by Kaylea Cross
“Hey, Jennie,” she said as she watched the car move away from them. “I think I’ll walk up to Jack’s office with you and stop in and say ‘hi’ to him.”
* * *
Jack’s new temp secretary had apparently been told who Kelly was because she sent Kelly right into Jack’s office. Jack smiled as Kelly walked in, and she thought of the other time she had been in his office and smiled.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. Kelly kicked herself for melting in his arms and briefly took note of the fact that this time he’d kissed her when there wasn’t an audience that made it a necessity. Kelly chalked it up to habit or as an unnecessary precaution on Jack’s part and jumped into the reason for her visit.
“Um, Jack, I feel a little weird saying this, but I would swear someone was following me today,” Kelly said, biting her lip. Now that she was here, she felt a little silly telling Jack this.
Jack took Kelly by the shoulders and leaned down to look her directly in the eyes. “Tell me what you saw. Tell me everything you can remember,” he said.
Kelly told Jack about the car and the man driving it. “It wasn’t creepy like in a stalker, scary-guy kind of way. It was more like he was a private detective or professional kind of guy. Oh wait, do you think your aunt is having me followed? Maybe she thinks she’ll get proof that the marriage isn’t real.” Kelly suddenly felt so much better now that she felt there was likely no real threat.
Jack considered this. “That’s definitely a possibility. I wouldn’t put it past her. I still don’t like it, though. Do you have any ex-boyfriends or anyone that’s ever bothered you in the past? Anything that you can think of?”
Kelly shook her head and shrugged. “No.”
“I don’t know,” Jake said slowly. “I’m in the public eye a lot, but I’ve never had someone in my life that people know I care about. That might have made you a target for anyone who wanted to hurt me or wanted to get at my money. I’m worried that maybe there’s more to this now that word about our marriage is getting around. I’ll have security put on you right away.”
Now that she had thought of the connection to Jack’s aunt, Kelly felt a lot better about things and really thought they should turn this to their advantage. “No, no, no, Jack! I’m sure it’s just your aunt. And, we can use. She isn’t going to find anything. I mean, it’s not like I’m going to run out and sleep with some other guy or anything.” Kelly thought she saw Jack freeze for a split second when she said that and wondered if he thought she was going to blow their cover by doing something that could prove their marriage wasn’t real.
“Let her have me followed. The faster she sees that there isn’t anything to dig up, the faster she’ll back off and accept our marriage.” Kelly’s enthusiasm increased the more she thought about turning the tables on Jack’s Aunt Mabry.
* * *
As soon as Kelly said good-bye to Jack, promising to call him when she got back to the house, Jack got on the phone to Chad. Jack knew that if he put a bodyguard with Kelly 24/7, it would scare her. He filled Chad in on the guy following Kelly without mentioning the possibility that it was Chad’s mother that put the guy there. They talked about possible ways to protect Kelly but Jack told Chad to keep Kelly safe without scaring her too much.
Chad immediately sent him a panic button with GPS that he’d have Kelly carry with her and they settled on having one of Chad’s people watch Kelly from a block away from her at all times so they could get to Kelly if she hit her panic button. With this in place they could watch her but she wouldn’t be frightened by the precautions. Chad said he would also investigate the person tailing Kelly and see what he could find out.
Jack felt better as he hung up the phone, but his response to the thought of someone threatening Kelly surprised him. It was more than the protectiveness that he expected to feel for the woman who was helping him out. It was a gut deep feeling of possessiveness and fear. Not something Jack was used to at all.
Chapter Eighteen
Jack got home from work that night and slipped the panic button into Kelly’s purse in the front hallway. He’d have to remember to tell her it was there and show her how to use it but he didn’t want to mention it in front of Aunt Mabry. Kelly had started volunteering at the New Haven Legal Aid Clinic and that wasn’t located in the best part of town. Between that and the guy following her, Jack felt better knowing she’d have some way of getting help, if needed.
He walked into the kitchen and found Kelly and Mrs. Poole cooking dinner together. Kelly looked up and smiled at Jack. Jack thought she was gorgeous when she smiled at him like that and he loved the sight of her in his kitchen. Hell, he loved coming home to find her anywhere in his house. The irony of having the strongest feelings he’d ever had for a woman while in a fake marriage to her were not lost on Jack. He had spent years looking for the type of connection his mom and dad had shared, and now, when he finally gave up and entered a fake marriage, he found himself looking smack at the woman he knew could have given him just what he had been looking for.
“Mrs. Poole is teaching me how to make her homemade manicotti,” Kelly said as she carefully placed a ricotta-filled noodle in a pan.
“I see,” Jack said with a smile as he walked over and kissed her on the cheek. She spooned the filling into the next noodle and began to roll it up. “Maybe we can take a pan of it to your mom’s house this weekend.”
Kelly was surprised that Jack was planning to go back to her parents’ house with her this weekend, but before she could say anything, Aunt Mabry walked into the kitchen.
“Oh, hello, Jack. I’m surprised to see you home so early in the evening,” she said in her syrupy sweet voice that generally only came out when she was about to make a dig at someone. “I would’ve thought the CEO of a large company needs to work longer hours.”
Biting back a sigh, Jack smiled at her. “Oh, I’ll work a bit at home tonight but I like to try to find a balance between work and home. That’s how Dad always did it with Mom and me and that’s how I’ll be with my family.” He gave Kelly another squeeze around the waist as he said this and she laughed and pushed him back as she spilled some of the ricotta filling over the edge of the noodle.
Jack saw a flicker of anger in Aunt Mabry’s eyes and he realized she probably hadn’t seen much of his Uncle Dan in the evenings. Dan had worked a lot and was less of a family man than Jack’s dad had been.
“Speaking of work, how long until dinner? I might as well go get some things done now,” Jack said, turning to Kelly and Mrs. Poole.
It was Mrs. Poole that answered. “About an hour, dear,” she said in her mothering tone that earned a hard look from Aunt Mabry.
“Call me when it’s ready?” Jack grabbed an apple from the fruit basket on the counter and tossed it in the air as he walked out of the kitchen toward his home office.
* * *
After dinner, Jack suggested they sit out on the patio with wine to watch the stars. Mrs. Poole went into the kitchen to clean up while Aunt Mabry, Jack, and Kelly went outside with a bottle of wine and three glasses.
Aunt Mabry and Jack sat down in Adirondack chairs on the patio while Kelly poured the wine and lit the three squat candles sitting on the low glass table between the chairs. Jack took his glass of wine from Kelly, looped an arm around her waist and pulled her down onto his lap to share his chair.
He felt her tense briefly but then she relaxed into him and he grinned. He knew he was getting to her as much as she was getting to him. Jack worried for a minute that it might be cruel to tease her as much as he did, but he quickly dismissed the thought. It was fun and he loved making her blush and squirm. Reluctance from a woman wasn’t something he was used to.
Jack kept his arms around Kelly’s waist and his hands rested on her tummy but as they drank their wine and made idle conversation with his aunt, Jack found one hand moving just high enough on her stomach to let him brush his thumb back and forth on the lower curve o
f her incredible, full breast. He meant to do it to torment Kelly but it backfired on him as he found himself burning with heat for her.
Jack took his other hand and brushed the hair back from Kelly’s neck, pushing it to one side as he leaned over her shoulder to speak so that his words caused his breath to brush against her soft skin. He barely got a word out when Kelly sprang from his lap.
“I, uh, I’m going to go for a run. Forgot to do my workout today,” Kelly said, pulling the excuse out of thin air. In fact, Jack was fairly sure she hadn’t gone for a run the whole time she’d lived there so far.
“I’ll, um, I’ll see you guys later,” Kelly said as Jack grinned at her and stifled a laugh.
Aunt Mabry shook her head as she watched Kelly walk away.
“She’s an odd one, Jack,” Mabry said.
Jack grinned. “One of a kind Aunt Mabry. One of a kind.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jack waited in his home office, keeping busy as he looked at projections and company profiles until her heard Kelly come in from her run and start the shower. He climbed the stairs and headed into their bedroom. He opened the French doors that led to the balcony and leaned on the railing while he waited for Kelly to finish. This was going to be fun, he thought.
He heard the shower turn off and turned to wait for her to open the door. Kelly stepped out moments later with her hair hanging wet over her shoulders, wearing nothing more than a towel wrapped around her. She’d tucked an end into the dip between her breasts to hold it up. Jack was actually stunned silent for a minute and stared as she crossed the room to the walk-in closet. He had known that Kelly was gorgeous and he had felt some of her body, but seeing her like this was so much more than he imagined. He felt a jolt straight down to his groin and swallowed as he watched her.
Kelly’s skin was creamy and looked so soft he was dying to nibble every inch of it. Her breasts were full and begged for his hands to hold them, his tongue to explore them. The towel fell just past her luscious hips that curved and cried out to be held, explored, entered. Her legs were smooth and bare and still had small droplets of water on them that shimmered against her skin. Jack could picture himself covering those legs from her ankles to thigh with slow, lazy kisses.
Kelly turned and saw Jack watching her from the balcony and her small scream jolted Jack back to his senses. A slow smile spread across his face but his eyes burned hot and intense as he watched her. Kelly pulled the towel tighter around her curves as he walked slowly over to join her in the room.
“Why are you avoiding me in the evenings, Kelly?” Jack asked her softly and Kelly felt like his low, gravelly voice was washing over her. Her body tingled in anticipation.
“I-I….” Kelly stumbled over her words and couldn’t come up with more to say as Jack slowly stalked her. He moved in on her and she had to back up toward the wall to keep some distance between them. When she couldn’t go any further, Jack leaned down and kissed the curve between her neck and her shoulder, lingering as his breath tickled and teased her.
“You’re avoiding me, Kelly.” Jack pressed hot kisses down Kelly’s shoulder. “What I can’t figure out is why you would do that because I know you’re as attracted to me as I am to you.” Now he looked her right in the eye as she shook her head, causing him to grin in response.
“Kelly, it’s my job to know when people are bluffing,” Jack said as he ran the tips of his fingers lightly over her arms, down to her wrists and back up again. Yup. Her skin was as soft as it looked.
“You’re bluffing, Kel. You’re attracted to me. I feel it when I kiss you, when you press your body against mine, when your breath catches as I whisper in your ear.” Jack purposely continued his slow torment of touch.
* * *
Kelly’s head swam and she could barely think straight as Jack attacked all of her senses. “Jack, I’m not. I mean, I’m….” Frustrated, Kelly felt the color creep up her cheeks as she tried to explain why she had avoided this very scene.
“Jack, I’m not like the women you’ve been with. I don’t sleep around. I’m not a super model. I’m just normal. Completely normal with a normal body and normal breasts, and I wear normal size clothes not Barbie Doll sizes like you’re used to.” Once Kelly got started, she blurted it all out. “I can’t compete with what you’re used to. I don’t want to compete with them.”
Jack stopped his seductive teasing and stood up, stunned. Now he leveled a serious look at her and he could see that she really meant what she’d said. She wasn’t fishing for compliments or playing games like a lot of the women he had dated.
“You’re completely serious, aren’t you? You don’t think I’m attracted to you.” Jack didn’t back off an inch.
“It’s okay, Jack. I mean, I didn’t expect you to be when we started this and I’m okay with that.” Kelly continued to babble on as Jack watched her in disbelief. Finally, Jack made up his mind and shook his head.
“Then, I’ll have to convince you.” Jack dipped a finger into the vee of Kelly’s towel at her breasts and tugged her gently toward him as he captured her mouth with his once again. When he broke from her lips, leaving Kelly breathless, he looked her in the eyes again.
“I’m extremely attracted to you, Kelly. I love your body. I love the curves of it, the size of it, your softness, your full breasts, everything about it. All you have to do is enter the room and I’m ready for you, Kelly. And soon, I’m going to convince you of that and get you into bed in the true sense instead of just sleeping next to me.” As Jack spoke he peppered her neck, shoulders, mouth, and jaw line with searing kisses that had Kelly’s legs shaking and her body melting for him.
“And when I take you to bed, Kelly, you’ll be confident that I’m truly interested in being there with you – and nobody else. That I want to be there with you.” With one last deep kiss, Jack released her.
“Good night, Kelly,” he said and he smiled at her dazed expression as he slipped from the room.
Chapter Twenty
After another frustrating night of lying next to Kelly in his bed, highly aroused but unable to reach for her, Jack started his ‘Project Kelly’ to show Kelly how beautiful he thought she was. He’d woo his wife into their marriage bed in the true sense of the word, if that’s what he needed to do. After showing Kelly how to use her panic button, Jack left for work, but he stopped by a florist on the way to the office. Since Kelly didn’t believe he found her beautiful, he would show her how much he appreciated everything he saw when he looked at her.
That afternoon, Kelly received two dozen deep-red roses that were so incredibly beautiful they took her breath away. The card read: Like your lips – lush and full and sensual. Have a wonderful day, beautiful.
Mrs. Poole and Aunt Mabry read the card over Kelly’s shoulder. Mrs. Poole sighed at the romance of the gesture; Aunt Mabry huffed and walked away.
The following day, Kelly came home to find a large bouquet of blush roses laced with baby’s breath. Mrs. Poole and Aunt Mabry waited for her in the front hall to read the card. The color of your cheeks when I make you blush only makes me want to do it more.
Mrs. Poole sighed and Aunt Mabry harrumphed and walked away again. Kelly blushed.
The next day, Kelly couldn’t help but hurry home from the clinic to see if more flowers had arrived. She wasn’t disappointed. A dozen bright orange Gerbera Daisies sat in the front hall.
“Oh! I love Gerbera Daisies,” Kelly exclaimed. “They always make me smile.” She opened the card and laughed at the message: This is what your smile does for me. It feels like sunshine and happiness and coming home after a long time away.
The next day she came home to a stunning orchid with the most unique white and purple blooms on tall stems. It wasn’t like any orchid she had seen before and the card read: A bloom that is rare and stunning with taunting curves that demand to be explored, like you.
Friday was a vase of blue and yellow irises with a card that read: I tried to find a flower that was as beautifu
l as the stunning blue of your eyes but there wasn’t anything that came close to their beauty.
Mrs. Poole had to dry a tear and Kelly thought she even heard a small sigh escape from Aunt Mabry’s lips before she pressed them tightly closed and walked away.
Later that day, cream-colored roses came with a note that read: Dinner tonight? I’ll pick you up at six o’clock.
* * *
Jack knew the sentiments and the notes were cheesy, each and every one of them, but he also knew Kelly would eat it up and he smiled when he imagined her reaction to them. And every night when he came home, she blushed and thanked him before he pulled her to him for a kiss.
Making Kelly blush was one of his favorite things and he fully planned to make her blush in their bed soon, too.
Chapter Twenty-one
Jack and Kelly pulled up to the valet at a wine bar in downtown New Haven. Phase two of Project Kelly was a night out with an intimate dinner followed by a show at the Yale Repertory Theater. Jack thought that Kelly would like the small restaurant and the unassuming theater instead of the big flashy events they sometimes had to attend for his business. He wanted her to relax with him and feel comfortable so he could spend the night showing her how much he wanted her, how much she did for him by being there when he came home each night.
Jack watched as Kelly walked into the restaurant. There was nothing assuming or arrogant about her. Everywhere she went, eyes were on her, yet she seemed totally oblivious. She didn’t preen or even try to draw more attention to herself. There wasn’t anything conceited about her and that made her all the more appealing.
