Obsessed: Part Two (7 page)

"Will you come with me to Boston this weekend?" I place my left foot into the stiletto I dropped in the living room last night. I scan the floor looking for its partner.

"Is it really that important to you?" He comes around the corner dangling my wayward shoe from his finger. He kneels down and helps me slide my foot into it. Before he stands, he sensually runs his hand along my calf.

I look down at him before answering. "I want you to meet my father. I just want him to see that I've made a good choice in selling my shares to you."

He embraces my legs briefly before he pulls himself to a standing position again. "If you want me to be there, I'll be there."

"You don't know how much I appreciate that." I feel my heart leap. I know that we've made tremendous strides forward since last night but asking him to come home with me to meet my dad is something I didn't expect he'd agree to.

"I told you I'd do anything for you, beautiful." He leans forward and lightly brushes the tip of my nose with his lips. "I meant it."

"Well…" I fling my arms around his neck and nuzzle my face into his shoulder, "there is one more thing."

"Again, Ivy?" He starts to unbutton the perfectly pressed light blue dress shirt he put on not more than fifteen minutes ago. "You're insatiable but I'm not complaining."

I giggle as I impishly tap his hands away from his collar. "No, not that. I'd prefer to be able to move for the rest of the week so I'll take a rain check."

"What is it then?" He motions for me to sit on the couch. "And for the record, the rain check expires this evening so you'll need to cash it in before midnight."
'"Like a pumpkin?" I tilt my head to the left in mock confusion.

"Sure, Cinderella." He reaches for my hand and cradles it in his. "What is the one more thing?"

"This feels like a new beginning to me," I say it sheepishly. I don't want to assume that he's feeling the hope in our future that I am.

"It's a new beginning for us." He tips my chin up so I'm looking directly at him. "Today is our new beginning."
"Thank you," I whisper. I shift slightly on the couch not because I'm uncomfortable physically but emotionally I feel uneasy about what I'm about to say next. "I saw Liz recently and we talked about you."

"Liz? Your friend who slept with Mark?"

The moment he says it I appreciate how ironic the words are. She was my friend and she did sleep with Mark. I just never imagined those two phrases would be joined together. "Yes. She came by my building a few weeks ago and said something about knowing secrets about you."

His gaze darkens. "What secrets could she possibly know about me?"

"I wondered about that too." I feel embarrassed by my confession. "So I asked her to meet me for coffee."

"Why would you put any faith in anything she said?" His voice is crisp and harsh.

"People lie sometimes. That doesn't make them horrible."

"Are we talking about her or me?" he demands.

"Her." I hesitate before continuing," it wasn't as though she had something to tell me that was life altering."

"Of course she didn't." His body relaxes and he pulls my hand to his lips to give my palm a tender kiss. "She knows nothing about me."

"There was one small thing she said that I didn't understand." I want to clear the air completely. I want all of my doubts to evaporate and the only way I can do that is to ask him about it.

"What’s that?" He peers past my hand to my face.

"She said that Brighton told her that you…well…that you and someone else…I think he meant someone else, were working together to get my shares." I stumble through the words knowing they make little sense to me and to him.

He drops my hand and I have little time to respond. It falls with a thud into my lap. A flash of panic washes over his eyes.

"What?" he whispers.

I feel the pit of my stomach drop. "Brighton told Liz that they were working to get my shares, not you, they."

"That's ridiculous," he scoffs. "Brighton is always putting his nose in where it doesn't belong."

"You reacted." I press the subject. I know I wasn't imagining the brief moment of alarm that washed over him. "When I said it, you were panicked."

"I was angry," he snaps. "Brighton has always stuck his nose into my business. His imagination runs wild and it's caused me nothing but problems in the past."

"I didn't know."

"Our relationship is strained, at best. A lot of that has to do with our mother. I don't want to get into that now but one day I'll explain why Brighton resents me." He stands now and straightens his tie.

I take that as my cue and I stand too. "One more thing, Jax."

"What is it, beautiful?" He reaches to adjust the collar of my dress.

"You're not hiding anything from me, are you?" I tilt my head to the side wanting to draw out anything that is left lingering within him that relates to
Mark or me.  "You've told me everything about the Mark stuff, right?"

His brow arches and he brushes his lips quickly and softly against mine. "I'm not holding anything back. I handled the Mark stuff like a royal asshole. I regret that. "

"Please don't hide things from me?" I know I sound like I'm pleading. I know I likely sound pathetic but I don't care at this point. I can't move forward if this beautiful man in front of me is hiding anything else.

"I won't. I won't risk it." He pulls me into a tight embrace. "I can't lose you. I can't breathe without you."

I insist we take the train to Boston and Jax uses that time to temptingly tease me each moment he possibly can. By the time we arrive at my father's front door I'm feeling desirous, giddy and excited about how my father will react when he meets the man I'm crazy about.

"Promise me you'll behave," I say as I hold my finger over the doorbell of the humble home I grew up in.

"I promise," he says the words with a grin at the very same moment I feel his large hand grab my ass through my jeans.

"Princess, you're here." My father pulls me into a warm embrace when he opens the door. I hold tight to him. It's been years since I've been back and it's been longer since I felt so welcome.

"Dad, this is Jax Walker." I move aside so my father can get his first look at Jax.

"It's good to meet you, sir." Jax extends his hand and my father tentatively grabs it. He shakes it all the while giving Jax a thorough once over.

"Nice to meet you, Jax." My father motions for us both to come in.

"I'm going to show Jax where we'll stay and then we'll come down to visit. Is that okay?" I need to get Jax's first impression of my dad and I can't exactly do that with him standing directly in front of me.

"Sure." My father nods. "I'll brew up a pot of coffee for us."
"Follow me." I loop my arm through Jax's after he picks up both of our overnight bags. He follows me up the long staircase to the second floor of the brick townhouse I grew up in. "We're in here." I open the door and step through first.

"This is quaint, princess," he teases.

I throw my hands onto my hips and pretend to be disgruntled. "Cute, Mr. Walker."
"I love that your father calls you that." He scoops me into his arms and brushes his soft lips against mine. "I can't believe I'm standing in the house you grew up in."

"I can't believe it either." I move away from him and walk to the window. I glance down at the small backyard I used to play with my sister in. I run my hand along the faded fabric of the curtains. "My mother sewed them herself before I was born, "I whisper.

"I want to know more about her." He comes up behind me, pulling my body into his. "I want to know all about young Ivy Marlow and how she became the amazing woman she is now."

I turn and bat my hand playfully against his broad chest. "There's not much to tell."

"I doubt that." He pulls on my earring. "You're the most fascinating person I've ever met. I want to know everything there is to know about you."

"Like what?" I look up into his eyes.

"Like what's your favorite flower?"

"Daisies. "I answer immediately.

"What's your favorite color, what's your favorite book, what movies make you cry, what movies make you laugh…" he stops to catch his breath.

"Is that it?" I pull away and sit on the edge of the bed. It's covered with the same pattered bedspread that I used to dream on when I was a little girl.

"That's only the start." He sits down next to me.

"The inquisition will have to wait. We have a coffee date waiting for us."

***

"There's one thing I'm foggy on, Jax." My dad stirs another teaspoon of sugar into his second cup of coffee. So far the conversation has been going well but that could change at the drop of a hat depending on which direction my father decides to steer things.

"What's that, sir?" Jax sips on his coffee. I can tell it's not up to his standards because he's barely touched it.

"Ivy tells me that you own part of Mark's business?" He pushes the question with an even tone.

"That's right." Jax nods and offers nothing beyond that.

"But she also said that you own part of that jewelry store that sells her trinkets." He leans slightly forward in his chair and I know that the horizon is about to change. Things are headed into darker territory.

"That's also correct." Again Jax is being vague. He's not going to elaborate on anything without some coaxing.

"How does that work?"

"What exactly do you mean?" Jax glances at his watch and I curse under my breath. He's becoming increasingly uncomfortable and we haven't even gotten into the hard questions yet.

"He owns a lot of different businesses, dad." I decide to move things along. I hope my answer will be enough to appease my father's curiosity.

"He can speak for himself." My dad isn't going to back down from this. "I want him to explain why he needs to take Mark's business away from him."

Jax clears his throat and shifts in his chair so he's facing my father directly. "I'm not taking it away from Mark, sir. I'm taking it back from him."

"What's the difference?" He isn't buying Jax's charm like most people do.

I feel Jax rest his hand on my thigh and give it a slight squeeze. "Mark and my father were partners for years." Jax takes a deep breath before he continues, "my dad died last year and when he did he asked me to take back control of the company because he felt Mark was neglecting it."

"Go on." My dad gestures with his hand for Jax to continue talking.

"I tried to talk reason with Mark but he wasn't receptive to that. I wanted us to work together to rebuild the company." Jax runs his finger along the chipped rim of his mug. "So I had to do what was necessary to get it back into my hands and Ivy is helping me with that."

"Do you think your dad would be proud of you?" There's a definite softness in my father's tone.

"I hope so." Jax peers beyond my father's gaze to the wall behind him. "That's what I hope for. That I can make him proud and save the company he worked so hard to create."

"I wish you luck with that." My dad rises from the table. "I'm going to rest for a bit now. I'll see you at the restaurant later for the party?"

"We'll be there." I stand to embrace him. "Thank you, dad." I whisper in his ear.

He only nods as he walks out of the room.

***

"You're wearing that to my father's birthday party?" I clasp my hand over my mouth as I stare at Jax.

"Um, yeah. Why?" he says smugly with a hint of humor running beneath it.

"You look like a clown." I throw it out there. He does. He's wearing a bright red shirt, jeans and a somewhat tattered and torn paper hat with the words
Happy Birthday
emblazoned across the front of it.

"So, you don't like red?" He pulls on the hem of the shirt.

I don't respond. I only tilt my chin up slightly in the direction of the hat on his head.

"Oh," he says it with mock surprise. "The hat? You don't think it matches the outfit?"

"Where did you get it?" I turn back around towards the mirror on the wall to finish applying my mascara.

"In your closet." He gestures towards the tiny closet in the corner of the room. "It's full of treasures."

I stare at his reflection in the mirror. "What treasures? What's in there?"

"You don't want to know." He pulls on the elastic strap that runs beneath his chin to hold the hat in place. As he releases it, it snaps back and he jumps.

I can't help but laugh at his pained expression.

"Maybe I need to lose the hat?" He gingerly pulls it off his head and studies it. "Where did it come from?"

"The paper hat factory?" I beam.

"Funny girl." He moves to kneel in front of me now. "Did you wear it when it was your birthday when you were a child?"

"Every year?" I smile gently at him.

"Every year? Why?" He looks puzzled.

"We didn't have much money. I got the hat at a friend's party so I brought it out each year on my birthday and on my sister's birthday and we wore it." I exhale sharply. It's both a difficult and joyous memory. "I just wish my mother had been there to see me wear it."

He kisses the tip of my nose before he carefully places the hat on my head. "It's perfect." He grins.

I reach to remove it. "It's not my birthday, I can't wear it today."

"Don't." He stops my hand in mid-air. "Today is your birthday to me."

"What does that mean? You're not going to take a picture of me in this funny hat, are you?" I tilt my head to the side and purse my lips together.

"No." He rolls back on his heels. "I'm going to give you something. Don’t move."

My heart starts racing as I watch him walk towards his bag. He fumbles through the clothing and pulls out a long, rectangular box. It's wrapped in gold paper and tied with a delicate lace ribbon.

"Happy Birthday, beautiful." He kneels before me again and places it in my lap.

I stare at the box, transfixed by its beauty. The paper glimmers in the soft afternoon light coming through the window. I gently pull on the edge of the ribbon and it falls off.  I look up at him and he's sporting a wide grin. "What is it?" I whisper under my breath.

"Open it and find out." He kisses my cheek and then rests his head against mine so we can watch the unveiling together.

I remove the paper and open the deep blue velvet box. The contents steal my breath away. It's one of my necklaces but it's different. I pull it from the box and study it closer. It's a round gold pendant that I had emblazoned with several small crystals. There had been six but now there are many more and they're not crystals, they're a brilliant blue. They dance in the light.

"Do you recognize it?" Jax's breath washes against my cheek.

"Yes. I think I do." I cradle it in my palm. "It's different than I remember."

"There are twenty-six stones now. Twenty-six sapphires." He points to one of them.

"They're beautiful." I'm struggling to understand the significance of them.

He leans back now and cradles my face in his hands. "I was born in September. Those sapphires represent the twenty-six years I had to live without you."

My body trembles and I can't see. I sob audibly.

“
No, no." He presses his lips to the tears. "No tears."

I nod although I can't stop the overwhelming emotions I'm feeling.

"It's something that we made together. Something you can keep close to you." He pulls it from my hand and clasps it around my neck. "Do you like it?"

"I love it." I smile through my tears, "I love…" I stop myself I can't say that yet.

"I love you too, Ivy."