Crazy Beautiful: a Redemption novel

by Prince, Jessica

  That evening, after dinner, I was sitting in my place, propped against one arm of the couch, writing up a grocery list for the next day while Jase sat at the other end, running his fingers up and down my shin in slow, tantalizing strokes.

  “You need to hire someone.” The statement came out of nowhere, breaking through the comfortable silence. He’d been consumed with watching Joffrey finally get what he deserved during his wedding on Game of Thrones and I’d been busy making lists all evening long.

  My head came up, my forehead pulling into a frown of confusion. “Huh?”

  His attention shifted from the television to me. “You need to hire someone, Poppy. Handling this place is too damn much for one person. You’re going to run yourself right into the ground.”

  I gave him a placating smile, shaking my head as I turned my focus back to my list. “I’m fine, Jase. I’ve been doing this for years.”

  The tablet I had resting on my thighs was suddenly whipped away. My head snapped up just as Jase tossed it onto the coffee table, sending it sliding across the surface and falling to the floor on the other side.

  I looked back to him in bewilderment. “What in the world was that all about?”

  His mouth formed a straight, tight line. “That was about me trying to talk to you, and you not listening.”

  I scooted up the cushion, frustration making my spine stiffen as I bent my knees and pulled my feet from his lap. “I was listening, I just didn’t agree with what you were saying.”

  “Yeah? And how in the hell is that, exactly? You’ve been sitting here yawning every three minutes because you’re fucking exhausted, Poppy.”

  I let out a snort and rolled my eyes. “I’m sure that’s an exaggeration.”

  “I’ve timed it,” he deadpanned, his expression serious as a heart attack.

  I bugged my eyes out. “You’ve been timing my yawns?” I asked with a big, goofy grin, clearly seeing the humor he didn’t. “That’s really weird. You know that, right?”

  “I’m being serious,” he stated earnestly. “Honestly, I’ve been watching you the past couple weeks, and I don’t have the first fucking clue how you’ve managed to do it alone this whole time. I’m worried about you, baby. You keep going at this rate, you’re going to end up making yourself sick. I don’t understand why you won’t hire someone else.”

  “Because I can’t afford it,” I snapped back, my agitation beginning to grow. “I didn’t buy this inn expecting to be doing this all by myself, Jase, but when my asshole of an ex decided it wasn’t for him anymore, after we’d spent nearly the entire amount of the loan I’d gotten to fix everything up, I was stuck holding the bag, all right? He might have changed his mind about this place and this town, but I didn’t. I wanted the inn, so I fought to keep it. Nothing was in his name, so it all fell on me. I’m up to my eyeballs in debt, and the only way I’ve been able to keep this place going is by keeping the overhead as low as humanly possible while still giving the guests a comfortable stay, which means I can’t afford to bring on anyone else.”

  By the time I finished speaking, I was pissed off and breathing heavily, but I’d been so lost in my rant that I hadn’t noticed the shift in the atmosphere. The air had grown thicker, sparking with the angry energy radiating off the man sitting right beside me.

  “Your ex walked out on you, leaving you in the hole like that?”

  The rage dripping from his words sent a chill across my skin. “Jase—”

  “That motherfucker left you in debt like that?”

  There was no use lying at that point. The cat had already been let out of the bag. “He did. And he drained our savings account before he left, so I had nothing to fall back on if something came up. And I’ve learned the hard way over the years that something always comes up.”

  His nostrils flared on an inhale, and I could see the fury flashing in his eyes. “How bad is it?”

  The growled words confused me, and I felt my head tilt to the side. “What?”

  “The debt. How bad is it?”

  That burn hit my cheeks again, and I suddenly hated my fair skin and its ability to show every emotion I was feeling. “It doesn’t matter. I have it under control.”

  “Not what I asked, Poppy. How . . . bad . . . is it?”

  My breathing grew ragged, shame and humiliation making my skin catch fire. “Bad enough,” I finally confessed miserably.

  He let out a grunted curse and shot to his feet, reaching into his back pocket and snatching out his phone. I sat frozen in place unsure what was happening as he punched at the screen before finally putting it to his ear.

  He remained silent for several seconds before his coarse voice shot through the room once more. “Wynn? Yeah . . . I’m aware of the time. I need you to do something for me.”

  I rose up on my knees and shuffled across the couch, reaching for his arm. “Jase, what are you doing?”

  He acted like I hadn’t said a word. “You know damn good and well I’ll pay you extra for shit done off the clock, so why do you even bother arguing?”

  “Jase,” I hissed, tugging harder at his arm, but it was like the damn man was made of steel.

  “Yeah. Uh huh . . . Yes. Got a pen?” He waited for a beat. “Okay. As soon as the banks open in the morning, I want you to call and set up an account in Poppy’s name.”

  What?

  “Jase!” I shouted. “You can’t do that!”

  That finally seemed to get his attention, and he turned to glower at me, the phone still to his ear as he clipped, “I can and I goddamn will.” Then his focus shifted back to Wynn on the other end of his phone. “That’s right. Thirty thousand a month for expenses related to the inn.”

  That last sentence stole every bit of air from my lungs, and I plopped back onto the couch, coming to rest on my haunches as he continued to talk.

  “And I want you to put an ad out. Housekeeper wanted for Redbud Inn. Word it however you think best, just make sure it’s posted first thing tomorrow morning.” He lifted his free hand and covered the phone before speaking to me. “If I give her the go-ahead to pay off the rest of the loan you took out, are you going to lose your mind?”

  “I . . .” I couldn’t form a sentence, let alone answer that question. But I guess it wasn’t necessary, because he took my silence as answer enough.

  “Poppy’ll reach out to you tomorrow, give you all the details you need to pay off the current loan she has.” He paused once more. “You got all that? Great. Yeah. Talk tomorrow. Yeah, I’ll tell her. Goodnight, Wynn.”

  And just like that, he disconnected the call and dropped his phone to the coffee table. “Wynn said to tell you hi, and she expects another dinner sometime soon.”

  “I—I can’t believe you just did that,” I wheezed, still unable to breathe normally.

  “Well, you better start believing it, because it just happened.”

  “It’s too much!” I cried, coming back up on my knees. “Jase, you can’t do that. It’s too much money. It’ll take me forever to pay you back.”

  The anger in his features only seemed to grow stronger, turning his jaw to stone as he gritted, “That wasn’t a goddamn loan. You aren’t paying me back.”

  “But—”

  “Made you a fucking deal when we started this thing, Flower. If you married me, I’d take care of you. You’ve lived up to your end of the bargain, but since you didn’t give me the whole truth, I haven’t been able to do my part.”

  I didn’t want to love that. God, I really didn’t, because that meant losing another huge piece of myself to a man who wasn’t really and truly mine. But it was impossible not to. “You paid for the repairs. And kept me afloat when I was closed down.”

  “What part of taking care of you don’t you understand?” he snapped.

  My chin jerked back as the harshness in his voice. “Are you . . . are you mad at me?”

  “Hell yes, I’m mad!” he barked, his voice so loud it made me jump. “Jesus Christ!” He raked his fi
ngers through his hair, sending the slightly styled locks into sexy disarray. “A month and a half. A fucking month and a half, Poppy. That’s how long I’ve been here, watching you work yourself to the goddamn bone, and all this time I could’ve done something about it if you’d just told me.”

  “Honey.” I couldn’t stand the look on his face, and I hated that I was the one to put it there. Reaching out, I took his hand, and when I pulled this time, he let me guide him back onto the sofa. The need to touch him, to offer comfort, to wash away his anger, overwhelmed me, and before I could give it any thought, I threw one leg over his and straddled his thighs, taking his face in my hands. “Thank you,” I continued, my voice barely more than a whisper. “Don’t be mad.” He tried turning away, but I tightened my hold, giving him no choice but to maintain eye contact. “If I had any idea it meant this much to you, I wouldn’t have kept it from you. I promise.”

  He exhaled deeply, the tension beginning to melt from his shoulders as his hands came up to rest on my hips, his fingertips pressing in hard. “From here on out, you don’t keep shit like this from me. Got it?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at his grumpy attitude. “Cross my heart,” I murmured, forming an X on my chest. “Now will you stop being mad at me?”

  “I might consider it if you kiss me.”

  Gladly.

  I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, sighing into his mouth before whispering, “Thank you for everything you just did.”

  I felt him growing hard between my thighs as he replied, “Nothing to thank me for, Flower.”

  Need began clawing at my insides. My breasts grew heavy, my nipples pebbled, and wetness pooled between my legs, drenching my panties.

  “You might not want me to pay you back with money, but I bet I can think of other ways to pay off my debt.”

  His cock stood at attention beneath the material of his pants. A harsh growl worked its way up his throat as his hold on me grew even tighter. “I like the way you think, baby. I’m suddenly feeling the need for a little bit of payback.”

  I could most certainly do that.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Jase

  Wynn came sauntering into my office, looking surprisingly happy for so early in the morning.

  Like Poppy, my assistant wasn’t a morning person, but where my wife was a zombie, Wynn could be a raging harpy before her third cup of coffee, so the triumphant grin on her face made the hair on the back of my neck bristle.

  “What are you so chipper about?” I asked, a leery frown on my face as she plopped herself down in the chair across from me. It had been just over three weeks since Poppy and I married, and while they’d been the best three weeks of my life, I was still waiting anxiously for the other shoe to drop.

  Jensen Rose and his guys had proved to be worth their fees when it came to security, so I’d kept them on, happy to pay any amount to keep a lookout for my parents, but the two of them seemed to have become vapor.

  After that initial sighting, my parents had disappeared into thin air. But I wasn’t naïve enough to think they were gone for good. If anything, those two were lying in wait, biding their time for the perfect opportunity to pounce.

  “Can’t a girl have a good morning? Why do you have to be so suspicious about it?”

  My lips scrunched to the side as I arched a single brow. “Because I know you, and you’re never in a good mood in the mornings unless there’s a reason, so spill it already. I have shit to do.”

  She rolled her eyes on a dramatic huff. “You’re no fun.”

  “Wynn,” I said in warning.

  She lifted up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’m in a good mood because I just finished confirming Poppy’s and your attendance at the fifteenth annual Hyland Steel Charity Gala. This year it’s raising money for alpaca adoption or bat birth control or some crap like that.” The blood began rushing through my ears, but she carried on, oblivious to my impending explosion. “Seriously, now that you’re the head honcho, I expect you to pick a meaningful charity for this shindig next year. This has gotten ridiculous.”

  “You did what?” I barked, my sharp voice piercing the air in the room.

  “Okay, now just relax—”

  “Relax? Are you out of your goddamn mind, Wynn? What in the hell possessed you to do that?”

  Her expression went from humorous to serious in a blink. “Hate to be the one to spell this out for you, boss man, but you’re CEO now, which means events like this are mandatory. Not that they weren’t already, but you get my drift. And with the whole ultimatum the board laid down, you can’t expect to walk in there without Poppy on your arm, or people will start to speculate.”

  “Fuck speculation!” I clipped, ripping the glasses off my face and tossing them onto the desk. “I don’t give a shit what any of those assholes has to say. These events are like the fucking Hunger Games. She’ll be eaten alive. Christ, Wynn, you should’ve talked to me about this first.”

  “Okay, first”—she lifted her index finger in the air—“when have I ever given you advanced notice when I’m about to enter into some shenanigans? And second”—her middle finger joined the index—“you aren’t giving that saucy ginger nearly enough credit. She’s not made of glass, Jase. She’s of good, hardy country stock. She’s more than capable of holding her own around those vultures. And besides, I’ll be there to hold her hand while you’re stuck doing your big head-honcho thing.”

  That—unsurprisingly—didn’t make me feel the slightest bit better. “Call them back,” I demanded. “Make up some excuse. Tell them Poppy won’t be in attendance.”

  She shook her head and gave me a pitying look. “No can do. See, you signed up for this gig when you pulled Poppy in on this scheme, so there’s no going back now. Plus, I already called your woman and set up a date to go shopping for a fancy dress at lunch today.” She gave me a sly wink. “She’s super excited.”

  “I should fire you,” I grumbled, collapsing back in my chair.

  She stood, brushing out the front of her skirt. “You could. But then your world would descend into chaos, and I’d be there, waiting in the wings to say I told you so.”

  She was right. I had no choice. I was stuck with the brilliant, psychotic, necessary pain in my ass.

  “I feel intense pity for whatever man you end up with.”

  “I know, right?” she enthused, a big, goofy grin on her face. “He’s so screwed!” With that, she headed for the door, giving me a finger wave and a “toodle-oo,” over her shoulder.

  Some days—well, most days, if I was being honest—I really and truly hated my assistant.

  * * *

  A knock sounded on my office door a few hours later. I didn’t bother pulling my eyes from my computer screen as I called out, “Go the hell away, Wynn. I’m still not ready to talk to you.”

  The knob turned and the hinges creaked as the door was pushed open. With a beleaguered huff, I lifted my head, ready to pin my assistant with an unhappy glare when I caught a flash of red from the corner of my eye.

  “Not sure what she did this time, but, knowing her, I’m willing to bet it was bad.” Poppy stepped all the way into my office, clicking the door closed behind her before she propped against it with a sweet, sheepish grin. “Hi. Hope I’m not interrupting.”

  Like always, the sight of her was enough to calm the swirling tempest inside of me. She looked gorgeous standing there in a soft white sundress. The thin straps and sweetheart neckline revealed the delicate length of her neck and shoulders, while the short hem and strappy tan wedges on her feet did incredible things to her legs. “Not at all. You’re welcome to interrupt me any time, Flower.”

  The nerves that had been holding her back let loose as she slowly made her way from the door, glancing around my office with open curiosity. “Wow. It’s a lot bigger than I imagined.”

  A teasing smirk tugged at my lips. “So you’ve been imagining it, huh?”

  Her gaze cut to me in a mock glare. “You
r office, perv. Get your mind out of the gutter.”

  I leaned back, bracing my elbows on the arms of the chair, interlacing my fingers and resting my hands on my gut. “My mind makes a permanent move to the gutter whenever you’re concerned.”

  That glorious pink bloomed across her cheeks, and my dick instantly stood at attention. “Anyway,” she continued, brushing my innuendo aside, “I like it.” She scanned everything one more time before coming to a stop in the center of the room and giving me her full attention. “It’s . . . cozy.”

  “If by cozy, you mean rugged and masculine, then definitely. My office is cozy.”

  Her light laughter filled the room, making the whole space glow with her light. She moved around my desk, dropping her purse on the leather blotter before propping her behind on the edge, just inches from me. Her clear blue eyes traveled over my face carefully. “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

  Unable to have her so close and not touch her, I reached out and grabbed her by the hips, sliding her down to stand right in front of me. “Only at work.”

  Her tiny hands came up, her fingers sifting through my hair and pressing gently against my scalp in a soothing massage. “You should wear them more often. You’re really hot in glasses.”

  I let out a contented hum and leaned deeper into her touch. “I’ll have to remember to bring them with me then. If you have a tight pencil skirt, we can play out the boss/secretary fantasy. It’s one of my favorites.”

  Her husky laugh told me she wasn’t turned off by the idea. “So how’s your day going so far?”

  I let out a weary sigh and leaned back, still maintaining my hold on her. “Well, as you heard when you first came in, Wynn’s driving me crazy, but that’s no different from any other day.”