Undercover Attraction (33 page)

Her eyes went instantly to him, and she
reached for the hand he was holding out to her. Alex gently lowered
her, pulled out her chair, and left them, quietly sliding the patio
door closed behind him.

Jacob helped Jenna in her chair, dropping a
kiss on her bewildered lips.

"I thought this was just a dinner," she
said, barely having air enough to push the words past her lips.

Jacob just smiled that quirky one-sided
smile. "It is."

She looked around in wonder. "This is
amazing."

A covered tray sat next to the table on a
smaller rolling cart. Two glasses of champagne sat on the table,
and she reached out for hers, taking a sip, letting the bubbles
dance on her tongue for a second while she savored the moment. Even
the champagne was great. Top shelf. Probably cost him a
fortune.

He slid a silver plate in front of her,
pulling off the cover with a flourish. "Sicilian shrimp with orange
sauce, steamed vegetables, and real French breadsticks."

"Oh my God." It smelled wonderful to her,
and hadn't she mentioned earlier to Jacob that she had been wanting
shrimp?

Jacob served himself an exact plate, and
opened her napkin for her, helping her settle it before taking up
his fork.

They ate in silence, except for the tiny
gasps of pleasure from Jenna.

He found himself watching her more than he
ate, and made a mental note to do this for her frequently. He
couldn't wait until those sighs and moans of pleasure were for him
again, instead of food, but for now he would happily settle with
watching her face as she tasted the exquisite food.

He quickly cleaned the table when she was
done, surprised she had left even the garnish, as healthy as her
appetite was.

Dessert was her favorite. Lava cake. But
this time it was gourmet, made with the finest ingredients that
made the diner's seem like a jelly bean compared to a chocolate
cake.

Her sounds were almost orgasmic, and if he
didn't know better, he could easily find himself jealous.

She was muttering words of love with every
bite. Things like "You silly man, I love you," and "I'm going to
marry the chef" and "I want to have this cake's babies."

He couldn't help but laugh at her gusto.

She raised an eyebrow when she looked up,
noticing he hadn't even taken a bite of his cake. "Are you going to
eat that?" she asked, the spoon innocently at the corner of her
mouth.

Jacob laughed again, and slid his dessert
towards her, trying not to comment on her love of chocolate. He now
knew the way to her heart if ever they were in a tiff.

She finished the last few bites off, then
closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, sighing in bliss. Her
sated smile went straight to his heart, and it clenched when she
opened her eyes and said, "I love you, Jacob."

He smiled, grabbed the rose from beneath his
chair, and moved behind her. "I love you, too, baby."

She leaned her head into him as he slowly
skirted the rose down her exposed neck. She shivered in
response.

"Jacob-"

"Shh." He silenced her with the rose on her
lips. "Just listen."

He followed the path of her neck with the
satin soft petals, dipping into her cleavage, chuckling when she
moaned.

"I love you, Jenna. More than life." She
looked up at him, offering her lips, and he couldn't resist leaning
down to take them in a consuming kiss that left them both weak.

He pulled away grudgingly, continuing to
stroke her with the rose. "I can't ever imagine my life without you
in it. You make me complete." He kissed her eyelids as he moved to
her side, kneeling down beside her before taking her mouth again in
another kiss that just left them both wanting more.

"I feel the… same way," she said against his
mouth between kisses.

He released her mouth and held the rose up,
"Jenna, will you marry me?" He turned the rose slowly, until the
ring glinted in the soft candle light, hanging on the upper stem of
leaves.

Jenna started crying.

That wasn't the exact reaction he was hoping
for. He sat the rose on the table, and reached for her, pulling her
onto his lap. "Oh, baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset
you."

Her head shook back and forth as she cried.
"Oh, Jacob. I love you… so much," she said between sobs.

Jacob was confused. "I don't understand. Why
are you crying?" He had felt his heart tear in half when she hadn't
answered yes automatically as she had in his visions, but he was
determined to find out why, and make it better.

She took a deep shuddering breath. "Because
I'm so happy!"

Her arms went around him and she sobbed
against his chest, wetting his suit jacket.

Still confused
, Jacob thought. "So
you don't want to marry me?"

"No!" She yelled into his chest. "I mean
'no' you're wrong, not 'no' I don't want to get married."

So she said yes?
Jenna had completely
befuddled him. This was so not how he had envisioned this earlier.
Why did women have to be so damn confusing during important moments
like this? A simple yes or no would have worked.

"So that's a…"

She giggled, "Yes!" Her arms went around his
neck, and she planted a slippery kiss on his lips.

His heart swelled in happiness, and if she
wasn't injured, he would have twirled her around. He slid the ring
on her finger, swelling with pride as she adored it.

The yellow rose fell forgotten to the table
as he scooped her up and carried her to his bed.

Jenna looked down at the little stick, almost in a panic. Jacob
stood just outside the door, waiting for the result of the tiny at
home pregnancy test, and she vaguely wondered why he wasn't worried
or anxious.

How could she be pregnant? How could she
tell Jacob that they would be starting their marriage already with
a family on the way? How would she announce this to her family?
I'm getting married! Oh, and by the way, I'm also having a baby,
but we didn't know until after the engagement, I swear.

She didn't want to be one of those brides
who everyone whispered about behind their hands at the wedding. The
one who the old ladies tittered 'Oh, it's not like the old days.
They're getting married because she's expecting, not because he
loves her and she decided to wait until marriage.'

Oh, God
! Her head dropped into her
hands as she sat on the toilet.

She eyed the white stick again, rubbing her
eyes to see if it had changed at all.

Nope. Still there. The pink plus sign in the
little window shouted at her
Pregnant! Pregnant!
Pregnant!

She had only been engaged for two weeks. Two
measly weeks! Talk about a short engagement. There hadn't even been
time to enjoy the benefits of being Jacob's fiancé yet.

Her brother doesn't even know she's
engaged!

This was too much information to spring on
him all at once.

"Jenna? Are you okay in there?" Jacob's
voice reached out to her through the door, worry making it sound a
bit huskier than usual.

"Fine, thanks. I'll be out in a few." Her
voice sounded small in the large bathroom.

She thought back to the past week. About how
she had felt great on Monday, but for the remainder of the week she
had been nauseous. Waking up had had her rushing to the bathroom,
worshipping the porcelain throne. Specific smells had her stomach
lurching. Even moving too quickly had made her head swim and her
stomach heave.

At first she had thought that her concussion
had relapsed badly. But then Jacob suggested she take a pregnancy
test, looking smug as he said it. Her eyes had narrowed, forbidding
him from even mentioning it. But a few more days passed, and the
symptoms hadn't lessened, and Jacob kept reminding her, in detail,
of every time that they had made love without protection. His words
not only made her hot and bothered, but also made her begin to
wonder if she were pregnant herself.

She had told him this morning that she would
take a pregnancy test before calling the doctor, and Jacob had
quickly went to the nearest pharmacy, returning with two plastic
bags full of various tests.

He had relinquished every one of them with a
smile, even though she wondered at his enthusiasm.

Jenna placed the stick next to the other
four she had previously lined up on the counter. They couldn't
all
be wrong, right?

Maybe one more,
she thought, reaching
for another rectangular box from the shopping bags sitting next to
her on the floor.

She filled her small cup full of water at
the sink, drank it, then another. Thus had been her routine for the
past hour, and she promised herself this would be the last time she
did this.

She waited patiently until her bladder felt
full, the quickly skimmed the leaflet for the test. Same
instructions.

"Eeewww."

"What? Did you say something?" Jacob's voice
asked.

"No," she said abruptly.

Why do you have to pee on a stick to see
if you're pregnant
? It seemed absolutely ridiculous to her, not
to mention gross, but she did her business, just as instructed. She
sat the capped stick on the back of the toilet and squeezed her
eyes shut.

Four minutes passed by agonizingly slow, her
foot tapping in impatience the only sound in the room as she
counted to sixty four times.

She squinted one eye open, peeking over at
the stick.

A big blue minus sign.
A minus sign?
She grappled around on the floor, tossing aside plastic wrappers
and cardboard boxes until she found the leaflet.

Oh. Minus means plus. No, wait- yep,
negative meant positive
. She sighed and let the paper fall back
to the floor.

Her emotions were all mixed up. She didn't
know whether to laugh or cry. What if she was already pregnant
during the attack? What if the x-rays at the hospital had harmed
the baby? What if the drug had? Suddenly, worry pounded at her
hard, and she felt panic well up again, making her throat tight and
her chest constrict.

A family of her own had been her dream for
so long, and now, Fate was handing her both a husband and a baby in
one whopping slap. It was an unexpected wrinkle in her plans.

Seriously, she had always thought, first
comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Jenna with a baby
carriage.

But nope, not for her. Everything had to be
one big backwards mess. She took a deep breath, washed her uncast
hand slowly as she tried to find her courage, and opened the
door-

To find a big fat smile on Jacob's face.

Her eyes rounded. "You knew!" she gasped in
outrage.

He chuckled, pulling her against his chest
even as she pushed him away.

She jabbed him in the chest. "You knew and
didn't tell me." Her eyes narrowed. "How did you know?"

He finally succeeded in dragging her to him
and nuzzled against her hair. "The doctor at the hospital. He
didn't want to tell you and cause you stress while healing."

She was outraged. "You didn't tell me? How
could you?"

He pushed her back far enough to look into
her eyes, cradling her face in his hands. "I was hoping that you
would agree to marry me first."

Thoughts flew through her head, and in
horror she realized that there was a possibility that he had
proposed to do the right thing. "Are you marrying me because we're
having a baby?"

"What? No!" He ran his fingers through his
hair, making it spike out, "How could you even think that? I
want
to marry you. Not because of a baby, not because of any
reason other than I'm in love with you and want to spend the rest
of my life with you."

Jenna believed him. Despite the niggling
little voice inside of her that kept saying the she would never be
good enough for him, she honestly believed that he was telling her
the truth. If he hadn't truly loved her, he wouldn't have asked.
Not after the way his mother had left him and Alex so easily.

She hobbled up to him, and pulled his head
down to hers. "I love you," she whispered against his lips. "I'm
sorry for thinking that."

Jacob scooped her up and carried her to his
bed, showing her with his mouth just how much he loved her, without
words.

#

The wedding was beautiful. It had taken all
of two months to get everything in order, and that was only because
Jacob had the money to cover rush orders.

Jenna looked exquisite in her ivory satin
gown, finally out of all casts, and her bridesmaids, Mac, Shea, and
Taylor all looked at her in envy. The maid of honor, however, was
only looking at the best man throughout the entire ceremony, and
even dropped the ring when the best man had winked at her.

The bride and groom had a good laugh at the
altar about that, when Jenna's niece, Stephanie- her brother's
youngest daughter and flower girl- had climbed under Jenna's dress
to find the ring.

Jacob had repeatedly told Jenna that they
should just elope, get married by Elvis, and run away on the
honeymoon. Jenna, however, had promptly informed him that if he
wanted her, then he would do it her way.

So there they stood, beneath the colorful
stained glass at the large chapel that Jacob had gone to as a
child, repeating their vows and gazing lovingly into one another's
eyes.

Jacob had never looked so happy, standing
there with his fingers laced with his bride's, his eyes never
leaving her face, and mouthing 'I love you' as the preacher read
verses from the Bible. His voice had come out strong and sure,
repeating everything the preacher bid him to, adding a bit here and
there about keeping Jenna protected and safe for as long as they
both shall live.