Wicked Gentleman

by Christy Pastore

  I look at Jax who shakes his head and closes his eyes. She brushes past me and walks to the door.

  “Carol, you told me to break up with Jax. I could have let him go forever.”

  “But you didn’t,” she shot back. “Jackson, let me know when you’d like to start this transition. Stevie, let’s have cocktails tonight after work. We’ll discuss everything.”

  She walks out the door and I am again left stunned. “What just happened?”

  Jax stands. “I think you’re having drinks with Carol. You two are going to be besties.”

  I cut him a sideways glance. “Besties, you’re funny.”

  I turned to face her. “Are you excited about moving to Chicago?”

  “Hell yes,” she squeaked. “I am ready for the change of seasons.”

  “Cheers to that,” I replied, clicking my glass to hers. “Okay now scoot, Madam President, you have a speech to deliver.”

  Those big plans that Jax mentioned to Carol and me was the transition of the corporate offices for Hart Hotels from Salissa Island to Chicago. Nearly everyone on the executive team relocated to this location. Those that couldn’t leave were offered a different position or a substantial severance check. Carol was promoted, and rightly so. Aside from Jax, she knew the day to day operations of Hart Hotels better than anyone. Jax never had to worry or micro-manage with her in charge, he was solely focused on announcing his candidacy. Environmental issues, education, and jobs were his top platform agendas.

  I watched as Carol took her place at the front of the crowd. Several eyes swung in my direction when my phone buzzed. I thought I had turned off the ringer. Carol tossed me a scowl. Some things never change.

  “Sorry,” I whispered and urged the crowd to turn around.

  It was my mom. She’d sent a photo—smiling with fruity cocktail in hand and having the time of her life on cruise for singles in the Caribbean. It was a birthday gift from me and Jax.

  For my own birthday, Jax surprised me with a trip to Bermuda. We stayed at the Hamilton Princess Hotel. We explored caves and coves looking for buried treasures on the beaches of sea glass. And the pink sands matched the exterior of our hotel. It was just the escape we needed once the news of our relationship became public knowledge.

  It was surreal. I never thought my love life would be splashed all over the internet. Of course, there were stirrings that I’d only been promoted because I was the boss’s girlfriend, but Jax shut the gossip down. Even, Carol came to my defense. Women should have each other’s backs.

  There was no defending my father’s actions for what he did to me and Jax. He spent three months in jail for assault and had pay a thousand dollar fine. He returned to Kennesaw and according to Mom, he spent his days at the car wash and his nights alone drinking at whatever watering hole didn’t cut him off before nine.

  As for James Dennison, his wife sent a letter to Jax informing him that he passed away at the end of February. After hearing the news, Jax went to his study and I heard the sound of Billy Joel piping through the speakers. At some point he managed to make it to bed. He’s never spoken to me about what happened and I’ve never asked. When he wanted to talk to me about it he would.

  “You are distracting the hell out of me in this sexy-ass dress,” Jax whispered standing beside me. “Your legs look fantastic.”

  “They’ll look even better over your shoulders.”

  His hand landed on the small of my back. “I think we need to leave this party. Now.”

  “So this is where the party is,” said a deep voice from behind us.

  My eyes lifted to Matthew Barber standing to my right wearing a navy suit. “Holy shit.” I was standing inches from a movie star.

  “Matt, thanks for coming out,” Jax said, shaking his hand.

  “Sure thing, man,” Matthew said, directing his gaze towards me. “And who is this pretty lady?”

  Jackson wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Matt, I’d like you to meet Stevie Brockman.”

  “Stevie Brockman, good to meet you,” he said in his distinct Texas drawl extending his hand to mine.

  I nodded, shaking his hand. “Yeah, you too.”

  I don’t really remember what happened next, but somehow Matthew Barber floated up to the front of the crowd. I heard Jax’s name on repeat like a record.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, not only would I like to congratulate my friend, Jackson Hart, on this magnificent grand-opening, but I’d officially like to throw my endorsement to him for Governor of Montana.”

  Cheers erupted and confetti rained down, floating around us like snow and covering everything in blue and silver. Congratulations and best wishes stirred from the crowd as Jax shook hands and smiled for the cameras.

  “Mister Hart, could you stand right here,” the photographer instructed, before disappearing behind the lens. “Yes. Perfect. This one is going on the cover.”

  “Tours of the hotel will begin in thirty minutes,” Carol announced.

  As dusk faded into evening, I found myself walking down the hallway of the mezzanine level. This was my favorite part of the property. Beautiful paintings from local artists hung on the walls. I stood in front of a large window overlooking the city.

  “I thought I’d find you here.” Jax said, just above a whisper as he wrapped his arms around me.

  My body shook with a little laugh as I twined my arms around his torso. “Couldn’t have been that hard, I think I’ve mentioned this is my favorite spot like a hundred times.”

  I soaked up the sensation of his hard body pressed to mine.

  “I’ll always find you,” he murmured, kissing the soft spot under my ear.

  “You promise?”

  “Always.”

  My stomach growled and Jax tipped my chin forcing me to look up at him. “Did you eat anything tonight?”

  “I had a little bit of bread and cheese,” I admitted.

  Saying nothing, he took my hand and walked me down the stairs passing through the lobby. The sound of my heels clacking against the marble echoed all around us.

  Jax pushed through the glass doors. “Where do you want to eat?” He turned to face me, smiling at me with more joy than I knew what to do with in that moment.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Because I can.” He laid his hands gently on my jaw and he kissed me. The noise of the city pumped with electricity around us. I was lost to all of it but him. “I’m so in love with every little thing about you.”

  “I love you, Jackson Hart.” My heart skipped in my ribs as our lips collided once more.

  “Now, about dinner, where do you want to go? I’ll take you anywhere you want.”

  “Anywhere, hmmm. How about pizza in bed?” I mused, smiling against his lips.

  He smiled at me with that slow heart-stopping smile. “Anything the lady wants, she gets.”

  Two Years Later—Election Night

  “WELL, WE HAVE ALL THE makings for a hell of a party,” Jax remarked, turning his gaze towards me. He wore his ink-black tuxedo has if he’d been born in designer threads. His broad shoulders and narrow hips filled every inch of the tailored lines to perfection.

  “Friends, family, cake, champagne, even a band.” I nodded towards the guys from Rebel Desire on stage rocking out to “New York Minute” as they warmed up the crowd. A fitting song since our whole lives changed in the blink of an eye.

  “So what do you say? Marry me tonight?” he asked, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the three carat, cushion cut diamond on my left hand. My pulse raced, tripping in my chest skipping up my throat. The room filled with people faded away, the candles vanished, and the music ceased to exist. My eyes darted to our union, my hand in his as I took in the rose-gold setting.

  I let out a shaky breath. “Your ring is at the jeweler, I don’t have it with me.”

  Jax’s hands framed my face. “Sweetheart, do you trust me?” His blue eyes smoldered with promise. It was hard not to smile.

  I lo
oked up at him and the word rolled off my tongue with ease, like taking a breath. “Yes.”

  “Give me thirty minutes and I will make this the most amazing night to remember—at least one that we want to remember.”

  “So this is your way of masking what happened here tonight?”

  Sharpening his gaze on me, a shiver twirled up my spine. “No, not at all. In life you take the bad with the good. When we met you were having a bad day and I was having a great day—and then there you were and my day, my life somehow became more amazing that day. So marry me, right here, and right now, and let’s make this day one to remember.”

  “Well, with an offer like that how can I say, no?”

  Around midnight, we arrived home, Jax insisted on carrying me up to our bedroom. I didn’t mind though my feet were aching from the long day and then there was the dancing. I placed my sparkling Louboutin heels onto the rack in our walk-in closet. “That was bad.”

  “So bad,” Jax said, loosening his white tie.

  “Epic fail.”

  “Will I even be able to show my face around town?”

  I laughed. “I still can’t believe that you lost the election. I mean, those early polling numbers, how could it have ended in a landslide?”

  Jax shrugged out of his jacket. “The biggest political upset in Montana’s history and I was on the losing side.”

  “On the bright side, you’re probably going to be a Jeopardy answer one day.”

  “That’s your silver lining,” he cocked his head in my direction.

  “Nope,” I smiled, dropping my eyes to the sparkling wedding band on my left hand. “Becoming your wife tonight is definitely the silver-lining.”

  “Guess that I’m not such a loser after all.”

  “I think we’re both winners tonight,” I answered, rolling up to my tip toes and fusing my lips to his.

  “Definitely a checkmark in the win column.”

  About a year ago, Jax had asked me for my travel bucket list. He promised to take me around the world. In between touring factories, wildlife preserves, and schools along the campaign trail, there wasn’t a weekend that went unplanned. Jax proposed while we were on a weekend getaway in Napa Valley. I don’t even know how I got so lucky. With my answer, there was no hesitation, just like our first kiss.

  All my firsts were with him. The first time I stepped foot on the cobblestone streets of Rome. The first time I laid my eyes on the on the turquoise waters and pristine pale sand of the Ionian Islands. He even made good on his promise and took me to New Haven. Our life was a series of adventures and now we were taking the biggest journey of our life—husband and wife.

  My husband’s fingers tugged the zipper at the back of my ivory dress. “Do I really need to take this dress off so soon? It’s beautiful, so beautiful it should hang in a museum.” My hands smoothed down the bodice.

  “You can leave it on. I’ll fuck you where you stand, because we are sealing the deal on this marriage tonight, Missus Hart.”

  Mrs. Hart. I loved the sound of that. Jackson pressed his mouth against mine. Kissing me hard and reckless, my dress fell to the floor pooling at my feet. He hoisted me up and my legs locked around his waist.

  “I’ll look into having that dress preserved in a museum for you.”

  Jax set me onto the edge of the bed and my fingers brushed against the buttons of his dress shirt. “What do you want to do now that you’re not moving into the governor’s office?”

  “Right now, I want you to take off your bra.” He unbuckled his belt and tossed it aside. “What do you want to do?”

  “Besides you right now,” I teased, running my hands along the muscles of his stomach. “There’s that shipwreck in Turks and Caicos I want to visit . . . and the museum.”

  “Panties need to go to, sweetheart,” he ordered, his blue eyes sparkling.

  “We can take a jet ski out to Dellis Cay, that tiny private island,” I pointed out, discarding the fabric to the floor. “I hear it’s a bit spooky, but we can explore the hotels that were abandoned mid-construction during the 2008 financial crisis.”

  Naked, my gorgeous husband climbed onto the bed and settled between my legs. “Turks and Caicos, huh?” A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

  “Mmmm,” I moaned, at the feel of his erection sliding against me. I loved him so much. I touched Jax everywhere I could reach.

  He rolled his hips, and his hands palmed my ass. “Tell me you love me.”

  “I love you, Mister Hart,” I said, closing my eyes and relishing the feel of him moving inside me.

  Wins. Losses. Good times. Bad times. No matter the situation. The two of us were family now and forever. Family. I realized that Jax and I hadn’t really touched on the subject.

  “Do you want kids, Jax?”

  Stilling his hips, his eyes snapped up to look at me. “I’d like to have you all to myself for a little while longer, but yes, if it’s with you, I definitely want them. Do you?”

  A thousand emotions flickered inside me feeling like the luckiest woman in the world. “Yes, I want that too.”

  He searched my face looking at me with a lazy smile. “I want you to have everything you need in life, Stevie. Everything.”

  “Well, right now, I need an orgasm, and make it a good one.”

  He laughed, his lips brushing over mine. “Yes, that is something I can definitely give you right now.” His lips pressed to my throat and pumped into me with exquisite strokes, pushing me closer to the edge.

  I would gladly go over the edge with Jax every day. With him I was never afraid to fall. I would never be afraid to take risks, because even if I didn’t need him to catch me—he would always spot me.

  “When do you want to go to Turks and Caicos?”

  “The sooner the better,” I moaned. “It’s so cold up here.”

  My nose, my toes, and my lips everything tingled. All of my body trembling as the epic spasms jolted through me.

  He came with a quiet roar, his fingers digging into my skin. “How was that orgasm?”

  “It was fine,” I teased.

  Jax’s brow furrowed. “Fine,” he murmured. “We can do better than fine.”

  “I don’t know, hubby. Maybe this is your best. You’re getting up there in your years. Should we be thinking about getting you some medical help?”

  He shook his head. “Remember what happens when you doubt my abilities?”

  “I’m counting on you to prove me wrong.”

  “You’re a wicked woman, Stevie Hart.”

  I looked up at him, my lips curling into a small smile. “Yes, I am.”

  THE END

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  Contemporary Stand Alones

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  Wicked Gentleman

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  Jackson and Stevie—these two, I cannot believe I started plotting this book two summers ago on the way to an author signing. As I started writing these characters and this story it became something deeper than I originally anticipated. I know that you have many choices when it comes to your one-click decisions. From the bottom of my heart, I cannot thank you enough for picking up Wicked Gentleman.

  None of this is possible without my husband, Kevin. Thank you for reading through scenes when I ask for an opinion and for spending an entire Saturday afternoon with me talking over that one tricky plot line.

  Missy Borucki, thank you for your editing sk
ills, your guidance on everything from content to details in sentence structure, but mostly your time. I appreciate you more than you know.

  Rach & Fabi, we’re still on this journey together. Can you believe all that we have survived? Thank you both for your friendship and never-ending support. No one hustles harder than the two of you—and you both do it with such grace. Grateful to have you both in my life, your friendship means the world to me. #SoapyThighs4Life #CrazySauceDeflectors

  “Morning, ho bag!” Cary Motha-F*ckin Hart, thank you for your constant stream of motivation and for helping me deconstruct and then reconstruct this storyline. Also, thank goodness for “Dynasty,” and in the words of Fallon . . . “Never get between a Carrington and her Cabernet!”

  Linda Russell, thank you for promoting Wicked Gentleman as if it were your own book baby. I adore you and I love our chats. I appreciate your time and endless passion for this industry.

  Christina, you are absolute magic. Whenever I need you, you are there for me, I cannot thank you enough.

  To the book community, for the bloggers, promo companies, authors, and readers who’ve shared my books, embraced these characters, and introduced them to new readers. So I raise a glass of wine to all of you, many thanks and believe me when I say that your hard work does not go unnoticed.

  Whiskey, you get me. Thank you.

  Please connect with me in my private reading group, Christy’s Classy Lit Chicks, where we chat about everything from pop culture to books and everything in between. Casual Conversation for the #ClassyAF Reader. Don’t let FOMO happen to you.

  Christy Pastore lives in the Midwest with her husband, their loveable springer spaniel, Bailey, and their crazy cool cat, Boomer. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Textiles, Apparel and Merchandising and Marketing. Writing has always been a part of her life. Her first writing gig was for a celebrity entertainment website. Later she went on to create her own blogazine and media company combining her love of writing with fashion and marketing.