She opened her mouth to reply then shut it again. “What kind of question is that?” she finally asked, standing up and flickering her keys in agitation.
“A simple yes or no will do.”
“Well, do you love me?” she asked me with one of her come-hither looks, which I seemed to be immune to.
It was now or never. “No, I don’t.”
Her face fell as she fussed with her bag.
“You still haven’t answered me.”
“We’ll start to love each other. What does love matter? Now about your…friends.”
Fuck.
“Let’s not discuss my friends; they are not open for discussion. They’re more than friends; they’re like family. Do you want to marry me?”
She hesitated. “Jack, stop asking stupid questions. Of course I want to marry you. You’re just being silly.”
Sitting up, I rested my elbows on my knees and stared at her. “I can’t marry you Mia.” I’d said it, now to face the music.
“Yes well, we both know the wedding will be going ahead, so I suggest you get any fantasies you are having out of your head, because this wedding will take place in four weeks. Now as you’re unwilling to co-operate about guests, mainly the two you want to be part of the wedding party, I’ll leave you alone to do whatever it is you do up here,” she said without missing a beat, leaving me stunned on the porch.
“Don’t just sit there, go after her and finish this,” Donovan said, walking out onto the porch.
Shit. I shot up from my chair and rushed after her, only to watch her put her foot down and shoot down the lane.
I was an idiot. Of all the reactions to my ‘can’t marry you’ statement, I hadn’t expected her to completely ignore what I’d said. Standing on Donovan’s drive I wasn’t sure who the biggest idiot was. Me for letting her go and not reacting sooner, or Mia for not listening to any damn thing I said.
Donovan walked up to me and slung his arm around my neck. “You, my friend, are a fuckup. What was so wrong with saying ‘Mia the wedding is off, get over it’? How the fuck could you stay sitting there and let her go. What’s wrong with you?” Letting me go he stomped inside.
The fact was I’d planted the seed in Mia’s head, so hopefully, I prayed, she’d start to think about what I said, otherwise I was going to have to go through with this whole charade thing. I couldn’t see any other way out of it without Mia’s co-operation. At least if she cooperated things might settle back down pretty quick, but something that still bothered me was why did she want to marry me, when there was no love lost between us?
I needed to head home, because I was running out of clothes and I missed my horse. Kayne, one of the trainers, had been looking after Trigger for me. I also hoped to see Thalia and see her smile.
“Either go and fuck her or stop grinning like an idiot.”
Reece had appeared from where, I’d no idea, but he was standing about ten feet away waiting for my comeback. He was going to be disappointed.
“Tell Donovan I’m heading home for a bit.”
Climbing into my car, I knew I was making a mistake going back, but I’d stayed away too long and soon my so called fiancée would hopefully come to her senses and realize there was more to life.
Chapter 24
Thalia
It was five-thirty in the morning and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I needed the bathroom for one, but didn’t want to wake Jack up. Jack. He’d come home last night while I was sitting on the porch with Liam. If it hadn’t been for Liam, I would have gone running to him. He’d climbed out of his car and walked towards me with a grin to match mine until Liam had made him aware that he was sitting with me, witnessing how happy we both were to see each other again.
I couldn’t get enough of him and my eyes ate him alive. He’d seemed to pull himself together and then walked straight past us both and into the house. I hadn’t seen him since and wasn’t sure what to make of his behavior.
The wedding was still on as far as I knew, and I was sure the whole town would know if it had been cancelled.
Every time I thought about Jack, my heart would pound and my stomach would flutter with butterflies.
My bladder desperately needed to be relieved so I threw back the covers and slowly made my way to the bathroom, hoping Jack was still asleep. He gave me enough heated looks when I was fully clothed. I had on my favorite baggy sleep shorts with teddy bears printed all over them; they hung from my hips and a tank top in pink. So basically my outfit didn’t leave anything to the imagination.
I slowly pushed the door open and sighed in relief when I didn’t see Jack, although I did feel a slight disappointment, which was stupid. Annoyed with myself, I quickly, walked across the bathroom and slid the lock into place on Jack’s door – I sure as hell didn’t want him to catch me having a pee.
With my bladder finally relieved, I washed-up then opened the lock on his door. Before I could move his door flew open and there he stood, in his practically naked, tattoo, pierced glory. Oh my God. I couldn’t take my eyes from the tattoo on his chest or the ones on his arms, but my eyes kept straying back to his chest, and his pierced nipple.
There wasn’t an inch of fat on him. His shorts hung low on his hips and I mean really, really low. He was bare, and his erection, which was straining for freedom, tented his shorts. I gulped and moved my eyes back up his body, hovering around his pierced nipple, which I wouldn’t mind playing with, and finally met his eyes.
His eyes were like molten liquid. He looked ready to eat me alive. His breathing was about as choppy as mine with his hands flexing at his sides.
I licked my lips.
“Thalia,” he whispered, “you’re driving me crazy.”
My nipples pushed against my top while my stomach fluttered with need. He inhaled when he noticed – his hands shaking. His eyes finally moved from my erect nipples down to my stomach. He froze and dropped to his knees in front of me putting his hands on my hips.
“You have a tattoo?” he asked me this question, already knowing the answer. I had a circular tattoo around my belly button of strawberries, my favorite fruit. Silly, but I loved it and from the sound of awe in Jack’s voice, so did he.
He leaned forward and placed a kiss to one of the strawberries. Without thinking I reached out with my hands and ran them through his hair – he shuddered and tightened his hold on me.
Between my thighs, I was wet and throbbing, where I wanted his lips.
“This is wrong.” He moved from one strawberry to the next leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. By the time he’d finished his hands were on my naked butt, having smoothed them up my legs and up past the bottom of my shorts. His cheek was resting against my stomach. I was falling for this guy.
I stroked down to his neck and the top of his shoulders. He let out a sigh as I continued to – soothe him, I guess. Jack seemed to need some comfort. Darn it, but he probably never got any from his family or even his fiancée. In fact the latter seemed more like an arranged marriage than one of love.
Jack started to pull back, standing he met my eyes, and then reaching out, he caressed my face. “You have me tied in knots. I’ve missed you so damn much these past couple of weeks. I don’t know what the fuck to do about it.”
He took a deep breath. “I’ve tried keeping my distance, but here we are. I’m getting married, Thalia, nothing can happen between us – it would hurt us both too much in the end.” He laughed. “Hell, what am I saying? You’re my brother’s girl. I shouldn’t even be touching you. There’s just something...” He shook his head and rested his forehead against mine.
My hands quivered as I placed them on his hips. “I’m not his girl,” I whispered.
His eyes met mine.
“We went out a few times, but prefer to be friends. He asked me to pretend to be his girl while I’m here.”
He smiled. “Probably so Mom doesn’t start throwing every available woman at him. She can be such a pain in the ass. You probably shouldn
’t have told me that.”
I took a deep breath and reached up to run the back of my hand along his cheek to his jaw. “I better go back into the bedroom.”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed.
Neither of us moved.
My hand started to trace the outer edges of the eagle on his chest, moving slowly towards his nipple ring. He reached up and stopped me with his hand.
“You touch me there and I won’t be able to stop myself from taking you back to my bed. I’m having a hard enough time as it is.”
I stepped back - reluctantly.
“You need to go back in there and lock the door.” He gave me a slight push.
At the door I turned back to look at him. He was standing with his hands on the washbasin, gripping it for dear life, while he watched me through heavily lidded eyes with his jaw tense.
He breathed heavily. “Please go.”
Walking through the door, I shut it behind me and turned the key in the lock then collapsed back against it. What the hell just happened?
Jack made me so darn hot. I was still aroused. My clit throbbed and my breasts ached. I needed a distraction so I ran back to the bed, grabbed my cell and was about to dial Callie when I realized the time. Shit, I’d have to wait a while. Instead, I pulled up Facebook and tried to get lost in my newsfeed.
Chapter 25
Jack
The edge of the sink bit into my hands, but I couldn’t keep myself from gripping it – the only thing that was keeping me grounded. I wanted her so damn much. My cock was stiff as a spike and with one touch; I’d probably come. I’d known she was in the bathroom when I’d climbed out of bed. I’d heard the lock slip into place, climbed out of bed and stood waiting for the lock to open.
I knew I had to see her to give me peace so I could get through the day. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t stop. I needed to see her. See her smile and just touch her, although I hadn’t expected to touch her in quite the way I had. Seeing her strawberry tattoo on her stomach had my morning wood twitching. When I’d dropped to my knees to kiss and lick her stomach, I’d felt her quiver. I’d wanted to pull her shorts down, and shove my tongue in her cunt to taste her.
Damn! Whipping around, I turned the shower on cold, dropped my shorts and stepped under the spray. I sucked in a breath as the freezing water hit me, resting my hands against the wall, while I watched my raging cock finally start to shrink, thanks to the temperature of the water and Mia, who popped into my head.
Mia. What the hell was I going to do about her? I knew what was expected – marriage and children. Until Thalia came along, I was all set to go ahead with everything, until I graduated. When I thought about my future, I saw Thalia. She’d gotten under my skin from the moment I’d seen her; lying asleep on her bed, exhausted from her early morning travel with my brother. She’d taken my breath away.
I quickly rubbed myself dry and walked bucked naked into my room to dress, stopping in my tracks when I spotted Liam sitting on my bed.
“What do you want?” I moved towards the closet, which was open, and retrieved a pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt. Glancing at Liam, who was looking at me in disbelief.
“Um, tattoos? God, Jack.”
“Why are you in my room?”
He blinked. “What are you doing with Thalia?”
“Nothing,” I replied and could have kicked myself for such a lame, defensive answer.
“It doesn’t look like nothing. You need to stay away from her. What happened to the code of brothers? ‘Thou shall not steal my brother’s girl’.”
My temper had started to kick in. “She isn’t your girl though, is she?”
He looked startled. “She told you? When?”
Sitting in the chair opposite him, I exhaled, feeling frustrated as hell. “When doesn’t matter, but she told me, and I know why you want her to pretend. I won’t be saying anything to the folks; that I can guarantee.”
“You can’t keep spending time with her, because you’ll only hurt her in the end. She’s getting attached to you. Wherever we go, she’s always looking for you and tries to hide her disappointment when I tell her you’re elsewhere. You should see her face when I tell her you’re out with Mia.”
I let out a sigh and ran my hands through my hair. “She wouldn’t be the only one to get hurt.” Liam met my eyes and I continued, my voice gruff with emotion, “I look for her too. I shouldn’t, but I do. Meeting Thalia has made me want things that I gave up ever hoping to have, twelve months ago; I’m so screwed.”
“You aren’t messing with her, are you? I’ve never known you to be like this over a girl. You need to end things with Mia and tell the folks to take it or leave it.”
Until I could figure out what the heck Mia was thinking, there was no way I was admitting to my brother that I’d already tried to call the whole thing off, only to be ignored as though I hadn’t said anything. Not to mention the fact it was damn embarrassing.
“Hell! Come on. I need to eat.” I stood and led the way out of my room.
“I’ll see you down there,” Liam said, walking off towards his bedroom.
I turned and walked downstairs, shoving my way into the kitchen, which I discovered I had to myself. Just about to pop a bagel into the toaster oven, my cell started to ring.
My cell was in my back pocket so juggling the bagel, I reached back to retrieve it, and noticed Lewis was the caller, Mia’s father. What the hell did he want?
“Morning Lewis,” I said and tried to inflict anything, but pissed off into my voice.
While I listened to him going on and on about some charity event Saturday night, I finally managed to slice the bagel and popped it into the toaster.
Shit, he was waiting for an answer. “Ah, sorry could you just repeat the last bit? My cell slipped.” Okay, one small lie.
After he’d repeated his question, I wished he hadn’t. “Sorry Lewis, I have another commitment Saturday night, so Mia will have to go with someone else.” I cringed inside as soon as the words left my mouth.
Lewis pointed out that Mia was my fiancée and it would look strange if someone else accompanied her. It sure as hell wasn’t going to be me.
“I’m sorry Lewis, but you and my father are always telling me how important it is to have a good reputation, which I guess means not letting anyone down. So, I’m afraid I won’t be able to attend. I’m sorry, but I need to go.” I removed my cell from my ear and slipped it back into my pocket, removed the bagel from the toaster oven and started to slather butter all over it.
“Jack.”
Fuck, my father. That was quick!
I turned to face him. No doubt Lewis had been in touch with him as soon as I ended his call to complain about my refusal to fall into his plans for Saturday night.
“What is so important that you can’t take your fiancée to the charity event?” His voice had risen by the time he’d finished.
“I have something else planned.” I refused to meet his eyes. I knew what I would see anyway – disappointment.
“What?”
“I’m twenty-five; I don’t have to give you my schedule.”
He slammed his fist onto the countertop. “As long as you live in this house, you do!” he shouted.
Fuck, I’d only come home last night as well. The morning had started amazingly with the hottest girl I’d ever seen and turned into a fuckin’ nightmare. “Tell me to move out and I will. Hell, most of my things are already at Donovan’s anyway.” I faced my father.
He was momentarily startled, because it was rare for me to answer back. Normally I would do anything to keep the peace, but not anymore.
“You’d move out, throw the chance to be married to the loveliest young girl in town, not to mention your dream of becoming a lawyer, all because you don’t want me to know what you have planned for Saturday night?” Thalia was the loveliest – inside and out.
“Yeah, I’d move out before I had to give anyone my schedule.” I carried on eating my bagel even though the
pieces kept getting stuck on the way down, but I refused to let my father know how he affected me.
“Are you fucking another woman?” He spat it out, distaste clear on his face.
Frozen with the bagel half way to my mouth, I told him, quietly, “There hasn’t been anyone, including Mia, since I got dumped with her.”
He took a step back at the anger he could probably see on my face. I needed to leave before I did something I’d regret.
I pulled an insulated cup down from the cupboard, poured my coffee into it and left through the back door without glancing in my father’s direction.
Chapter 26
Thalia
I paused at the kitchen door at the sound of raised voices. Jack and his father.
Not knowing what to do, I took a couple of steps back, intending to go up to my room, only to pause, when I heard his father shout ‘are you fucking another woman’. I wanted to hear his response and couldn’t believe it when I did. If I heard right, Jack just admitted to not having sex since he’d become engaged to Mia. Wow. Well at least it proved he honored his commitments.
He’d wanted me upstairs, and yes I’d wanted him. Having his hands and mouth on me had me ready to combust, and I still wanted him. He’d turned me inside out with just one look. He’d loved my strawberry tattoo, which made me wonder what he would do when he saw the one on my right hip or the other two. Yeah, I had a tattoo fetish, but in places that my parents would never get to see, unless I had my bikini on and then only the ones on my belly and hip would be visible.
“What are you doing out here,” Liam asked making me jump.
“Jack and your father were having a bit of a heated discussion in the kitchen,” I said, chewing on my lip.
“Sounds quiet now.” Liam pushed his way into the kitchen so I followed.
I’d heard Jack leave, because his father had cursed to high heaven just after I’d heard a door close. I wanted to go after Jack to make sure he was okay, but I didn’t think it would look too good if I did.
I walked over to the back window and looked out just in time to watch him roar out of the barn on his dirt bike.
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