There was definitely a challenge there to Blake, and it wasn’t clear who would have won the argument if it came down to a fight. What was clear was that my grandparents didn’t deserve to have the tail end of their anniversary spoiled by their granddaughter causing a fight between friends.
“It’s okay, George,” I smiled at him. “I’m tired out anyway, and Blake won’t be long.” My cold gaze swept to him momentarily before returning to my impromptu dance partner. “Thank you for a lovely evening. You have my contact info, Let me know when you’re in Boston and we’ll hang out.”
I kissed his cheek. Blake fumed.
George kissed my hand. It was charming. “I will. It was great to meet you.”
As we walked away, I glanced back and saw George watching us intently.
I didn’t let my anger fully come through until I had gathered up my purse and we had cleared the main ballroom.
“You have some nerve,” I hissed once we were out of earshot of the other guests.
“I told you this discussion wasn’t over,” Blake said, glaring. “You’re being unreasonable.”
“That’s ten seconds gone.”
“Give me a break, Jenna.”
“Twelve.”
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Here’s what I was trying to tell you. I never planned on proposing to you tonight.”
Could this get any worse? I thought. “What?”
“I didn’t intend to propose at all. That was never the original plan, because it was it was the contingency plan.”
Blake cleared his throat. I crossed my arms, my mouth agape. Oh, this was going to be good.
“The first plan was to threaten Helen and Robert with the engagement and insinuate a relationship between us unless they agreed to turn over partial control of the trust to Lana as the original terms in the trust dictate.” Blake leaned against a nearby bar stand. “Helen and Robert hate scandal, and they’d do almost anything to avoid it, even if it means finally empowering their daughter like they were supposed to years ago.”
“And this is supposed to be better than actually marrying …how?” I asked.
“Well, for one, you wouldn’t actually have to do it. You just had to believe you were going to do it. That was what the contract was for.” Blake stepped forward, his expression more relaxed. “I was going to give you the money to save your store regardless.”
“Then why couldn’t you just tell me in the first place?”
“I wasn’t sure you’d go along with it,” Blake said. “And I wasn’t sure I could trust you.”
Well, that wasn’t so surprising. “You still don’t get it, do you?” I said. “It doesn’t matter whether you threaten your grandparents or not. The point is I would still look like I was using your family to get money that my Dad can’t afford to give me, and I’d be doing it in a really skeevy way.”
I waited for that to sink in.
Blake finally nodded. “I know that they probably wouldn’t take it well.”
“That’s the understatement of the year.” I rolled my eyes. “The question is, do you trust me now? Do you care about me at all?”
Blake had the grace to be shocked. “Jenna, how can you even say that?” He stepped forward and held my shoulders. “I care about you. I care deeply about you. I—” He bit his lip. “I want to be with you.”
“But not if it meant actually seeing each other openly,” I said. I could feel the chasm in my heart growing wider, pulling me further away from my desires. “Not if you had to tell Mom.”
He looked at me sadly. “I don’t know if they’d ever accept us like that. We’d have to take things slowly, give it time…”
“No.” Those were Dillon’s words, even if he hadn’t said them or known the extent of our involvement.
Blake wouldn’t be this cautious if it weren’t for his company. Gabblrr depended on his image. That was what he was doing — protecting his image at all costs. Shoving me behind the couch whenever company stopped by to visit.
I didn’t know how much I didn’t want that until I realized it was what Blake would settle for.
He sighed. “Okay, we can talk about that later. This is getting off-topic. I changed my mind about what to say to everyone—”
“Save it,” I said. “I don’t need any more lies or false promises.”
“I thought you were going to listen!” His jaw clenched. “I told you, there’s another option.”
“Before you tell me about this latest scheme of yours, I have another question.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Ask it.”
I took a deep breath. “Did you ever plan to entrap or expose me as someone trying to take your family’s money, like you what you originally accused me of years ago?”
Panic. That was another new expression on him. He didn’t wear it very well.
“Yes.” His hands gripped me harder. “I’m not going to lie to you.”
I should have known.
“Well, that’s refreshing, since you’ve basically been doing that for the past week,” I spat.
“Wait. Jenna, please let me explain—”
“You know, I didn’t think faking marriage to you was ever a great idea,” I said quietly. “It felt wrong on a lot of levels, many of them obvious. Pretending to just for the sake of shock value isn’t any better; it just makes us look like cowards who can’t follow through. But this is somehow the plan that hurts the most. The problem with this way, your way, Blake,” I said, shrugging out of his grasp, “is hiding our relationship makes me feel even dirtier than just admitting we’re attracted to each other in the first place.”
“You’re still not seeing the whole picture.” Blake was pleading now. Obviously he had come up with another convoluted scheme. No more. I was done. Now I just had to exit as gracefully as possible before the waterworks began in full force.
“I’m sorry, Blake,” I said, tears welling in my eyes as I backed away. “But your two minutes are up.”
6
I was such a fool.
“Jenna, don’t go. You don’t understand. Let me explain—”
He didn’t have a chance to answer, because I turned and fled from the ballroom and ran for the elevator, or at least tried to in the heels I was wearing.
Luck was with me, because one opened as soon as I rounded the corner. Blake was several steps behind me.
“Jenna!” He reached out for me and was going to try to pry the doors open, but they were too close to closing, and he yanked his arms back as I stared at him, sobbing.
I noted that being around Blake seemed to have this effect on me.
Leaning against the paneling of the elevator, I pressed what I thought was my floor number. I didn’t want to think anymore. I just wanted take a shower and try to forget how close I had been to happiness.
But the lift didn’t stop at my floor. It went up to the terrace. I had hit the wrong button.
The night air was cool against my face. I walked over to one of the canopied booths, knelt on the cushions, and looked out over Manhattan.
All around me, there were millions of people completely unaware of the triumphs or tragedies of their neighbors. Somehow, they made it through entire days without wanting to destroy their families by sleeping with their stepbrothers. Or marrying them.
What made me so special? If they could go on, so could I.
It sure sounded like booze philosophy to my heart at the time, and it does even more so looking back. But hey, I was drunk and lonely and thought I would have to sever ties with most of my family to avoid seeing the man of my dreams ever again.
Minutes passed by. I rested my head on my hand, willing the world to go away.
“There you are. Do you know how many stairs this place has?”
Blake.
I didn’t turn around. Maybe he would go away if I didn’t react at all.
A minute ticked by. I waited for the sound of retreating footsteps, possibly with a side order of curse words.
Some movement, but I couldn
’t tell what it was.
“Jenna. Look at me.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Yes you do. You didn’t even say half of what you wanted to say downstairs.”
He really wanted me to vent, did he? I weighed whether or not he was the type to bang on my door all night and not let me sleep.
I lifted my head. He was sitting on one of the chairs at a nearby table. A tiny part of me was satisfied when he recoiled just a little at the expression in my eyes.
“You want to know what I think? Fine.” I stood. “I think you were planning on humiliating me all along and winning your mom and your inheritances in the process. You’d blame the whole affair on me. Your mom would eventually forgive you, but I doubt she’d be as lenient toward her stepdaughter. I would be exposed as the money-hungry whore.” The word felt foul in my mouth when I said it, but I couldn’t think of a better alternative. “Then I would be the person you’d always suspected I was, some gold-digging nobody who would be stupid enough to take you at your word.”
Damn tears. I was going to trip over a chair, and then Blake would catch me, and then I would have to thank him for that. First the word vomit, now the tears. My own body was working against me. It was a conspiracy, I tell you!
“Well, I’m not that person,” I said, wiping my nose ungracefully. “I don’t try to scam people out of their money. All I wanted was a loan, and I wasn’t even going to ask you. You realized that at some point late in the game, and maybe you even felt what I felt just as deeply. But that didn’t end up changing anything.”
I blinked more tears away. “I don’t renege on my deals, and I don’t run from a fight. So do what you’re going to do. But don’t expect me to be your secret mistress or whatever because you’re worried about your reputation. There’s no future for us if we start out in hiding.”
I felt his hand around mine before I saw it through the blur of my crying. He was pulling me down on top of his lap, I realized belatedly. I don’t know why I didn’t try to stop him.
“First of all,” came Blake’s gentle voice, “what I meant to say before was that it took me a long time to get over being a jackass when it came to protecting my mother. Yes, there was a time when I thought about trying to expose you. But that was years ago, in the beginning. I never did anything before I realized I was being fucking ridiculous. It never had anything to do with the contract. Cross my heart and hope to to take a long walk off a short pier.”
I could almost smile then. He was stroking my arms. Being near to him was interfering with my logic. And anger. I’m sure he was well aware of that.
“Second, what you wouldn’t let me tell you is that after talking to Dillon today, I decided not to involve my grandparents at all.”
“I don’t understand.” Blake handed me a cloth napkin from the table, and I dabbed at my eyes. Hopefully, the raccoon circles weren’t too visible in moonlight.
Blake shifted me on his legs, pulling me closer. “Jenna, I was always going to have the better part of the deal. It wasn’t fair to you. If I was going to receive money out of it, you should have received a lot more.”
“But I don’t want more!” I said. “That’s the point, Blake. I just don’t want to lose my book store, that’s it.”
“Shh. I know. That’s why I’m giving you the money anyway, without conditions.”
I sat up. He was offering to save me. Regardless of how confused and angry I felt at that moment, I didn’t want to reject what I had fought for. It was better to feel shitty about it later and keep the store open.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “Thank you. I will pay you back, though.”
“You don’t have to.”
“But I want to,” I said. “I want a loan. That’s what I’ve wanted all along. A loan with a long time to pay it back.”
“All right,” Blake said, and he sighed, as if he knew I would be so stubborn. Then he leaned over and nuzzled my neck, his lips brushing along my skin before he kissed me there. “Jenna,” he groaned. “Oh, Jenna. So many complications.”
“That’s mostly your fault, you know,” I said, although there wasn’t much fight in it.
“Third.” Blake’s voice rumbled behind my ear. “One more thing, and then you can walk away if you want.” His hands slid along my dress, wrapping along the curves of my body.
I shivered, but not from the cold. “Do your worst.”
His laughter vibrated along my back. “I’ll try. You have to get up for a minute, though.”
I grumbled in protest but put my weight on my feet and rose, if clumsily, hastily truing to straighten out my gown.
Blake was searching his coat pockets for something. “I wanted to do this later, but I have a feeling that I’ll say something stupid between then and now and you’ll never give me the chance.”
Wait, what was he doing? He was pulling out a box.
A small black box.
Blake was kneeling down.
Oh.
“You see,” he said quietly, “there’s no point in having discussions about fake marriages when you want the real thing.”
He opened the box. Inside was a simple platinum band with ends that swirled around a cluster of diamonds.
Holy crap.
“I don’t know when the right time to tell our parents will be,” Blake said, his voice struggling to remain even. “I have no clue how to deal with the press. But even if the rest of the world rejects us, I want to be by your side the whole time. Now and forever.”
Holy crap.
“Jenna Hill,” Blake said, his eyes lighting on mine, “will you marry me?”
I started crying again.
Blake was cautiously optimistic. “Is that a yes?” he asked tentatively.
I pulled him up from his knees, which was harder than I thought. The man was solid. I smiled and held out my hand for the box. Blake took the ring out and slipped it on my finger. It glittered there, simple and elegant and perfect.
I mouthed the word without vocalizing it. It was a gut reaction, and it was far from logical, but I couldn’t care less.
“Yes?” Blake asked, unsure what I had said.
I nodded, trying to make my voice work again. “Yes,” I whispered. “Yes.”
Blake’s happy shout was lost in our tangle of arms and limbs as he picked me up and spun me around. This probably wasn’t a good idea considering the amount of champagne I had consumed, but it was immaterial. I was on cloud nine.
He kissed me, and I felt the electricity of it shoot down my spine, warming me from the inside out. I was glad he could hold me up in his arms; my ability to stand on my own was severely hampered at that moment.
There was a hunger between us, primal, urgent. All of the angst we had caused each other, all of the doubts and fears and secret longings were all pouring out of us, trapping us in this certainty — we were together now, and no one was going to stop us from being together.
My stroking his chin and gripping his back became more urgent, and so did his kisses. I could feel him harden against me. His hands were already slipping underneath the edges of my gown. I was going to have him, and he was going to take me. Right here, if I didn’t stop him.
“Room. Now,” I gasped.
Blake grunted his approval. Thank God. He was so not going to tear my dress off.
I didn’t protest when he literally swept me off of my feet and started walking towards the elevator.
* * * * *
We barely made it to his room, and only because his door was several feet closer than mine.
The second the lock clicked into place, Blake was all over me, assaulting my senses as his hands ran wild all over my body and he kissed me from my mouth to my breasts. Now I knew what it was like to be in the middle of an inferno. He was burning, and no amount of water was going to quench his thirst until he was sated.
He became annoyed at the way my shawl was catching on my bust and impatiently yanked it off, tossing it behind him, then renewed his
efforts to leave me begging and horny at his feet. “Blake,” I said, moaning as he ran his tongue along a sensitive spot above my cleavage, “can I at least take my gown off?”
“You can try,” he growled, raising his head to nip at my ear. “But it had better be gone before we make it to the bed, or I’m going to take it off for you.”
Good incentive.
Blake tilted my head back and latched onto the skin in the hollow of my throat, tasting me. My left arm was tangled in his hair. My right hand, however…
I lifted away from the wall long enough to grasp at the invisible zipper between my shoulders blades. Yes! Only now it caught between us because Blake was grinding his rock hard erection against my underwear.
Using both hands, I shoved him away and closed my legs long enough to let the dress drop to the floor in a puddle of expensive fabric. I caught the corner with one hand and launched it over the closest chair just as he figured out the clasp on my strapless bra. If we didn’t starting working our way to the other part of the room, I was going to end up with wall burns. Again.
“Blake, the bed is that way,” I said.
He wasn’t listening, but at least he was moving in the right direction. Blake’s eyes were dark, almost black in the dim light, and he raked them over my form before grabbing my underwear and yanking them down. I half tripped, half fell onto his bed, yanking the duvet back as I landed on my ass. He unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, wrapped my legs around his waist, and sank into my wet and aching pussy. His lack of control was scary and more than a little exciting.
I let out a low moan, filled up with his thick hot cock to the hilt. Blake groped my breasts, and I let out a mewling sound that he swallowed as he kissed me.
This was not fair. I was completely naked, and he was almost fully dressed. I shoved his coat down his arms as he rolled his hips against mine, creating a juicy, delicious wave of friction and release as he repeated the action. He scooted out of everything below his waist, and I made quick work of his shirt and tie.
“That’s better.” I grinned.
He answered my taking a nipple into his mouth and releasing it, then flicking it with his finger before sucking on it with his tongue.
My Stepbrother, the Billionaire, & the Ball: Forbidden Romance (The Step Contract, Book 2) Page 6
