"She said she loved me," Spencer began in a whisper, tears rolling down his face. "I knew it was wrong from the start… I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't… I couldn't… Not when I'd betrayed you…"
Jack put a comforting hand on the man's shoulder. "Love can make us all see the world differently." He glanced at me with a hint of a smile. "It can make us do things we never imagined before…" He looked back at Spence. "Just tell me. I promise I can help you make this right…"
"It started three years ago." The tears were rolling fast now, his voice tight. "She said she loved me, that we could have the life we both deserved… as long as I did what she told me to do. As long as I kept my mouth shut.
But she lied to me… she lied to all of us." He was angry now, his voice louder. "She didn't want me… she didn't want anything but money and control… control over everything… all of us. She made a fucking fool out of me, Jack. But I went along with her…
She was just using me the whole fucking time."
"Who, Spencer? Tell me who…"
The door opened behind us with a soft click and every head turned in unison. Standing there was a tall, slender blonde. We'd never met. I'd never even seen a photograph. But I instantly knew her. She was everything I'd imagined. I felt India take my hand.
The woman was elegant, perfectly poised, serene. Everything I was not. And she would have been the loveliest thing I'd ever seen, if not for the look on her face.
"Elaine," Spencer spat out, as he stood and squared his shoulders.
"It was that bitch, Elaine."
45
Jack
"Charmed, as always, Spencer darling." She strode into the room without looking at him, on black stiletto pumps that put her almost eye to eye with me, and inclined her head. "Jackson…
I see the news has arrived before me," she drawled easily. She stared into my eyes, hers glittering triumphantly. "You may go now," she spoke toward Spencer without taking her eyes off me. "As a matter of fact, you can all go… This is just between you and me," she purred into my face.
"No one leaves," I heard my own voice boom out. My fists were balled tight. The fucking nerve of her… "There's no one here who's unaffected. And there is nothing between the two of us."
"We welcomed you," Mom came forward, her hands shaking. "We brought you into our family and welcomed you as our daughter… and this is what you do to us? To my son… to our family? You try to take everything generations of Masons have fought to keep…?"
Elaine threw her head back and laughed. "You never loved me. None of you did. I just happened to fit the mold is all." She swept her hair back and smiled. "You wanted a well-bred daughter in law and that's exactly what you got. To maintain the family image… to breed pedigreed grandchildren." She turned back to me.
"And you. You didn't want a wife," she spat out the word hatefully. "You wanted a houseful of children… and someone to wipe their snotty noses for you. I was foolish enough to try. How many years, Jack? And not a single child…?
I wasted my best years on you and all your empty promises. And the divorce settlement wasn't half enough to make up for that." She moved to the other side of my desk and sat down in my chair… "I took what I had coming, Jack. And I did it any way I could." She glanced from me to Libby and back again, slowly… purposefully. "After all, I learned from the best."
"You and Spencer bought up every share you could… In Mason… in Warner." My voice was calm, but my hands were in fists, my gut a tight ball of cold anger. "And along with half of my shares…"
"I now hold controlling interest in both companies," she finished. "Now they're merged into one, you're looking at the new CEO of one of the largest privately owned businesses in the south."
"You had enough to live a hundred comfortable lives, Elaine. And you ruined a good man." I looked over at Spencer, who looked ill. "If you'd had to, would you have tried to pass off his child as mine?"
"You fucking hypocrite," she shot back. "You faked a marriage! You bought a woman to give you the fucking baby you want so bad. And you passed her off to your entire family, your elite social circle as your new wife." Her lips curled into an ugly sneer as she stared straight at my parents' shocked faces. "He's the liar," she growled. "And any child that comes from her," she shot a glance at Libby's stricken face, "is nothing but a bastard mongrel. That girl has nothing… no one. She's nothing but a…"
Never in my life have I laid hands on a woman, but I gripped her arms till my fingers bit into her flesh and pulled her out of my chair.
"Not one more fucking word." I could feel her feet dangling above the floor. "You will never speak one fucking word about my wife ever again, or so help me… I won't be responsible." I let her go abruptly, suddenly disgusted at the feel of her in my hands. "Libby is my wife, from the day I met her until the day that I die." I looked across the room to her brilliant green eyes. "She's the love of my life… We belong to each other."
Elaine was shaken, unsteady, but turned in desperation to my family. "He lied to you. Every one of you. Can you imagine what people will say? These things can't be kept a secret forever… the truth always comes out. And Jack will have made fools of you all.
The Huntingtons… the Bellfields… do you think they'll ever welcome you in their social circles again? He could have cost you everything… Vivian," she reached her hands out in appeal. "None of it was real. He lied to you…it was all just lies. He chose her," she curled her lip toward Libby, "because she could produce a child and then just disappear. She has no past, no history, no family."
I looked at their faces as Elaine finally spent herself. They looked from her face to mine. And I watched… felt the energy in the room as it shifted. Without seeming to move at all, my parents, my brothers, my beautiful, strong sister formed a protective wall around my Libby. I stood at the center and together we watched as Elaine's indignation slowly slipped away. From the corner of my eye, I saw Spencer come slowly to stand alongside us.
"That's where you're wrong," I answered her back.
"And there's nothing you, or anyone can say, that changes how we feel" Mom added. "Libby's our daughter and we love her. We knew everything from the start," she said smoothly. "And we gave our complete support," Dad finished for her.
"She's made Jack happier than I've ever seen him in his entire life," Ben spoke softly as Blake and Reid stood taller and nodded in agreement.
"She's my best friend," India said, her voice edged with warning. "And my sister. And a better woman than you'll ever be…"
I took Libby's hand in mine and pulled her in close. "Libby belongs to us… all of us. We are her family, and we are her future… And she's mine," I finished, looking down at her.
I glanced around, the question in my eyes. I didn't even have to speak it. Everyone nodded in silent agreement. We knew each other so fucking well. And when we were united, strong… we were like one mind… I turned back to Elaine.
"You don't need to resort to blackmail," I said dismissively. "Tell whoever will listen to you. We have nothing to hide… And you have far less power than you imagine.
Take the company too. Although you may not find your board as easy to control as you think." I felt the family close in a little tighter, as Elaine stood alone.
"You'll find it takes cooperation… trust... to run an empire…
And to keep it."
46
Libby
"But you can't." I caught Moki up as she barked in excitement. "You can't just let her take what's yours." We'd gone back and forth the entire way home.
"I already have what's mine," he said, taking us both in his arms. "And Elaine got what she wanted. I'd have to say, I got the best end of that deal." Jack laughed as the puppy squirmed away and he pulled me in closer.
"But it's my fault she had the power to threaten blackmail in the first place…," I muttered. "I can't tell you how wonderful it felt, to have the support of your whole family, but…"
"Our family…"
"Okay, our family," I sighed, smiling back reluctantly. "But they gave up, you all did, just to protect me… To protect us," I added, when he shot me that look again.
"Libby… We gave her nothing." I fingered the paper Spencer had handed me before he'd slipped from the room and smiled.
"She bought up enough stock to have control, it's as simple as that. It's how business is done. We still hold enough to fight her tooth and nail at every step. I know her, sweetheart. She likes an easy life, and she just bought herself a whole fucking world of complicated." He leaned down and kissed me until I was wet and he was throbbing against me. "Besides, life often has a mind of its own."
"You're distracting me on purpose," I said weakly.
"I certainly hope so," he answered back. "Or I'm doing it wrong…"
"But you wanted the merger so much… you wanted… Mason… you wanted it… to be so strong…" I barely got the words out.
"And then I found something I wanted even more… right here."
He took my hand and led me out into the darkness. The sky was finally clear, the lake as smooth as glass. He stood behind me, his arms wrapped around my waist, his hands resting warmly on my belly. He tucked his face into my shoulder, close to my ear. "I want you, sweetheart. Just you… and this beautiful, peaceful place." He nuzzled closer and I could feel his delicious length pressing up against me.
"I lived to work… for too goddamned many years. I'm not making that same mistake this time." He sighed, leaning his head against mine. "Elaine and I never worked together, on any level, but it didn't help that I was gone so much. I think, in so many ways, things have turned out for the best." He turned me to face him. "I spent so much of my life wanting what I didn't have. Now I realize, it's all right here…
I love you, Libby. And I want us to always be a family." He ran one big thumb gently over my lips. "Even more than ever, now that you want it as much as I do…" He smiled sadly. "But I wanted children for years… and it never happened. There's always the chance… that it never will."
I stopped him with a kiss, tangling my hands in his hair. "I love you, forever, Jack. Babies… no babies. You've already given me more family than I ever dreamed of." I pulled his long, hard body against my softness, just listening to his heartbeat. I smiled to myself… as a surge of happiness rolled through me. These last two months… I blinked. Had it been that long?
"I know what you mean… About it all turning out for the best." I looked up. "I opened the envelope today… about my mother." I sighed. "There wasn't much… just that she's gone. Only a few months after she gave me up. I doubt I'll ever find out more. Who she really was, or why she gave me up…"
"Sweetheart," he put his warm lips against my forehead. "I'm so sorry… I'd hoped it would give you the answers."
I rested my head on his strong, broad chest. "In a funny way, I think it has…," I said. "My whole life I always thought she just didn't want me. That a baby… that I… was just a problem, and that she solved it by throwing me away…" I took a deep breath of the cool night air. "But it's almost like she never even had a life of her own at all. She rented a little apartment for a few years, but then there was no record at all after she left." Jack's hands stroked my back in long, soothing motions as he listened. "She died… when she was still so young…
All those years I blamed her, for not loving me… for not wanting me. But who was there for her? She wasn't married, and her parents were dead. She had nothing… no one…" I turned my face up to Jack's loving gaze. "Maybe I'll never fully understand. But I have something I never had before, in my whole life…"
"What, sweetheart?"
"Freedom," I said softly, as tears filled my eyes. "Because I feel like I can finally forgive her… even if I never do find out what really happened. It all had so much power over me, since I was just a little girl. Now, somehow it just doesn't anymore..."
I sniffed as he wiped my cheeks tenderly. "Her choices don't have to be mine. And I'm not alone anymore…"
He wrapped me in the strength of his arms and held me tight. "And you never will be, Libby. As long as there's breath in my body, I swear to you. I will love you my whole life. And you will never, ever be alone again."
He undressed me with aching slowness, kissing every tender spot as he went. I was frantic with need by the time his mouth touched the hollow of my throat. My shirt… my bra… he dropped them, forgotten on the floor, in his search for my skin.
His lips trailed between my breasts and the stubble on his jaw raked against my swollen nipples. He kissed a path along my belly as he slipped jeans and panties down… Only for a moment did he take his warm hands away. I watched, holding my breath as he stripped, the silver moonlight coming through the windows, reflecting off his sculpted body… I stood, spellbound by his perfection… Then I was in his arms, and he was flesh and blood again. Hard and hot with a need I shared. He lifted me onto our bed and covered me with his body.
"I want you…," he rasped out the words in my ear, his heavy cock drawing a line of moisture up the inside of my thigh.
"You have me," I gasped back. "I'm all yours…"
‘Delicious… sweet… sweetheart…" He ran his lips down my body, taking the time to taste me with his tongue, explore the curves of my breasts… the hollow of my navel. By the time he reached my mound, he had my legs spread wide and his eyes were sparkling with lust and delight. "All mine," he growled. "To take as I please… to taste as I please…"
He took me with his mouth, the first touch of his tongue arching my body He lapped and teased, drinking me in. I was soaked in wetness, and yet it only fed the flames. He eased two long fingers into me and my need turned into a wildfire…
"God… Jack… oh, please…" I was begging now. "I need you to…"
"What, sweetheart?" he asked, his breath hot against my swollen lips. "Tell me what it is you need…"
"You know," I gasped back. I could feel his mouth poised just over me and tried to push myself closer…
"Tell me," he teased. "I want to hear you tell me." He flicked the tip of his tongue against me and the shock hit me like lightening.
"I want you inside me," I begged. "I want your cock so deep inside me…"
I heard his breath catch in his chest and in the next second he was on top of me, inside me, buried in one deep thrust. He pushed my thighs apart, holding my knees as my heels gripped his ass. He'd never been deeper and my body held him there. I was tight around his thick, hard shaft. Our bodies tense, on the verge of climax, he looked into my eyes. "You are mine," he said, pushing the head of his cock further, stretching me to the limit.
"I'm yours," I gasped, my breath coming in quick, tiny puffs. He pushed a little more and I clutched at his chest. "Take me… oh god, take me… fuck me…"
The single word unleashed us both. He drove inside me with long, powerful strokes, building to a climax that hit us both at once. We shattered into a thousand pieces, the waves of combined orgasm pounding our bodies until we flew apart… and then came back together again into one greater whole. I was Jack, and Jack was me. There was no more separation.
There was only us.
47
Jack
I stretched in the cool sheets, reaching beside me for Libby's delicious softness. The bed was empty beside me, her pillow still warm. I heard her movements across the hall in the bathroom, the toilet flush. I slipped my hands behind my head and sighed deeply, waiting for my wife to come back to bed. In spite of the uncertain future with Mason, I was content in a way I'd never been before. All the empty places in my life that, for so many years I had filled with work, suddenly weren't empty anymore. I had a life now, with the woman I loved. No matter what the future held, it would be bright and filled with promise.
"Penny for your thoughts…," she said, seductively, curling one naked thigh around the doorway. She peered around the wooden molding, with a secret smile on her lips. "Me, I'm hoping…"
"You, always…," I answered back, enjoying her playful
ness. She shifted so that one heavy breast popped into view.
I pushed the blankets back to expose the effect she was having. My cock was swaying, already at full attention. Her eyes shined, the color more intense than ever. She put her hands up to push her hair back, letting both breasts come into view, swaying as she took her sweet time walking to the bed. It was a game, I realized, smiling in anticipation. One, from the look on her face, we were both going to win…
"I have a surprise for you," she purred, as my heart pounded. She stood at my feet, leaning forward to run her fingers up the insides of my thighs. Her nipples dragged my skin as she crawled up between my legs. She stopped just short of touching me. My balls were tight, cock swaying… waiting…
"A present," she said easily. Then she leaned forward to lick my huge, dark head. One single lick that held me prisoner. "Do you want it…?" she asked wickedly, smiling at my torture. "Or should I make you wait?"
Already halfway there, it was a no-brainer. Fuck, this was a side of her I'd never seen. And I more than wanted it…
"Come here," I growled impatiently, reaching for her hips. She smiled slyly, taking her time, letting her curves shift with her movements. My sweet girl had become a fucking temptress…
She spread her legs, straddling my hips. Then she took my ready cock in her hands and slowly… achingly slowly inched her body down my shaft, taking me into her soft, slick heat. The smile never left her face, but she bit into her bottom lip as her clit reached the base of my cock. She rested her weight on me, pushing me in to the hilt, riding me in slow, rhythmic circles. Her eyes never left mine. She knew exactly what she was doing…
"Tell me what you want," she demanded, her body undulating as she worked her hips. Her breasts rose and fell, huge beautiful globes. She licked her lips. ‘What is it you need?"
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