“One,” Jackson whispers against her ear.
His breath is hot and distracting, and she closes her eyes to concentrate. Maybe there’s some way I can trick him, she thinks. Pretending to have my period worked with Andrew, but I had time to prepare fake blood for that. I don’t think Jackson would just take my word for it.
“Two,” Jackson says with his lips against her jaw.
I’m almost out of time, Gabrielle thinks. If I can’t fake my period, maybe I can find another way to disgust him? He seems like a particular man. I don’t remember much about our time together that afternoon, but I don’t think he kissed me even once. At least not on the lips. Maybe he’s afraid of germs, or he’s saving kissing for a true romance? Either way, it doesn’t matter.
“Three,” Jackson says.
Gabrielle lifts her head and throws her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. She puckers her lips and moves to kiss him, but at the last minute, he jerks his head to the side. Her lips land wetly on his cheek.
“Afraid of germs?” Gabrielle asks.
“Or are you worried Jessica will find out about this? I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Jackson frowns at the mention of Jessica, and his face goes dark. Gabrielle instantly regrets her decision—if he turns violent, there’s nothing she can do to stop him. But the stormy look passes almost as quickly as it came.
His face relaxes, and Gabrielle finds herself staring intently into his icy blue eyes. He pulls his head away, and she finds herself looking at his sharp jawbone, his high nose, his full lips. He’s almost shockingly beautiful, she thinks with surprise.
Before she realizes what she’s doing, she grabs his face between her palms and pulls his lips onto hers. She sucks on his bottom lip and then gently nibbles it, keeping her eyes open to watch his reaction. His pale blue eyes are shockingly close, and his long eyelashes tickle her skin. His mouth seems completely frozen.
She arches into him and continues to kiss his warm lips. He presses them together in mute refusal but seems unable to pull himself away. Good, she thinks. If he’s horrified by my kissing, I might be able to get out of this after all.
Jackson lets Gabrielle kiss him, but he doesn’t kiss her back. His indifference makes her bold: she runs her fingers through his hair, strokes his back, and licks his lips with her tongue. His eyes remain wide open and cold as ice. Finally, she pulls away from him, panting for breath.
“Oh, is that all?” Jackson asks calmly.
“I thought you wanted me to please you with my mouth,” Gabrielle says with fake innocence.
Jackson rolls his eyes and asks, “Is that what you thought I meant?”
“What else could you have meant?” Gabrielle asked, taking her hands off his face.
Jaxon grabs her hands and presses them over her head. He leans down and kisses her deeply, forcing her mouth open and dueling her tongue with his own. His h.i.p.s bucked against her, and she m.o.a.ns without meaning too.
Waylen paces anxiously back and forth in his study. Leilani still refuses to talk to him, and he’s beginning to lose patience. He knows it was wrong of him to shoot Charles, but Leilani refuses to believe that Charles was drugging her. Such a stubborn woman, Waylen thinks. I know that two wrongs don’t make a right, but what was I supposed to do? Did she want me to sit idly by while Charles drugged her?
Waylen sits down and then jumps back to his feet and starts pacing again. He wonders if Charles’ hormone is what changed Leilani’s personality, making her stubborn and difficult to deal with. He even asked Dr. Walters to investigate the matter secretly. Dr. Walters said that the change was probably caused by the shock to her system when she jumped into the sea, but Waylen isn’t sure he believes that.
“When and where does Andrew want to meet?” Waylen asks Robert.
“Mr. Clifford has asked that we meet tomorrow night, but he said that we could choose the place,” Robert says.
“Tomorrow night?” Waylen asks, chewing his lip.
If Leilani doesn’t forgive me, and soon, Andrew is going to see just how strained our relationship is, Waylen thinks. The thought makes his skin crawl. Andrew will do anything to press an advantage, and Waylen wants Andrew to think that his relationship with Leilani is as strong as ever.
“Mrs. Bamford has just returned to the bedroom, and she’s locked the door again,” Robert announces.
“She’s refusing to let anyone in.”
Waylen grabs a glass paperweight from the desk and chucks it across the room. The sound of the shattering glass gives him an immediate sense of relief. But then he remembers Leilani’s fierce, stubborn look in the entryway, and he feels his anger rise again. In the past, I could try to seduce her, he thinks. That usually worked. But now, with her pregnancy, I can’t. Damn it! How can one little woman be so difficult? How can she bring me to my knees like this?
“Mr. Bamford, I’ve got an idea, but I’m not sure it’ll work,” Robert says.
“What is it?” Waylen asks immediately.
“Well, Mrs. Bamford is acting angry with you, but I think she still cares about you deep down,” Robert says.
“If she thought you were in some sort of trouble, she might let go of her anger and start to worry about you.”
“Nonsense,” Waylen says.
“I could tell Mrs. Bamford you’re very sick,” Robert says.
“You want me to play sick?” Waylen asks, raising his eyebrows.
“Well, can you think of a better way?” Robert asks with unusual boldness.
Leilani is relaxing barefoot in the bed, listening to a Mozart piano concerto, and reading a book. She knows that the fetus is probably still too young to benefit from the music, but she’s read that it’s good to expose the fetus to music.
Besides, it’s calling for her. Someone knocks at the door, and she turns the music up. The knocking turns into hammering, and she sighs.
“Who is it?” she asks irritably.
“I thought I made it clear—I want to be alone.”
“Mrs. Bamford, it’s me, Robert,” Robert says.
“I have important news.”
“What is it?” Leilani asks.
“Mr. Bamford is sick,” Robert says.
“And? What do you want me to do about it?” Leilani asks.
“I’m not a doctor. Go find David Walter.”
“Mr. Bamford always seems to feel better when he sees you,” Robert says after a long pause.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine without me,” Leilani says slowly.
“Tell him I’m listening to music with the baby, and I don’t want him to bother me.”
Leilani leans back in her head and turns the music up as she tries to take deep breaths to calm herself. She returns to her book but is interrupted by a loud crashing sound. She looks over in time to see Waylen getting up from a pile of broken, stained glass. The jewel-like shards crunch and snap under his polished black shoes as he climbs through the broken window.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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