by Ann, Jewel E
Chapter Ten
Day
“We’re not inviting Cathy to the wedding.” Jessica shot her mom a warning glare over the kitchen table as they narrowed down the guest list.
“Jessica Mauve Day, she’s my best friend. Of course she’s invited.”
“Your best friend is a cheater. I can’t believe you’ve sided with her. Daniel is the perfect guy. Who cheats on perfection?”
“I thought I was the perfect guy.” Luke surprised her from behind, kissing the top of her head. “Good morning. It’s Saturday. Why is my bride-to-be and her lovely mother not at Samovar?” Luke ruffled Jones’s ears on his way to the coffee pot.
“You are the perfect guy … for me. You’d like Daniel, babe. He’s a middle-school guidance counselor and track coach. Incredibly nice guy. And Saturday tea has officially been relocated to here until the wedding because we need more space. Your mom and sisters are coming next weekend to get fitted for their dresses. Have you taken Jones to your tailor yet to get fitted for his tux?”
Luke narrowed his eyes over the rim of his coffee cup. Jessica bit her lips together.
“My mom’s going to knit him some argyle socks too.”
Sunny looked at Luke then rolled her eyes. They never forgot the shitty dog incident at Kelly and Gabe’s wedding. Jessica didn’t want to deal with Jones on their wedding day any more than Luke did. She just enjoyed his reaction to the possibility.
“Jones is not going to be at your wedding, but Cathy is.” Sunny grabbed the list and wrote Cathy’s name next to the scribbled area where Jessica had crossed her off the list.
“She’s not—”
“What if I had an affair? Would you never forgive me and ban me from your wedding?”
Jessica’s head jerked back. “Why would you even say such a thing?”
Luke raised his eyebrows, leaning against the counter in his navy pajama pants, no shirt. He seemed to enjoy the show.
“Because I didn’t raise you to be this way. I’ve never seen you be so unforgiving … so judgmental. You’re getting ready to marry the man of your dreams. You’re a few months from happily ever after and you’re letting Cathy’s affair eat at you. I just don’t understand why. She fell in love with another man. She didn’t kill—” Sunny slapped a hand over her mouth as her eyes filled with regret. “Oh, God. I’m sorry, sweetie.”
Jessica restrained her response behind tight lips and a slow nod. “I think we’re done for today.”
“Jessica!” The pain in her mom’s voice wasn’t enough to stop her from retreating to the bedroom and answering with a slam of the door.
Stripping off her clothes, she pulled on a T-shirt and jogging shorts, yanking at them as if they too had offended her.
“Want to talk about it?”
Her chin dropped to her chest on an exhale as Luke’s body pressed to her back. His arms wrapped around her shoulders, protecting her, loving her, reminding her that he was her home.
“I don’t need Dr. Jones right now. I need my Luke.”
His lips brushed the side of her neck. “And he needs you.”
She closed her eyes. “I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of having …” The words caught in her throat.
“Of having what?”
“Everything I’ve ever wanted.”
“Oh, baby …” Luke turned her in his arms. “I adore you. This is happening. You deserve everything you’ve ever wanted. Instead, you’re getting me and Jones.” He grinned. “But the three of us are going to make it work anyway. Forever.”
The feel of forever beneath her lips as she pressed them to his bare chest, brought happy tears. “Cathy and Daniel were my and Jude’s godparents. I idolized their marriage, just like I do my parents’. Through everything, I’ve held this shred of hope that there is truly someone for everyone … that happily ever after really does exist. But when Cathy left Daniel, I questioned everything I held on to. Then my mom stood by her side without question, as if she somehow empathized with Cathy, and that’s bugged me for years. Why would she do that? I get forgiveness, I really do. But not once has my mom acknowledged that the affair was wrong and then today … Can you believe she asked me how I would feel if it was her and Dad instead of Cathy and Daniel? Talk about fucking with my mind and kicking my dreams in the gut.”
Their embrace intensified as if he could squeeze every last drop of doubt and insecurity from her.
“It was hypothetical.”
“What if it wasn’t? Hypothetical questions are oftentimes reality in disguise. I have this ‘friend’ who might be pregnant. What do you think ‘she’ should do?”
Luke pulled back a fraction, brows arched as he peered down at her. “Baby, are you pregnant?”
She pinched his sides until he buckled at the waist, chuckling.
“I’m not pregnant, you dimwit. I’m trying to be serious.”
“So Kelly is pregnant?”
“Luke!” Her pinch turned into a gut punch.
He grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her so hard breathing became an afterthought. Walking her back into the wall of his dress shirts that hung from hangers spaced evenly apart, he lifted her up until her back pressed to the wall. A few perfectly-starched shirts surrendered, falling to the floor.
Jessica gasped for air as lips devoured every inch of skin along her neck. “I love the way you love me. It’s … everything.”
“It’s forever,” he whispered in her ear, sliding her T-shirt up her body and over her head.
Their bed waited twenty feet away. Luke deemed it too far as he laid her on the floor of the closet, several dress shirts trapped beneath her.”
“Your shirts—”
“Fuck the shirts.” He smirked, eyes hooded as he removed her shorts and then his pants.
“Dr. Jones is going to be pissed at you.”
Luke settled between her legs, rubbing his erection against her clit as she closed her eyes on a soft moan. “Not when he smells sex with Jessica on them.”
“Oh … God …”
He pushed into her and she let him control her body, dominate her thoughts, and erase all doubt.
*
“So when did you make your decision?”
Luke reached for the shared red sweatshirt wadded on the floor a few feet away and draped it over Jessica’s back. She seemed content sprawled out on his chest, but he felt goose bumps along her skin.
“What decision?” he asked.
“The one where you had to choose between orderliness and me. Surely you knew you couldn’t have both.” She teased his nipple between her teeth so he pinched her ass, eliciting a squeal and the release of his hostage nipple.
“The first time we kissed. Orderliness doesn’t turn me on like you do.”
Jessica giggled. He loved that giggle. Every day she seemed to reclaim a piece of her innocence, and he felt honored beyond words to be the one to help her put those pieces back together.
“I bet you get at least a semi from a spotless mirror and perfectly-folded hand towels.”
He shrugged. “It may twitch a bit.”
The most beautiful lips ever planted a soft kiss on his shoulder. “I love you and I would never cheat on you. You’re it for me. If a runaway cable car flattens your ass tomorrow, I’ll never be with another man.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It could happen.”
“I’m talking about you not moving on if something—probably not cable car related—were to happen to me. You’re young and you have so much love to give. It would be a crime for you to not share it with someone.”
“Nope.”
He scooted out from underneath her until they sat facing each other, holding hands. “I want … I need you to promise me that you’ll love again.”
She shook her head. “It wouldn’t matter. I’d never find someone to accept me the way I am.”
“The way you are? You mean strong, resilient, beautiful, smart, funny, sas
sy, kind, giving, thoughtful … I could go on all day. But I see what you mean. No man would want that.”
“Luke,” she whispered, staring at their interlaced fingers holding on for life, just like their two souls.
If he’d had one wish, it would have been for her to see herself through his eyes for just one moment in time.
“I want to be your everything, but only while I’m here. If the day comes that I’m not, then let me go. Let me be your greatest memory.”
She looked up at him with the eyes that served as a looking glass into his entire existence. Luke didn’t want to think of them looking at another man the way they looked at him, but if it meant someone looking back at her the way he did, then it made the thought bearable … just barely.
“And you? If I die will you love another?”
No. The world’s biggest fucking double standard ever, but he wouldn’t. She needed love. He had enough to last his entire life.
“I’d try.”
Jessica nodded slowly, but it didn’t feel like a nod of agreement, more of the nod someone gives when they’re trying to process something.
“I need to apologize to my mom.”
The change in subject was fine by him. “We’re not your parents or Cathy and Daniel, we’re not even the crazy skinny dipping couple from Tahoe. I know you’ve used them as a litmus test for your own chance at happiness, but you … we don’t need them. I got you. I’ll always have you.”
He prayed his words held truth.
Wearing her playfully deviant smile, she crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms and legs around him like a monkey. “What would you have said if I was pregnant?”
“Nothing.” He kissed her shoulder then bit it.
“Nothing?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because the best things in life leave me speechless.”
Chapter Eleven
Knight
Jackson killed AJ. So what?
Ryn captured two hours of sleep after Jackson’s confession. Of course they were the two hours before her alarm went off. She downed three cups of coffee then cleaned two houses on autopilot. By the time she carried her supplies to the car, three inches of snow blanketed the ground. A smile grew on her face.
As she slowed to pull into her already-shoveled driveway, Drew waved from his sidewalk. Ice melt crunched beneath her feet as she walked toward her front door. Gunner flew out his dog door, tail wagging.
“Drew, I’ve told you a million times you don’t need to shovel my drive. And holy crap, what’s with the ten pounds of ice melt? I can’t even see my driveway beneath it. Is this some joke?” She laughed.
Drew stabbed his shovel into a drift of snow and rested his hands on the handle. “Yeah. Don’t be surprised if a photo of your driveway shows up in the newspaper tomorrow with the title Ice Melt Hoarder. I think your friend bought every bag from the hardware store. Don’t even get me started on the fact that he didn’t drive here. He had on shorts and a sweatshirt and he made six trips on foot carrying the ice melt and I think a new shovel too.”
Ryn laughed, shaking her head as she reached in her pocket for her phone that vibrated. “Speaking of Jackson.” She held up her lit screen. “Bye, Drew.”
She nearly slipped on the inch of ice melt, navigating the porch steps.
“Hi,” she answered.
“Have you left for home yet? It’s snowing. I don’t think you should be driving.”
Ryn laughed, shutting the door and toeing off her shoes. “Ya don’t say?”
“I cleared your driveway and sprinkled some ice melt, but it’s still snowing so you might need to reapply when you get home. I left a couple bags in your garage.”
“How did you get in my garage? The side door was locked.”
“Oh, I have … um …”
“A universal key? Like your sister?”
Jackson chuckled. “That would be correct.”
“Well I’m home already.” She plopped down in her favorite chair and threw her feet up on the ottoman. “Did Gunner growl and bark at you the whole time?”
“I brought treats.”
“I see. So you thought of everything. My neighbor, Drew, saw you. Did Woody break down? He said you made a few trips on foot with the ice melt.”
“Of course. No one should be driving in this weather.”
She giggled. “You act like you’ve never driven in snow. It’s the first snow, it’s not that cold, and all the main streets have been plowed. Don’t try to tell me it didn’t snow in New York.”
“Well, yeah, of course it snowed in New York. I just … I …”
“Let me guess. You lived and worked in the city, therefore you didn’t even own a car.”
“Bingo.”
“Pathetic. Well, I’d invite you over for dinner, but that would require you to drive.”
“Or walk. I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”
Ryn laughed some more. “Don’t slip on the side walk.”
“I’ve got that covered. The guy at the hardware store sold me some sort of yak things for my shoes.”
“Yaktrax?”
“That’s it. See ya soon.”
Gunner cocked his head sideways as she tossed her phone on the ottoman. “So all it takes is a few treats to keep you quiet, huh? I fear you’re going soft on me.”
Gunner jumped to attention from the quick rap on the door.
“There’s no way he’s here already.” Ryn grinned as she made her way to the door.
“Preston.” Her smile dissolved as her body stiffened.
Gunner sat idle next to her, a mild growl vibrated in warning.
Preston glanced down. “Easy, mutt.”
“What do want? You can’t be—”
“Be where, sweetheart? Here? You dropped the restraining order. Remember?”
Ryn tried to swallow past the familiar fear. “Why are you here?”
“It’s snowing. Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“No.”
Preston slipped off his black leather driving gloves and shoved them into the pockets of his long wool overcoat. “I need to talk to you about Maddie.”
“Your phone stop working?”
Preston grinned the same grin that got her knocked up twenty-one years earlier. She loved it then, but not anymore. It made her want to knock out every single shiny, white tooth that peeked out from behind his lips.
“Come on. You have your guard dog to protect you. Besides, I come in peace.”
She glared at him. Nothing about Preston Iverson was peaceful.
“Five minutes and then you can let him chase me out the door. Deal?”
The asshole ex-husband needed to be gone before Jackson arrived. Preston didn’t deserve a blink of her concern, but a tiny part of her feared for his life.
“Five minutes.”
Gunner stayed glued to her side, ready to attack on command as she stepped back.
“I see you bought the smallest place on the block.” His beady eyes appraised his surroundings. “Does it have indoor plumbing?”
“Four minutes.”
He smirked. “You could have bought a place ten times the size of this one.”
“I’d live on the street before I’d take a dime from you.”
He nodded, still taking in her belongings. When she finally got the nerve to leave him, she did it with only the clothes on her back and even those ended up in the trash.
“Well you’re not far off.”
“Three minutes.”
“I want you back, Ryn.”
All she could do was laugh.
“I’m serious.” He stepped toward her.
Gunner growled. Preston glared at her dog.
“I want a two-headed horse with magic wings. Maybe when that happens, I’ll come back to you.”
“We were young. We both made some mistakes—”
“What did you just say? We? Are you serious?”
“We both had our
whole lives ahead of us, then you went and got pregnant.”
“Oh. My. God.” She shook her head. “Time’s up.”
“Think about it … for Maddie.”
“Go to hell. Now … out.”
Preston backed up as Gunner bared his teeth, moving slowly toward him.
“That tattooed asshole is trouble. I don’t trust him, and I sure as fuck don’t like that he’s trying to take something that’s mine.”
“You beat the living crap out of me because I overcooked your steak. You threw me down the stairs because I wore a dress you deemed too short to a holiday party and some asshole friend of yours commented on my legs.”
“I’m not that guy anymore.”
“You’re exactly that guy. After all these years you still think you own me.”
He clenched his teeth. Ryn recognized the muscle twitch in his jaw and the vein on his forehead. Had Gunner not been a foot from castrating him, Ryn had no doubt Preston would have backhanded her for being “disrespectful.” It was always his signature first strike.
“He’s a speeding ticket away from being thrown in jail. Chances are they’d find drugs, illegal weapons, or whatever I’d want them to find in his trunk.”
Ryn narrowed her eyes. Why couldn’t he just let her go? Why did he have to destroy her entire life?
“Think about it.” He opened the door and turned to a large man in a hoodie, jeans, black boots with Yaktrax, and murder on his face.
“Be easy on her. She’ll need some recovery time after what I did to her.” Preston wore his usual asshole smirk as he rested a hand on Jackson’s shoulder, attempting to side step him.
“Fuck!” Preston squeaked out when Jackson grabbed his neck with one hand, shoving him into the siding. Preston’s face turned crimson as he clutched at Jackson’s iron hold with no success.
“I’m going to end you.”
Preston maybe had twenty seconds before passing out, but even then he was too stupid to shut up.
“Is … t-that a threat?”
Jackson’s head turned side to side slowly as he leaned in and whispered in Preston’s ear. Ryn heard every chilling word.
“It’s a promise.” He released him.
Preston fell like dead weight to his hands and knees, gasping and coughing.
