by Wegner, Ola
She shook her head, and freed her hands. “It’s crazy.”
“You’re repeating yourself,” he said tiredly.
“Because it is,” she insisted stubbornly.
“Look, give us a chance.” He moved closer again, and put his arms on her shoulders. “I promise to do everything in my power to make you happy, keep you safe.”
She bit her lower lip. “Perhaps we could start with going out together once in a while, to get to know each other better and later ...” she started hesitantly.
“No, I’ve had enough of waiting.” his voice sounded harsher now. “It’d take ages for you to make any decision. You agree to go with me to Vegas on Saturday morning to get married or it’s the end.” He took a deep breath. “No marriage, no help for your father.”
She didn’t say anything to this, but collected her bag, and headed toward the door.
His voice stopped her when she reached the door. “Think about this. You have a few days to consider everything carefully. I will come to pick you up at ten in the morning, Saturday.
Amy’s face tensed even more, her lips pressed in a tight line. She opened the door and marched straight to the elevator, ignoring Marcia who said something to her.
All the way down, she concentrated on fighting back the tears filling her eyes, but when she got off the elevator on the ground floor, she couldn’t stop them any longer, and allowed them to run down her cheeks freely.
She all but ran out of the building, but stopped in her tracks at seeing her car, hitched to the back of a towing truck disappearing round the corner.
“Oh, no,” she gasped.
“Was it your car?” A police officer stepped to her. “Ms?” he spoke louder, when she didn’t answer. “That’s your car?”
“Yes,” ” she said, her shoulders slumping.
“Here’s your ticket and the address where you can pick it up.” He handed her the paper. “You must’ve known no parking is allowed here.”
Amy lifted her hand to her face and dried the wetness from her cheeks. “Yes, I knew,” she sighed shakily. “It’s just, I wasn’t thinking when...”
She stopped as she heard the voice of the man who was the reason for all of this, calling her name.
“What’s going on?” Jake asked a little out of breath as he reached her side. “Amy?” he touched her arm.
“We had to haul the lady’s car away,” the policeman informed him. “She’s got the address of where to pick it up.” He glanced at Amy’s pale, tear-stricken face and turned to Jake, “You’d better put her in a taxi, she looks shaken,” he spoke in a lowered voice.
The men exchanged knowing glances between themselves, but Amy was oblivious.
“Thank you, officer. I’ll drive her myself.” Jake wrapped his arm around her.
The moment the policeman walked away, she backed away from him. “It’s all your fault!” she cried, tears gathering in her eyes again. “It’ll cost me a fortune to get my car back.”
He touched her arm, his voice gentle. “Don’t worry. I’ll get your car back and pay for everything.”
“I don’t need your help or your money!” She burst into new tears, and walked away from him quickly.
“Wait!” he cried, catching up on her. “Let me drive you home, or at least call a cab for you. You can’t walk all this way on foot.”
Amy didn’t stop walking, ignoring him until he crossed her way.
“Please, let me drive you home.” He put his hands on her shoulders. She stubbornly avoided his gaze. “I’ll be worried,” he added.
At last, she looked up to him. “Look, just leave me alone for now,” she said in a tired voice. “Please. I’ll be fine. I just want to walk for a bit and think everything over again. I don’t know, perhaps I’ll catch a bus later or something.” Her eyes locked with his. “Please.”
His hands let go off her shoulders and he let her go past him.
“I’ll be waiting Saturday morning in front of your building. Ten o’clock,” he called, but she didn’t turn back to him and kept walking.
Chapter Five
Amy sat in the comfortable, plushy, deeply cushioned leather chair, and the stewardess helped her to fasten her seat belt. She thanked the woman with a smile, and turned her head towards the small window to observe as the plane was taking off. Any other time, she would have been delighted to fly first class, and not economy, as usual, but today she wasn’t in the mood to enjoy the experience.
She stilled when Jake, who sat beside her, took her hand in his, and lifted it to his lips.
“I haven’t told you how happy I am that you decided to come,” he murmured as his lips lingered on the top of her palm.
She all but snatched her hand away.
“Don’t read too much into it,” she said sharply. “It’s only a business matter. Do you have the pre-nup with you?”
She could swear that she felt the wave of irritation and frustration building in him, but she didn’t care. The sweet and obedient bride-to-be was the last thing he should expect of her in this situation.
“Yes,” he said at last.
“Good. I want to read it one more time before signing,” she informed him, without even a single look in his direction.
She heard him reaching for his briefcase and then the rustle of papers.
“Here you are.” He gave her the file.
Amy took it, and started reading diligently, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, as she tried ignoring his presence.
“You’ve signed it already,” she noted coolly as she finished.
“Yes, all three copies.” He handed her the pen. She took it and very carefully signed in all of the necessary places, beside his signature.
“I understand that one copy is for me,” she more stated than asked, and when he nodded, she passed him two copies. She folded and put the third one neatly into her bag.
For the rest of the journey she made a point of neither looking at nor touching him. She stayed turned with her back to him, and stared out of the window the entire time.
The wedding would take place the same day in a truly lovely garden at the hotel where they would stay for the night. She admitted that for such a hastily arranged wedding, everything was truly perfect. She learned there would be beautiful flowers, a pianist, champagne, and a photographer, even a huge wedding cake. She was surprised that he remembered about her wedding dress. It was waiting for her on the bed in the suite he led her to after they checked in.
On first impulse, she thought to throw it out of the window, and say the vows as she’d previously intended, in jeans and the blue striped shirt she had on that day. But then she reminded herself that it was her own wedding after all. Shabby or not it was the first wedding in her life. As a little girl, she’d always dreamed about a wonderful dress, something in the style of Cinderella in the Disney movie. Over the course of years, her taste had changed and matured, but still a nice white dress seemed to be a priority. Besides, she knew her father would like to see the photos, and the bride in casual clothes would have been rather difficult to explain.
Not to mention that the dress itself, which for certain Jake’s assistant or someone else had chosen, was more than lovely, simple, but beautiful. Amy was curious whether it would fit and how she would look in it. When she put it on, she all but gasped. It fit her perfectly, like a second skin, and she liked the way she looked in it. It showed just the right amount of her delicate, freckled shoulders, and the tops of her breasts, gently hugging the rest of her form, especially enhancing her small waist. She knew she was being silly, but she could barely stop admiring herself in it.
Another huge surprise was when two women knocked at the door of the hotel room, just when she was trying on the dress. They came with a lot of beauty accessories, introducing themselves as a hairstylist and the make-up artist. Both of them were around her own age and in an hour they managed to change her into a completely different person. When she put the dress back on, which she’d remo
ved so as not to ruin it as the women worked their magic, she’d barely recognized herself.
The hairdo flattered her features, and her face, quite surprisingly, seemed to look so pretty that it put her usually critical self in awe. Thanks to the skillful make-up her eyes seemed to be much darker, and appeared prominent in her small, rounded face. She sincerely thanked the women, who only smiled with satisfaction at her enthusiasm and wished her all happiness.
Amy knew that she shouldn’t enjoy all that dressing up so much. She forced herself to remember the circumstances, which led to this wedding. It cooled down her enthusiasm effectively. She was marrying a man she barely knew, a man who ruthlessly used her love for her father for his own interest. It sobered her, but she couldn’t stop one little smile when she caught her reflection in the mirror for the last time, before she left the room.
The ceremony was short, and after a few moments they were announced husband and wife. Jake leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. She felt so unreal that she wasn’t even nervous. It was as if some strange woman had stood there in a beautiful dress as a bride and not her.
They posed for photographs for some time. She managed a few mechanical smiles, stiffening when Jake pulled her closer, his strong arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Later, he insisted on taking her to dinner, but she refused, saying that she was tired and would prefer to go to her room directly and rest. Her husband looked disappointed, but he escorted her to her room, kissed her on the cheek, and walked away.
She was a surprised that he didn’t try to... well to do something about the wedding night, perhaps try to push her into sleeping with him. After a moment, she shrugged those thoughts aside. Perhaps he was honorable enough to respect their agreement.
Alone in her room she walked again to the floor length mirror and started to admire herself one more time in her wedding dress. She knew that she acted shallow, but honestly, she hadn’t remembered ever looking so pretty. It was almost a shame to take the dress off, take a shower, ruining the unforgettably beautiful hairdo and make-up. But she could hardly sleep like this, with the eye shadow and mascara, not to mention having dozens of little hairpins in her hair.
She took the dress off carefully, and hung it on the closet door, so she could look at it later when lying in bed. She decided that a bit of relaxation was a good idea so she took a long bath, enjoying the huge whirlpool tub. After soaking for what seemed to be hours, which caused her skin to wrinkle, she wrapped herself in the big soft hotel bath robe. She slipped her feet into her own low heeled satin slippers, and walked out on the spacious balcony. Las Vegas by night looked incredible.
With her eyes closed, she enjoyed the cool wind on her face.
“Stargazing?” the deep soft voice rang just above her ear and two strong arms wrapped securely around her waist from behind. She didn’t hear him come.
“It’s you.” She turned into his arms, at the same time attempted to free herself from his embrace.
“Were you expecting somebody else?” he asked, his voice still deep and husky as he released her.
She tightened the robe belt around her waist, straightened herself and said, “I expect you to go to your room.”
“This is my room,” he informed her calmly.
Her eyes narrowed. “You must be kidding. You swore to me not to invade my privacy.”
“I am not going to sleep in a separate room, when I’ve just got married, making a fool of myself,” he said flatly, his voice deprived of the previous seductive quality. “I saw one of my business associates here. Such things spread quickly.”
“I don’t care,” she announced harshly. “I want you to leave me alone and go to some other room.”
“No,” he said, his face expressionless.
Amy gritted her teeth, and was about to defy him, but then she thought there was no point to it. He was stronger and bigger than she was, so there was no chance she could physically remove him from here. Creating a scandal by asking the security to remove him didn’t lie well with her. She hated scenes like that. Quarrelling with him wasn’t the best idea either. He was her husband after all, and had every right to stay here. And she knew how the confrontation would end, she in tears and hurt, probably with a major headache. Now she knew how he made all this money in such a short time. He was capable of ruthlessness if he was after something.
Defiantly she turned with her back to him, and stared down at the bright lights of the city. Telling herself that she wouldn’t cry, didn’t obviously work. She already sensed hot tears gathering in her eyes. She’d had enough of all of this. She had no strength left to fight him at every corner.
She jerked a bit when the strong arms wrapped around her again.
“Easy,” he murmured, as he pulled her against his broad chest. “Relax.”
Surprisingly she did. She let herself lean against him, and closed her eyes.
“Everything is going to be all right.” he crooned close to her ear, and rocked her in place. “You don’t have to fight me all the time.”
“But I do have to.” she contradicted defiantly, but it came out sounding miserable.
His hold around her tightened. “This only wears you down both mentally and physically,” he murmured, moved her hair to the side and kissed her neck.
She stiffened immediately and tried to back away from him.
He held her to him. “I only wanted to kiss your neck.”
Amy turned her head and looked up at him. “You promised that you would not...”
“Come on. It’s not exactly heated sex,” he teased her, “I just wanted to kiss you, touch you, there’s nothing wrong with that. You looked so beautiful today. When I saw you it was as if lighting struck me or something.”
Amy shrugged off the compliment. “It’s just make-up and my hair done differently.”
He kissed her neck again. “Did you like the dress?” he murmured into her ear.
“It’s beautiful,” she admitted reluctantly. “May I keep it?”
He cupped her cheek. “So you really do like it,” he murmured with a smile.
She rolled her eyes at the deeply satisfied expression written all over his face.
“I’m happy that you do,” he said as he pulled her closer, “And what a question is that? Sure you can keep it. It’s yours.”
“I must congratulate your assistant on her taste,” she said tartly.
“My assistant...” He frowned and added after a moment, “I chose it.” He sounded hurt.
“And you think I’ll believe that?” she asked, her irritation rising, “Let me go.” She tried to move away from him and remove his hands from her waist.
“No yet,” he whispered, leaned over, and captured her mouth with his own.
It was a gentle kiss. In comparison to the only man she’d ever really kissed, Michael, it was surprisingly innocent. She closed her eyes and let him kiss her more. She could always push him away, or slap him if he started trying something below her neck. To tell the truth she was rather curious. He had to have felt her acceptance because he turned her completely to him, and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her into his body.
It felt nice, though the kiss was so innocent. He nibbled at her upper and lower lip, sucked at them gently. She sighed when he started kissing her neck again. That felt even nicer. Especially when she refused to remember who kissed her. She almost regretted the loss of his arms around her when he stopped.
“You’re tired.” He stroked her face with the back of his fingers.
Amy nodded. “I’ve slept so little for the last three nights. I’ve been thinking and thinking and I couldn’t decide.”
“It’s time to go to bed. You go change into your pajamas and straight to bed, understood?” he murmured and gave her a small push.
With a frown, Amy walked past him to the bathroom where she’d left her nightdress. When she came back to the bedroom, she purposively didn’t even look where he was. She slipped under the covers, scooted as far as poss
ible to one side of the bed, and closed her eyes with desperation. Her attempts to fight her exhaustion and stay alert turned entirely fruitless. The stress of the last weeks took its toll, and she was fast asleep short minutes after.
* * * *
When she woke up the next morning, she found herself wrapped tightly into Jake’s body from behind. His face was in the crook of her neck, his breath ticking her skin, his heavy arm resting over her waist. She noticed he had very hairy legs.
Good God, had she slept like that the entire night? She hadn’t woken up even once to go to the bathroom.
She lifted herself gingerly on her elbow and peeked under the covers. They were both dressed, she in her nightgown, which unfortunately had rolled up to her waist, revealing her sensible cotton panties. She managed to pull her gown down, covering at least her bottom. He wore just a t-shirt and white cotton boxers.
Amy gathered her courage, counted to three, and glanced back at her husband. Her husband, how strange it sounded! His eyes were closed, face relaxed, but his light snoring, which she’d heard just after waking up stopped. Very slowly she tried to remove his hand from her waist to free herself, but the arm wrapped only more securely around her and he brought her back closely to his warm chest.
“Good morning, sweetheart. Sleep well?” he murmured in a thick voice. He nuzzled her neck and the bare shoulder, revealed by the loose neckline of her nightgown. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” she said stiffly.
He wasn’t really doing anything, apart from keeping her real close to him, and the fact that his erection pressed in the cleft between her buttocks. His hand was still over her waist, but he made no attempt to move either lower or higher.
“Mmm,” he hummed, and placed light kisses on her arm. “Let’s lounge in bed for a while. What do you think? It’s Sunday after all.”
