Ties That Bind (The Escort, #3)
Page 20
Jagger chuckled. “I wouldn’t doubt it.” He sat up, easing me down to the pillow and kissing my cheek. “I have a feeling tomorrow’s going to be crazy with everyone here. I want to give you your gift now.”
“Yours is under the tree. It was the first present I wrapped, and I couldn’t resist putting it under there. But you can’t open it until after the wedding.” I’d bought him an underwater photography tour of the Keys. It came with scuba lessons and a special camera he could use in the ocean. I was sure it was a piece of crap compared to what he usually used, but nothing could change Jagger’s perspective.
He’d have plenty to open tomorrow. I’d gone a little overboard buying him Christmas gifts. I figured I had to make up for lost time. Jagger wasn’t easy to shop for, as he didn’t care about material things, which made it all that more rewarding when I found the perfect present for him.
I took the lid off the box he handed me. He’d kept it simple, just putting a gold bow on top of it. I pulled out a photo album, and looked up to him before I opened it.
“I want to make this a tradition.” He lay across the bed on his side, chin in hand. “So we can look back at these and see how you get more beautiful every year.”
My breath caught in my throat. He didn’t ever have to buy me one thing as long as he made me feel like that.
I had a feeling I knew what waited for me inside, but Jagger still managed to surprise me. The first page was a photo of me in the abandoned church on the beach we’d be married on. He’d caught me totally off-guard, and my hand covered half my face. Sunshine sliced the photo, a bright streak over my eye, leading to my laughing mouth. We couldn’t have planned it any better.
The next couple of pages weren’t of me. They were of the inside of the church, and he’d made it look elegant and proud. No signs of neglect in any of these photographs. He’d taken pictures through the broken wooden slats—the overgrown beach grass, the lazy clouds bobbing over the water.
I had no idea he’d taken pictures of me while I waited for him on the beach. He also captured these from the inside of the church, the window frame visible in a way that made me look like art. I’d been laying on my stomach, feet in the air, reading. Couldn’t do that anymore. I remembered when I’d sat up to stretch. I don’t know how he made me look so beautiful doing something so ordinary. He made his vision come to life through the lens.
And even more, he made me believe it. That I was the sexy, confident woman I’d longed to be for years.
The next page switched to black and white. I stood ankle-deep in the ocean, sliding my panties down my thighs. I’d looked back at him, under the spell of his camera. There was an unspoken language between us—my body and his lens. I couldn’t give a direct translation, but I knew what it meant. He made me something more than a woman, or a mom. Looking at these pictures was looking an idealized version of the truth, a dream. But the most mind-blowing part of it was that it was real. We had this. It was the best gift we could ever give each other. I may have bought Jagger, but no amount of money could ever buy the way he made me feel.
He’d followed me into the ocean, water frozen forever in mid-air from when I’d splashed back at him playfully, my head thrown back in laughter.
I gasped when I got to the last page. Jagger had played with light and shadow to get exactly what he wanted. I was totally in silhouette. It was a profile shot, me coming up from the water. The image had motion and energy. My hair was everywhere, water drops surrounding me. But the way he’d captured my body was absolutely stunning. Everything full and round, my breasts tipped up to meet the sun, and my hand resting on my belly.
I’d never felt more beautiful in my life.
He had that look on his face. The one he reserved for two things—his art and me. I kissed him. I’d only meant for it to be a peck, but I had so many things to say and words would fail me.
“You are so amazingly talented. That you can capture me like this.”
He shook his head. “Talent has nothing to do with it. It’s all luck. It’s something I never thought I had before I met you.”
Chapter Thirty
Jagger
“Happy wedding day, Mrs. Holiday.” I was still blown away that Leah wanted to take my last name. I called her at the stroke of midnight. Her mother insisted the world would come to an abrupt and certain end if we saw each other before the wedding. Our party had commandeered a small hotel on a quiet Key near the beach with the abandoned church. My room felt so empty without her.
“I’m so excited,” she said. I wished I could see the look on her face. I knew her eyes were glowing, which radiated even more as the baby grew inside her, and she’d probably scraped her teeth against her bottom lip. It was a little move that drove me wild because I’d learned it signaled she was up to absolutely no good. “I need to give you your gift. I hate this stupid tradition. Almost forty years old, knocked up out of wedlock, and I’m trying to figure out if I can sneak out of my room without my parents noticing.”
I laughed. “I’m a bad influence on you.”
“No way. You’re the best influence on me. What’s your room number?” Her mother didn’t trust us, rightfully so, and made us promise not to share this information when she handed out the keys.
“Forty-nine.” My cock was already getting hard, and talking her out of this would be torture. “Leah, what if your mother’s right?”
“That it will ruin our marriage if we see each other?” She chuckled. “I stayed away from Rich the night before my wedding. I’m interested in doing things differently this time.”
I liked where she was going with this. “What do you have in mind?”
“You have no idea how sexy your voice sounds over the phone. Maybe we could just go the phone sex route.” She paused. I didn’t answer her. I wanted her so badly I had no idea what would come out of my mouth. “I think I’ve figured out the loophole. Leave your door open a crack, and put something over your eyes,” she said.
Fuck yes. “Any other requests?”
“Yeah.” Her voice was a low purr. “Lights out. Wait for me in the chair near the desk. Wear nothing but the blindfold. Seeing is the only thing that’s off-limits.”
I could barely breathe as I readied myself for her arrival. My heart pounded, sitting in the dark, behind a barrier, with a rock-hard cock and an open door, waiting for her. Anyone could’ve walked in when the door clicked closed. It was such a turn-on. I was blind from need, even without the tie I’d knotted around my head.
There was only one person it could’ve been. Her scent filled my nostrils as she approached. The pregnancy sent everything about Leah into overdrive. I rose in the chair when she pushed my hair away from my face. Her lips were warm and soft against my neck. My pulse jumped to meet each kiss.
“Good thing we’re getting married,” she said as she climbed on my lap. I gasped when her bare pussy, hot and wet, moved against my thigh. “Because I don’t want anyone else to have you ever again.”
“I’m yours.” It came out as a groan. My head fell back as she moved her body in slow circles, her swollen belly brushing against mine with every turn. “Is this my gift?”
“Yeah. I have something for you to open tonight, but I wanted to start the day off with a bang. Pun intended.”
I laughed. “Can I touch you?”
“No stupid old wives’ tales about touching.” She grabbed my cock, keeping her hand steady as the rest of her body continued to grind against me. Her breath was hot against my cheek, but she didn’t kiss me again. “But not yet. Let me give you your present.”
I meant to protest but I didn’t have a chance before she ran her tongue along my bottom lip. I tried to meet her kiss, but she put her finger on my lips, pushing away from me.
There was no music, but a soundtrack played between us. The rhythm of how Leah moved would forever be stuck in my head, dripping with sensuality and seduction like we’d been dancing all night on the beach, and I knew I’d find myself humming the
tune anytime I craved her touch.
A chill rushed in when she got off my lap. She never broke contact with my body, keeping her hand on my shoulder as she moved behind me.
“I want to rip this fucking blindfold off.” Leaning back, my head rested against her belly. I risked getting a good kick to the skull from Violet, but it would’ve been worth it if I could see just a hint of Leah’s tits, full and round, in the shadows. The light from the parking lot could be playing off her lips, which were probably upturned in a smirk. Leah always wore the same expression when she knew she had complete control over me. I shifted in the chair imagining it.
“Don’t you dare. I’ll go back to my room and you’ll have to take care of things on your own.” She made slow, deep rotations on my shoulders with her thumbs. “I know you can’t see, so I’ll tell you the situation looks pretty serious. I don’t have one of those, so I can only imagine what it feels like.”
“It feels like I should be coming inside you.” Didn’t matter what I said, I was at her mercy, and I wouldn’t fucking change a thing. No other woman had ever done this to me. Ripped me apart stitch by stitch and put me back together the way I should be.
She ran her hands down my chest, stopping at my stomach. “I don’t think I’m getting my point across. Let me change it up a little. If you don’t follow the rules, I’ll go back to my room and take care of things myself. And that would be a shame, because I am dying to have your cock inside me.” To make sure she drove her point home she bit my shoulder.
I wasn’t going to last five fucking minutes if she kept it up. I laughed. “What’s more important—me following your rules or you getting what you want?”
“Both. I believe I can have it all.” She drew her hands up and rolled my nipples between her fingers. Now I was the one with the circling hips. I tried to catch anything I could in a kiss, but all I could reach was her cheek. She sighed, offering a sliver of relief instead of moving away.
“Come to the front. I want to feel you against me.”
She stilled. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
Thank God. “I want you to do that thing you were doing with your hips before. Let your tits hit my chest. Sink your teeth into me—“
“Only where your shirt will cover. Can’t be explaining how you got bite marks to my family when I wasn’t supposed to see you tonight.”
“Any fucking where you want.” Not that I could sympathize, I wouldn’t be explaining anything to my family. I’d sent them an invitation, but I hadn’t heard my mother or my sister. I wasn’t disappointed because I never expected them to come in the first place. “I wasn’t done with my requests.”
Her body hovered above my lap. “I’m listening.”
“Dance for me. I’ll let you know when you’re ready for the rest of it.”
Leah laughed, but didn’t push me away when I put my hands on her hips. She was still in complete control, but I loved the way she moved—back and forth, wide, slow circles, and my favorite, up and down, brushing against my cock. She grabbed it, her firm grip no substitute for being inside her.
Her lips grazed my over mine and she moved faster. I shifted my grasp to her pussy, keeping time with the sway. She’d left me completely raw, whittled down my restraint to barely anything. My fingers moved hard and fast on her clit. Her thighs quivered, and her body jerked as she cried out.
“Stand up,” I commanded, pulling her up with me. My head spun. “Lead me over to the wall.”
Her breath was heavy against my chest, and we stumbled over to our destination—both blind and on the edge. I pinned her shoulders back and kissed her, deep and hungry. She brought her hands up to my hair and my cock twitched in anticipation of her pulling it. I fucking loved that so much, and she did not disappoint.
She tore the tie away from my eyes.
“Shit,” I whispered. Our gazes were locked in the strip of light coming in from the window, nothing but the future ahead of us. And no way to stop what we’d started. Leah was completely naked against the wall, the only thing covering her was the shadow from my body.
“You don’t really believe it’s bad luck to see each other, do you?” she asked, biting her lip. “As stupid as I think the old wives’ tale is, I don’t want to screw this up.”
“Impossible.” I picked her up so we were face-to-face. She wrapped her legs around me—not so easy with her belly between us. “I love you, and I’ve never been happier than I am right now. A lot of people would say I’ve fucked everything up, and it still led me to you. I’m not willing to change things now.”
“Good. Because I like you exactly the way you are.” She moaned when I drove inside her. Her fingernails dug into my back. We slid further down the wall with every thrust until we gave into it, landing on the floor. Leah wouldn’t let me go, locking her legs around my back, her inner walls pulsing against my cock until she lost all control. I came hard inside her, falling against her in trembling heap.
I picked up the failed blindfold and pressed between her legs. Her body twitched, a few leftover rumbles of climax rolled through her, triggered by the slightest touch. “Just in case your mother’s patrolling the hallways. I don’t want her to know you broke her rules.”
Leah laughed. “Right?” She put her pajamas back on in the shadows, not bothering to turn on the light. I walked her to the door in the dark, and she kissed my check before opening it. “The next time I see you, we’ll be married.”
**
“Happy wedding day, Jag.” Zach came to my hotel room bearing an expensive bottle of vodka. He shrugged when he offered it to me. “I don’t know what the hell to get for you. We probably can’t crack into it tonight, but we can save it for your anniversary.”
Zach had totally changed his tune toward Leah since Shannon came into the picture. I had no idea how she’d brought them to an understanding, but it could have been because Zach had changed his tune about everything now that Shannon was in his life. I’d missed this guy, the one I was proud to have as my best man.
“Sounds like a plan.” I was anxious to get out of the hotel room. Too much time in my own head. “What are the girls doing?”
“Kari said I need to get you the fuck you out of here. She wants to make sure there are no surprise run-ins. I saw Leah’s parents in the lobby. Her dad is a riot.”
“Yeah he is. We should watch some football and have a beer with him.” I grabbed my jacket. “Let’s go.”
My fingers trembled as I texted Kari to give her the all-clear. My nerves surprised me. I had no doubts about what I was doing. Seeing all these people come together to support Leah and having them accept me into their family was the best feeling in the world. I never wanted to forget it. And I never wanted to fuck it up.
“You got permission to be here, right?” Zach asked as we approached another car parked in front of the No Trespassing sign at the edge of the private beach we’d picked for the wedding.
Fuck. Even though we had the owner’s blessing, neither that nor the sign guaranteed we got the place to ourselves. “Yeah. I did it all by email. Maybe that’s the owner.”
My heart stopped when the passenger’s side door opened. She’d softened with age, otherwise my mother hadn’t changed a bit. My dad appeared from the driver’s side, and our gazes locked. He gave me a nod.
They came.
“We thought we had the wrong place.” My mother took my hands in hers. Her touch was completely overwhelming. “It’s good to see you, Jagger.”
“I can’t believe you’re here.” I braced myself as my father approached. He shook Zach’s hand and then came over to me. My mother moved aside, slipping her arm around me so he could shake my hand.
My parents weren’t huge on big emotional displays. It would’ve been too weird anyway. “Can’t wait to meet her,” my father said.
“You’ll love her.” Hopefully more love than they had for me.
“Where’s the ceremony?” my mother asked. “We’re the first ones here?”
My father went back to the car to get something out of the back seat.
My mother grasped my arm. “There’s someone else we want you to meet.”
In my utter shock of seeing my parents here, I hadn’t noticed anyone else in the car. No introductions were needed when a little boy climbed out of the backseat.
My son.
He wasn’t so little. Well on his way to being a young man, the time I’d missed became so painfully obvious. But he was here, and I didn’t have to miss anything else. I wouldn’t cry. I wasn’t his dad yet, but I had to keep my shit together for him.
I’d never felt anything like this for someone before. My love for Leah was totally different. This was complete awe and admiration. Something unconditional that existed long before I did and would never fade.
I didn’t hear what my father said to Jacob as he guided him over to me. I held onto my mother. I had so many questions for her, but there was no time. No more excuses or lies. He didn’t look like Kim at all. My son was standing in front of me and I didn’t have the first fucking clue what to say to him.
“It’s so good to finally meet you.” I wanted to crush him in a hug, but I didn’t want to scare the shit of him. Being stunned ran in the family, and he looked up at me with dark, wide eyes. “I’m sorry we never had a chance before now.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to catch up,” my mother said. “Let’s get to the beach before the bridal party gets here. You know it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.”
Leah’s SUV pulled in beside us with Kari at the wheel. She stared at us open-mouthed through the window.
“Too late for that,” Zach said as the car with Leah’s parents and Raven in it parked beside the SUV. I’d forgotten he was here.