by Isabel James
They couldn’t miss the suppressed anger from the man who stood behind Avery, his hands curled into tight fists.
“Well, I guess we better get going. He’s just been fed, Avery, so he’s sleeping,” Kim intoned gently with a quiet smile of encouragement.
Avery was tempted to beg them to stay, but one look at Stone stopped her from asking. She smiled tremulously, and watched them leave before silently leading Stone upstairs to Wyatt’s room.
Stone examined the room that Avery had turned into a soothing environment for a little boy. Animated animal pictures adorned the soft gray walls that were trimmed in white.
Avery leaned into the crib to plant a soft kiss on Wyatt’s cheek, brushing her finger over his brow. A small frown appeared on his forehead. She smiled as he began to wiggle and twist until he managed to squirm his hands from the tight blanket.
“He hates his hands to be contained within the blanket,” she whispered, aware of Stone standing next to her, his gaze glued on the tiny baby.
“Me too,” he said through unmoving lips. Instead his mouth remained in a grim line amid his neat stubble. He didn’t move, needing to savor the moment—the first time he laid eyes on his son. He reached out and touched Wyatt’s tiny starfish-shaped hand, dragging a painful breath into his lungs in reaction to the small fingers that curled around his.
“I want to be alone with my son.” Stone didn’t hide the rancor in his voice, intended to cut all the way into her soul.
Avery knew better than to argue and walked to the door. She glanced back, her eyes blurred as she watched Stone gently lift Wyatt in his arms, cradling him against his wide chest. The expression of wonder and instant fatherly love took her breath away.
Stone had helped raise Jesse and had been there since his birth. He knew what it felt like to hold a baby, but the emotions that soared through him when he held his own son was overwhelming; unsurpassed by anything he had ever experienced before. Stone struggled to swallow down the lump that formed in his throat. He cherished the feeling of lightness created by holding Wyatt’s perfect little body against him. Stone deeply inhaled the soothing baby smell as though he had never held a baby before. But this was different.
Wyatt was his.
Stone was startled when in the next moment he found himself staring into shining blue-green eyes as Wyatt woke up the same way he himself always did. Alert and wide awake. Wyatt stared at him unblinkingly, like he was assessing the role this big man would play in his life. He emitted a soft baby gurgle followed by a satisfied smile and closed his eyes.
In that brief moment, the bond between father and son was woven—their souls forever tied.
Stone kissed his soft cheek and didn’t bother to wipe the tears from his own. His vow echoed in the room, “I will protect and love you all my life, my son.”
He sat down in the rocking chair next to the crib and stared at the precious bundle in his arms for a long time. No thoughts, just the realization that the one thing he’d been yearning for had been granted. He cherished that hour he sat with the tiny bundle in his arms, offering his warmth while soaking in the trust he believed the little human had given him with that one brief glance.
Stone placed Wyatt carefully back in the crib and covered him with the blanket. His little hands felt cold and a search in the drawers offered the tiniest little baby mittens which he gently pulled over each of his hands. He stared at him for a moment longer before he went downstairs in search of Avery.
He found her at the kitchen counter, staring out the window with a mug of hot chocolate in front of her.
“I made a decision,” he said caustically; a tone of ambivalence in his voice. He watched her as she silently prepared hot chocolate for him and handed him the steaming mug. He noticed how her hands trembled when she ran them through her hair.
“You made the wrong choice not to inform me that I was going to be a father, Avery.”
“It was one night, Stone. One and you . . . I didn’t think you were ready to be a father,” she admitted softly.
“You didn’t fucking know me,” he grated through thin lips. “You had no right to keep something this important from me. He’s as much my flesh and blood as he’s yours.”
Avery forced back the fear that made her insides quiver. Surely Stone wouldn’t be so cruel to take her child from her? His next words shocked her even more than her thoughts did.
“We’re getting married.”
“We . . . no, Stone,” she croaked. “We can’t get married.”
“Yes, Avery, we are.” He rinsed the mug and placed it in the dishwasher to give him time to get his thoughts in order. “I don’t trust you. You kept my own child’s existence from me. I refuse to allow you the opportunity to disappear with him.”
Avery stared at him with dismay but couldn’t blame him for his mistrust.
“I would never do that, Stone. My whole life is here. I have nowhere else to go.”
“Good, then it’s settled. We—”
“No, it’s not settled. I’m not getting married to you just because you’re the father of my child. That’s not why two people get married. What about mutual respect, love and . . . happily ever after?”
He walked toward her, smirking when she retreated until he pressed her against the wall. He pushed his face into hers.
“If you think for one moment that I will allow another man into my son’s life to be a father figure to him, you are sadly mistaken. Wyatt will only know one Dad and it’s going to be me. You brought this on yourself, Avery. My son will know what it’s like to have both parents in his life—together, and we will make a marriage work for his sake. Come hell or high water.”
He spun away and stalked to the front door. “Start packing, Avery. I will pick you and Wyatt up this afternoon.”
“What do you mean?” she cried after him.
He seared her with a scathing look over his shoulder. “You’re moving in with me and we’ll be married in two weeks.” He continued through the door only to walk back in seconds later. “It will be a proper wedding, Avery. Church bells, white lace and flowers, the whole nine yards, so I suggest you and your friends start planning.”
“But—”
He didn’t wait to hear her protests and she stared at the closed door. She wilted under the realization that her dream was about to come true. To be the bride of Stone Jenning.
If only it had been because he loved her, then, it would have been the perfect ending. Somehow, the cold expression on his face indicated to her that what he was offering was anything but wedded bliss.
Chapter Ten
The transition to a new life and environment was easier for Wyatt than for Avery. Mainly because he was showered with love and attention, whereas she was ignored for the most part.
Wendy doted on the little boy and Avery feared that he was going to be spoiled rotten in no time.
There were many times that Avery pondered the decision she had made not to tell Stone about the pregnancy. She could not help but wonder if things would have been different between them if she had the courage to see Stone for the man he was, rather than the man she had imagined him to be.
Avery concluded that selfishness had driven her decision at the time. With a healthy dose of insecurity added to the mix, of course. It might have been silly and immature, but she had believed she wasn’t the type of woman who could make Stone happy and keep his eyes from wandering.
Business at Divine Catering had slackened after the festive rush but Avery spent as much time there as possible. It was the only way she could preserve her own sanity at being made to feel inconsequential most of the time. Stone had even taken over bathing their little boy some nights. She had been amazed at how comfortable and efficient he was in handling the little baby. He had noticed her watching him once and informed her with a shrug that he’d done the same for Jesse.
He was obviously a natural father, and she cringed remembering how badly she had misjudged him.
“You kn
ow the wedding is a week away, don’t you?” Jesse asked from the door of her office. He stood watching her with silent reproach.
Avery slumped deeper in her office chair and continued to draw a design for a sweet sixteen birthday cake due for delivery at the end of the week. Jill and Kim were the chefs, and she was the baker. They concentrated on the party and the food, while she concentrated on the cakes and desserts.
“Your point being?” she conceded when he didn’t take the hint to leave.
“You didn’t delegate the wedding cake to any of us and I’ve not seen you working on one.” He assessed her with a frown.
“I’m not getting married to your uncle, Jesse.”
Jesse stared at her but she continued to ignore him. The words had left her mouth unexpectedly but it cemented the decision within her mind. Stone had not said another word about a wedding and Avery was too stubborn to ask. It didn’t change her decision though.
She refused to be in a marriage where her husband could barely stand to look at her.
Period.
Done and dusted.
Stone Jenning can stand on his head and whistle Dixie through his asshole and I still won’t marry him.
“I suppose he’s aware of this decision?” Jesse asked drily.
Avery slanted an irritated look in his direction.
“Go away, Jesse. I’m busy.”
“Well, I just find it strange that we’ve just received the menu and numbers from Kim for the reception. Quite an impressive spread Uncle Stone is planning,” he intoned as he paged through the papers in his hand.
“What are you talking about?”
“I would imagine all these people have already received their invites and accepted for that matter. Why else would he supply us with a final number of guests?”
Avery jumped up and yanked the papers out of his hand. “Let me see that.”
She scanned the official order. Her breath seemed to get stuck in her lungs and she choked in shock, “There’s over three-hundred people.”
She scanned the list, amazed to find the names of all her friends and family. Although, Jill and Kim were most probably to blame for that.
Avery slammed the papers back into his hands.
“You can inform Jill and Kim not to commence with this order. There isn’t going to be a wedding.”
Jesse smiled indulgently. “Ok, if you say so but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“About what? Jesse Calvert, get back here. Warn me about what?”
He popped his head around the door and said with a wink. “About my uncle’s wrath when he hears the news.”
“Your uncle doesn’t scare me,” Avery spat out before returning to her drawings.
“He doesn’t? Well, that makes you a lot braver than me.” Jesse departed with those words, whistling a happy tune as he walked away.
“Goddammit!” Avery cursed as she noticed the harsh lines she’d drawn across the design. She ripped out the page, crumbled it up and threw it in the recycle bin.
“I’m not scared of Stone Jennings,” she mumbled as she started the design over again from scratch.
* * * * * * * *
Avery would remember those words when she walked out of the en suite bathroom later that afternoon into her bedroom, with a fluffy towel wrapped around her naked body. She’d already bathed and fed Wyatt and decided to take a hot bubble bath to soothe her tired muscles and ease the tension in her mind.
She was shocked to a standstill when she noticed Stone lounging on her bed watching her; he conveyed a look she had not seen before, through eyes that appeared as mere slits.
“What are you doing here?”
His eyes took a slow voyage up and down her body.
“This is my house and you’re my future wife. Why shouldn’t I be here?”
Avery narrowed her eyes as she glowered at him, wondering if she was imagining a glimmer of promised retribution in his. She sighed within herself.
Damn you, Jesse.
But she admitted cursing him and putting the blame on his head was just another way to absolve her own cowardice to approach the subject with Stone.
“So, you’re not going to marry me,” he finally said when she didn’t respond.
Avery stubbornly pressed her lips tighter together. She dragged the towel closer around her body when he rose and walked closer.
“It seems we’re at a crossroad, Avery.”
An errant finger traced the curve of her breasts above the towel while he pulled loose the scrunchie holding her hair. Her locks tumbled down in a silken array of beauty around her shoulders. She stood encased in the soft illuminated glow of the bedside lamps that emanated a divine aura of ethereal beauty around her.
Before Avery could stop him, he yanked off the towel and dropped it to the floor. He traced her long hair as it coiled its radiant tendrils upon her silky skin, curling around the inviting curve of her breasts.
“Stone, don’t,” she begged in a small voice. His fingers discovered the softness of the slope of her breast as he traced the globe while tracing her areolae with the other. He watched with heated eyes as her nipples turned into taut buttons under his knowing hands.
“I never thanked you for giving me a son,” he murmured almost to himself. He stood mesmerized as he soaked up her nakedness. The allure of her tantalizing beauty weakened his knees and made him forget what he was doing there.
Avery held her breath, surprised at the sudden shift in his body. His shoulders seemed less tense, his jaw relaxed and his lips curved into a whim of a smile.
“You . . . I didn’t expect you to. Especially since I—”
A finger against her lips stopped her. Avery savored the heat that permeated from where his skin touched hers to settle inside the chambers of her heart.
The realization came with the next heartbeat. She loved Stone Jenning. She’d always been in love with the thought of him but now, with him so close and staring at her with such intense scrutiny, she could no longer deny the longing in her soul. He was the one her heart had always yearned for, craved with the gluttony of one deprived of all hope to ever find true love.
“Do you know why I want to marry you, Avery?” It was a rhetorical question and she didn’t respond. She could not, especially with her heart beating a mile a minute at what she read in his eyes.
“I’ve searched all my life for that one woman. The one who awakens the animal inside me, make me weak with lust, and who has the power to make me lose control. Not just sexually, but emotionally. I had believed I would never find it, until one night when I found my shaft encased in a hot sheath with silken walls. When I looked up and watched the ecstasy cripple you, I was floored by how much it affected me. I wanted to wrap you in a cocoon there and then, to keep you buried deep within my heart. No one has brought me the ultimate release I experienced with you.”
His voice vibrated with emotion that thrilled her all the way into her soul.
“It was that night when I realized I wanted more. Chasing after the pleasures lust offered me was nothing but an ephemeral satisfaction of my hunger. I was tired of all the meaningless encounters. I craved more from life. That night with you was like an epiphany, which was why I tried to find you.”
He cupped her cheeks. “I want true passion, that comes only with truthfulness and trustworthiness. I saw that in you, Avery. You loosened the desire inside me to become part of you, with your sweet smile, your gentle touch, and the way you gave yourself to me, with such unrestrained passion. It humbled me.” He kissed her lips gently. “It still does. You have no idea what you do to me, love. How you make my heart race when you melt against me. How you take my breath away every time I enter the heat of your body. At first, I believed it was desire; nothing more than lust that drove my constant need for you. Now I know different. I think I fell in love with you that night, Avery. You the person, the heart behind that mask, and the perfection we become when we’re together.”
He took a step back and smile
d. “That’s why I want to marry you. To show you every day how precious you are to me, and to make the feelings inside me reach inside you, hoping that someday you will come to love me too.”
“Stone, I—”
Before Avery could respond, he was gone. She stumbled to the bed and sat down, her body trembling in aftershock until his words penetrated her numb mind.
“He loves me.” Her voice sounded hoarse in the quiet room. “Oh, my god. He loves me.”
Avery jumped up and wrapped the towel around her body as she tore out of the room. She instinctively knew where he’d be and raced down the stairs. She stumbled to a halt and stared at the loving picture that met her eyes.
Stone was sitting on the thick carpet in front of the fire, with their son in his hands. The expression on his face was one of acceptance. Like he had finally found the peace he was searching for his entire life.
“I do love you, Stone,” she said softly.
He turned to look at her. The smile on his face enchanted her to come closer.
“I know you do, Avery. I just didn’t believe you knew.”
Avery sank down on her knees behind him and pressed her body against his back. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned her face next to his.
“I knew, but I was too afraid you would reject me if you did. It was the one thing I wouldn’t have been able to face. To have my love trampled on while I have been treasuring it within my heart for years.”
“Years?” He asked after he placed a tender kiss on her lips.
“You bowled me over that day I fell on my ass in front of you. But I was so young, and all I saw was a rich Casanova, sowing his wild oats all over the States.”
Stone chuckled. “You weren’t far off, love.”
He carefully laid the sleeping baby in the mobile crib before he pulled Avery onto his lap.
“Now, what is this rumor I heard about you not marrying me?” His eyes glowed with mirth as he watched the bloom of heat rise upward from her chest.
“Ah, well, you know Jesse. He must’ve heard wrong.”
“He better have.” Stone growled as he started to nibble on her lips. “I love kissing you, little elf.”