Accepting His Terms (7 page)

After a quick shower, she wrapped herself in a towel and walked to the closet. Finally choosing a light sundress, she was brushing her long, red hair when the doorbell rang. She ran in her bare feet to answer it. When she did, standing at her door was the tall, handsome man with the jet-black hair, and beautiful eyes. In one hand he held a bouquet of roses, and in the other, a bottle of wine.

“Come on in, what’s all this?” she asked as she took the roses from him.

“Flowers for the table and wine to go with dinner,” he replied as he leaned over to kiss her forehead.

“Thank you. Are you starving? I’m afraid I worked a little later than I planned and I got dinner started a little late. We can go ahead with the salad, though.”

“You work much too hard,” he said as he walked into the kitchen with her.

“Strange thing for my boss to say,” she said with a giggle.

“When your boss becomes more than your boss, things change,” he replied. “We need to set some of those boundaries we talked about, as far as work, among other things.”

“We have a lot of things to talk about, Jarrod. We’ve had this whirlwind thing going on, got started off with a casual dinner, moved into something a lot deeper pretty quickly, and now we’re talking about the ‘m’ word, all within a few short months. Although it seems this is what we’ve both wanted for a while. And now, to complicate things even more, we’re setting boundaries as well as planning a wedding.”

“It’s only complicated if we make it so,” he whispered as he nibbled her right ear.

She smiled as she moved out of his arms to put the salad on the table. As they ate, she said, “Do you have any ideas about what kind of wedding you want?”

“I thought we might drive over to Gatlinburg, have the ceremony there, spend a night or two, and then go on to the beach house for a week, and take our time driving back. We’ll be gone about two weeks. I’ve checked the schedule at the office, and we can do this anytime after the tenth. That’s the opening of the new condo units on Crestview.”

“Have you told your family?” she asked next.

“My folks are in Europe right now. I’ve called them. They won’t be back in time for the ceremony, but Mother plans to have a reception for us at a later date. My folks will love you. You don’t have to worry about that, but you’ll find they lead their own lives, and travel quite a bit, so they won’t be around much.”

“No brothers or sisters, right?” she asked.

“No, I was the only son of a wealthy family, born late in their lives.”

“That’s right; you told me you were an only child. But wow, I had no idea about the rest. I mean, I knew you did okay with the business, but I really had no idea you were from a wealthy family.”

He grinned as he said, “I’m glad you didn’t know. That’s been an issue with women in the past.”

“Oh, I would never… I mean… I really didn’t know…” she stammered.

“It’s okay, baby, I know. Now how about your family?” he asked softly.

“Mom and Dad want to meet you, of course. They’re a bit concerned about the suddenness of this. I sort of had to let them believe we’d been seeing each other a while.”

“We have… at least we could have been,” he said with a wink.

“I have an older brother and a younger sister, as you know. My brother is married with two kids, a boy and a girl.”

“Do you think they’ll all agree to go to Gatlinburg for the wedding?”

“If we decided to have a private ceremony, I don’t think they’d object. They’d want to meet you, and Dad would have to have the big talk with you. But if you want it to be just the two of us, I’m okay with it, since your folks won’t be there.”

“And there will be the reception later; they would be there for that. So how romantic would that be, just the two of us at the wedding?”

“Do you want romance, Jarrod?” she asked as she stood to take the lasagna out of the oven.

“With you, I want it all. Romance, candlelight, the fire, the excitement, you give me all of that.”

“And the discipline?” she asked.

He looked down before he replied, “You know, that really wasn’t anything I’d ever done before. I was so frustrated with you that day you put yourself at risk, not once, but twice in the same day. I didn’t act on it, didn’t feel I had the right. But then later, when it was mentioned again, you were egging me on like you wanted me to do it. I was trying to come off as stern and unyielding, because I really was worried about your safety.  But your body and your eyes were telling me it was what you wanted. That was the night we went dancing. I knew it was right that night. The second time it was sexy as hell. And you seem to think it works for us…”

“I’d never been with anyone who had the nerve to ‘take me in hand’ as you called it. And yes, I do think it works for us. It takes the edge off, the anger, when we disagree. And at other times, it’s just downright sexy as hell, like you said.” She dished up the food and sat across from him.

“I’d say we’re headed toward a perfect relationship,” he remarked as he took a sip of wine.

“I’d say we already have a good start,” she replied with a grin.

“Jill,” he began.

Uh-oh, usually when he called her by her given name rather than addressing her as ‘baby’, it meant something was wrong. “Yes?” she asked warily.

“The discipline thing, don’t you think we need to discuss that a little more in depth? I admitted to you, I had never done that before. I know I come across as a stern, unapproachable boss, but in a personal relationship, I swear to you, this really is new to me. I was frustrated, I was worried, and I was amazed that the idea turned you on so much, all at the same time. I’ll admit, that sweet little ass of yours made me think about it a time or two, but I never actually thought I’d act on it.”

“Let me put it this way, since we’re being completely open and honest about this. I am impulsive, quick to anger, and have a fiery temper. It goes with the red hair; my dad has always said I’m just like my mother. That day in your office, when I stayed late, I really never gave it a thought even after the chat we’d had about safety. I never thought about the fact Ronnie might be waiting for me. You cared enough about me to point that out to me. I’m impulsive, to say the least. You seem to know when I need to slow down and breathe.  When you told me you were interested in me, after all that had happened that day, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I, like all the other women in the office, had dreamed of being the one to share your bed, the one to get through that steel exterior of yours. To be offered the opportunity to work at a job I love, and be the only one in your personal life, was like a dream come true. I was a little unsure at first, what exactly you were asking of me, but I was intrigued. And when you doled out that first punishment, I knew. There was a need in me I’d never quite been able to put a finger on before. You need to remind me to calm down, to slow down, and to take things in stride. I
need
someone who can save me from my own worst enemy, myself. I need for you to let me know when I’ve done something wrong. You opened up a whole new avenue for me to vent my frustrations. I know that may sound kinky, it may sound wrong, or weird, but you’re the only man who’s ever been able to get through to me on such an emotional level. If you’re not comfortable with continuing in a domestic discipline situation after we’re married, then we really need to come up with another solution. I need boundaries, Jarrod. I need stability in my life. I know that now.”

“So, you’re really okay with that lifestyle?”

“I am. You’ve shown me so much love and so much romance in the short time we’ve been together. You gave me a lot to think about that first day, and that night at dinner. When I agreed to try this dating the boss thing, you took the time to get to know the real me; it wasn’t just about sex. I knew then, you really cared about me. You weren’t just looking for a hot office tryst. And you seem to know me so well already. You somehow know what I want, even before I do, most of the time.”

“You really want me to take control, then?”

“I never in a million years thought I’d say this to a man, given my independent nature, but yes, I do. And you do it so well, I might add,” she replied with a grin.

He chuckled. “As long as you’re okay with it, I’m okay with it. But here are my terms. We go into this with the understanding that we will only do what both of us feel comfortable with. I’ve told you, I am not into the whole Dom/sub scene. I may come across as stern and dominant in the office, but that’s only one side to my personality. In my personal life, I’m not that man. I can be, if you need me to be, but you’ve also seen the softer, more romantic side of me. I want to be everything for you, Jill. I want to be what you need, when you need it. I want to be the man you can’t live without. Can you accept my terms?”

She looked him in the eye and said simply, “I can.”

“Then we’re on our way,” he replied with a sexy grin.

“Now, finish your dinner. We have wedding plans to attend to,” she said as she took a sip of wine.

After they discussed plans for a secluded, private wedding ceremony to take place in a few weeks, he agreed to have dinner with her family on Sunday. He stood up to go and she asked, “You aren’t staying?”

“No, not tonight,” he said. “We both have a lot to do before our trip. Are you working from home again tomorrow?”

“I thought I would for the rest of this week. I’ll be back on Monday. There’s so much to finish up before the opening.”

“On Monday, we’ll announce our engagement to the staff.”

“If that’s what you want,” she agreed as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” he said as he dropped to his knees, took a small box out of his pocket, and took her left hand in his.

“What are you doing?” she asked, giggling.

“We may not have started out in the most traditional way, but I’m damn sure going to get this part right.” He took a beautiful, two-carat oval diamond solitaire ring out of the box and slid it on her finger. “Jill Lincoln, will you walk through this life with me, be mine forever? Marry me, love me, raise a family with me, and all that goes with that?”

Through tear-filled eyes, she nodded. “Yes.” As he stood up to kiss her, she asked, “Raise a family?”

“Is that a problem?” he asked.

“No… we’ve never discussed it. How soon… how many?”

“When you want, as many as you want - that’s one thing you’re going to be in charge of. I’ll leave that decision up to you. I’ll be a hands-on dad and I am looking forward to raising a family with you, but it’s totally up to you when it happens.”

“Thank you. We’ll talk about this more later,” she replied as she kissed his cheek.

“Goodnight, sweet baby,” he replied as he turned to go.

Chapter Eight

On Sunday afternoon, after Jill had introduced Jarrod to her family and she had gone to the kitchen to help her mother, her dad asked Jarrod to join him in the den.

“Have a seat. What can I get you to drink?” the man asked as he surveyed the man that his daughter had brought to dinner.

“Whiskey on the rocks is fine,” Jarrod replied, noticing the whiskey bottle on the wet bar.

“Good choice,” Mr. Lincoln said while making two drinks and handing one to Jarrod.

“Thanks,” Jarrod said.

“So you think you want to marry my daughter,” the older man said when he sat down.

“No, sir, I don’t think it. I
know
I want to marry your daughter.”

“Why the rush, if you don’t mind my asking? Is Jillie pregnant?”

“No, sir, at least I don’t think she is. And it’s not really such a rush. I’ve known since the first day she walked into my office that she was someone I wanted to get to know. I wasted some time making that known to her, and now that we’ve discovered the feeling is mutual, I don’t feel a need to waste any more time.”

“I see. That’s two things in your favor. You’ve shown you’re a savvy businessman, with a successful business, and you go after what you want. But there’s one more thing that concerns me. Son, Jillie is my middle child, and of all my children, she’s been the most difficult to handle. She has a temper to match that fiery red hair, just like her mother. That being said, she needs a man with a firm hand in her life, a man who can handle her temper. Are you man enough for that job? Because if you aren’t and you let her have her way all the time, you’re in for a rough road ahead, not to mention, this marriage may not last.”

Jarrod nearly choked on his drink. Not knowing how to answer his future father-in-law, he finally said, “Let’s just say, we’ve already had a few run-ins, and I’ve made it clear to her what will happen if she loses control.”

Jill’s father laughed. “I believe you
can
handle that wild and crazy daughter of mine. I can assure you from my own experience, loving a woman like Jill takes patience, but it’s well worth it in the end. So the two of you have reached an understanding already? I admire you for that. It took a while with my wife.”

“Yes, sir, we’ve reached an understanding.”

“Excellent, I have no worries, then. Welcome to the family, Jarrod,” Jill’s father said as he extended his hand to his future son-in-law.

“I’m glad to be a part of it,” the younger man responded as he warmly shook the hand offered to him.

As they sat down to dinner, Jarrod looked around the table at each member of Jill’s family. A family dinner was not something he was used to and he could see the love among them. Jill’s brother and sister-in-law and their two children, and her younger sister, who was single, joked with Jill about finally settling down. And the looks of love that passed between her parents told him all he needed to know. They were on the right track.

“Jan, would you like to move into my apartment when I move out? I know you’ve been looking for a place,” Jill said suddenly.

“I would love to take your place, but I can’t afford that.”

“Nonsense, if you want it, it’s yours. We’ll help you out,” Jarrod told her with a smile.

“I can’t ask you to do that,” Jan replied.

“You didn’t ask. Besides, if you don’t take it, we’re going to have to find someone else. If it makes you feel better, I can find something for you to do at the office to supplement your income.”