“I’m glad.” He was at her thighs now, his firm fingers pressing into her stiff muscles. He stood. “Lie back.”
Jezebel stared up at him. “Huh?”
He smirked. “You’re tense, baby.” When she continued to stare at him stupidly, he moved into the bathroom and returned with two towels, which he spread on the bed behind her. “Take off the robe and lie back.”
Fifteen minutes later, naked and being rubbed down by a professional masseuse in a bedroom that smelled suspiciously like a spa, Jezebel couldn’t help but smile. After minutes of working her legs, her shoulders, her arms, and rubbing cocoa butter into her stretch marks, he’d turned to her hands. He was working her fingers, stretching them, caressing them, when something cold slid along one finger. When it didn’t grow warm, but only pressed insistently against her skin, Jezebel lifted her hand to stare at it.
She ended up pushing herself up, to make sure the strange angle wasn’t playing tricks on her. No, it wasn’t a trick. On her ring finger was a blood-red oval-shaped stone surrounded by an assortment of small diamonds. Another row of larger diamonds ran directly under it in a loose, figure eight that eventually branched out into the platinum band. It was simple and understated, extremely elegant, and definitely the most beautiful piece of jewelry she’d ever seen. And it fit perfectly.
“Like it?” Ramsey’s voice pulled her from her admiration and she turned to find him on one knee beside the bed, a black engagement box in one hand as he looked up at her expectantly.
“Is this a ruby?”
“I wanted a stone that was beautiful, elegant, and resilient to match the qualities I admire in you.”
Well damn, Jezebel thought, looking between the beautiful ring and the gorgeous man who’d given it to her. If that wasn’t exactly what she’d want to hear in a proposal. She definitely wasn’t one of those women who cried over sentimental things but her eyes felt warm, and a bit misted.
“Jezebel?” he continued, still on bended knee. Despite the tradition of it, she couldn’t help but also realize that she was heavily pregnant and naked on his bed as he proposed. She smiled. From the beginning, when he’d given her his full body massage, inclusive of red cream special, they’d been backwards. Ramsey cleared his throat. “Baby?” She waited. The lopsided grin that split his lips should have warned her. “Are you finally going to make an honest man out of me?”
She snorted.
When he took her lips, Jezebel parted hers and accepted defeat. She loved him. Yes, there were things about his life that she disliked, things she couldn’t have around herself or her family, but he was trying. She saw it daily, weekly. One of the first things they’d done when she returned to New York was sit down with the FBI and the U.S. Marshalls. Her entire team, including Brandon, had been initially present. Jezebel was glad to see that Ramsey hadn’t lied to her about their health. It had been a very formal, rehearsed affair, with three well-paid lawyers seated beside her and Ramsey advising on whether or not to answer questions. In the end, Jezebel had signed a stack of documents, and ignoring Brandon Erickson’s look of disapproval, had left with Ramsey and his team of attorneys.
Additionally, Ramsey left for work at 7am and returned at 5pm. He even brought some of his work home, at times asking her input as she sat on the bed watching him punch in numbers into some spreadsheets. She’d called his office numerous, random times, at first to check to see if he was lying and later, just because she wanted to hear his voice. It would take months, maybe even years to cast off the remnants of his past, but it was possible. It had to be. Ramsey Stone loved her and she was still with him despite the crazy, scary, painful things she’d dealt with because of his ‘other’ lifestyle. She was still here, and Jezebel didn’t see herself leaving anytime soon. She loved the man and wanted to be with him. He was trying and so would she.
Jezebel squealed when he lifted her from the bed and slowly lowered her to her feet.
“That felt like a yes,” he murmured, smiling all the while.
“Did it feel so different than the maybe?” she teased.
Ramsey nodded. “That was definitely a yes.”
“Yes.”
He froze, as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly.
“Yes, Kang Jae Ramsey Stone, I’ll marry you.”
As that large smile split his lips, Jezebel felt her lips lift in answer. He kissed her slowly and hugged her close. “You won’t regret it, baby.”
“I better not,” she murmured, sliding her arms as far as they could go around his waist, which wasn’t far at all, and turning to her side to rest her cheek against his cotton shirt.
When he pulled away, it was to look down at her belly and smile. Moving to his knees again, he
placed both hands on her skin and pressed a soft kiss to her belly. “So, five of these, huh?”
One look at her face and he chuckled and took up his cause with her belly. “Don’t you want brothers and sisters? Of course you do. You want to be a big brother to four of them. We’ll have to convince your omma that five is a lucky number…” As he continued his conversation with “his son”, Jezebel slid her hand into his hair. He smiled up at her before returning his attention to her belly.
Jezebel sighed when he kissed her belly again, and stroked her fingers through his hair. In addition to being a loving and supportive husband, Kang Jae Ramsey Stone was going to be an amazing father. She’d be lying if she said motherhood didn’t scare her, but Ramsey was so attentive, so careful, and caring, she couldn’t help but feel excitement at the thought of sharing this journey with him. They were better together than apart, and that had to count for something when raising a child.
“What are you thinking about, omma?” Ramsey teased, coming to his feet. She’d heard him refer to Hannah like that enough times to know it was some form of ‘mom’. She shivered at the slight chill on the air and he moved around her. Before she could turn to see where he’d gone, he was draping her robe over her shoulders. As she slid her arms through the fluffy encasing, he pulled the lapels closed and loosely tied the belt above her belly.
“My daughter’s going to be a lucky little girl.”
“Your daughter?” Somewhere over the course of Ramsey insisting it was a boy, Jezebel decided she was having a little girl, a very girly little girl. She was playing devil’s advocate but she felt compelled. It was the feminist thing to do.
She nodded.
He smirked and his onyx eyes twinkled. “My son takes offense to being called a girl.”
“My daughter takes offense to being referred to as a boy.” She pursed her lips in a mock scowl. “You’re going to give her a complex.”
Ramsey opened his mouth, closed it and shrugged. “Boy, girl, doesn’t matter. I’ll love him or her as much as I love my wife.”
“I didn’t know you had a wife,” she murmured, secretly loving the possessive way he used the term. “You know, bigamy is illegal in this part of the world and you’re supposed to be avoiding illegal activities―”
He kissed her, capturing her surprised laugh in his mouth as he smacked her bottom for good measure. Jezebel sighed and moaned when his hand began to massage the slight hurt. She’d met her match, her equal, the man who filled that empty part of her with something she hadn’t known she was missing. She’d met him and she was officially keeping him.
***
Just two weeks later, on one of the coldest days in February, Jezebel Carter gave birth to a seven pound little girl. Grace Lillian Stone was born at 5:34 p.m. With her small face, tiny mouth and barely opened eyes, she was the most beautiful thing Ramsey had ever seen. The twenty-hour ordeal had all been worth it, just to cradle the light bundle in his arms as he was doing now. On the hospital bed before him, Jezebel stared at them with tired eyes and a weary little smile. She’d just breastfed for the first time and Ramsey had watched in awe, much as he’d done for the past hours when she’d labored and pushed his child into the world, as mother and daughter bonded over the simpl
e, natural act. When Grace was finished, and burped with the help of a nurse, he’d taken his daughter for his share of the bonding.
Close family members had come to share in the joy of the birth but once Jezebel’s contractions had grown strong, Ramsey had kicked them all out. Jezebel had grown distressed at having too many people giving her instructions. He’d even gone as far as to have Vince stationed at the door to prevent anyone―Delilah―from sneaking back in. When Grace finally came, bawling loudly to announce her presence to the world, he’d allowed visits with Jezebel and their newborn before clearing the room again. Jezebel needed her rest, and his little Grace was well-looked after right now.
“Sleep, baby,” he murmured, after moments of watching her eyelids droop down before springing open again. After her ordeal, Jezebel had been stripped and cleaned, her hair combed back from her face and clipped up, but she still looked haggard. Strain bracketed her mouth and dark smudges were under her eyes. Ramsey had seen bloody ordeals before, had instigated his fair share of them, but his daughter’s birth had ranked in the top list of bloodiest, most horrific things he’d ever seen. Birth might be a beautiful thing but he’d never take pleasure in watching Jezebel suffer. A few times over the course of her labor, Jezebel had been the one calming him down.
Jezebel’s lips quirked up and she blinked slowly. “Talking to Grace?”
“I’ll have to call you something else now.” At her lifted brow, he smiled. “I can’t call you wife, yet.” Jezebel nodded. It was her fault. He’d been ready to take her down to the courthouse, hell, bring the priest to them. That was when he’d learned that his no-nonsense fiancée was a romantic at heart. She’d stated that she didn’t want to waddle down the aisle, that it was too soon, that she’d imagined getting married in a church, that there wasn’t one wedding dress that would look good on her now… Somewhere after the tenth excuse, Ramsey understood Jezebel wanted her fairytale wedding done her way and rested his case. “Sweetheart?” She didn’t seem impressed. “Darling?” She lifted a brow. “Lover?” At her snort, he nodded in content. “Lover.”
“You can’t call me that, Ramsey.”
“Am I lying?” He looked pointedly at the baby who stared up at him as if trying to figure out whether she liked being in his arms, before he returned his attention back to her mother. “Grace says her appa is not lying.”
Jezebel closed her eyes and shook her head. “You are trouble.”
Ramsey remained silent, watching as she fought sleep for long minutes, before succumbing. With her mother asleep, Ramsey turned his full attention to his swaddled daughter. She didn’t look like either of them. At first, he’d convinced himself that she looked like him, but that was only because her onyx eyes tilted slightly and she had wisps of bone straight black hair atop her little head. Just as quickly, he could have said she looked like Jezebel due to her full lips and high cheekbones. After taking one look at the baby, Delilah swore that his daughter resembled her the most, but Ramsey couldn’t see it. As he stared at her, Ramsey realized Grace looked like herself. Maybe later, she’d start favoring him…
“I love you,” he murmured, keeping his voice just above a whisper in case Jezebel struggled awake. “Grace Lillian Stone.” Ramsey smiled through the pain as he called the name of the cousin she’d never know. They’d chosen “Grace” because it was symbolic. It was Jezebel’s middle name and his mother’s Korean name “Eun-Hee” translated to “grace and pleasure.” As they agreed on the name, Jezebel had added Lillian, for his niece. Ramsey hadn’t thought it was possible to love his fiancée even more but in that moment, he’d managed. He could almost see Lily now, excited because there was a baby in the family, even more excited because it was a girl. She’d lose her enthusiasm for a puppy and instead focus on Grace, counting down the years until she could treat Grace like her own personal doll. Despite the joyous occasion, sadness braced him.
As if understanding, Grace opened her little mouth and cooed, bringing his attention back to her. He gently maneuvered her, so that he was holding her perpendicular to his chest, one hand under her head and the other supporting her tiny body. The childcare classes he’d requested prior to Grace’s birth had come in handy.
“Yes, baby? Appa loves you and will always protect you.” God have mercy on anyone who tried to hurt her because Ramsey wouldn’t. Jezebel shifted on the bed and exhaled deeply. When she didn’t move again, but continued her deep, sleep-driven breathing, he brushed his lips across Grace’s smooth forehead and continued, “Your omma loves you too.” Grace cooed again, before yawning in a way that made Ramsey understand why parents always referred to the most mundane things their children did as “cute.” She closed her eyes and settled down. Ramsey switched his hold, tucking her against his body once more. She looked so peaceful and small against him, he couldn’t help his smile. Before long, his daughter’s lids fluttered before going still. She was asleep.
Leaning back in his chair, Ramsey looked between his girls. Both were beautiful and loved unconditionally. The nurse returned minutes later and asked if he wanted her to put Grace in the little cart the hospital had for her. Ramsey shook his head. “A few more minutes please.” The smiling nurse was eager to give it to him. In a few moments, he’d have to hand Grace over, but right now, Ramsey was experiencing a perfect moment. He couldn’t ask for anything more than right here, right now, with the woman who’d soon be his wife and the daughter she’d given him.
After everything he’d experienced in the past year, the pain, the anger, the overwhelming darkness that had almost consumed him, this was his saving grace.
~Violette~
Author’s Note
Thank you all for following Ramsey and Jez on this journey. I know the cliffhanger in The Masseuse induced some strong reactions (laughs). There wasn’t a cliffhanger ending this time, as promised. Please remember to leave a review when you get a moment. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this tale as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Author’s Biography
Violette Dubrinsky is the Amazon Bestselling author of the Dark God, Warrior, Crescent Moon, Moonlight and G.O.N.Y. sagas. She is currently a full time graduate student and part-time writer. She enjoys creating stories with strong heroines and the leading heroes who “tame” them…and by tame, she means, learns to accept their stubborn, unchangeable ways. Violette is currently working on the sequel(s) to Taken By Moonlight, sequel(s) to Warrior, and a host of standalone stories.
Violette can be reached at [email protected], on her website (below) or on Facebook (below). She loves feedback so feel free to email her, leave comments on her blog, or Facebook her (the quickest way to get a response). And be sure to check out the free reads of her website.
Website: violettedubrinsky.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/violette.dubrinsky
The Fantasyland: https://www.facebook.com/groups/violettedubrinskyfantasyland
Contents
Acknowledgement
Dedication
Key Korean terms
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Author’s Note
Author’s Biography
The Dragon (G.O.N.Y. - Double Dragon) Page 29