Authors: Ella Celestine
Chapter Three
“You bought a whole new house for us both to live in?” Ruby was incredulous now as she had been an hour ago when Jack showed up at her house and told her he had a surprise.
“It was the perfect solution.”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “What are you up to Jack? I know you’ve got some plan so out with it.”
“No plan. I was going to stay at my house in Malibu, but none of the bedrooms are on the first floor. This one has two bedrooms down here.”
Dammit. How could she stay mad at his extravagance when he was being so sweet? Overprotective and at times overbearing, but still sweet. “But still, did you have to buy it? Normal people would rent for a few months, see how all this goes.” Ruby was convinced he would get sick of playing house about two months after the baby was born, so she was willing to play along with this plan of his. Besides, the house was gorgeous and so was the man.
“I bought it because I want you to have it. Even if we don’t live in it together, forever, I still want you to have it.”
“You can’t give me a house! I already have a house.”
With a casual shrug, he told her, “Rent it out and make some extra money.”
He just had all the answers. She shook her head and did her best to stifle the smile fighting hard to appear. “You…I swear,” she shook her head again. “Give me the tour, then.” Seconds later her hand was buried in his larger one, and his other hand seared her lower back as he guided her up the stairs. Ruby ignored the pulse that beat through her body, the rush of her blood in her ears and the race of her heart. He was just a man. Just the father of her baby. Nothing else.
Jackson stopped at the double doors at the end of the hall and pushed them open. “This is the master bedroom. Bathroom through there and closets through there,” he pointed and two doors on either side of the room.
She gasped because it was beautiful. “This room is perfect.” There was so much natural light she already imagined taking photos of her son in there. “Oh no,” she said as the tears dripped down her face.
“Oh, Ruby,” he pulled her in close and dropped a kiss on top of her curls. “Decorate it however you like.”
She smiled into his chest. “I was just imagining taking photos of the baby in here, with this light.” He smiled up at her, and she turned away. “Put that smile away Jack; we’re doing a tour here.”
That heart stopping smile brightened and she groaned. “Try to keep your lust in check,” he told her and twirled a curl around his finger. “Or not.”
“Dammit,” she grumbled and went to the next room. “Guest room. Child’s room. Guest room. Playroom.” Each room had a purpose and she supposed rich people liked everything to have a purpose. “This is a pretty great house, Jack. But it’s a little too much. If we brought furniture from both our homes, we’d still need more.”
He pulled her arm. “Come on.”
She ignored the pulsing and clenching that signaled her arousal as he guided her back down the stairs, stopping in front of a door with a blue bear on the door. “Okay. Are we going in or…,” she trailed off when he pushed the door open. It was a nursery, already decked out in a gorgeous blonde wood crib, changing table and armoire. “Jack, you…did all this?”
His chest puffed out and he smiled at her. “Let’s just say I should have paid someone to do it.”
She laughed as she walked around the room, gently skipping her hand over the smooth surfaces. “You did great, Jack.” She wiped a tear away. “Thank you.” Without her consent, Ruby’s body rushed into Jack’s arms and wrapped toned brown arms around his waist. “You’re sweet,” she told him with a watery smile.
“Honey I am a lot of things, and sweet isn’t one of them.” Those hot coffee eyes smiled into hers as he lowered his head and kissed Ruby like she was an ice-cold glass of water after a week in the desert. His tongue swept in quickly, slaying and conquering before she could even put up a fight. He knew the lay of the land, yet he explored it thoroughly until she clung to him, her chest heaved against his, heart thudding against his.
His cocky grin was infectious. “That was no sweet kiss, Mr. Silver. That was damned sinful,” she laughed. “Let’s do it again.”
~
“You have to crave something other than mac & cheese and onion rings.” The last five days they’d eaten some type of macaroni and cheese and Jackson wasn’t sure how she found all the different places to deliver. “Our boy needs broccoli, spinach, an apple. Something with some fiber that hasn’t been fried to hell.” He took in her defiant green eyes and knew she wouldn’t fight him.
“He’s the one who wants this! Don’t you think I’m sick of it too?”
No. He didn’t think she was sick of it at all. He’d come home last night to see her eating from the biggest bowl he’d ever seen with so much bacon on top the cheese couldn’t be seen. “Then maybe ignore it tonight and we’ll eat what I brought.” He flashed her that smile he now knew make her knees go wobbly.
Her shoulders slumped. “Fine. Bring out your steamed vegetables and buckwheat…whatever.”
“Have I told you how fabulous your breasts look lately?” He reached out and cupped one breast and hissed. She wasn’t wearing a bra.
“Really? They feel huge.”
He smiled. They were huge, and he loved them. “They’re gorgeous. I could show you if you’d like?” He wiggled his eyebrows, and she laughed.
“If I say yes the little one might starve.”
She was stalling, but Jackson didn’t mind. He found that he was enjoying chasing Ruby, fighting to win her over. Sometimes she was easy. A beautiful orchid or a single exotically colored rose, and she would tear up and kiss the hell out of him. Picking her up a teddy bear holding a giant bag of fun size candy bars and she got horny. Buy her a pretty bracelet and she screamed his head off about trying to buy her instead of getting to know her. “Well we can’t have junior starving, can we?”
Her eyes were glazed over, and she shook her head. “Junior? Doesn’t your social class go for the whole The Second, The Third and all that nonsense?”
He had to laugh again because Ruby did a great job of keeping him humble. She had prejudices about his wealth, but mostly they were funny. “You know I wasn’t born rich, right?”
She frowned. “You weren’t? You
made
all this money?” She softened and smiled. “Congratulations. That’s awesome. Your folks must be very proud.”
With an affectionate smile, he shook his head. “You amaze me.” She hadn’t taken the time to look him up since they’d become reacquainted and she hadn’t salivated over his fortune. “Not really. I mean Mom loves that I’m successful but like someone else I know, she’s not impressed with lavish gifts. Dad, well he loves season tickets.”
Her smile was big and bright. “They sound nice. Have you told them yet?”
“I have. I asked them to give us some time to get used to each other before they came around.”
One burgundy brow lifted suspiciously. “And that worked?”
Damn her for reading him so well. “No. I also sent them on a cruise to Mexico for a month. They get back next week.”
She nodded her head, an amused smile on her face. “Now that seems like a big benefit to being rich. Don’t want to deal with something, set up a lavish vacation.” She finished her dish and stabbed her chopsticks into his noodle dish. “Yum.”
He smirked. “Finally, my wealth has impressed you.”
Ruby reached over and pinched his cheek. “Score one for the one percent.” Jackson was impressed that she was able to hold a serious expression for so long. Just as he opened his mouth to say as much, she collapsed into a fit of giggles.
“You’re a really funny lady.” He bit back a laugh but damn her face was beautiful, all flushed with amusement. Jackson had something else to show her. “Let’s see what you think of this.” He’d worked on it all week while the rooms had been painted as she’d instructed. Hands on her shoulders he turned her to the next door. “Go on, open up.”
She pushed the doors open and gasped. “This is gorgeous.”
He’d had the decorator do it in jewel tones but requested it not be too girly. The results were impressive, even for his discerning tastes. “I gave you the right side since that’s where you sleep now.”
Her green eyes looked up at him in confusion. “What? You think we’re sharing a bed?”
“Of course, we are.” Jackson nudged her inside, keeping his hand resting low on her hip. “I’ve already got some things in here for you,” he opened an armoire to reveal a pile of silky and lacy confections that he most wanted to see her in. “You can wear one now if you’d like,” he gave her a lascivious smile.
“Why would you think sharing a bed is a good idea?”
“We both enjoyed it so much last time, why wouldn’t we share a bed? Our bodies.” He didn’t get why she was fighting it so hard.
“Because things are complicated now. We’re having a kid together. Sex would be…messy.”
Jackson leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “Only if we do it right.” When she shivered, he nipped at her earlobe.
“Stupid man,” she pushed him and stalked off.
Jackson laughed. He was enjoying this game. More than he thought possible.
Chapter Four
“Stop buying me stuff Jack!” They’d only been living together—sharing a room and sleeping in the same bed!—for a few days, and the house was full of stuff. Her closets were full of stuff. Really nice, very expensive stuff. “It’s sweet, but it’s too much.”
He frowned and sat down on the new kitchen table, where Ruby had set the table and made dinner. Against his wishes, of course. “I like to buy you things. You get a smile on your face that makes me feel ten feet tall. I’ll buy you something every day from now until forever to get that smile,” he told her, leering at her ample cleavage. “And more.”
“Don’t think that deep sexy voice is going to get me again, Jack. Because it won’t.” She tried to stand, but he pushed her back down into her seat.
“I’ll get it.” He returned with a pitcher of fresh juice for her and a beer for him. “I bought you that gown because I’d like to take you out and I thought it would look beautiful on you.”
“Dammit Jack. Stop saying such sweet things to me.” Ruby knew the pouting was unattractive, but he was making it impossible not to fall for him. He was charming, sexy as hell and so generous it made her mad. “I’ll go on this date with you if you promise to stop buying me stuff.”
“I’ll try,” he said with a big grin that told her he would do no such thing.
“Nothing else this week,” she offered.
“Nothing extravagant,” he countered.
Ruby set her fork down and rested her chin in her hand. “Nothing more than one hundred dollars.”
He smiled quickly. Too quickly. “Deal.”
“I don’t trust you but know this Jackson Silver, if you renege on this deal I will find some way to torture you.”
He leaned in and surprised her with a kiss. “You torture me every day, sweetheart.”
Damn she loved and hated when he did that. And the problem was he’d been doing it on a regular basis, and Ruby was walking around like five feet, eight inches of pregnant lusty want. The showerhead wasn’t as effective as it had been in the past, with the potency of Jack in bed with that sexy sleepy
I just woke up
voice. That tight butt or those strong arms that somehow ended up wrapped around her every morning. He was too much man, and she was entirely too horny. “Right back atcha, Jack.” He didn’t need to know that but for some reason, she wanted to this time. It felt right.
His brown gaze was liquid onyx as it soaked her in, caressed her overheated skin. “Good to know,” he said in a husky breath.
Ruby was in trouble. Big ol’ throw your panties at your drop dead gorgeous baby daddy and beg him to fuck your brains out, kind of trouble. She wanted Jack, and she was having a hard—impossible—time resisting him. Her green eyes rounded in shock when he leaned in closer.
“Resistance is futile.”
“Smug mind-reading bastard,” she mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes when he laughed so hard he cried.
~
Jackson was a man who could admit when he was beaten. Ruby was a force to be reckoned with when it came to torturing a man in a way that had him taking several cold showers a day. She let him take her blood pressure without too much hassle each day but otherwise she did her best to drive him mad with lust.
And he’d brought it all on himself. He thought he was being so clever, buying up tons of gifts under a hundred bucks and sending them to her, leaving them around the house. Nearly every one of them had brought a smile to her face. And he’d enjoyed every second of her tearing into him about breaking their deal. “I did exactly as we agreed. No more than one hundred dollars.”
She’d narrowed her green gaze and told him, “You did this to yourself.”
She’d hung up and he—foolishly—laughed to himself at her threat. Then he’d come home to a house that smelled of garlic and basil and fresh tomatoes and…roses. The house was an orgasm for the senses with soft jazz and even softer lighting throughout the house. When he’d stopped in the kitchen, he’d nearly swallowed his tongue when she turned around wearing a see through peach
thingy
. It barely covered her firm round ass, and it put every mile of her legs on display for him to eat up with his gaze. Her nipples were darker than they’d been before, large and hardened to points that pressed against the
thingy
. He’d been hard all through dinner, and the delicious mousse she moaned over with every bite left him in pain.
She’d done it for a week straight. Every night a different color, a different style and a different part of her driving him crazy. He loved it. But tonight she wouldn’t tease him. Tonight she would give in to what they both wanted.
They both would.
He had a special night planned for her. One Jackson hoped would solidify a path for the future.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
He twirled and grunted. “Holy hell woman. You look stunning.” Her smile told him his words had pleased her.
“Thanks. You look mighty delicious, Jack.”
He smiled. She didn’t know it, but he loved that she still called him Jack. Everyone he knew called him Mr. Silver or Jackson. Even his parents. Not Ruby. With her, it was just Jack. “And if you play your cards right you might just get lucky.”
She walked over to him in the gorgeous rose gown that pushed her breasts up and out. He was happy he’d chosen it himself because she would have balked at the price tag, and because she looked stunning in it. Ruby wrapped her arm around his. “It’s a good thing I always carry a loaded deck.”
Jackson coughed and nearly stumbled across the newly waxed floor. “What am I going to do with you,” he grumbled under his breath.
“I can’t wait to find out again,” she replied.
By the time they arrived at their first destination, the sexual tension hung thick in the air between them. “You okay all the way over there?”
She smiled prettily. “Yeah. I was excited to get out tonight and I figured sitting over here would make sure we made it to wherever we’re going.”
He was shocked by her honesty, laughing at her blunt words. “Good idea. But we’re here.” Here was a private table on the bluffs overlooking the city. The table was set, and twinkling lights hung all around.
“It’s beautiful,” she gasped, gripping his arms tighter. “Are we eating here?”
Jackson took advantage of the way she smiled into the sky and wrapped his arms around her middle, kissing her neck. “We’ll have sparkling cider just in time for sunset.”
“This is really cool Jack. Thank you,” she leaned against his chest and looked up. “I knew underneath that bad boy exterior was a sweetheart.”
“You really shouldn’t say such things when I have you all the way up here and all to myself,” he whispered, nipping at her earlobe.
“You really shouldn’t tease a hungry pregnant lady. And Jack, I’m starved.”
Damn the seductress. She was intent on keeping him rock hard throughout dinner. “Come on, let’s get to know each other while we eat.” And they did. For four hours they sat and ate, walked and ate some more.
“Did you go to an Ivy League school?”
He nodded. “Two of them.” He listened as she told him all about her brief stint in art school and then journalism school.
“Then one day I photographed the end of year fashion show, got some exposure in a few magazines and there you go.” She told him about her mother’s hunt for love in all the wrong places and how it had ended with her strangled to death. She told him she suspected her father was mixed race, which explained those pretty green eyes, but that she never knew him.
It had been a surprising date in every possible way. Ruby was smart with a wicked sense of humor; she gave good flirt and her melodic laugh touched in a place he thought dead inside him. He’d never had so much fun talking to a woman. “So you really are a country girl disguised as a city woman.” He laughed to himself at the image of her with a cowboy hat low on her head and her lithe body atop a horse.
“I was older in the country, so I was able to appreciate it more and formed, maybe not a connection with nature, but definitely I found peace.”
Jackson didn’t think she’d quite found peace, but he could tell she was working on it. The way she tried to trust him more, sometimes came to him when she needed help. It was rare still, but it happened. “So after the baby is born you want to move to a ranch and raise some horses?”
Her laugh was deep and went straight to his dick. “Only if there was enough land to give me interesting things to photograph.” Ruby tilted her head and smiled at him. “Thank you for tonight, Jack. I had a wonderful time.”
“But?” He steeled himself for the disappointment when she smiled at him.
“But if this night is headed where I think it is, we should go before I fall asleep on you.”
Jackson stood and reached for her. “But first, a good night kiss.” He pressed his mouth to her, taking advantage of her slightly parted lips by slipping in and tasting her tongue. He pulled it into his mouth, relishing how she clung to him and moaned into his mouth. There was too much space between their bodies but those delectable breasts well within reach.
“If that’s how you kiss goodnight, you must always get lucky.” Her voice was shaky, her pulse racing at the base of her neck.
Jackson didn’t know about all that, but he smiled up at the stars in the sky, thanking the heavens that tonight he would get lucky. Very, very lucky.
~
After all her big talk, Ruby found she felt considerably shy about getting naked with Jack. Oh, she wanted him. Even more than she had in that cabin in Sequoia National Park, but her body had actually been that of a twenty-five year-old woman. Now she had the body of a twenty five-year-old whale. But her body hummed with electricity, pulsed with desire and she knew she would have to get over her shyness.
“You don’t have to do this Ruby.”
Her shoulders fell, and she nodded. “You don’t want to. I understand.” She turned toward the bathroom and disappeared behind the door. It hurt, but probably less than seeing his face at the sight of her fully unclothed. The pounding on the door startled her.
“Dammit Ruby get out here. You don’t understand a thing.” He continued to pound on the door until it opened.
“What do you need?”
His gaze was dark, intense and before she could register anything else, his mouth was on hers. His lips soft against hers as they took their time teasing, tasting and exploring her all over. She instantly softened her stiff posture and sank into his embrace as much as she could with a nearly cooked baby between them. Jack held her close; one hand speared through her tamed curls and the other gently kneading her ass. She moaned. “You dammit, I need you.”
She purred against his mouth then his neck, leaving a trail of wet open mouth kisses down his neck and the triangle of exposed hair at his neck. “I need you too, Jack. But I need you to want this. Want me.”
Ruby gasped when he spun her around so quickly she’d felt momentarily dizzy. But when he lowered the zipper at her back and kissed a wet trail down her back, she gasped and shuddered and cried out at the sensation. Wet and warm and sensual. That was how his mouth always felt and tonight it left a trail of scorched flesh in its wake. Before she could register anything other than his mouth on her skin she felt cool air brush against her sensitive nipples and hissed out a breath.
“You are gorgeous, Ruby. Don’t ever question how much I want you.”
But do you love me?
That question scared the hell out of her, and there was no reason to ask it. Why would he love her when she didn’t love him? Did she? Oh damn, she had no idea. Ruby didn’t do love. Had gone through much of her life avoiding love, running from it. Then his mouth closed over her nipple, and all thoughts of love were forgotten, and she was lost in the moment. His mouth made hot sweet love to her breasts, and she was crying and moaning, arching to feed him more of her.
“You drive me crazy,” he growled and released her with a loud pop, making quick work of his shirt and pants, leaving him in nothing but a pair of slate gray boxer briefs that did nothing to hide the long hard column of flesh straining against the fabric. Then he was sliding her lacy panties down her legs and kissing her swollen belly, and she was a goner.
“Jack,” she panted, fingers curling around his blonde waves to pull him up to her. Ruby couldn’t help it; she needed another taste of him and she took it. The kiss was so hot and heady she felt her knees buckle, and his hands tighten around her to keep her upright.
“Ruby,” he panted back at her. “I need you now,” he growled and laid down across the bed.
“Jack, please.” She squirmed to the edge of the bed, feet flat leaving her completely exposed to his view. And when she looked, she sucked in a breath at the needy expression in his gaze.
He knelt between her legs and brushed two fingers through her wet folds. “You’re so wet for me,” he plunged a finger into her depths, and she cried out, begging for more. His head dipped low, and the next thing she felt was his mouth curled around that bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs.
It was fantastic. It was glorious. Stars exploded behind her eyes and her hips bucked. “Jack no more. I can’t take it,” she panted. “Inside now.”
He chuckled. “You’re a little bossy when you get horny.” His brown eyes sparkled with amusement as he grabbed her ankles and rested her legs against his chest, palming her thighs to keep them open. “Is this what you want Ruby?” Jack fisted himself, coating his erection in her juices while she squirmed and made sexy little mewling sounds.