Kissing Under The Mistletoe: The Sullivans (Contemporary Romance) (23 page)

But as she looked up at him, her eyes went
wide. “You’re bleeding.” She covered her mouth with a trembling
hand, and her eyes filled with new tears.

A knock came, the door opening before Jack
could warn whoever was outside to stay there.

“There you two are.” Larry was too high on
the thrill of success to notice that anything was wrong as he said,
“A journalist and photographer from the
San
Francisco Chronicle
were hoping to get some shots and an
interview with you both. I figured you two lovebirds were stealing
some time alone.”

Jack didn’t take his eyes from Mary’s as he
said, “We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Oh.” Larry looked between the two of them
with a sudden frown. Looking terribly uncomfortable, he backed away
from them. “Sure. Okay. Great.” He closed the door with a click
behind him.

Mary’s mouth trembled as she stared at the
cut on Jack’s eyebrow. “Oh God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt
you.”

“I am hurting,” he told her as he took both
of her hands in his, “but not because you threw the ring at me.
What hurts more than anything is that you’ve doubted for even one
second that the love I feel for you is real.”

She took a shaky breath. “I need to know why
you didn’t wait until the product was launched to ask me to marry
you.”

“I had to ask you because I couldn’t wait one
more second to know that you’d be mine. Forever. I know the timing
was bad, that there’s so much going on already—”

“Wait,” she said, interrupting him, “don’t
you mean the timing was perfect?” She gestured toward the other
room. “That way we could do this photo shoot and interviews today
to sell your invention as a couple.”

Awareness dawned with the suddenness of a
hammer knocking him on the head. Even though Jack loved her more
than he had—or would—ever love anyone else, he wanted to shake her.
“You think I was using you like Romain did.”

Her beautiful eyes flashed with an array of
emotions. Fear. Hope. And something that looked a little like
shame. “Everyone was so happy for us today, and that was lovely,
but then I started putting the pieces together. Allen already had
the champagne. How easily you stepped in front of the camera. And
then I heard Howie and Larry talking about how perfect the timing
was, and how the news of the fairy-tale engagement between the
model and the engineer was going to get even more press and sell
even more units than I would have representing it alone. What else
was I supposed to think?”

“That I love you. And that I will never hurt
you like that spineless scumbag did.”

Mary had made her living with her expressive,
beautiful face for over a decade. She knew how to change her look
from happy to sad to pensive between one frame and the next. But
she’d never hidden her emotions from Jack, which was why he could
easily read the hope on her face along with the continued fear.

“But the first time you saw me, the first
time you spoke to me, you wanted me for your business.”

“That day I saw you in Union Square, I felt
as if a lightning bolt had stopped me dead in my tracks. I knew
you’d be perfect to represent the Pocket Planner, but more
important, I knew you’d be perfect for me.” He held her gaze,
forcing her to recognize the truth in his. “I know I fumbled in the
diner and said everything wrong, but business never came first.
Never.
And I
always
wanted you for you.”

“But you didn’t even know me that first
day.”

“Yes, I did. I’ve always known you,
Mary.”

“How?” she asked in a whisper, as if she
still couldn’t possibly believe that he loved her.

Last night after he’d proposed and she’d
accepted, she’d said, “I can’t believe you love me. I can’t believe
this is real.” Caught up in her kisses, in the heat between them,
he hadn’t wanted to read too much into it, hadn’t wanted to admit
that there was anything wrong.

But now he knew. She’d still doubted his
love.

“I know you, Angel, because every time you
smile I see the honest warmth in your eyes. And that first day in
Union Square, when you picked up that little girl who ran onto the
set and laughed with her, I saw that your beauty ran much, much
deeper than the surface. Every moment I’ve spent with you since
then has made me love you more.”

“But I just accused you of hurting me and
then I threw your ring at you, and
I
hurt
you
.” She looked up again at the nick on
his eyebrow with deep regret. “How can you forgive me?”

“Because I love you.”

“I thought my mother loved me, too, but she
never forgave me for the way I behaved. For the things I said.”

Everything became clear in an instant. Mary
had been told she was loved and had loved back with an open and
honest heart, first with her mother, and then with Romain…only to
have her love thrown away as if it were worthless.

“I don’t care how much you yell,” he told
her. “I don’t care how many things you throw at me. I’m not going
anywhere, Mary. Not now. Not ever. I loved you from the first
moment, and I will love you until the last.”

She reached for his face, held it in her
hands. “That’s why it hurt so badly to think that what you felt for
me might not be real…because I knew it would never change what was
in my heart. Because I knew I would still keep on loving you. And
while I can’t promise not to yell sometimes, or lose my temper, or
to make assumptions that are completely wrong because I’m
frightened, I can promise to never take your ring off again.
Please,” she said softly, “will you put it back on my finger?”

Not wanting to let each other go, they moved
together so that he could still hold her hand while reaching for
the ring on the floor.

He looked deep into her eyes as he slid the
ring back into place.
“Forever.”

She echoed the word against his lips. It
would have been easier to just keep kissing her, to lose himself in
her warmth, her softness, and save everything else for later. But
he had always been honest with her, and he always would be.

“You need to know why Allen knew I was going
to ask you to marry me.” Jack had never worried much about pride,
but for the second time in twenty-four hours, he found himself
swallowing it. “The moment I saw the ring, I knew I wanted you to
have it, and I wanted you to wear it as a symbol of our love for
each other.”

He shook his head, hating having to admit
that he hadn’t had enough money for the ring. Money had never
seemed important before, not when all he’d ever needed was enough
to keep a roof over his head and to be able to buy the hardware he
needed for his research and development.

“I went to Allen and asked him for a loan,
one that would, hopefully, be an advance on profits. When he asked
why I needed the money, I told him I had fallen in love with
you…and that I wanted to ask you to marry me.”

“Oh, Jack, I love the ring, but you could
have put a dime-store ring on my finger and I would have loved you
just as much.”

“I know you don’t need fancy jewels, that you
must have a hundred already, but that’s not why I wanted you to
have it. A diamond,” he said softly as she splayed her hand across
his chest, right over the heart that would always beat harder when
she was near, “is nearly impossible to break, no matter how hard
you try.”

She lifted her gaze to his. “Just like
us.”

For the next several hours, Mary and Jack
went from one interview to the next, answering questions not only
about why the Pocket Planner was the must-have Christmas gift of
the year but also about their whirlwind romance. Allen had been
right that the press couldn’t get enough of their human-interest
story.

No matter how different people were, they all
had one thing in common: a dream of finding
the
one
.

Mary told the journalists how she’d set eyes
on Jack in Union Square at what was supposed to be her final photo
shoot and had instantly known she’d fall in love with him. But what
she didn’t say to anyone was how sure she’d become over the years
that she would never find a man like Jack.

Throughout the hours, Jack continued to hold
on to her hand. She wondered, did he realize how much he touched
her as he spoke? Her face, her hair, his forehead pressed against
hers as they laughed together. He was so free with his affection,
so unafraid of giving too much.

She’d learned so much from him already—not
only how to love, but what forgiveness looked like.

A familiar pang resounded within her chest as
she thought about her mother…and how happy she would be to see an
engagement ring on her daughter’s finger, at last. Of course, Mary
knew that her mother would be even happier about the man her
daughter was marrying. Jack was such a good man. Such a solid
man.

Such a beautiful man, inside and out.

Tonight. She’d call home tonight with the
good news. And even if her mother still wasn’t ready to forgive,
Mary told herself it would be enough just to know their engagement
was the news her mother had longed to hear.

When the last journalist finally left the
boardroom, Jack’s eyes were warm as he smiled at her. “We should
probably make a run for it before Allen scrounges up another twenty
journalists.”

They gathered their coats, and she felt like
a little girl again, trying to sneak out of her room to play when
she was supposed to be taking a nap.

Mary was used to this kind of intense
photo-and-interview schedule, but considering it was all new for
Jack, she thought he’d held up remarkably well. Especially
considering the big launch was the following day, and Mary knew it
would be even busier. But Mary had no problem with hard work,
especially when the man she loved would be reaping the rewards.

Allen caught them both before they could
escape out the side door. “You two were marvelous today. I’m very
happy for both of you. And I’ll admit to being rather pleased that
your engagement is a PR dream come true,” he added with a grin.

Earlier that morning, Allen’s words would
have driven fear through every part of her. But not anymore. Not
now that she finally believed that the love she and Jack shared was
real.

“I’d love to take both of you out to dinner,
if you’re not too tired from the interviews,” Allen offered.

Mary appreciated the offer, but after giving
a long day to the campaign, what she wanted was to be alone with
Jack tonight before they started all over again tomorrow morning
with the launch-day festivities. Because while they’d made up after
she’d thrown the ring at him, she very much wanted to show him with
more than words how sorry she was for ever doubting his love…and
that she never would again.

“Thanks for the invitation, Allen,” Jack
said, “but I’m going to take Mary home so she can rest up a bit
before tomorrow. And thanks again for getting behind the Pocket
Planner in such a major way. We’ll see you bright and early at the
launch.”

Even though Mary was easily strong enough to
keep from being swept away by a powerful man, she was thrilled to
let Jack lead her out of the building, his large hand on the small
of her back.

He hailed a cab outside the corporate offices
and when he slid in beside her, she couldn’t wait another second to
do what she’d been longing to do since the moment Jack had slid the
ring back on her finger. Putting her hands on his gorgeously
scruffy jaw, she brought his face down to hers and kissed him.
Despite the cold, his lips were warm and more delicious every time
she tasted them.

“I love you.” She whispered the words against
his lips between kisses, and he whispered them right back.

They couldn’t get to her house fast enough.
She wanted to be as close as she could to Jack. She wanted to strip
off his clothes and then her own and wrap herself all around
him…and never, ever let go.

They paid the taxi and then kissed their way
up her front steps, navigating by feel alone. Somehow she was able
to find her key in her purse, without breaking apart from him, and
open the door.

The second they were inside and alone, Jack
pushed her back against the door and slid both his hands into her
hair. Their earlier kisses had set her heart racing and her blood
pumping in the taxi and on the sidewalk and steps.

But this kiss lit a fuse in her very
soul.

During each photo they’d taken and during
every interview they’d given today, she’d been dreaming of falling
into bed with Jack. But there was no way they were going to make it
that far.

She raked her hands over his broad chest to
tear open the buttons on his shirt, and his hand slipped up her
thigh to undo the clasp on her garters. Every touch, every gasp of
pleasure as bare skin met bare skin, was absolutely perfect.
Especially when Jack began kissing his way from her mouth, across
her jaw to her neck and into the hollow behind her collarbone. She
was tilting her head back to give him better access when her phone
rang.

“Damn it,” he growled against her skin,
letting go of her to snatch the phone out of its cradle. “I told
you, Mary is done working for the night.” But listening to the
person on the other end of the line had his expression changing in
an instant. “Hold on a moment.” He covered the mouthpiece and held
out his free hand to her. “I think it’s your father.” Concern
furrowed his brow. “He sounds upset.”

Mary’s heart dropped into her stomach and her
skin, which had been so warm just seconds before, was suddenly ice
cold.

“Papa?”

Her father’s words came out in a rush of
anguish. She worked to stay calm to listen to the details, then
told her father in Italian, “I’m coming right away on the night
flight from San Francisco. I will be home tomorrow.”