Jonquils for Jax: The Rousseaus #1 (The Blueberry Lane Series Book 12) (19 page)

“I’m…dead,” she murmured, her voice thick and satisfied. Finally she opened her eyes again, and he noted that they were a little greener now, scanning his face in awe. “That was amazing.”

“
You’re
amazin’,” he answered, trailing his fingers down her arm. If he pressed them to his face, they’d smell of her, and the thought made him flinch with longing. He hadn’t been with a woman in almost two years, and he didn’t know how much longer he could wait.

But he would. If she wasn’t ready yet…if she was satisfied with what they’d already shared, he would wait. He’d wait forever, if that’s what she wanted.

She searched his face, gearing up to say something, then stopping herself.

“Say it,” he said, reaching up to caress her cheek.

“The meeting I have this week…”

He took a deep breath and sighed. “While you’re gone, I’ll have my buddy come and look at the security system and—”

“While I’m gone?”

“While you’re in LA talkin’ to whomever you have to talk to to make a TV show.”

She rolled her lips together for a moment, then took a shaky breath.
Gathering her courage. Why? What did she need to tell him?

“What if I said the meeting was here in Philly? What if I said that…all I really want to do is buy this house and ask you to manage it? What if I said I wanted to make my show here, on location, and asked you to consult on it? What if I asked you to move in and live here with me? What would you say?”

“I’d say you don’t know me that well.”

Her face fell, but her eyes held his as she refuted his words in a rush. “But I feel like I do. I know what I want, and what I want is—”

He continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’d say you don’t know me that well, because if you did, you’d know exactly how I’d answer.” He leaned closer to her, resting his forehead against hers. “I’d tell you that runnin’ an estate like this would come second nature to me…and that consultin’ on your show would be a dream job…and that movin’ in here with you, and having you naked beside me every night and every mornin’, and lettin’ me keep an eye on you and take care of you and love you…well now, that would be the stuff of miracles, Jax.”

She’d started crying early into his speech, but now her fingers reached for the button on his jeans with urgency, unfastening it before reaching for his zipper and tugging it down with a satisfying
zzzzzp
.

“Get naked,” she said. “I need you. Now.”

He rolled onto his back and reached for the waistband of his jeans, bucking up to push them down, then using his feet to free his legs of them. She rolled on top of him, her damp curls covering his erect penis as she pushed his T-shirt to his shoulders. He leaned up and reached for it behind his neck, pulling it off with a yank and wrapping his arms around her body.

Her mouth crashed into his as he reached between them to part the lips of her sex so his dick could slide against her slick, pebbled clit. Her tongue tangled with his and he swallowed her moan as he flipped her to her back so he’d have more control. Knowing how stimulated she was already, he made small movements over the tight bunch of nerves, his pre-cum mixing with the wetness he’d wrought from her before.

“Are you on the pill?” he asked, his voice raspy, and he peppered kisses on her lips, waiting for her to answer.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I’m clean, Jax,” he said, gazing into her eyes, praying she was too so that there’d be no barrier between them when he slipped into the tight heaven of her body. “I swear to God, I’d never put you in danger.”

“I know,” she said, smiling as she leaned up to kiss him again.

“What about you?”

“I haven’t been with anyone since…” Her cheeks colored, and he drew back to look at her.

“Since…?”

“Since college,” she said quickly.

He stared at her. “You’re twenty-seven.”

She nodded.

“You haven’t been with anyone for six years?”

“Seven,” she whispered.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because it never felt right.” She looked up at him, her face calm, her eyes luminous. “And now it does.”

“You could have anyone,” he said, cradling her face with his hands as he positioned the tip of his erection at the entrance of her sex.

“But all I want,” she said, spreading her legs, bending her knees, and reaching to pull his face down to hers, “is you.”

He slid forward into the tight, wet heat of her sheath, burying himself to the hilt as she sucked on his tongue and plunged her fingers into his hair, her nails razing his scalp and making him growl as he withdrew from her before thrusting forward again.

His thrusts grew longer and deeper, and her whimpers became cries of pleasure. And finally, when her muscles had tightened around him like a coiled spring, she screamed, “Stay with me,
mon coeur
!” before shuddering with waves of orgasmic bliss.

“I’m here,
cher
. I’m yours!” he cried, spending himself within her beloved body, then holding her close until they both drifted off to sleep.

There is happiness.

And then there is
joy
.

For the next two weeks, Jax learned all there was to know about joy.

In all her adult life, Jax had never known what it was to wake up in someone’s arms every morning after making love throughout the night. She’d never known the playful glances over teeth brushing or the luxury of having a deliciously male perma-date for dinner. She hadn’t shared her home with someone in years, and she had forgotten how much she liked having constant company—but even more,
Gard’s
constant company. His French terms of endearment, the way he touched her and reached for her, even when they sat side by side reading
Philadelphia Vice
, trading comments and asking each other questions, made her heart swell with love. She missed him when he spent a few hours every day at the Englishes, and the moment he returned, she attacked him with kisses, dragging him up to her shower. They were voracious for each other, their bodies insatiable every night, their hearts loving deeper and stronger with each passing day.

She reached out to the screenwriter of
Philadelphia Vice
and arranged to acquire the script, and she met with a friend of a friend who produced a police procedural in New York. He loved the concept for
Philadelphia Vice
and said he was not only happy to speak to an East Coast studio on her behalf, but he knew of an available showrunner who’d worked on
CSI: New York
for several years and might be interested in taking on
Philadelphia Vice
too. For the first time in months, she felt in charge of her life’s direction, felt stronger and more excited, hopeful and passionate…and she laid all that positive change at Gardener’s feet.

About a week after Gard moved in, he had Le Chateau thoroughly assessed for security needs and made recommendations for cameras and laser sensors, which Jax immediately approved. The first snag in her forward motion, however, came two weeks later, when she was driving to Daisy’s house for lunch. Her phone rang and she pressed the button for Bluetooth.

“Hello?”

“Is this Mrs. Rousseau? Mrs. Liliane Rousseau?”

“No,” said Jax. “This is her daughter.”

“Ah-ha. Well, this is Universal Security, and we have a new order for cameras and surveillance at twelve Blueberry Lane in Haverford, but we require the owner of the house to be present in order to proceed.”

“My mother lives in France,” said Jax. “But
I
can be prese—”

“We’re going to need to get work-order approval from the owner in writing, miss, before we can get started.”

Jax was silent for a moment, wiggling uncomfortably in her seat. She’d put off the conversation with her mother about purchasing Le Chateau, but if she truly wanted to make the estate her home, it was time to bite the bullet and talk to her mother about purchasing it. Then she could make all the changes she wanted.

“Hold the order, please,” she said. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

“Thank you, miss. Bye now.”

She hung up the call, pulled into Daisy’s circular driveway, and before she lost her nerve, she dialed her mother’s number. It was only six o’clock in Paris, three hours before her mother could possibly have evening plans with friends.

“
Bon jour
?”

“
Maman. C’est Jacqueline
.”

“Jacqueline! How are you, darling?”

“I’m well, Mother. How are you?”

“Readjusting to Paris after a month in the states is a nightmare. But it’s so good to be home. Promise me, darling, when you get married, it will be here, not there.”

Jax sighed. Her mother hadn’t handled one iota of Étienne’s wedding aside from being a snarky pain in the ass about every detail chosen by Kate English. But how like her to act like the burden of the work had been hers. Jax shook her head.
Be nice. You catch more flies with honey.

“Mother, when you were leaving, you mentioned that you wanted to sell Le Chateau at some point in the future and—”

“But as you pointed out, it’s such a hassle. When I’m ready, I’ll hire someone to take care of selling it.”

“What if I had a buyer for you?”

“Well! I’d say someone’s a little miracle worker! Who is it?”

Jax took a deep breath. “Me.”

“I’m sorry, darling, but I can’t be understanding you right. You? You want to buy Chateau Nouvelle? How ridiculous. Whatever will you do with it?”

“Live in it. I love it here. I would be—”

“But you should be in Hollywood,
chéri
! Where you can make more movies! Where you can be happy.”

“But,
Maman
, I
wasn’t
hap—”

“My friends are all in love with my daughter, the movie producer! We’re going to have a
petite
premiere for your next one. You
belong
in California, darling.”

She gulped. This wasn’t going well. Her mind raced, trying to come up with a tactic that would appeal to her mother.

“
Maman
, you misunderstand me! I need an East Coast place. A weekend place for parties and relaxing. And Chateau Nouvelle,” she grimaced as she said it but was desperate to appeal to her mother, “is so ostentatious, they’ll all love it. The pool. The little screening room. The studio. You know Americans.”

“Mmmm,” her mother hummed. “A weekend place.”

“
Oui.
Every major producer has one.”

Her mother was silent for a while, then sighed. “
Peut-être
.” Perhaps. “But no. No. I hate it too much, Jacqueline. There is no beauty to it. Find a gorgeous place in New York, darling. A roomy pied-à-terre that looks out over Central Park. Hmm?”

She winced, thinking of the massive stone home that housed not only the best memories of her childhood but now the most cherished of her adulthood too.

“Americans don’t require beauty,
chère Maman
. The bigger the better, which makes Le Chateau perfect. It could be a tax write-off for me when it’s such a burden for you.” She lifted her chin and played into her mother’s deepest love: money. “And of course, I would insist on paying full market price.”

Her mother chuckled indulgently while Jax winced, silently hating this entire conversation.

“Darling, you’ve won me over. Yes, of course you can buy the big old thing. Anything for my children.” She paused. “Market price, you said?”

“It was last appraised at six million dollars. Would you take seven?” asked Jax.

“Six point nine,” said her mother with another benevolent chuckle. “You
are
my daughter, after all. Have it drawn up and send me the papers. You can have your big, ugly house. Now tell me more about your next movie, darling! I want to know everything!”

She blinked, her mind taking a moment to process the fact that her mother had just agreed to sell her Le Chateau! She giggled silently, pounding her feet on the floor of the car in excitement as she and her mother exchanged pleasantries before hanging up.

It was hers! Le Chateau was hers!

Exiting the car, she raced up the marble steps of Daisy’s mansion and rang the bell. A young maid showed her outside to a slate terrace, where she found her new friends sipping wine. She spread her arms wide and declared with joy overflowing, “Girls, guess what! I just bought a house!”

***

When Gardener had taken the job at Haverford Park back in May, he never would have believed the direction his life would take simply by living two doors away from the force of nature that was Jax Rousseau.

But in the several weeks that he’d known her, she’d come to mean much more to him than he could have ever anticipated. And when he walked into Le Chateau after helping Felix for a few hours, the bright excitement on her face made his heart stop, made time stop, and he realized
, I’m in love with you, Jax Rousseau. I’m
desperately
in love with you.

As the door closed behind him, she raced from her perch on the stairs and jumped into his arms. He caught her with a chuckle of surprise, barely able to catch his breath as she showered kisses on his face and locked her ankles behind his back.

“Jax…Jax…slow down,
cher
. Tell me what’s goin’ on with you.”

She leaned back, her emeralds sparkling with unspeakable joy. “She said yes!”

“Who said yes?”

“My mother! She said she’d sell Le Chateau to me!”

He was already smiling at her, but now he nodded his head in understanding. “She said yes.”

“It’s mine, Gard! It’s my house!
Our
house!”

“
Your
house, Duchess. But, I’m happy to stay on and manage it for you.”

She’d looped her arms around his neck when she jumped him, but now she cupped his cheeks as he carried her to the stairs.

“Where are we going?” she asked, grinning at him, her eyes darkening.

“We’re goin’ upstairs to your shower, then to your bed, where I’m goin’ to spend the next two hours havin’ long, hot, multiorgasmic sex with my woman, Haverford’s newest homeowner.” He reached the top of the stairs and turned left, casting a quick glance at the chandeliers before looking back at Jax. “Any argument?”

She shook her head slowly. “None.”

When he got to her room, he let her go, his heart pounding as she slid down his body. “I got to tell you somethin’, Jax.”

“What?”

“I’m…” His eyes caressed her face—her lovely face that hadn’t been in his life nearly long enough to have the sorts of feelings that he had for her. And yet they were as fundamental to him as anything else that was certain in his life: that he needed air to breathe, that he needed water to drink, that he loved Jacqueline Rousseau. “You probably already know this, but I want to say it. I want you to hear me say it: I’m in love with you.”

Her eyes brightened immediately with tears, and she nodded. “I’m in love with you too.”

“I know it’s quick.”

“Quick for whom?” she asked, reaching for the button of his jeans. “Not for me.”

“No?” he asked, letting her slide the jeans down his legs to reveal his hard cock, standing proudly at attention. She reached for it, wrapping her fingers around its throbbing length.

“No. I feel like I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

His eyes shuddered closed as she pumped him, her hand working slowly at first, then faster, and every motion, every movement, was like heaven. His balls started to tighten as she placed her palm on his chest and pushed him back onto the bed.

“Jax, I need to shower…”

“I don’t mind,” she said, looking up at him for just a moment before taking him into her mouth.

“Ahhh!” he groaned, bracing his feet on the floor as she spread his knees and knelt between them, her hand still firmly gripping the base of his erection as her tongue moved lazily over the tip, licking, swirling, and sucking until he thought he’d lose his mind.

When he was on the brink of coming, she stood up, reached under her skirt, pulled down her panties, and then mounted him, straddling his hips as she sunk down onto his slick, rock-hard cock.

“My life didn’t begin until the night of my brother’s wedding,” she said, sighing as she impaled herself on his full length, her nipples highlighted through the fabric of her thin T-shirt and thin bra. “Until I ran into you.”

“
Cher
,” he groaned, reaching under her skirt to grasp her hips and hold her still for a moment, wanting to feel the tight walls of her sex throb and quiver around him, to look into her eyes when they were so intimately connected. “
Jacqueline, mon coeur ne bat que pour toi.”

My heart beats only for you.

A tear slipped from her eye and glided down her cheek as she gazed back at him. “Love me.”

He reached for the hem of her shirt and pushed it up, shoving her bra over her breasts to give himself access to them. He took a nipple between his lips, sucking it strongly as she arched her back, meeting his thrusts with moans of pleasure. Sliding his lips to her other breast, he traced a circle around the areola before sucking the nipple into a tight point, only drawing back when she whimpered, plunging her hands into his hair and demanding his lips for a kiss.

He drove up into her body, thrusting deeper and higher with every stroke. His balls tightened as he felt her start to vibrate, and suddenly he stopped thrusting. He needed to slow down because he wanted this moment with her. When they were this close and this intimate, he could see her so clearly, it was almost as though his full sight had been restored. He wanted to look into her eyes as they came together.

Reaching for her chin, he turned her face to his. “Look at me,
cher
. I want to watch you come.”