“You want Jeffrey to lie to the public.”
“Well, damn, RW, I can’t have Jeffrey telling the truth! I watched what he filmed on my own security cameras. That episode would bury my hotel. I’d be run out of New York. That’s why I had to create the fake sex tape. Your son has too damned much integrity to be pressured into turning over that episode. He wouldn’t listen to reason.”
RW crossed his arms. “And that’s where he and I differ. Integrity? Not so much. Fierce determination to protect what’s mine? You haven’t seen anything like me. Guards! Take this scumbag off my property.”
Finn laughed. “Right. Good one. Where’s my tiramisu?”
RW picked up the tiny camera stuck to the flowerpot. And pointed to the recording device on the bottle of wine. There was another one under the table and a third one under his chair. “Seems like you are the one caught on tape, Xander. It’s going to be a great commercial for the restaurant.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“I’m releasing the part where you talk up the food. That’s good stuff. If I see even one more shot, video, GIF—anything—on the internet about Jeffrey, I don’t care who posts it, I’ll release the entire video shot tonight to the press. All of it. Understand me?”
“But...” Finn sputtered. “I thought we had a deal.”
“We do now. Good luck, Xander. Do not cross me.”
* * *
Michele stood in the kitchen beside Jeff, listening to every word. When Finn started demanding his dessert, she fed it to Jeff bite by bite. She had absolutely no intention of giving anything more to that vile Finn.
He’d blackmailed the man she loved to try to force him into lying. How preposterous was that? Jeff didn’t lie.
“Holy sweetness, Batman. This is amazing,” Jeff said with his mouth full.
“Catwoman. I had the costume and everything.”
He cocked his eyebrow. “Babe, I’d love to see you in that costume.” He waggled his finger for her to feed him more. With each spoonful, his eyes rolled back in pure delight. The look did wicked things to her. How she wished they were still dating.
When they heard the guards throwing Finn off the property, Jeff said, “I don’t need to have my producer give me the Finn hotel episode now. Finn just sealed his own fate.”
Michele cheered, “We did it!” And jumped into his arms.
The kisses on his cheeks, jaw, neck and lips? Well, she couldn’t stop them if she tried.
And she hadn’t tried.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she sensed that it was a mistake. They had a deal to be partners only and she’d kept her side of it until tonight. But his lips were an intoxicating mix of dark chocolate, cinnamon and rum. Everything began to spiral out of control. His hands dove into her hair and held her head as they devoured each other’s lips.
God, he tasted and felt so good.
She barely registered that he’d sat her down on the counter. All her thoughts were centered on this man. His tongue plunged inside her mouth. His hands roughly grabbed her butt.
She wanted more, needed more. Wrapping her legs around him, she pulled him closer until she could feel his thick erection pressing against her panties.
“Michele.” The way he growled her name melted her.
If this was a mistake, she was going to make it big-time.
He was hard and she was desperate. She ground herself against his zipper. “Please,” she begged. “I need you.”
His groan of desire made her wet.
He cupped her through her panties, pressing his thumb against her nub, and nearly short-circuited her brain. She tossed her head back and arched as he rubbed in circles. Panting, she was in a frenzy to get him inside her.
She wanted to come with him. Biting her lip, she unzipped his pants.
His eyes were blue pools of hot desire. “Condom.” He yanked his wallet out of his back pocket and took out a silver packet. When he was ready, he lowered her until he filled her.
This. Was. Perfect.
He started thrusting and she held on to his shoulders, rolling with him. Taking him in as deep as she could. “Michele.” That growl again.
With each thrust, he said her name, never breaking eye contact. “My Michele.”
He took her higher and higher until her body screamed for release and yet she tried to hang on so they could come together because she’d wanted him for what felt like forever. She needed this one moment to last for as long as she could stretch it out and save each second of it in her memory. She’d keep it locked away in her cracked heart, safe, perfect for the times when she was lonely. Alone. Love with Jeff was beautiful and so hard. It broke her even now as she knew he’d pull away again, needing to push her out of his arms because he couldn’t feel what she did. He didn’t know how to let himself fall for her.
“Sweet Michele,” he said with a contented sigh against her neck. He was spent. She let herself sail away with him.
A few minutes later he said, “Don’t move.”
Move? How could she? Her body was a puddle of happy pudding.
He disposed of the condom and came back to wrap his arms around her. Against her neck he said, “One of these days, I want to take my time with you. Go slow.”
Tears pricked her eyes. He was thinking of a future with her. “Slow, fast, I’ll take you any way I can get you.” She still meant it. She’d risked it all over and over for him, and she’d do it again. There was only one thing she craved in return—his whole heart.
Her body pulsed with her need for Jeffrey Harper and because she couldn’t contain her emotions any longer, she let them out. “I want to be with you, Jeff.” She loved him. Pure and simple.
“I’m right here, babe.” He nuzzled her neck. She sensed that he was distracting her, trying to steer her away from the discussion to come. He knew what she was going to say.
Her insides crumbled because she thought she knew what he was going to say, too, still she pressed on because she had to hear the words. “Are you? Or will you push me away again and tell yourself you can’t have a real relationship?”
That’s when she saw it—something sharp and raw twisted his beautiful face. He stepped back. “What do you want me to say?”
“The truth.”
He swallowed hard, as if his throat was coated with sand. “I’ve always told you the truth.”
“Not about your feelings. Those you shield, protect and bury deep. Say what you think about me, about us. Not what you worry we’ll become but what we really are.”
He shook his head, his blue eyes clouded. “I don’t want to hurt you, Michele. I never did.”
“The only way you’ll hurt me is if you don’t let yourself hang on to what is real and special, standing right here in front of you.”
“Michele, this isn’t easy for me.” A thread of warning rumbled in his voice. He didn’t want to talk about his feelings.
She couldn’t stop now. “Remember when you said you wished you could feel something real? Feel this.” She pressed his hand to her chest. Her heart was pounding hard. “Please, Jeff, I need you to see the man I see—an amazingly gorgeous guy who is worthy of love. Don’t you see that, too?”
He didn’t answer for a long moment. Tipping his head toward the ceiling lights, he let out a deep exhale. She could tell he was struggling. “When I look at myself, I see a guy who has a restaurant that needs attention and a hotel to finish.” He rubbed her arm, slowly, sensually. “Standing next to a beautiful and amazing chef who is going to put our restaurant on the map. I don’t want to screw this up.”
Damn. He just did.
She’d wanted to believe he cared for her so badly that she’d ripped her heart out of her own chest and handed it to a man who’d warned her he couldn’t love her. She couldn’t do this anymore.
A tear dripped down her cheek.
“Being the head chef of a five-star restaurant isn’t enough. I want more for you and need more for me. I wish you could see us like I do.”
Until Jeff was brave enough to trust himself and her, she had to step away. She wouldn’t give up the job she loved, but she needed to let the man she loved slip through her fingers. She had to let him go.
Everything hurt. It was almost as bad as the day Mom died. She couldn’t breathe, but her legs, they could move. She fast-walked outside.
“Michele, wait!” he called after her.
She kept going because she didn’t want to see him or hear any of his pretty words. Especially not the way he said her name. None of it was as real for him as it was for her. It never would be.
“Stop!” he called. “Please don’t leave. I don’t want to lose you.”
She turned around and was surprised by the sadness she saw in his eyes and the tenseness of his jaw. “I’m not leaving. I love what we’re creating together in the restaurant. I just... I can’t date you anymore if you don’t care about a real future with me. It’s too painful.”
He kneaded his neck, as if trying to release the tension she could see in his body. “I’m not any good at this, Michele. I’ve never been in a relationship before and I don’t want to fail you. Hell, I wanted to protect you. From the press, my family, from me.”
“From you?”
He stepped closer, his gaze boring into hers. “Yeah. I don’t deserve you. I never did. But the truth is that I want you, Michele, more than I can say, more than I ever thought possible. I started crushing on you the first time I saw you on television cooking with such finesse and poetry in action. I’ve fallen hard every second after that.” He wrapped his hands around her waist. “I’m not me—the real me—without you. Please, give me a chance to show you what I feel.”
He pulled her to him and kissed her then and the whole world started spinning around her like she was flying. After several minutes he finally pulled back, pressed his forehead to hers and gazed into her eyes. “Did you feel that?” he asked. “I love you, Michele.”
She blinked and tears sprang off her eyelashes. “You love me?”
“Hell, yes, with everything in me.” His voice choked with emotion. “I’m a mess, sweetheart. I’ve never felt like this before.” His words flowed out like the breaking of a dam. “This—you and me—it’s intense. Consuming heat, burning need, but good, too. Warm and sweet. Your touch heals me. When you left, every part of me ached. I was ill with the need of you. Starved for your touch. The wanting of you tore me up inside. I love you so damned much that I can’t think straight. I was afraid to admit it, afraid of who I’d become if I let you love me. I don’t want to hurt you like my parents hurt each other.”
Her heart was so full it hurt. “That won’t happen because you are not them. You, Jeffrey Harper—” she held him as tightly as she could, their hearts pounding together “—are mine. We’ll figure this all out together.” She wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled his lips to hers.
When they finally came up for air she said, “I love you, too.”
He exhaled. “Hell, that makes this next part easier.” He linked his fingers with hers and kissed her wrist, sending shivers up her arm. “I had a whole thing planned out for tonight. Been working on it for days, but you sort of messed up my timing. Not that I’m complaining about how you preempted it.”
“What thing?”
“Sunset yacht cruise up the coast to our beach. Bonfire. Champagne. This.” He pulled a box out of his pocket.
She gasped.
He cupped her cheek with his big, warm hands. His gaze bored into her soul. “If you’ll let me, I’ll be the guy by your side, your partner in life. The one who encourages you and touches you as deeply as you touch me. I want to fall asleep to the rhythm of your breathing and wake up wrapped around you. You inspire me and make me laugh. You heal me and warm all the coldness inside. I want to do all those things for you and more. Much more. Let me be the man who makes you happy. Please let me love you for the rest of our lives. I promise I’ll get better at it. I’ll talk to a therapist, do whatever it takes to get brave for you.”
He dropped to his knee in the grass. “Michele Cox, will you marry me?”
She squealed, “Yes! Oh, Jeff, yes!” And then she dropped to her knees and kissed his spicy lips.
Epilogue
The small crowd filed in, taking their seats in chairs by the wedding pagoda at Seal Point—the place where Jeff and Michele had their first date under the canopy of stars. The waves crashed below and a mocking bird sang an artistic medley while Jeff snuck around the back of the restaurant to steal a peek at the bride.
Cari was in the doorway shifting her feet side-to-side, watching her dress swish with her movements.
“Hey, pretty lady. Where’s your sister?”
“In there.” Cari pointed to the dressing room. “Michele said you aren’t supposed to look.”
He grinned. “Aw, come on. Just a quick peek. Maybe a big old kiss.”
Michele’s voice came from somewhere inside. “Tell that sexy man out there to save his kisses until he says, ‘I do.’ And no peeking!”
Cari screwed up her face in confusion, trying to remember all the words. “She says, um...”
He pulled Cari into his arms. “I heard the bossy woman. I can give you a kiss on the cheek, though, right?”
“Yep. You’re gonna be my big brother.”
“Can’t wait.” When he kissed her cheek, Cari giggled. “Okay, tell my love to hurry up. I’m dying out here. She needs to come out and be my bride right now.”
Chloe rounded the corner. “Get out of here! It’s bad luck. And you don’t want to smudge her lipstick. We just got it right.” Then she kissed him on the cheek. “Love you. Now get up front.”
“Fine. So many bossy women in here. I’m going.”
“Jeff!” Michele called out.
He didn’t stop to wonder why she’d called his name. She needed him and that was all that mattered. Screw bad luck. He ran past his sister and Cari and into the bridal room.
Gorgeous didn’t begin to describe Michele. She was so beautiful that he couldn’t breathe right and his lips felt wonky and his eyes were too full. His legs were full of sand.
“Do you still want to marry me?” Michele asked. “Now’s your chance to call it off.”
He forced his sand-filled legs to wobble toward her. Her eyes scoured his face, stopping on his lips. Did she see them trembling?
“Sweetheart, I have never wanted anything more. I love you, Michele. With all my heart. Please don’t doubt that, but...”
Her lip started to tremble, too. “But?”
“You are so much better than me.” He swallowed. “Do you really want to marry me?”
She let out a long breath. “Hell, yes.”
He kissed her then and smudged her lipstick all over the place.
The wedding was running late, but he didn’t care. He’d kissed his bride. All was well with the world.
When he was standing by the pagoda, butterflies of anticipation filled him. Michele was finally going to be his.
Matt bumped his elbow. “You’ve got this, bro. Just keep your eyes on her. She’ll pull you through. I knew she was the one for you. Knew it all along.”
RW nodded at him. “We all knew it.”
Sure you did, old man.
Jeff took an extra moment to assess his father’s demeanor. His eyes were clear, but there was still tightness around his mouth and eyes because Angel hadn’t come home. No one knew where she was. Dad was dealing with it by “working the angles.” Jeff was only starting to understand what that meant.
Matt had friends in the Bureau who’d slipped him intel that RW was working with the FBI to go after Cuchillo. That scared Matt but Jeff understood that a man would do what he had to do t
o protect his woman and bring her home safely. Besides, RW knew what he was doing. Jeff had a strong sense that the thing with Finn had started out as RW’s devious plan to bring him home. The man was a scheming genius.
If Jeff hadn’t met Michele, he’d be furious instead of grinning his fool head off right now.
The music started up and Jeff squinted to see the love of his life. If this wedding didn’t happen soon he was going to combust. He was desperate to start his life as a married man with his sparkly bride. He was going to love her with everything he had and then learn how to love her even more.
Just then, a car roared up to the parking lot and the back door flew open. Jeff couldn’t see who it was but he sensed the sudden tension in the air. Red heat covered RW’s face and his eyes fired up with an intense, unnamed emotion. Matt’s face was pale and his body rigid.
Who was it? Jeff still couldn’t see.
A figure stepped out of the car, walking toward them with clipped, deliberate movements.
And then he knew.
“Oh, hell.” Jeff turned to Matt. “Who invited Mom?”
* * *
RW’s ex-wife has returned!
What will that mean for him and Angel?
Will he protect her from the gang that
will stop at nothing to find her?
And what will happen when
Chloe’s role at the hotel puts her
face-to-face with a Brazilian pop star
who makes her want
all the things she shouldn’t?
Don’t miss the final story in the
Plunder Cove trilogy,
available July 2019!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Lone Star Reunion by Joss Wood.
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You want to leave behind the everyday! Harlequin Desire stories feature sexy, romantic heroes who have it all: wealth, status, incredible good looks...everything but the right woman. Add some secrets, maybe a scandal, and start turning pages!
A Convenient Scandal Page 17
