The Dragon (G.O.N.Y. - Double Dragon) (32 page)

Ramsey wasn’t appeased. He should have told him outright. “No more
suggestions
. You answer to me, not Jezebel.”

Vince was silent for long moments, standing next to him outside the large conference room at Carter Investors.

“She’s right you know,” Vince finally said, his voice amused and easy.

“About?”

“You have been irrational lately.”

Ramsey didn’t bother to deny it. He’d suspected he was being a bit over-the-top with certain things and hearing it now from two different sources only confirmed it. “She’s pregnant. I’m making sure they’re fine.”

“Yes, and being irrational while doing it.”

He sighed.

Next to him, Vince chuckled. “I’m not complaining, Ram. It’s fun to watch.”

“I’m sure it is,” Ramsey muttered, eyeing his watch again.

“It’s been forty-five minutes. She said they’d break in an hour.” When he continued to look at the door, Vince added, “And I’m sure if something was wrong with the only female, the only
pregnant
female in that room, we would have heard a commotion by now.”

Fifteen minutes later, the door opened and a flustered man all but ran out and headed for the elevator bank. When no one else followed, Ramsey walked to the opening and looked in. Standing at the head of a glossy oval shaped table, one hand on her extended belly, Jezebel looked at ease, smiling, shaking hands, making small talk, being the successful CEO she was. He was reminded of the first time he’d seen her, giving that speech, commanding the attention of all. She was in her element here. This was her world. Her eyes caught his over the heads of her board and she smiled before returning her attention to the older man speaking to her.

Ramsey moved back to where Vince leaned against the wall, observant and ready despite his lazy stance. Seated at the end of the hallway, two shadows looked around the calm, quiet workspace and awaited his instructions.

“Satisfied?” his cousin asked.

For the first time since he’d left the house this morning, Ramsey smiled. “Very.”

***

Jezebel sighed and forgave Ramsey yet again.

She’d spent less than three hours at Carter Investors and she’d barely managed to keep her eyes open on the drive back to Long Island. Worse yet, Ramsey had taken it as his cue to lift her into their house like some helpless baby, and would have taken her up the stairs if she hadn’t drawn the line there. Clearly, the man was lifting more at the gym to pick her up with such ease. After a long soak in the tub, she’d emerged to find him on their bed, laptop open as he typed away at keys. The room smelled sweet, of cinnamon and something else, and a quick look around had her locating the two scented candles that burned on.

“Do you need help?”

She would have shaken her head if she wasn’t mentally exhausted. Of course she did. She was holding a bottle of cocoa-butter moisturizing lotion. Ramsey only seemed to query whether she needed help when it was obvious that she did. Every other time, he volunteered his services.

Before she could respond, he grinned and closed his laptop. He took the lotion from her as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Rolling up his dark gray shirt-sleeves and pulling his pants up a bit, he knelt before her. As his strong hands began to work her calves, Jezebel sighed, leaned back, balanced on the palms of her hands, and relaxed.

“How was your meeting?” he asked as minutes passed in silence.

They hadn’t discussed it on the ride back. She’d been tired and Ramsey was content to let her use him as a pillow.

“Great.” She smiled down at him when he lifted a brow. “They reinstated me as CEO.”

“And all is right in the world again?” He grinned.

Jezebel nodded. “Yes.” She’d gone to the meeting prepared for battle. Over the last week, she’d been in contact with Marlo, her demoted undersecretary. Jezebel had done her research, writing out reports and compiling the data to back her up. Before she’d left this morning, she’d had Marlo print them, keep them in a secure location, and bring them to her once she arrived at her company. When the board had demanded the reason for the meeting, she’d laid it on thick, telling them that if they valued their investments, they needed someone better skilled than Reed Dalton in charge. The man in question had defended himself but Jezebel had been ruthless, dismissing his Stanford degree and his years of experience in light of the damage he’d done to her company in the few months he’d had control. The value of their stock was down as was their reputation. He’d invested too much, too quickly, and the investments had been subpar. They’d be lucky to break even on them. With hard evidence staring them in the face, and Jezebel pulling rank, the board had seen things her way in the first hour. The second and third had been them brainstorming how to clean up Dalton’s mess. “All is right with the world for now.”

“I’m glad.” He was at her thighs now, his firm fingers pressing into her stiff muscles. He stood. “Lie back.”

Jezebel stared up at him. “Huh?”

He smirked. “You’re tense, baby.” When she continued to stare at him stupidly, he moved into the bathroom and returned with two towels, which he spread on the bed behind her. “Take off the robe and lie back.”

Fifteen minutes later, naked and being rubbed down by a professional masseuse in a bedroom that smelled suspiciously like a spa, Jezebel couldn’t help but smile. After minutes of working her legs, her shoulders, her arms, and rubbing cocoa butter into her stretch marks, he’d turned to her hands. He was working her fingers, stretching them, caressing them, when something cold slid along one finger. When it didn’t grow warm, but only pressed insistently against her skin, Jezebel lifted her hand to stare at it.

She ended up pushing herself up, to make sure the strange angle wasn’t playing tricks on her. No, it wasn’t a trick. On her ring finger was a blood-red oval-shaped stone surrounded by an assortment of small diamonds. Another row of larger diamonds ran directly under it in a loose, figure eight that eventually branched out into the platinum band. It was simple and understated, extremely elegant, and definitely the most beautiful piece of jewelry she’d ever seen. And it fit perfectly.

“Like it?” Ramsey’s voice pulled her from her admiration and she turned to find him on one knee beside the bed, a black engagement box in one hand as he looked up at her expectantly.

“Is this a ruby?”

“I wanted a stone that was beautiful, elegant, and resilient to match the qualities I admire in you.”

Well damn, Jezebel thought, looking between the beautiful ring and the gorgeous man who’d given it to her. If that wasn’t exactly what she’d want to hear in a proposal. She definitely wasn’t one of those women who cried over sentimental things but her eyes felt warm, and a bit misted.

“Jezebel?” he continued, still on bended knee. Despite the tradition of it, she couldn’t help but also realize that she was heavily pregnant and naked on his bed as he proposed. She smiled. From the beginning, when he’d given her his full body massage, inclusive of red cream special, they’d been backwards. Ramsey cleared his throat. “Baby?” She waited. The lopsided grin that split his lips should have warned her. “Are you finally going to make an honest man out of me?”

She snorted.

When he took her lips, Jezebel parted hers and accepted defeat. She loved him. Yes, there were things about his life that she disliked, things she couldn’t have around herself or her family, but he was trying. She saw it daily, weekly. One of the first things they’d done when she returned to New York was sit down with the FBI and the U.S. Marshalls. Her entire team, including Brandon, had been initially present. Jezebel was glad to see that Ramsey hadn’t lied to her about their health. It had been a very formal, rehearsed affair, with three well-paid lawyers seated beside her and Ramsey advising on whether or not to answer questions. In the end, Jezebel had signed a stack of documents, and ignoring Brandon Erickson’s look of disapproval, had left with Ramsey and his team of attorneys.

Additionally, Ramsey left for work at 7am and returned at 5pm. He even brought some of his work home, at times asking her input as she sat on the bed watching him punch in numbers into some spreadsheets. She’d called his office numerous, random times, at first to check to see if he was lying and later, just because she wanted to hear his voice. It would take months, maybe even years to cast off the remnants of his past, but it was possible. It had to be. Ramsey Stone loved her and she was still with him despite the crazy, scary, painful things she’d dealt with because of his ‘other’ lifestyle. She was still here, and Jezebel didn’t see herself leaving anytime soon. She loved the man and wanted to be with him. He was trying and so would she.   

Jezebel squealed when he lifted her from the bed and slowly lowered her to her feet.

“That felt like a yes,” he murmured, smiling all the while.

“Did it feel so different than the maybe?” she teased.

Ramsey nodded. “That was definitely a yes.”

“Yes.”

He froze, as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly.

“Yes, Kang Jae Ramsey Stone, I’ll marry you.”

As that large smile split his lips, Jezebel felt her lips lift in answer. He kissed her slowly and hugged her close. “You won’t regret it, baby.”

“I better not,” she murmured, sliding her arms as far as they could go around his waist, which wasn’t far at all, and turning to her side to rest her cheek against his cotton shirt.

When he pulled away, it was to look down at her belly and smile. Moving to his knees again, he

placed both hands on her skin and pressed a soft kiss to her belly. “So, five of
these
, huh?”

One look at her face and he chuckled and took up his cause with her belly. “Don’t you want brothers and sisters? Of course you do. You want to be a big brother to four of them. We’ll have to convince your
omma
that five is a lucky number…” As he continued his conversation with “his son”, Jezebel slid her hand into his hair. He smiled up at her before returning his attention to her belly.

Jezebel sighed when he kissed her belly again, and stroked her fingers through his hair. In addition to being a loving and supportive husband, Kang Jae Ramsey Stone was going to be an amazing father. She’d be lying if she said motherhood didn’t scare her, but Ramsey was so attentive, so careful, and caring, she couldn’t help but feel excitement at the thought of sharing this journey with him. They were better together than apart, and that had to count for something when raising a child.

“What are you thinking about,
omma
?” Ramsey teased, coming to his feet. She’d heard him refer to Hannah like that enough times to know it was some form of ‘mom’. She shivered at the slight chill on the air and he moved around her. Before she could turn to see where he’d gone, he was draping her robe over her shoulders. As she slid her arms through the fluffy encasing, he pulled the lapels closed and loosely tied the belt above her belly.

“My daughter’s going to be a lucky little girl.”

“Your daughter?” Somewhere over the course of Ramsey insisting it was a boy, Jezebel decided she was having a little girl, a very
girly
little girl. She was playing devil’s advocate but she felt compelled. It was the feminist thing to do.

She nodded.

He smirked and his onyx eyes twinkled. “My son takes offense to being called a girl.”

“My daughter takes offense to being referred to as a boy.” She pursed her lips in a mock scowl. “You’re going to give her a complex.”

Ramsey opened his mouth, closed it and shrugged. “Boy, girl, doesn’t matter. I’ll love him or her as much as I love my wife.”

“I didn’t know you had a wife,” she murmured, secretly loving the possessive way he used the term. “You know, bigamy is illegal in this part of the world and you’re supposed to be avoiding illegal activities―”

He kissed her, capturing her surprised laugh in his mouth as he smacked her bottom for good measure. Jezebel sighed and moaned when his hand began to massage the slight hurt. She’d met her match, her equal, the man who filled that empty part of her with something she hadn’t known she was missing. She’d met him and she was officially keeping him.

***

Just two weeks later, on one of the coldest days in February, Jezebel Carter gave birth to a seven pound little girl. Grace Lillian Stone was born at 5:34 p.m. With her small face, tiny mouth and barely opened eyes, she was the most beautiful thing Ramsey had ever seen. The twenty-hour ordeal had all been worth it, just to cradle the light bundle in his arms as he was doing now. On the hospital bed before him, Jezebel stared at them with tired eyes and a weary little smile. She’d just breastfed for the first time and Ramsey had watched in awe, much as he’d done for the past hours when she’d labored and pushed his child into the world, as mother and daughter bonded over the simple, natural act. When Grace was finished, and burped with the help of a nurse, he’d taken his daughter for his share of the bonding.

Close family members had come to share in the joy of the birth but once Jezebel’s contractions had grown strong, Ramsey had kicked them all out. Jezebel had grown distressed at having too many people giving her instructions. He’d even gone as far as to have Vince stationed at the door to prevent anyone―
Delilah
―from sneaking back in. When Grace finally came, bawling loudly to announce her presence to the world, he’d allowed visits with Jezebel and their newborn before clearing the room again. Jezebel needed her rest, and his little Grace was well-looked after right now.