by Amelia Wilde
“You’re wrong about that. There are laws.” His eyes dance in the sunlight, but then his expression turns serious. “There are laws, but something did happen to me that made me realize that...it’s not always worth it. Brushing people aside isn’t, I mean.”
“What happened?”
He gives me a long, level look. “You.”
It’s all I can do not to launch myself across the seat at him, to rip off his jacket, to tear open his shirt. Part of that has to do with the words coming out of his mouth, but most of it has to do with the close proximity of the back of the town car, the way my body has been aching for him so relentlessly that it wakes me up in the middle of the night, the way he infiltrates my dreams, even when I’m determined not to think of him.
More than that, I want to be totally surrounded by his arms, all the heat in the world contained in our embrace. It sounds stupid. It probably is stupid. But it’s what I want.
I’m beginning to think...
No.
I can’t even start to hope.
Terrence pulls the car to a stop next to the curb, and Jasper opens the door and climbs out, offering his hand to me. We’re exactly where I thought we were going. I recognized the way almost immediately.
“What are we doing here?”
Jasper looks up at my mother’s building, all five floors of it, shading his eyes from the sun with his hand. He stares at it for a long moment, and then he looks back into my eyes. The silver in his eyes catches the light and reflects it back. It takes my breath away.
He presses his mouth into a hard line, then seems to make a decision.
He reaches out and takes my hand.
The moment he touches me, my body sags with relief—so much so that my knees start to buckle. Jasper sweeps one arm around my waist, catching me before I tumble onto the sidewalk. Heat rushes to my cheeks. “God, this is—” I laugh, using him to stand upright and brush the invisible embarrassment off my skirt suit. “This is embarrassing.”
“I’ll take the attention off of you.” He turns us both so that we’re facing the building. “This building was just one of many that I was looking to buy and gut and profit from in New York City, but you changed that, Isabella.”
It doesn’t look like much, but when I glance up at my mother’s window, tears come to my eyes. It doesn’t look like much but it means everything.
“This building brought you into my office.” He takes my other hand in his, turning me back toward him. “This building is the reason you swept into my life like a storm and rearranged the whole thing. Only with you, I’m better than I was before. You made me see—” He swallows hard. “You made me see that a business can only take you so far. If you want to go beyond that, you need...you need humanity. You need love.” He takes one more deep breath. “I’m sorry I called you a gold-digging bitch. I’m sorry I accused you of fucking around with me. I think we both know that it only started out that way. And even if you don’t feel the same way about me, I had to bring you here, to show you that—”
I cut him off.
I have to.
I can’t wait another moment.
I throw my arms around his neck and leap up, wrapping my legs around his waist, kissing him hard.
It’s like the first taste of water after a year in the desert. It’s like the first breath of warmth after a year in the snow. Kissing Jasper, hard and hot and without a shred of restraint, makes my heart burst open. The words spill from my lips between kisses. “I love you. I love you. Every day without you was like a thousand fucking years.”
He laughs, holding me tightly to him, lifting me as if I were weightless. For the moment, maybe I am.
It’s a long time before he sets my feet back on the sidewalk.
“I love you, Isabella.”
I try three times to catch my breath, and finally I’m able to speak again. “I love you.” I look back into his gorgeous, soul-shattering blue eyes. “Now, tell me about this investment idea you had.”
Chapter 48
Jasper
I laugh out loud, a light, giddy feeling welling up in my chest. “I want to know something first.”
“What?”
“Are you going to be mine? And not in some fucked-up deal where it lasts for less than a month and then we both screw it up.”
“I don’t know. I want to know about this supposed investment.” Isabella’s green eyes are shining in the afternoon sun, and I want nothing more than to take her back to my penthouse and pick up where we left off. I grin at her. Not agreeing to a damn thing before she hears all the details? That’s my girl.
I turn back to the building. “I know you—or at least Gabriel Luxe—own this property now, but I’m assuming you don’t have the people on staff to develop it like it deserves.”
“Oh, no.” She’s already shaking her head. “I am not going to tear out everything charming about this building and make the people here—”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting.”
Isabella narrows her eyes. “What are you suggesting, then?”
“I’m not going to take this over. Not a chance of that. This project is in your hands now. I just thought you might like a little help. Maybe to share some of my...resources.”
She glances back up at the building, taking it in again. Maybe this time she’s seeing the repair work that needs to be done on the front facade, the way the staircase could be enhanced and made accessible, and how the lobby could be refreshed, the storefronts on the bottom floor reconfigured and revitalized so that they’re not quite so run down. “To do what, exactly?”
“I imagine you’re not into luxury condos.”
“Not really, no.”
“Not any?”
“Cut to the chase, Jasper. I’m a busy woman.” She says it with a smile so brilliant it makes the sun seem dark.
“What about two, on the top floor?”
“You’d want to put luxury condos on the top floor of a building with no elevator?”
“I’d have the elevator added.”
“Two condos—and the rest?”
“Rent-controlled apartments.”
Isabella laughs out loud. “You’re kidding. That wouldn’t make any money.”
“Is profit an issue for you?”
She shrugs, but her eyes travel over the front of the building again. “Not the only issue. The main issue for me is fairness. Some of the people who’ve lived here—” Her mouth turns downward into a determined frown. “I’m not going to throw them out, or jack up the prices and force them to leave.”
“But you’re still going to need to make money on the building.”
Isabella sighs. “Yes. In the long run, yes.”
“Then here’s my plan.” I step behind her and point at the building, starting at the top. “Those two units become luxury condos with their own amenities. This neighborhood is up-and-coming, and there will be people dying for a quirky apartment with all the nice things they’ve come to expect.” Isabella presses her body back against mine, the heat between us building. “Below that, three floors of affordable apartments.”
“How affordable?”
My cock is hard at her touch. She has to feel it. “Affordable enough for your mother to stay without worrying. Down the line, as people move out, we can convert the rest into condos, or leave them as is. Or have a combination. Either way, I’m confident I can sell it.”
She wriggles her ass back against me, just a little bit, just to torture me.
“And on the bottom floor, you could—” I suck in a breath, try not to get carried away in the middle of the sidewalk. “You could put in a Gabriel Luxe store, and a restaurant. Anything else you wanted, really. You could just refurbish the building and let the tenants who are here now have first pick. If you wanted.”
“Why so breathless, Jasper?” Isabella’s voice is teasing, light, and I love every word out of her mouth. I love it. I love her.
“I’m having a bit of an issue.”
/> “What issue is that?”
“That we’re in public instead of my penthouse.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Isabella turns in my arms, rising on her tiptoes to kiss the line of my jaw, her lips leaving a hot imprint behind. “We could have left minutes ago.”
Isabella rides me hard and fast, her hands braced against my chest, my fingers sinking into her hips. She’s a sight to behold, her hair spilling down her shoulders, her head thrown back, lips parted. Her face is pink from multiple orgasms, and her nipples are hard little pebbles against the swell of her breasts.
I reach up with one hand and roll one between my fingers, making her gasp.
I don’t know how many times she’s come so far, but she’s going to do it one more time if it’s the last thing I do.
I reach forward and trace my thumb down her navel as she rises up and down, the tight, wet core of her enveloping every inch of my shaft. She’s almost there—I can feel it in the way she trembles, in the way her pussy clenches around me—and all it’s going to take...all it’s going to take...
My thumb makes contact with her clit.
Isabella arches her back, a low cry escaping her as she comes, thrusting herself down onto my cock, her hips circling and bucking, all of her tensing and releasing. I can’t resist any longer. I come so hard my vision goes dark at the edges. All I can see is her. It’s all I need to see.
When she’s finished, she tumbles sideways onto the comforter of my bed, curling up next to me. Her breathing settles in, and then she lets out a soft sigh.
“You don’t have to do this for me,” she says.
“Do what?”
“Help me...repair my mom’s building.”
“It’s not just a plan for her building.”
She props herself up on one elbow. “No?”
“No. I’m already making plans at Pace, Inc. to follow that format in at least a quarter of the new buildings we develop from now on. Maybe more.”
Isabella’s eyes dance. “You’re going to let people stay in their homes?”
I look into those green eyes and fall for her all over again. It must be the hundredth time today. “Only if you promise not to call me a heartless bastard.”
She laughs. “Only if you promise not to let me forget that I love you, even when we fight.”
I flutter my eyelashes at her. “How could you ever forget that?”
“I couldn’t.” She leans down and kisses me, and this time it’s full of all the softness and tenderness I could ever want.
“How could I make people move away from home...” I murmur the words when she pulls back and rests her head against my chest. “...when I’ll never have to leave mine, as long as you’re with me?”
Isabella looks up at me, and there’s nothing but love shining from her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Then she reaches for me again, and there are no more words left to say.
Epilogue
Isabella, six months later
“You have to eat, otherwise you’ll waste away!”
Mom dishes another serving of cheesecake onto Jasper’s plate. She spent all week perfecting the recipe, and I don’t think she’s ever been prouder of anything in her life.
He doesn’t even try to turn her down. “I don’t think wasting away will be a problem.” Everyone around the table laughs, Evie loudest of all.
She turns to me. “You didn’t tell me he was funny.”
I roll my eyes. “He’s been to dinner at least five times already. You know how funny he is.” She knows how funny his dad can be, too—she insisted on meeting him at the second dinner. They have a lot in common, Jasper and his father.
My mom takes her seat at the table and watches Jasper eat the second slice of cheesecake with more than a little bit of adoration in her eyes. Midway through, she winks at me. It’s not very well hidden, but Jasper just smiles.
When he’s finished, he waits for Evie to finish telling us about the latest workplace drama at her fashion house, and then he turns to my mother. “The renovations haven’t been bothering you too much, have they?”
Contractors started work on the top floor of the building last month. The exterior work won’t be started until the spring—at least, that’s what I understand.
She beams at Jasper. “Oh, no. They’re very quiet. And they keep such strict hours. I’ve never been kept awake.”
He frowns a little. “Hmm.”
She leans toward him, instantly worried. “Was that—are they supposed to be bothersome?”
Jasper can’t keep a straight face. “I’m sorry. No, they’re not. But I was thinking...” He taps the side of his cheek. I have to force myself not to roll my eyes, but I can’t keep the smile off my face, either. This playful side of him...I could get used to this.
“What? What were you thinking?” My mom fiddles anxiously with the tablecloth, and Evie sits beside her, grinning like she’s already in on the secret.
“I was thinking that if you were bothered by the construction efforts, I might be able to help.”
“Well, how? I would never want to inconvenience you...”
“I have some property in the south of France that I’ve been meaning to visit for quite some time. I was actually planning to leave in two weeks.”
Mom’s forehead wrinkles. She’s not getting it, but Evie is.
She can’t contain herself. “Jasper, are you inviting us all to visit your villa in the south of France?”
He snaps his fingers like it’s the best idea he’s ever heard. “That’s exactly what I’m doing. You, and my father will be there too. It will be a wonderful…family vacation.”
“What?” My mom leaps up from her seat. “France? In two weeks?”
“It’s for real, Mom.” I have to shout the words over the burst of applause she’s giving Jasper. “You can come, too, can’t you, Evie?”
“Um, yes. Yes. I will do whatever it takes. How long are we staying?”
“At least two weeks.” Jasper looks at me. “There are lots of things I’d like to do there.”
My entire body hums with anticipation. Jasper hasn’t said anything yet, but in all the discussions we’ve had about engagements and weddings, I’ve always been sure to mention that I want my mom to be there. She’s been there for everything else.
“Pack your bathing suits!” I cry, and my mom scrambles away from the table, toward her bedroom. “Where are you going?” I call after her.
“Shopping!” She shouts the word from her bedroom, then reemerges with her purse over her shoulder and her coat already half-on. “Come with me!” Mom rushes for the door. “Oh, I’ve never been so excited in my life!”
I lean in and kiss Jasper, the heat spreading through my entire core.
Outside my mother’s apartment, he takes me by the elbow and pulls me in for another kiss before we climb into the town car.
“There’s something I wanted to ask you.” His voice is a low murmur, and it makes me think of all the things we’re going to do the moment we get back to the penthouse.
“Anything.”
“If I ask you to marry me in France, will you say yes?”
My smile is so wide it almost hurts. “Are you worried I might say no?”
“I’m sure it’s what you want. But I still wanted to ask.” He slides his arm around my waist, holding me tight, like he’ll never let go. “Just in case there are already plans for a wedding.” His eyes are shining, and he leans down to whisper in my ear. “I can’t wait to be married to you. Two weeks is almost too long. Is that something you want, too?”
My family by my side. An engagement and a wedding in the south of France. Being Jasper’s wife, without another delay. My heart is consumed with joy.
“Oh, I do,” I tell him, rising on tiptoes to press my lips against his. “I do.”
For more books by Amelia Wilde, visit her online at awilderomance.com.
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Books by Amelia Wilde
Standalone Novels
Heavy: A Second Chance Romance
The Endless Kiss Series
Reckless Kiss
Fearless Kiss
Shameless Kiss
Ruthless Kiss
Priceless Kiss
Nameless Kiss
The Second Chances Series
Slow Burn: Boxed Set
—Individual Titles—
Never His
Only His
Always His
The Dirty Series
Complete Dirty Series: Boxed Set
—Individual Titles—
Dirty Rich
Dirty Royal
Dirty Rogue
Dirty Ransom
Dirty Rumor
© 2017 Amelia Wilde, All Rights Reserved
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