He jolts and before I know it, I am in his arms, his lips crushed against mine. My arms are pinned between us, the shirt crumpled in my hands. But I don’t try to get away. I meet his tongue with equal force. The minty remnant of his toothpaste is intoxicating.
Strong arms pick me up. I immediately twine my legs around his hips. It has been a full week since he’s been inside me, and my body says it’s a week too long.
Spinning us, he takes three strides to the end of the bed and lays me back, not letting go. His knees are on the edge and my ankles are hooked around his back.
His tongue plunders my mouth and I’m right there, lick for lick. I rock up, seeking just a little relief for the constant ache between my legs. He spreads his hand wide on my thigh and skims my skirt up. Releasing my mouth to kiss down my neck, he nips the base of my neck.
“It’s been too fucking long, London.”
I whimper my agreement, lost in the feeling of his weight on me. Every inch of my skin is sensitized. I can’t blame how I’m acting on the margaritas. I only had one, hours ago.
The truth is that I missed this with him.
His hand broaches the apex of my thighs and his fingers dip under the elastic of my underwear. “You’re soaked.”
His low growl blows my rational mind to tiny unrecoverable bits. His touch is electric. When he swipes his thumb across my clit, my heart nearly stops.
I grind my pelvis against his hand. “God, Jake. Do it again.”
There’s half a second of hesitation, but he does. His mouth is at my chest, his teeth clamped on a nipple through the material. I’m going to combust. Me and this bed are going to go up in flames, all because Jake’s touching me again.
Jake.
Only this isn’t Jake. I open my eyes. He’s sliding farther down my body. If I wait five more seconds, he’ll be licking me senseless. Then we’ll fuck. And I’ll see him again in the morning—because I’m not supposed to go anywhere. Because I have nowhere to go, and no job.
My breath hitches. “Stop.”
His hand goes still, his palm covering my thigh and his thumb poised over my clit. “Stop?” The word sounds painful for him to say.
The thrumming of my body is strong enough to drown out everything that’s wrong with this situation, but I rally. I have to be strong. “I want my company back. Before I ever let you touch me again, I want you to give me my company back.”
He yanks his hand free in one smooth motion and rises. I pull my skirt down as I sit up, but the act puts me face-to-face with the large erection pushing at his shorts.
Dark eyes bore into me. “You’ll sleep with me if I give you the company?” His tone is cold. “You’re not a whore like Diana.”
I square my shoulders and let out all the hostility that’s been building since that contract was first shoved into my life. “If you talk about her like that again, don’t bother speaking to me—ever.” A spark of respect enters his gaze, but I don’t read into it. “You and I, we obviously have something between us, but you have a lot to learn about relationships.”
“This isn’t a relationship.”
I stand. “Then you shouldn’t have married me.” I imagine lining my spine with pure steel. What I have to say is going to bare me before him, more than I’ve ever exposed to anyone. “I like you. I don’t want to, but I do. You try so hard to be an asshole, then you go and do all these things like you care about me, like the Jake that I met in Mexico is really an insecure Jacobi who’s too afraid to grow up and grow out of his pain. But I’m not willing to explore any of this if you don’t do right by me and give me my company back. If you truly don’t care about me any more than getting your revenge and living your cold and lonely life in this house, then keep the damn company, but quit making me feel like this.”
I’m breathing hard by the time I finish.
He goes still, like a viper ready to strike, his chin tilted down, his eyes hooded. Then he’s gone, out of the bedroom. The door closes with a quiet click.
I blow out a heavy breath and tears spring to my eyes. He left. And I don’t think that it’s to go get the papers and rip them up, or to message his lawyer.
The minutes tick by, but he doesn’t come back. I’m still standing at the end of the bed like I’m waiting for him to come rescue me. But it’s just like all of my other relationships. I’m not important enough to make an effort.
Chapter 7
Jacobi
I squeeze my eyes shut as I come hard against my hand and into the tissues from the office bathroom, the feeling of her wetness continues to burn in my mind.
There. Now maybe I can get some rest.
Quit making me feel like this.
I like you. I don’t want to, but I do.
…afraid to grow up and grow out of his pain.
I like you.
That part sticks with me, running on repeat in my head. Her little speech replays all night long as I get the shittiest night of sleep in my life on my office floor.
I was painfully hard all night. I’m still hard. She was in my arms again and I was inches from paradise when she said stop.
She stopped us. She’s always been putty in my hands, mindless as soon as I put my mouth or my hands on her.
Stop.
That word echoes in my head. She likes me and she still stopped. Then she stood up for her stepmom and stood up against me.
The entire night of chewing on what happened makes me realize… I admire her. In Mexico, she was wrapped around my finger. But she stands up for what she believes in.
My big gotcha in Mexico blew up in my face in my bedroom.
I got what I wanted, now I can’t have what I really want.
What the hell am I going to do? She hasn’t talked to Diana. All those years of despising her gave way to a pretty face and good sex. Great sex. Mind-blowing sex. Sex that puts me in a state of agony if I don’t get any.
I give up everything. My parents were the victims. I’d been the victim.
Grow up and grow out of his pain.
I let out a long breath and stare at the ceiling. It’s early in the morning and sleep isn’t coming. Maybe I should go for a swim. Then I can check in with Cannon.
But I don’t move.
London or revenge.
Neither yet. She has to talk to Diana first.
Will she change her mind once she learns everything?
I roll up to sit on the floor. The house is quiet. My trunks are in my bedroom, but I’ll just swim in what I’m wearing. Maybe the cold ocean can tame my erection. And since I’m up early, Penni and Holland won’t spot me leaving my office at the crack of dawn instead of the bedroom.
I use the deck to get to the beach. The swim is the slap in the face I need to clear my mind.
She likes me. And I want her.
I’m also afraid that I like her.
I have zero experience in any sort of relationship. I’m a lonely fuck who’s obsessed about her for years. What would she think if she found that out? Her confession about her history with guys is nothing more than schoolgirl crushes carried into adulthood. I’m a full-on stalker. Cyber-stalker to be exact.
Add that to what my original plans were, and she won’t like me so much anymore.
I swim until my shoulders burn and the cold of the ocean saps feeling from my toes. I swim until I’m sure London’s awake and out of the bedroom. I can’t face her yet. Not until I’m centered again.
I haul myself out of the water.
“Yoo-hoo!” Penni’s waving from the courtyard. Holland and London are next to her. Holland’s smiling. London’s not.
“Thanks for letting us stay!” Holland calls.
I lift my arm, but my gaze is on London. She looks as tired and worn out as I feel. Her hair’s loose around her face and her legs are bare. All she wears is an old T-shirt I bought years ago at a Dodgers game. Periodically, I see it and think I should get rid of it, but then I remember that day. I went to the game alone. And it sucked. After t
urning down all the invites from Cannon and Kase shortly after I met them, I decided at the game that maybe I’d try having friends—in-person ones, not behind a screen.
I never got rid of that shirt because it signified a pivotal moment in my life. The irony that London chose it last night isn’t lost on me.
She avoids looking at me and pastes on a bright smile when her friends face her. She walks them out. I dry off. Not caring about where I track sand, I sling my towel across my shoulders and use the deck to gain access to the house. From there, I make my way down the inexplicably long hallway to the bedroom.
“Jacobi.” London’s standing in the foyer, her arms wrapped around herself, looking inches shorter than she actually is from my viewpoint. “Diana’s coming today so we can talk.”
“That’s good.” Guilt curdles inside me. Not only have I ruined her, but I destroyed her idyllic view of her parents.
“I still need to know why I can’t go anywhere.”
“Find me after you talk to Diana.”
* * *
London
By the time Diana arrives, I’m freshly showered and in shorts and a tank top, and I even managed a short nap. Spending the night wrapped in Jacobi’s scent while in a cold, empty bed left me worn out and confused. The whirlwind trip and the emotions of the last few weeks finally catches up with me. I’m exhausted.
He stopped when I asked him to. Does that mean I’m easy to walk away from?
How pathetic am I? Upset a man didn’t ravish me after I demanded he quit.
But I am upset Jacobi walked away from me so easily. All I asked for was to get back what was mine. And I didn’t mean it as an exchange. I want to be with him, but not like this.
I also wanted to be married one day. Not like this.
“Are we okay talking out here?” Diana scans around the courtyard as she perches on a lounge chair across from me. She’s dressed for the office in loose but stylish trousers and a wraparound top, running Natural Glow while I’m away on my “honeymoon.” Lying to my employees is a new entry on my resume.
“He’s in his office and probably won’t come out all day.”
“That’s what he does?”
“Yep,” I answer with more irritation than I mean to. “He built a million-dollar company single-handedly in his basement while I was handed one.”
Diana gives me a measuring look. “Are you sure he didn’t steal it?”
“No, but since we’re talking about theft, did Dad steal Natural Glow?”
Diana sighs and wraps her arms around her knees. She looks diminutive, tired. Old. “Not technically, no.”
“Not technically?” That isn’t the firm no I’m looking for.
“I didn’t know the Dixons, okay? I only know about them from your father.”
I feel slightly better. Being angry at my dad hurts enough. Diana’s my only family.
She sinks her head into her hands, takes a deep breath, and then looks up. “When I met your father, we were at a party. My light was at the end of the tunnel for my career. I refused to do some of the things that’d make me big money and I’d been labeled as difficult by the studios. A friend of mine… set me up with some guys.” Shame crosses her face. “Guys who were willing to pay for company.”
“I don’t care about any of that, Diana,” I say softly.
Her smile is sad, reminiscent of the days right after Dad’s sudden death. “But I did.” She draws in another long breath. “On the set, I was contractually obligated and surrounded by men who demanded I use my body to make them money. With these guys…” She lifts a shoulder. “I had some power. And the drugs helped me forget that I was supposed to be a big movie star and that my parents were right.”
Diana rarely talked about her parents. I never considered them grandparents. They’ve been estranged since before I was born. When I got older and understood Diana’s situation, I figured out why.
“I met your father and we hit it off. After that, it wasn’t so different from what we told you.”
“How old was I when you met?”
She rolls her lips in. “You were one and a half.”
“I thought I was a newborn?”
She shakes her head and sniffles. “No, and honestly, I don’t know why he stuck to that story. He’d been on a wild ride and I think he wanted to pretend that when you came along, it was enough to clean him up.”
“What finally did it?”
“You. And the business. He not only had a purpose, he had a way. He mentioned this company he was trying to get off the ground with some friends, but they were”—her eyes flick up to the office window— “trouble. No matter what, they let him down. He’d try to secure capital and they’d ruin it. He’d try to have a business meeting and it’d turn into drugs, sex, and rock and roll.”
“Jacobi’s parents?”
She nods. “That was our excuse. Dennis had the instructions for the body creams and lip balms, he had the business plan, and he had the structure outline that they’d come up with. He and I poured our money into it and… shut them out.”
I stare at her. “Dad had all that, but how much of it did he come up with? Obviously not the recipes for the initial products. That was Jacobi’s mother.”
She chews her lower lip, her forehead crinkling. “The Dixons approached him, hearing how he’d helped fund a mutual friends’ Silicon Valley startup. He’d done good and made his money back and then some. They hoped that he’d do it again. But…he didn’t have that money anymore.”
“How? Dad partied that much?”
Her face crumples, then she gathers herself, tears sparkling in her eyes. “He lost half of it when he divorced your mother.”
The air gets sucked right out of me. My mouth works, but no words come out. I stand up, pace around the hot tub twice, then sit back down. Diana stares at her knees the entire time.
“He was married to my mother?”
Diana swipes at her face. “She, um, she discovered Dennis had given her an STD shortly after you were born and she left. She left him and she left you.”
And she never second-guessed her decision? Did she try to contact me and get blocked by Dad? Did she…not try at all? Yet, Diana stood by his side until the end. “Did he cheat on you?”
She manages to look appalled. “He was a changed man, London. You have to know that. The sun rose and set around you. Her leaving scared him. That he might’ve lost you, too. He tried. He really tried to clean himself up. Then the Dixons approached him, and he saw his chance slipping away and…and we clung to it and held on.”
“And left the Dixons behind.”
“They left themselves behind.” She shoots another glare toward the office window. “Jacobi’s dad ruined every finance meeting Dennis set up. He’d show up high, dressed like he was on Miami Vice, and force negotiations until the other party lost interest. These were Dennis’s friends, former business associates. The guy was burning Dennis’s reputation to the ground. And his mother was unrelenting about the recipes and names. Dennis had this big idea to turn it all organic. For all his faults, he had a good sense of future trends but she refused to listen, thought she could make it high-end and sell it in Paris. They were impossible to work with.”
Natural Glow has a small boutique in Paris, just like Jacobi’s mother wanted. I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Then he should’ve walked away.” My dad stole all their hard work. It might not have gone anywhere without him, but how long had he tried? Never let moss grow under your ass, pumpkin.
“But you see, we couldn’t,” Diana whispers and I open my eyes. “We had you to take care of.”
“Does anyone else know of this? What have you told Roland?”
She shakes her head, tears streaking down her face. “He asked about the company and how it started.”
“Did you tell him about Jacobi?” They haven’t been together long, but they grew close fast. Diana had a hard time being alone after Dad was gone.
She dabs her eye
s. “I know I signed that damn NDA, but I had to talk to someone and you were gone. I tried to be as vague as possible.”
That seems to be her MO.
But Diana breaking the NDA is the least of my problems. My mom left me because my dad had been a cheating bastard. Then he and Diana stole the brainchild of another couple and ruined their kid’s life.
Something didn’t quite make sense. How were the Dixons doing before Dad stole their idea? If all he walked away with was her recipe cards and their business plan, then why was Jacobi so bitter? Does he remember a better life before my dad interfered?
There’s an obvious reason and it makes me sick to ask.
“Did Dad take their money, too?” At Diana’s guilty flinch, I snarl. “Tell the goddamn truth, Diana. I’m the one on the receiving end of what Dad did. I got all the good, now I’m getting all the bad. How about telling me what I got myself into?”
She presses a hand to her chest, her face paling. I never talk to her like that. Never.
“They had money to invest, and when Dennis finally found a backer, he only had his name put on the contracts and got them to sign.”
A naïve, trusting mistake. They thought they could trust Dennis Vanderbeek and he screwed them. “Oh, God. Jacobi’s life really was ruined because of me.”
“He shouldn’t have—”
“He was just a kid.” And my dad made his parents destitute. “He was just a kid and my dad ruined his life so I could have a rich one.”
Diana waves her arm around. “Ruined what? Look at this place. His claims are baseless.”
“How do you think a thirty-one-year-old man builds all this after he’s done with college? By not having a life. By working. By not dating, not having friends. His life is lonely and his house is a tomb and it’s because of me.”
“London—”
I cut a hand through the air. “I think you should go.”
Her sharp inhale is all I hear before I see her sandaled feet and her French-tipped pedicure walk into my line of view. “Don’t fall for his sad story, London. He had a choice of what kind of adult he was going to be. He has all this and he still went after you. Don’t forget that.”
Redeemed: Ruined and Redeemed Duet - Book 2 Page 7