Don't Lie to Me (9 page)

“Do you remember the day you showed up for your first day of work?”

I did remember. Macy had told him she had a friend who desperately needed a good paying job. She said I was intelligent, organized and a hard worker and everything he would need in his personal assistant. He hired me without ever meeting me.

I was fourteen weeks along in my pregnancy and on the tail end of my morning sickness. Still crying over the loss of Marcus, I had slept horribly the night before, and had thrown up three times that morning, barely making it to his penthouse on time. My hair was thrown into a disheveled bun and my eyes were red and swollen. It was the worst first impression I had ever made on anyone in my entire life. I was amazed he didn’t fire me on the spot.

“I looked like shit that day.”

“You were glowing and breathtaking. You looked so sad, but determined. I had never seen anyone be so brave considering all I knew you were dealing with. But you had your head held high, and I knew you were determined to be successful, to make something for yourself and your baby. Something gripped me that day, and all I wanted to do was protect you and help you and take care of you.” He dropped his head a little bit while a thick silence grew between us. “I’ve spent every day since then trying to do just that but last week when I saw Dean touch you, I had to have more.”

My head was spinning in circles, trying to figure out how this completely controlled man, could admit such things to me.

“So what happens now?” I asked tentatively.

He sighed heavily and leaned back against the couch. It was the first time I had ever seen him look so uncertain; so fragile, and I didn’t know why.

“I’m going to fuck up. There’s a reason why I don’t date and let people in. I’m broken and damaged.” He leaned forward slightly, resting one of his hands on top of mine in my lap and squeezed it gently. “But I still want to try.”

I wanted to give in. To throw myself into his arms and bury myself in him. I wanted to fix whatever he thought damaged him. I wanted to see the confident and controlled businessman he always was, but I thought of Logan, and in the end, he was all I had. He was the most important person in my life and I couldn’t jump into anything, regardless of how much I wanted it, without thinking clearly.

“We need rules,” I said, without even realizing I was actually agreeing to take a chance on this man in front of me.

One side of his lips quirked up in amusement. “Rules?”

“You don’t touch me while I’m working.”

His eyes darkened instantly and he frowned. “I’m not sure I can keep my hands off you now.”

I laughed softly and took another sip of my wine. “I’m serious, Jack. I need to keep a line between my job and whatever else happens. Otherwise….”

He gently took my empty glass of wine out of my hands, set it on the table behind him and pulled me onto his lap. I was straddling him and when he placed his hands on my hips, I remembered exactly what his hands had done to me earlier. I shifted against him and felt his hard erection instantly. How can he do this to me? One simple touch and I want to come apart at the seams.

“Otherwise, what?” He asked, his voice heavy with desire.

I frowned. “Otherwise I feel like you’re just paying me for sex.”

His eyes widened momentarily before returning to a softer haze. He nodded. “Fine. I get it. But your workday ends when I say it does.”

I shook my head. “No. My workday ends at six and five on nights you don’t need dinner; just like always. And no touching me around Logan either.”

He growled in frustration. I watched the gears in his mind turning trying to figure out a way to get me to change my mind. When he thrust his hips gently into me, I groaned and almost wanted to just give in and screw the rules.

Or him. Either one would work.

“Unless I need you for something else before then.” A wicked smile spread across his lips.

I lowered my gaze to him, giving him the same look I gave Logan when I told him I wasn’t messing around.

He threw his hands up in innocence and smiled roguishly. “Get your head out of the gutter woman. I meant any public appearances I need to make. You’ll go with me.”

“I will?”

“You will.” He leaned in and kissed me gently. Our lips met in the softest, most chaste kiss possible before he pulled back.

“I will,” I whispered softly against his lips. I suddenly didn’t care about my rules, or about maintaining a safe distance. All I knew was that the man sitting beneath me, the same man I’d dreamed about for the last few years admitted to wanting me. I wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible, his warnings about being broken and damaged be damned. I was broken. We could be broken together, and maybe, somehow, we could find a way to fix each other.

I sighed regretfully, wiggled off his couch, and almost laughed at his frown.

“I need to get Logan home and put him to bed.”

He stood up, holding onto my hips and then slowly let me go so I slid down every part of him. Once my feet were shakily on the floor, his hands moved to my waist and he pulled me to him, holding me softly against him and smiled down at me. I swallowed slowly, wondering if he was going to kiss me again, or potentially haul me upstairs to his bed, but he didn’t make any other move.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said roughly. “Bring a dress and pack a bag, because after six o’clock you’re all mine.”

His. It sounded good and left me speechless all over again, so I simply nodded before his hands fell from my waist.

I gathered Logan from the media room where he was still happily lost in Mario land and waved goodnight to Jack before we walked out the door. Tomorrow would change everything. I looked back at Jack’s door, wondering briefly, if I had just made a huge mistake.

I was a walking contradiction.

I didn’t want him to touch me. I wanted all working hours to be completely professional. I needed that clear line of boundaries.

Except all I could think about were his hands on my hips, and lower – pleasing me with his soft lips on my neck, chest, and stomach. I snapped myself out of my lustful daze and repeated the importance of boundaries. Then I kept repeating it for the rest of the train ride, as if merely thinking it over and over again would sear the thoughts into my brain.

I bounced my knee, tapped my foot, and ticked my fingertip across my front two teeth repeatedly only stopping when I noticed the other passengers shooting me annoyed looks. Normally I wouldn’t care, but I didn’t want Logan getting concerned there was something wrong with me.

I looked down at him and smiled. He was “reading” his first chapter book – which mostly just meant he was looking at the pictures. But he was totally enthralled in whatever Stanley was discovering on his latest adventure. I loved having a child who had a passion for reading from such a young age. I smiled at him again, and grabbed my own Kindle, hoping I could get lost in my own book to settle my nerves.

It didn’t work.

It all flew out the door when I walked into Jack’s kitchen after sending Logan to “our room” as he called it.

Jack was sipping his coffee nonchalantly against the counter in the exact spot where my legs had been spread out for his pleasure just the day before.

He grinned smugly. “Good morning.”

He looked delicious dressed in a black suit, wearing the same purple tie he had the previous Saturday night. I flushed immediately and turned my head away.

Pushing off the kitchen counter, he slowly stalked toward me until he was just inches from my ear. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I felt his breath on my ear.

“This doesn’t count as touching, you know.” He chuckled softly as he watched me visibly shiver beneath him.

I cleared my throat before I threw myself at him and took two steps away, drawing that clear line I so desperately needed and didn’t want. I crossed my arms protectively against my stomach and turned to him with my most professional voice.

“What do you need done today?”

He quirked an eyebrow suggestively but when I rolled my eyes at him, he turned and set his coffee mug in his sink.

When he looked back at me, he was completely professional and friendly. It was the same look I had seen every morning for the last five years. I relaxed, knowing we were getting down to business.

“I’m hosting a business dinner next Friday night. I want it catered, but nothing fancy. I’m bringing on a new attorney in our mergers and acquisitions team and want to impress him. He has a lot of influence in town, but I still want it casual.”

“He sounds important.”

Jack nodded. “He is. He’s young, but he’s good. And his family is heavily political. avH I want that connection.” I tried not to grimace. I knew a young powerful lawyer with a political family. The memory of him made me cringe and I brushed it aside immediately. It was a fleeting thought, and an even worse memory that I didn’t want to relive right now.

I must have made a face because Jack looked at me hesitantly before continuing to rattle off a list of typical things he needed done and bought. I patiently took notes the entire time just as I always did.

Besides the teasing first thing, we acted like we had done every single day. This was a piece of cake. I could do this.

He walked out of the kitchen after telling me to have a good day and he’d be home at six. He gave me a pointed the look, but I said nothing, still determined to be completely professional. Then, he stopped in the doorway and leaned up against it.

“There’s an invite on my desk for the Children’s Hospital Charity ball in a few weeks. Respond plus one.”

He turned and left without another word and I felt the color drain from my cheeks. Plus one, but no mention of me accompanying him. Of course there wouldn’t be, the ball was weeks away. Surely our time would be done by then and he’d have me scheduling a new date with him for it.

I felt stupid immediately and emotionally drained from that realization alone and my day hadn’t even begun. I helped myself to a cup of coffee, black, and took it to Jack’s office and began responding to his personal emails.

I hadn’t been working for longer than ten minutes when my cell phone dinged Jack’s personal tone, alerting me to a text message. I grabbed my phone, reluctantly, but couldn’t stop the grin from appearing on my face. I felt foolish all over again.

J: Would you do the honor of accompanying me to a charity ball? Three weeks from Saturday.

I laughed to myself and then responded.

You’re asking me out on a date via text?

I stared at the phone, and smiled again when he responded almost immediately.

J: I told you I’d fuck up this whole dating thing. Say yes, anyway.

His playful tone – and lack of an apology – made me smile. And the fact that he used the word dating.

Okay. I can go with you.

I held the phone in my hand gently, almost willing it to ding again; wanting to know what he had to say. I was just setting it down on the desk when a new text came in.

J: I’ll pick you up tonight at 6:00. Be Ready. Did you pack a dress like I asked?

Technically, he never asked me. He told me to bring a dress, but I didn’t want to waste time arguing with him over a small technicality. Clearly he liked being a bit bossy, and I was discovering that I didn’t necessarily mind.

Yes. Are you taking me out?

J: I am. And don’t wear underwear. I want you bare for me.

Oh my god.

Oh. My. God.

I stared at the text for who knows how long reading the words repeatedly. And then I read it some more wondering if I mis-read it. Surely another message would come through any minute with a winking face, or something alerting me to the fact that he was just joking.

It never came.

But I was incredibly turned on by the whole idea. My hands were sweating and my heart was racing. He didn’t mean it. Surely he didn’t. My dress was short…it already barely covered my rear end and was by far the most provocative dress I owned.

When I called Macy the night before to ask her what I should wear, she told me to go big or go home so I decided to choose a deep burgundy, fitted, one shoulder-strap dress that brought out my blue eyes and showed off my legs. If I wore this tonight with Jack, with no underwear, it would be practically indecent. But even as I tried to talk myself out of it, I knew I would do it. Something in me wanted to do whatever Jack told me to do.