buy my forgiveness! I’m done being your idiot partner in this ridiculous scheme! You can have Evelyn! She’s just the type for you!”

  Jada was shaking all over, from the rain, from the cold, from the broken heart that was filling her chest up with pieces of shrapnel. The pain was almost too much, and she just couldn’t look at his face anymore. She went to slam the door, but Jackson stopped her.

  “What are you talking about?” He held his hand against her door, the rain now soaking through his coat and clothes.

  Jada couldn’t deal with this. Since Jackson wouldn’t let her close the door, she pushed past him and walked away into the rain. The water burrowed through her clothes, and in seconds she was soaked to the bone. She didn’t care. She could drown in it for all she was concerned.

  “Jada, wait!” Jackson ran up to her and spun her around to face him. “What are you talking about? Evelyn’s just my assistant, and a crappy one at that.”

  “Whatever, Jackson. You can’t lie to me anymore. Evelyn told me everything. She told me you two have been sleeping together and how you don’t need me anymore. Tell me, did she mind that you had to sleep with me to ensure you got that deal? Or was that her idea?”

  “What the hell, Jada? I would never sleep with her. What’s gotten into you?”

  “Forget it. I’m out of here.” Jada pulled her arm out of his grip and tried to run farther away into the powerful storm.

  “Goddamn it, Jada! Listen to me! That crazy bitch has had a thing for me for years. I never thought anything of it because, well, because I didn’t think of much before I met you. I wasn’t coming here to buy your forgiveness; Evelyn told me the Qaresman business license was approved. The billion-dollar deal can be finalized now. I brought the flowers to thank you for your part, not to apologize.”

  The rain streamed down around them, forcing them to shout to be heard. In the quiet now, Jada felt confused and frustrated.

  “How can I believe you?” Jada was cold, and the rain just continued pounding down on her.

  “Wait.” Jackson pulled out his phone, shielding it with his coat. He dialed a number and held up the phone to his ear.

  “Evelyn, you’re fired, as of immediately. Clear out your desk. Security will escort you out.” Jackson looked Jada dead in the eye. “And if you ever come near my girlfriend again, I’ll have you arrested.”

  Jackson hung up. He placed another quick call, apparently to security to tell them to escort Evelyn out of the building.

  With that done, he put the phone back in his pocket. “Please, Jada, you have to believe me. I can’t stand to be without you. I…I love you.”

  Jada stood frozen as thunder shook the streets. Cars zoomed by, and somewhere in the distance a dog barked. She looked at Jackson, standing soaked in the rain just like her, and met his eyes. She couldn’t find the deceit she was looking for. She just found desperation, desperation for her.

  “I love you too.”

  Edmund smiled, then, and Jada jumped into his arms, certain that he was telling the truth. In the rain, she wasn’t sure if she was crying, but it didn’t matter. He pulled her to him, and their mouths embraced as securely as their bodies. The rain seemed to warm, and they were swimming in the torrent together. Lifted in his arms, Edmund carried Jada back to her apartment and shut the door behind them with a slam.

  Their passionate kisses played on, Jada’s hair slapping around them because it was so wet. Edmund pulled back slightly to lean on the door and kick off his shoes, but still he held Jada in his arms and showed no sign of putting her down. While she held on with one hand, she used the other the pull off one shoe and then the other.

  They landed on the floor with a loud thump. Jada and Edmund’s kisses fired up their chilled bodies, and Edmund playfully pinned Jada against the wall, using his arms to pull off his sopping coat and shirt.

  Edmund’s bare chest gleamed in the soft light of her apartment, his skin icy thanks to the rain. Jada’s fingers explored the shapes of his muscles, and he pushed her back against the wall to kiss her deeper and deeper. He tasted of rain and spices, and his tongue danced in her mouth, creating a rhythm like they’d had during their waltz.

  The wall they were against was no longer working, and Edmund quickly turned and tossed Jada against one across the way, closer to the bedroom. They would make their way there eventually. The pictures on the wall shook with the abrupt force, and one of them crashed to the ground. Jada couldn’t have cared less. She only moved to squeezed Edmund with her legs and pull his face in for roaring kisses of strength and possession. Edmund returned them in kind.

  The shirt Jada wore was soaked through, and the thin fabric left little to the imagination. Edmund looked down at her and growled, and the masculine sound cut straight to her core. With Edmund holding her up, Jada worked her arms through the shirt, tearing the wet thing from her skin. The move revealed her lace bra, and Edmund ducked his head down to kiss and nibble at her goose-fleshed breasts.

  Soon he was walking again, and his hand was at the clasp of her bra. He managed to open it with one hand and tossed the flimsy garment aside. Their chests met as they continued to worship each other’s mouths, a love neither of them was prepared for coloring their passion.

  Edmund’s steps led them to Jada’s bedroom, and the space was dark thanks to the shadowy storm clouds filling the sky. Booms of thunder echoed in the quiet home as Edmund brought Jada roughly to the bed. Her landing knocked a lamp to the ground, and the bulb shattered on impact. With their mouths interlocking, Jada reached for the buckle of Edmund’s pants as he reached for the button of her own.

  Jada proved a bit quicker, and as Edmund stepped back to remove his pants, Jada slid off the end table, shucking her own pants off, on top of the broken lamp.

  Naked before each other, Edmund climbed onto the bed, pulling Jada into his lap. There, she hovered as they kissed and caressed each other into a passionate, drunken haze. When neither of them could take a moment more of anticipation, Jada lowered herself to Edmund, causing them both to gasp in pleasure.

  They found their rhythm naturally and let blurry-eyed joy overcome them. Their skin was now warm from the exertion, and their hair was slowly drying in puffy waves of dark bangs and darker curls. Slowing their movements, they adjusted the frenzy of their kisses to a slow but powerful pull and release.

  Edmund pushed a stray curl behind Jada’s ear as he looked up at her, and they gazed at each other as they moved in a blissful dance. His blue eyes were all Jada could see. His face was the entire universe. A few days had passed, and Edmund had allowed the stubble to return to his chin. Jada smoothed a finger over it and smiled gently. Edmund opened his face up to the happiness and held nothing back from her. Burying himself in her damp curls and bosom, he smiled, and Jada felt a warm wetness form on his cheek.

  He looked up at her, their movement rocking them both back and forth, stoking that internal fire as it continued to build and build. His face was genuine, real, and Jada let herself cry the tears of joy the rain had wiped away. They pulled closer, the pressure building, and kissed their smiling lips together.

  Edmund put his mouth to Jada’s ear and whispered, “I never believed someone like you existed. I never thought I’d have this.”

  A small heartache for past pain hit Jada but was shuffled away by his utter joy. She looked down at him, pushing his bangs out of the way. “These blue eyes have haunted me since I first met you. Even then, somewhere deep inside, I was too scared to acknowledge it, but I knew you were mine.”

  Edmund’s voice was rough and a bit st
rained, but he matched his words to the rhythm of his hips. “I am yours, always and forever. There’s no going back for me.”

  As the heat built up around them and Jada felt the oceanic crest of pleasure peak, she said, “No backward; only forward. I’ll be there with you.”

  It was all so much, so much sensation, so much everything, and they both held on to each other, fusing their mouths as the flying rush of their dual release collided and sent the universe spinning. If love was said to be magic, Jada now truly believed it, because here in this room, two souls had become one, and the past and future didn’t matter.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The night passed on in a naked embrace of limbs and hearts, but soon the morning light was streaming in and Jada woke alone in her bed. Old habits died hard, and Jada felt her heart pull momentarily, before she remembered that Edmund had to be at the office very early, and that he had no change of clothes here like she did. She did wonder why he hadn’t said goodbye, but it was true that he very well could have; Jada was a heavy sleeper, especially after a night like that.

  It wasn’t quite time for her to leave yet, and with everything spinning around her and her true feelings blossoming, Jada decided to call her parents. The phone rang twice before her mother picked up.

  “Hey, honey! How are you? It’s been a few days since we talked.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. Life has been really crazy of late.” Jada sat up and pulled the covers around her bare skin, “How’s Dad doing?”

  “He’s all right. He’s right here, and he’s awake.”

  “Oh, that’s great. Tell him I say hi.”

  The phone shuffled for a moment. “Jada says hi!” Her mother’s voice returned to the phone. “He says hi back!”

  “So, there’s actually a reason for my call.”

  “Yes?”

  “I may have come up with a way to get the money for dad’s surgery.” The words came out in a blurted mess.

  “Oh, Jada, I hope you didn’t do anything crazy.”

  “Funny you should mention that. I actually got it from my boss.”

  “Your boss?”

  “Yes. You see, he needed to land this big deal, and to do it, he needed to marry a woman of Qaresman origin. So we made an arrangement. A deal.” Jada couldn’t believe the words as she spoke them.

  “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.” Her mother’s voice had dropped low. “Did he blackmail you, threaten you? Why, if that man hurt you in any way, I’ll be on the next plane out there to give him a piece of my fist.”

  Jada couldn’t help but be soothed by the love and laughed a little. “No, no. Actually, he’s been very nice, very professional. I agreed to it because he was going to pay me a lot of money and I knew it could help Dad. I just want him to be okay, and I didn’t want something to happen to him when I could help. I didn’t want him to leave disappointed in me.”

  “Oh, honey, no. No. I would never want you to think that. Your father—” The phone connection was echoing, and Jada heard shuffling in the background.

  “Bring the phone here. Yes, please.” It was her dad.

  At some point, Jada’s mother had put her on speaker and not told her. A classic move. Now her dad, her poor dad, wanted to talk to her. Jada braced herself for a chewing out.

  “Why’d you put me on speaker!”

  “Listen. Listen up, child.” Her dad’s voice was soft and strained. “My greatest accomplishment in this world is you. You’re my baby girl, and I love you more than anything in this world. We both do. I’m moved beyond words by what you’ve done to help me, but it’s not right. Knowing you’re going to be okay, should anything happen, is what gets me through. You’ve done so much, my little one. You’ve grown into an amazing woman who never lets anything stand in her way. I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

  Jada was crying into the receiver. Her papa was there in a hospital bed worrying about her. “I love you, Daddy.”

  “I love you too, chipmunk.”

  There was more shuffling on the line, and then Jada’s mother was back on the phone.

  “I understand what you were doing; I do. But what do I always say about murky waters?”

  Jada laughed through a fit of tears. “When the waters around you are murky, follow the pull in your heart. It will never lead you astray.”

  She could barely get the words out she was crying so hard. Her mom shushed her on the other end of the line like she had when Jada was a baby, the calm words of love slowly stopping the tears.

  “I love you, Mom. And really, I want to. I want to follow my heart.” Jada swallowed. “I wanted to tell you that I’ve...I’ve fallen for him. For Edmund. And I think he’s fallen for me too. I really do. But I don’t want our relationship just to be a means to an end. I want to start over, do it for real.”

  Her mom chuckled. “My darling girl, just tell him how you feel. He’ll either be okay with it or he won’t, but you can’t let yourself be pinned like this.”

  Jada took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Okay. I will. I’ll tell you everything when I get home.”

  “That’s my girl. Go get him.”

  After a few more laughs and words of encouragement, Jada ended the call. It was exactly what she had needed. She was going to talk things over with Edmund, and hopefully he would understand.

  She blew her nose and mopped up her face before getting up to get dressed. The mess of the lamp had been cleaned up off the floor, and the broom sat in the corner. Edmund must have swept it up so she wouldn’t step on the shards. She smiled to herself. Quickly, Jada got dressed and headed out to her car.

  The drive to work was quick and quiet as Jada went over and over what she wanted to say to Edmund in her mind. After all, it was not ordinary to ask a man for a divorce because you loved him. God, this was all so weird. Jada couldn’t for the life of her understand where her head had been when she had decided to do this. Desperation was a hell of a thing. She walked into the office, and things appeared to be business as usual.

  Passing the lunch room, Jada saw the free lunch table remained set up, and smiled. She walked quickly down the hall, nodding to her teammates and a few of the other managers, and breezed right up to her office. Sitting down at her desk, she saw there was a message on her phone, and she quickly dialed up her voicemail.

  “Hey, it’s me. The Qaresma meeting is set for this afternoon. It’s gonna be you and a bunch of other managers. Should go fine. Also, I’m thinking of changing the name of the company. You know, have it reflect my real name. What do you think? Also, apparently security had a hell of a time with Evelyn. I’m so sorry again. I should have realized how nuts she was much sooner. Oh, and I found a teaching job you may be interested in. I know I go overboard. I can’t help it. This information is in your email.”

  Jada laughed as the message ended and shook her mouse to wake up her computer. Sure enough, she had an unread message from Edmund Hays. The name was already changed on his account, so she assumed he was getting used to it. She smiled.

  As she double-clicked on the email to open it up, Jada read the description of the teaching job he had forwarded to her. It detailed that the school needed an art teacher for next semester. The applicant needed a degree in art but was not required to have a teaching degree, which was odd, but they were short staffed. They said they would provide training and certification time for the new hire. They really just wanted to see someone who loved art and could explain the basics to some high school students. A background check would need to be completed before hiring, all of which Jada was okay with.

  The opportunity truly seemed like a great idea, and Jada was impressed by Edmund’s fast work. The day was going to pass by in waves of fast and slow, she believed, and as the clock ticked on, Jada found herself pulling her hidden art supplies out of her desk drawer and setting them out on its surface.

  She wanted to paint, to show others the joy of painting. It sounded wonderful. Jada decided to apply for the position and even u
sed the letter of recommendation her “boss” had provided.

  Jada’s mind flashed to the night before. He had called her his girlfriend. Edmund had actually called her his girlfriend and told her that he loved her. He definitely wasn’t like any other guy she knew. Who did those things so fast, plus all the charitable changes she’d inspired? No one did. She repeated the thought to herself. No one does that. No guy does that kind of thing. The weight of her luck hit her hard, and Jada was stunned all over again.

  Later, a couple of her teammates came in with the latest gossip: rumor had it that the CEO had had a personality transplant. Jada kept her private laugh to herself and simply agreed with them. Chelsea asked about the art supplies on her desk. Was she going to design a print campaign without the use of their amazing software? No, she responded, telling her team that she loved to paint and sketch and was lately getting back into it. They seemed happy for her and told her to show off anything she completed so they could see it.

  Jada was a bit touched by her coworkers’ enthusiasm and sighed as they left. Those women and a few more of her teammates in the office had always been nice, and she feared she would miss them if she got the job with the school. She had a momentary wobble, but the thought of dealing with any more asshole clients was enough to propel her forward into the certainty of quitting.

  The afternoon meeting had finally arrived, and Jada followed a group of other managers up to the elevator and the top floor beyond. The top floor’s conference room was huge, and Jada sat down at a spot near some of the other managers she knew. They made small talk as they waited for the CEO and his clients to arrive. They all commented on the impact of the deal; no one outside the Middle East had ever managed to secure a deal with a Qaresman company. If JPH Tech could do it, they’d be in one of the top spots on the DOW for years to come.