The Heart (35 page)

“You’re soaked, beb. Take this off.” Though unaware, Jack’s endearment was a solid tear down in the deepest part of my chest. I shook slightly as his smell invaded me. His hands were warm, and I was suddenly freezing. Jack removed my shoes and towel dried my hair and arms before he went in again for my dress.

“No, Jack, leave it. I’m fine.” Even as I protested, my lips began to quiver. I wasn’t sure if it was the rain or the man who held my heart captive.

“Lift your arms, damn it,” he snapped as I looked at him with widened eyes.

When he lifted the dress and saw I had absolutely nothing underneath it, I heard his audible. “Fuck me.”

“I gambled that you were alone,” I said, slightly embarrassed.

“And right now I wish I was—God, you’re bare,” he said as he made quick work of locking his door and pressed me up against it. “This is for me,” he said as his eyes blazed with need. “We’ll have to make this quick,” he growled, pushing his tongue into my mouth as I gasped at the feel of his hand between my legs.

“Jack, no,” I protested weakly as he spread my center, ran his fingers through it, and kissed my neck.

“You can’t come to me naked underneath that fucking dress and ask me not to touch you,” Jack said, pushing one finger then two inside of me. I gasped at the feel of his warm hands as he assaulted my mouth.

“Oh God, I’ve missed you,” he breathed into me as he worked his skilled fingers and my toes curled.

“Jack,” I said as he pulled out his hard length at the same time he lifted my leg.

“Tell me to stop,” he dared, his body still, eyes penetrating mine. I said nothing as he kept my eyes captive with his and pushed into me one delicious inch at a time. Vulnerable to the feel of him and seeing the man I fell in love with in front of me, without anger, I accepted him into me and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Oh God,” we moaned in unison as he buried himself inside of me to the hilt. It was so wrong. All five of his parents were only feet down the hall. Jack covered my mouth with his hand as he thrust into me and I bit, licked, and sucked his fingers.

“More,” he urged as he lifted me fully around his waist and picked up his thrusts. I came minutes later as he sealed my mouth to his with a long moan and released into me, hot and heavy. He buried his head in my neck as we both gathered our wits. “I’ll make it up to you later, I promise,” he said as he kissed me slowly, the promise on his caressing tongue. “I had to have you.”

“We need to talk.”

“I know.”

“Is this over for you?” I asked, hating myself for not waiting for the right moment or conversation.

“I’m still inside you, Rose. How could you think that?” He let my legs down as he pulled out of me and grabbed the towel to make quick work of cleaning us both up.

“Jack, I’ve got something that may fit her,” I heard his mother call from right outside the door. I froze, butt naked, and then scrambled quickly to the bathroom where I shut the door behind me.

“Thanks, Mom,” I heard him say as the door opened and then quickly closed. Had she heard us? Jesus, what were we thinking?!

I looked down at my stomach and felt a slight flutter and put my hand over it, willing it to calm down. The first-trimester sickness had just started, and the last thing I wanted to do was toss in front of him.

Jack knocked on the door once before he walked in with yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I took the clothes thankfully. Jack stood in the corner of the bathroom with his arms crossed.

I pulled on the fresh clothes, took a towel off the rack, and began to attempt to straighten my hair.

“You look beautiful.”

“You told them about me?”

“Of course, you were something good to report.”

“I was?” I turned to look at him with slight defeat.

“You are,” he said, taking a step forward.

“Don’t do that. Just say what you really mean.”

“Rose, I still love you,” he said, taking another step forward.

“Well, it would be pretty shitty of you to love someone else so soon after,” I countered, wanting to get to the heart of it.

“Let’s go join them at the table, okay? We can talk after,” Jack promised as I stood in front of the door.

“I don’t have to be here. I can check into a hotel. I can wait for you there.”

“Why the hell would I want that? I
want
you here,” he said with slight irritation.

“Kind of hard to tell
what
you want,” I said in an aggravated tone.

He was in front of me in an instant, cupping my face with his hands. “I want
us
back.”

“Could’ve fooled me. I guess I didn’t know quite how pissed off I was at you until now. Lucky you.”

He chuckled as he caressed my skin. “We’ll talk after dinner.”

“I may not want to hear it,” I said, letting my hormones talk. “Matter of fact, just shut up.”

Jack laughed harder as he leaned down and took my lips. I whimpered as a tear slipped from me that told him exactly how hurt I was.

“I fucking hate to see this,” he said as he wiped my tear away with his thumb. “Don’t cry, baby.”

“Then stop doing this to me,” I said with a sigh.

“Come on,” he said, opening the door for me. “I want them to know you.”

“What the hell for?” Jack stopped in the middle of the room and turned back to me in all seriousness. I took in his blond halo, beautiful features, and stellar body, and my heart sighed as the flutter in my belly extended to my chest.

“Because you own me.”

Well played, Jack, well played.

He reached back, took my hand, and yanked me to him. “I know we have a lot of hurt between us, but just give me dinner with my parents and we’ll sort it out, okay?”

“Okay.”

We made our way back down the hall as I prayed that no one had heard us going at it. All five of his parents stopped their hushed conversations and greeted us with smiles. We took our seats at the table, and Jack piled food onto my plate. I had just shoved a heaping forkful of dirty rice into my mouth when his mother asked her first question.

“How is the center going, Rose? Have your doors opened yet?”

I nodded to give myself time to swallow as I turned to her with a smile. “We admitted our first six patients yesterday,” I said with excitement. “Two of them are long-term care.”

“Jack said you would be taking them in for the length of their whole treatment,” Nadine said as she looked at me with admiration. “I just... we just think what you’re doing is amazing, really.”

“Thank you,” I said, trying my best to keep from squirming under all the eyes trained on me.

“Such an accomplishment,” his Uncle Spencer commented as he raised his glass toward me. I brought my glass to his and took only a small sip of the wine I hadn’t declined so no suspicions were raised.

“So you’re in love with our Jack,” Rory said without apology. The whole table went into complete mayhem when .Jack’s dad threw a potato pancake at her. “Couldn’t let the woman have ten minutes, could you, weirdo?”

“RORY!” his Aunt Nadine scolded as Rory completely ignored their disapproval and met my eyes in challenge.

“I think you are. I think you’re a woman severely in love.”

Aware everyone, including an equally irritated Jack, was waiting for an answer, I stepped up to the plate.

Jack began to speak up this time as he put a hand on my thigh in reassurance, but I stopped him.

“Well, he’s got an awful lot of confidence, almost to the point of being a flaw. He’s outspoken and highly opinionated, and it can be overbearing. He speaks with a mouthful sometimes, which is just poor execution, if you ask me. And he does that texting thing, you know the one where he sends more than one to finish a complete thought. I hate it with a passion.” His parents, all five of them, looked on at me with good humor. “He’s got this whistling thing he does when he sleeps. It’s not so much a snore as it is pushing air through his teeth, drives me insane. His clothes don’t always match. He’s severely liberal and isn’t a fan of baseball which
I
, as a Texas Republican, find sad and completely un-American. The baseball part, anyway. He’s blind to any number of women vying for his attention and yet knows just how to seduce them with a few select words.”

Jack sat back in his chair with a chuckle and crossed his arms.

“He’s not a fan of rap, which I find completely tragic since he listens to everything else.”

“I love rap music,” Rory said, urging me on.

“He’s selfish with food, which is a major flaw as far as I’m concerned, and one of his best friends is my father, who he will have no problem reporting my every indiscretion to.”

“Boo,” Nadine said as the rest joined in chiding Jack, who turned to me with a smile.

“I mean, seriously, I have no idea what I see in him.”

His Uncle Spencer raised his glass and everyone followed. “Congrats, Jack.”

Jack leaned in and kissed me solidly on the mouth with an added “Nice.”

We all clinked glasses, and from there on out, conversation flowed much easier, and the whole table switched from interest in Jack and me to an apparent celebration the following night.

“Thirty-five years,” his Uncle Spencer said to his aunt. “Can you believe it?”

“And I had to propose,” Nadine said back to him with adoration.

“Not true, you beat me to it,” he said, giving her a wink.

“Still liked my proposal better,” she said as she gripped his hand and squeezed it over the table. He mouthed the words ‘I love you’ and she did the same as I looked on. His Uncle Spencer was a handsome older man and had a solid head of silver hair. He was what the two Js would call a silver fox. And his wife defined the word beautiful. And it was more than obvious they were still in love.

I found it encouraging that his parents, Jack Sr. and Amy, had also been married for over thirty years. I hadn’t believed him when he said our families were similar, but each minute I spent at that table made a believer out of me. Jack’s mother was quiet and reserved but very well spoken and had a sweet demeanor, while Jack’s father was just as outspoken or even more so than Rory.

“You should come tomorrow night. It’s going to be one hell of a party,” Jack’s father assured me. Jack looked like a mix of both his parents, getting his hair and eyes from his mother and his father’s strong features. I studied each of them as they spoke as I recalled the details Jack had told me of each of them.

“This party is thirty-five years overdue,” Rory said, looking to fill me in. “They got married behind our backs at the justice of the peace. No wedding or reception. We got nothing,” she bitched openly, full of contempt. Rory’s current hair color was black on the top with blue and purple tips. I had compared her to a Who at first sight and stood by it now as I took in her wild, hot pink jewelry. She was overly animated, but it suited her.

I was smitten with the whole group and saw a little bit of each of them in Jack.

Rory talked a mile a minute, but I heard the last of her question, “... so will you come? They’re finally going to have a wedding.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” I said, unsure if I would make good on my statement. Jack and I still had to talk, and for a brief second, I started to panic about whether or not he would be excited about the news of a baby. After a long meal filled with delicious food I devoured in abundance and wine that remained untouched only by me, the dinner party came to a close. One by one, Jack’s parents retired to their rooms, giving us our privacy. I could see each of them smile as they hugged Jack. Nadine whispered in his ear as she left the room, and I saw a small smile play on Jack’s lips. They were a highly unusual family, but a beautiful one that worked. I was glad Jack had this kind of mix of people to raise him.

They’d made him into the extraordinary man he was.

“You look tired,” Jack said as he rubbed my shoulders before he began to clear the last of the wine glasses from the table.

“That’s just a nice way of saying I look like shit,” I said as I felt the day catch up with me.

“No.” Jack paused as he looked me over in his expansive kitchen. “You look beautiful... and tired.”

“I still want to talk,” I said as he grabbed my hand and began to turn off the lights. “I didn’t say I was staying.”

“The hell you aren’t,” he said, looking back at me before he flipped the last light off and the room went dark.

Jack pulled me onto a large terrace adjacent to his massive living room, and I declined the tumbler full of fresh whiskey he poured us. I looked back into the house and noted a large stack of boxes in his living room but said nothing. It was time to ask the question and then really listen to the answer.

“I’m here because I miss you and no other reason. Well, there is a reason, but I’m here because—”

“I’m glad you’re here. I
want
you here.”

Suddenly nervous, I looked up at him as he finished his drink. I was sure I looked a mess considering my clothes, but from the way he was looking at me, none of it mattered. It never had. He’d always regarded me that way, and I loved that about him. Jack had the ability to make me feel needed and beautiful with just a simple look.

“You’ve pulled away from me.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, and he knew it was the truth.

“I did,” he admitted. “I’m sorry, Rose. I got into my head.”

“Well, are you done yet?” I said as I took a seat on one of his comfortable chairs. “You about done being selfish because I don’t want to go another day wondering if you’re still in this relationship with me.” I stood again, my nerves getting the best of me as my stomach rolled.

Jack moved to stand in front of me, the soft light of the porch illuminating his perfect features. I didn’t want to be the only one having the conversation so I moved to touch the scar above his lip with my thumb. “Just tell me.”

“I love you,” he said gently. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted any woman in my life. I got a little freaked out when I thought you couldn’t feel the same for me. It felt like ten years ago all over again. But you were right, it was my pride. So for the last week, I’ve done a little rearranging.”

“You’re moving.”