by Wegner, Ola
Amy leaned against him more comfortably. “I hate to think this, but perhaps Daddy married her only because he’s physically attracted to her.”
“That’s possible.”
Amy looked up at him. “Think so?”
Jake shrugged. “Sure. One thing I cannot imagine for any man is to willingly marry a woman he wouldn’t want to sleep with,” he conceded. “The desire to get laid is a very important factor in making a commitment to a woman for most men.”
Amy stared at him with a heavy frown. “What about companionship, friendship, mutual interest, and respect?”
“Sure, that’s important too,” he agreed easily.
There was a long pause before she dared to ask. “You mean that when you came with the idea to marry me it was only because you wanted to...” she glanced down at his crouch meaningfully.
“No, of course not. No one wants to be with some cold bitch with a personality that sucks, especially not someone my age.” His arms contracted around her waist, his face burying into her neck when he spoke tenderly. “And please don’t doubt yourself, sweetheart. There are tons of things that one can fall in love with in you; your sweetness, caring nature, your intelligence and integrity, honesty, the fact you’re fun to be around. But at the same time it doesn’t change the fact that had I not wanted to sleep with you, the idea of marriage wouldn’t have come to my head in the first place.”
Amy gave him a doubtful look. “Is it not superficial?”
“No, it’s honest,” he stressed, pushed her gently from him, and stood up. “I think that a woman should never trust a guy who says that he loves her and wants to be with her, but doesn’t want to get into her panties. Such an attitude is weird and sucks. It’s unnatural even. It can indicate that the guy has some serious issues with himself that he has to deal with first before starting a relationship with a woman, or that there are different reasons behind his interest in her, money for example.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, biting on her lower lip. “But you never insisted on...” she started hesitantly, “You know, you never really tried to push me into making love, never even tried to really seduce me.”
A soft low chuckle escaped him, his warm expression enveloping her. “And you think that’s it’s because I don’t want to.”
With a shake of her head, she met his eyes. “No, I think that you do, I felt more than once that you do,” she managed smoothly, referring to the numerous times when she’d felt or seen him having an erection when she’d been close to him. “But still you never try to do more.”
“Let’s get this straight,” he said and cupped her face. “Yes, I do want to, but I want to be sure that when the time comes, you do it for the right reasons.”
“Such as?”
“There’s only one reason really.” He paused, before he kissed her lips softly and whispered into them. “I want you to want me.”
Her eyes followed him when he stood up and strode to the bathroom. She stayed on the bed where he left her not moving, her expression void of emotion, her arms crossed over her middle. God, he was a smart guy, seemed to be sensitive enough too, and she really had little choice but to admire how he handled himself in this situation.
“Hey.” She felt his hand touching her arm lightly after a while. “It’s getting late. We need to get dressed.”
She rolled her eyes and murmured with a weary sigh. “It’s all I can dream of now, dressing up to have a dinner with my stepmother.”
He sat next to her and his big hands rested heavily on her shoulders. “For your own good you have to learn to tolerate her. She’s not that bad when you stop paying attention to her.”
Amy narrowed her eyes. “You’re defending her?” she demanded.
Jake closed the space between them again and pulled her into his arms.
“No, I’m only saying you won’t change her.” He combed the hair falling on her face gently away. “She’s not worth your nerves, your apprehension. Intelligence is perhaps not Claire’s strongest point, but like every living creature she can feel when she’s succeeded in putting you down, and she uses it against you, even if subconsciously.”
“I know you’re right,” she whispered, snuggling closer to him. “But it’s so hard to do. I don’t have strength to deal with her on top of all this.”
“I know it must be hard for you, but for your own good you must ignore her.” Jake’s voice was patient as he stroked her back through her denim jacket. “Show her that you don’t care, and that she’s nothing more than a bothersome acquaintance. Claire needs to see that she can’t hurt you.”
“Easy to say,” she said grudgingly, lifting her head from his chest. “I don’t want to go out and eat dinner with her.” She crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. “I feel a headache coming on,” she announced, moved from him, and curled herself on the bed with her back to him.
He sat next to her. “You cannot let Claire put you into such a state with her senseless remarks. You have to tolerate her for your father’s sake.” He sounded as if he was explaining something to a child. “She’s not your mother, she’s not your friend, and you don’t have to make friends with her.”
Amy sighed, turned to him, and murmured miserably, “Father would wish me to.”
“I don’t think that he really expects that,” Jake said slowly. “He must have known you didn’t like her when he married her.”
“I never said it openly.”
“Come on, he’s not blind. You moved out from home before she started living there,” Jake pointed out reasonably.
Amy sat up and hugged her knees to her chest.
“I just can’t understand what he sees in her,” she whispered bitterly. “She’s just like my mother. One day she will leave him with empty pockets and a broken heart.”
Jake didn’t contradict her, but only pulled her into his arms, with her back to his chest, supporting both of them against the headboard.
“I really don’t want to go to eat dinner with her,” Amy whispered after a while, her head lolling on his shoulder.
His arms contracted around her and he gave her a quick kiss on the neck. “I can go alone and tell them you’re not feeling well, but your father will be worried about you.”
Hearing this, Amy turned abruptly in his arms. “Do you really think that I would let you go alone, let her flirt with you and flaunt those fake breasts at you?”
Jake stared at her, mouth open. “I...” He shook his head. “Come again?”
“Can’t you see how shameless she is?” she cried, her agitation raw. “Haven’t you noticed how she tried to flirt with you? Haven’t you?” she demanded.
Jake laughed unbelievably. “What?
Amy was clearly fuming. “She’s been hitting on you,” she informed him furiously in a high-pitched voice. “In front of her own husband. Can you believe that?”
She glanced up at Jake, but his expression didn’t reflect her own outrage in the least.
She eyed him suspiciously. “Why are you grinning like that?”
“Because you’re jealous,” he murmured in a low sensuous voice.
“I’m not!” she denied at once, turning red faced.
“But you are,” he insisted softly and pulled her closely. “It means that you care about me if only a little.”
“I’m not jealous,” she insisted firmly.
She wanted to convince him, but when she heard her own voice saying that she winced, because it didn’t sound convincing enough even to her ears.
“I’m only worried that my father would notice that she tries ...” she said but her words were lost in a kiss.
She didn’t protest and returned the kiss eagerly, relaxing in his embrace. He pushed her on her back, and loomed over her, giving her some of his weight. Her eyes rolled, when he moved the collar of her shirt aside and began nibbling at her neck.
God, it felt nice, she thought whimpering a bit, when his big hand curled around her thigh, and pulled the lower pa
rt of her body closer to his.
Without much hesitation, she opened her legs and pulled him onto her. Since that morning when he’d almost touched her breast he hadn’t tried to go further in their physical intimacy and she was shy to initiate anything more. It was so dam frustrating that on one hand he never allowed her to put physical distance between them. He ignored or didn’t seem to notice her weak, or, rather, non-existent attempts to resist him when he kissed her goodnight, and gathered her into his arms at night. But at the same time, he refused to push their intimate relations to the next level, and kept everything light and innocent.
She knew that he wanted her, he just admitted it. But she knew as well that he wanted her to take the first step in terms of deepening their physical contact. The knowledge that he left the final decision up to her was both scary and damned frustrating. Sometimes she craved him to simply push her on the bed, strip her bare, and cover her with his body like now. She was honest enough with herself to admit that she wouldn’t have protested much. But no, he was always in control, never doing much more than light kissing and gentle petting. It was unnerving that he left it to her to set the boundaries of the physical side of their marriage, even though she herself demanded it at the beginning. Surely, he had to feel frustrated with the situation the same as she. She’d noticed lately that he tended to get an erection from such innocent things like having her on his lap, or when standing behind her.
Now he lay on her, but supported on his forearms so she couldn’t really feel much of him. Realizing that both could play the game, she decided to tease him a little, and see how much he could bear. Experimentally she lifted her pelvis up, rubbed herself lightly against him, and caught his lips in a long kiss. That was clearly enough as he moaned into her lips and dropped heavily on her, pinning her successfully to the bed. It actually knocked the breath out of her a bit, because he was so heavy.
He was kissing her passionately now, his hands wandering possessively all over her body. She swallowed a bit, fear crept up on her, and she wasn’t feeling half that daring as she had moments ago. His attentions were definitely different from the gentle petting he usually gave her. Here she had some two hundred pounds of very aroused man on her, his pelvis grinding into hers rhythmically, his face buried into her neck, as he breathed harshly. She tried to calm the sudden feeling of panic, remembering that it was her husband, the man who in the last weeks had proved numerous times he could be trusted, especially in bed. However, she still couldn’t relax. It was a bit too much for her. He was so heavy, and so potent, so hard and big. Though, it did feel heavenly, when he was rubbing against the top of her mound like now, she wasn’t sure if she was ready for more.
A few times before when she’d glanced shyly at the front of his trousers, or the few occasions she’d caught him, just in his trunks, she could see that he was really large. Certainly bigger than Michael had been. So if Michael had problems entering her, because she’d been too snug and it had hurt her, then with Jake it could only be worse.
He had to feel she stopped responding and lay under him passively, her hands precariously on his shoulders, because he rose up on his forearms again and took in her features.
“Not so adventurous as a moment ago? Huh?” he whispered tenderly after a long moment of looking deep into her eyes.
She shook her head and bit her lower lip apprehensively.
He rolled from her on his back. “That’s ok,” he said gently reaching for her hand and lifting it to his lips, kissing it gently. “Nobody ever died from a boner,” he glanced amusedly down at his crotch.
Amy let out a soft giggle of relief, and snuggled trustingly to his side.
Chapter Eleven
Twenty minutes later, they entered the elegant hotel restaurant overlooking the ocean. It was too dark to see the ocean, but Amy could feel the fresh breeze through the open floor length windows.
The black dress she wore, nicely hugged her figure, showing the tasteful expanse of her soft lightly freckled shoulders and just the top of her high breasts. Her hazel eyes were enhanced with dark brown eyeliner and almost transparent lip gloss added to the softness of her lips. She swept her hair in a high twist, in a similar fashion the hair stylist had done for her in Las Vegas. Again, she had problems with pinning all of it, as it seemed too long and thick for her unskilled fingers. A visit at the hairdresser’s was certainly a priority.
She felt pretty and attractive, especially feeling Jake’s eyes on her all the time. With quiet satisfaction, she noted that while she definitely looked classy in her dress, Claire looked rather cheap in hers. Her stepmother’s outfit was too bright, too short, and showed too much cleavage. Plus, the amount of gold jewelry which accompanied it was almost staggering. Her unnatural tan, the result of the endless hours spent in the solarium gave her an old and somehow trashy appearance.
Amy, firmly decided on following Jake’s advice, and spoke as little as possible. She didn’t even react to Claire’s teasing about the reason why they came down so late. Moreover, she allowed Jake to answer most of the questions about their wedding, while she mostly concentrated on the contents of her plate. When the dessert came, she admitted to herself that perhaps ignoring Claire was not such a bad idea.
“You know, Amy, a few days ago we met one of your friends.” Claire’s voice rang into her ear when she was about to dig the spoon into her tiramisu.
She lifted her surprised eyes at the other woman. “My friends?”
“A nice fellow,” her father voiced himself. “He stayed here for a few days, sent by his law firm to take care of one of their clients who has a house nearby. He was managing some business for him.”
Claire’s round eyes sparkled and she spoke enthusiastically. “We befriended him straight away, but when he heard our surname and from where we were he instantly asked about you.”
Amy frowned. “About me?”
Claire nodded eagerly. “He asked if we are related to Amy Carpenter, right honey?” she glanced at her husband.
Thomas nodded. “He said you were together in law school. What was his name Claire?” he turned his eyes to his wife. “Michael...” he hesitated, but Amy quickly finished for him.
“Cummings,” she whispered.
She turned a bit pale which instantly drew Jake’s attention.
“Yes, Michael Cummings,” Claire cried out.
She rested her curious eyes on her stepdaughter. “So you do know him,” she said, with what Amy could swear was a note of satisfaction in her voice.
Amy straightened up and answered coolly. “Yes, we met a few years ago. He was in the last year of law school when I just started it.”
“Yes, he told us the same,” Thomas said. “He mentioned that it was a shame you decided not to finish law school with your abilities.”
“Thomas, not every woman is ambitious enough to succeed in a typically man’s profession,” Claire reminded her husband. “Some of us want to just get married and create a home for their husbands.” She touched his arm.
Amy barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. “I think it’s very sweet that Amy chose to be a librarian,” she continued as she glanced at the younger woman.
Amy was almost beside herself. For the hundredth time perhaps, she wondered if Claire was that stupid and oblivious or simply cunning and manipulative. She was about to make some biting remark, which she had on the tip of her tongue when Jake reached for her left hand which was curled in a tight fist under the table. He brought it on his thigh and stroked her knuckles with his thumb, unclenching her fingers slowly.
“I heard that Amy was in law school for some time, but I wasn’t aware she was that good at that,” Jake mentioned casually.
Thomas smiled a proud father smile. “Amy always was a straight A student since kindergarten.”
Amy blushed. “Daddy you do exaggerate, as always.”
Claire’s high-pitched voice cut in. “Amy, Mr. Cummings asked an awful lot about you.”
Amy lowered her e
yes to her tiramisu. “Did he?”
Claire gave her a meaningful look. “Yes, he did. He seemed to be disappointed when he heard that you got married recently. Was he your boyfriend? Is there something Jake should be worried about?” She giggled, rolling her eyes.
Amy decided to ignore her and turned to her father. “Daddy, was Michael alone?” she glanced purposely at Claire. “Have you met his wife?”
The older man shook his head and answered shortly, “No, he was alone.”
“He didn’t mention any wife, and he didn’t have a wedding ring on his hand,” Claire informed her with a gossipy edge to her voice. “But let me see your diamond.” She changed the subject, catching Amy’s hand. “It is so huge, darling. You should insure it.”
Amy snatched her hand away and without saying anything more, concentrated her attention on her tiramisu, cutting it furiously into pieces, but not eating it. Frantic thoughts crossed her mind at telegraphic speed. Michael had been here and he’d been asking about her. He hadn’t worn a wedding ring. She knew that it was no proof at all that he’d separated from his wife or divorced, many married men didn’t wear a wedding band at all, though Jake did. She glanced at his big calloused hand resting next to hers on the pristine tablecloth. He sensed her gaze because he gently covered her small palm, then looked at her.
“You should wait until you return to your room,” Claire whispered knowingly, glancing pointedly at their joined hands.
Amy blushed bright red, having no problem with guessing her stepmother’s meaning.
“Claire, you’re embarrassing them,” Thomas chided his wife gently.
“But it’s natural. They’re still newlyweds after all,” Claire cheered sweetly.
Amy chose to be silent, not trusting her temper at this point. She’d had enough of her stepmother’s gibberish for one evening. But Claire was clearly in a very conversional mood.
“I wanted to tell you, Amy, that is a lovely dress,” she noted pleasantly.
“Thank you.” Amy smiled and returned her gaze to her half eaten tiramisu.