Punk Rox Warrior (19 page)

night’s lovemaking session.

“I was just wondering if I could take my girl to lunch. I missed

you this morning. When I woke up, you were already gone.”

She bit her lip. “Lunch is going to be impossible today, Sweetie.”

She put down the box she’d been sifting through. “I have a few

meetings this afternoon, and I’m finally getting this office together.

The movers are on the way to bring me some new furniture.” She

wrinkled her nose. “Carol had awful taste in office furniture. This

weekend the entire building will be getting a makeover.”

* * * *

She looked frazzled. James racked his brain for a way to help take

some stress off her. Taking her hand, he led her around the desk and

leaned her against it. “Are you okay? I worry about you doing too

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much, getting worn out. You don’t have to be superwoman, ya

know?” He gently kissed the ring he had placed on her finger days

ago.

She sighed. “I know. I’m just excited. I wanted to clean out this

office today before the meetings and get the last remnants of Carol

out of this building. The meetings this afternoon will determine the

new board and CEO. I don’t want to run this place, just oversee it.”

She smiled as if she was remembering a private joke. “I’m not built

for the corporate world.”

“Are we still on for tonight?” James knew tonight’s events had

been something Rainne had been dreading.

“Yeah, everything’s set.” She sighed. “The band and the movers

will meet us there at seven o’clock sharp.” She tried to keep her tone

light, but James heard right through that little charade.

James wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “It’s going to be

fine. I promise.” He kissed her forehead. “I have a few things I need

to do. I’ll meet you there.” He left the office with a small click of the door.

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Chapter 18

Rainne stood outside the large oak door of her father’s house,

unable to put the key in the lock and enter.
Why? You’ve been here a
thousand times.
Steeling herself with a deep breath, she unlocked the door and took a few steps inside.

The house seemed different somehow. Over the years, she had

had mixed feelings about the mansion. Sometimes it felt homey and

comforting, while other times it had felt like a jail cell. Now, looking around, it made her feel sad, almost mournful.

As she slowly strolled through, she had brief flashbacks of

memories, good and bad. She frowned to herself at the mess made by

the federal agents who had gathered evidence for the case against

Carol and Phillip.

“Are you ready for this?”

The low voice had her spinning in place. She jumped as she saw

James in the doorway. “Oh, you scared me,” she said with a shaky,

humorless chuckle. “I guess I have to be, don’t I?”

James quickly breached the distance between them and wrapped

his arms around her protectively. “It doesn’t have to be done tonight,”

he whispered tenderly in her ear. “We can wait.”

Rainne shook her head in his chest. “No, I want to get this done

and over with. It feels like an anvil hanging over my head. I just want

to sell it and move on.”

“Are you sure you want to sell it? I thought with it being your

father’s you might want to live here.”

She looked up into his eyes. “This place is way too big for just us.

I often wondered why my father bought such a grandiose piece of

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property. Mimi had told me that it’s been in the family for

generations, and my parents had intended to fill it full of children.

That was until…” She trailed off, not able to finish the thought.

He tightened his arms around her. “We could fill it,” he said.

She heard the smile in his voice. She couldn’t help but smile, too.

“I bet we could.” She kissed his chest, biting him softly. “I didn’t

know you wanted children.”

He stepped back to look at her. “I didn’t until I found you. I think

about you pregnant and glowing. Teaching our sons how to hunt and

fish. Scaring the shit out of any boy who dared think he was good

enough for one of our beautiful daughters.” They laughed in unison.

“Growing old surrounded by our children and grandchildren.” He

paused thoughtfully. “I want all of that with you. I want our children

to have your beautiful ringlet curls and big brown eyes. I want them

to have my height and that’s all, just my height.” His smile was

brighter than the sun.

The moment was cut off when someone behind them cleared his

throat. Glancing around James, Rainne saw that the band had arrived

and so had the movers.

“Are we ready to get to work?” Annie asked cheerfully.

“Yup, yup, let’s do this,” she retorted.

The evening progressed quickly. The movers were efficient. All

too soon they had the entire downstairs emptied out. Rainne’s main

job was remembering what pieces went to her apartment and what

was being delivered to the company to be auctioned off for charity.

The rest would be delivered to Goodwill.

The entourage moved upstairs and quickly got to work moving

everything downstairs. Rainne walked down the expansive hallway

and paused at the farthest door on the left. She entered the room and

stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh, my god,” she whispered almost

silently to herself.

“Everything okay?” James asked, coming up behind her.

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Rainne’s heart was breaking. “This was my room. My father made

it a point to always keep it clean so if I ever wanted to come home, I’d always have a place of my own.” She examined the room, trying to

stamp down her anger at Carol. The room obviously hadn’t been

touched in nearly a decade, and a thick layer of dust covered

everything like a second skin. This was her proof that she meant no

more to Carol than the gum stuck to the bottom of her high-heeled

shoe. Rainne finally broke and collapsed into James’s arms, sobbing.

“Sshh,” he crooned. “It’s okay, baby.” He smoothed his hands

over her hair. “Let’s go through the rest of the upstairs. We can deal

with this later.” He led her out into the hallway and closed the door

behind him. “Are you all right, baby?” he asked worriedly.

Rainne wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I’ll be fine. I’m

just overwhelmed I think.”

“Pizza’s here!” someone called from downstairs.

James took her hand and led her to the staircase. “I think it’s a

good idea if you eat something.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.” She tried to smile.

James paid for the pizzas, and Rainne had to smile when she

realized he had had the man stop and get a few cases of beer on his

way.

“You seem to have thought of everything,” she said, trying to pull

herself out of her funky mood.

“I just want you to relax. I hate you being so stressed out and

sad,” he said as he pulled her to the floor in front of the fireplace.

She smiled shyly. It was so hard for her to get used to how he

cared for her even with the little things. She felt like a princess with him and didn’t think she’d ever get used to it.

As Rainne sat on the floor surrounded by her bandmates, James’s

security team, the movers, and the housekeeping staff, she felt better.

She realized that it wasn’t just the food and beers making her relax,

but the company. She could see how much her friends really were her

family and how much they loved her. Seeing firsthand how James

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interacted with his friends was hilarious. Even the housekeeping staff

seemed happy to see her. She remembered most of them from her

childhood. They had been loyal to her father even after his death,

staying on to care for the house he loved so much. She could almost

feel her heart warming in her chest. This was her family, and for the

first time in a very long time, she felt like she was home.

* * * *

A few hours later, Rainne closed the door for the last time. They

had cleared out the bulk of the furniture, and the moving crew would

be back in a few days to finish up. She turned to James. “Well, that’s

the last of them,” she said with a smile.

“Thank God,” James exclaimed as he pressed her back up against

the door, knotting his fingers in her hair. “I didn’t think I’d last

another minute not being able to touch you.” He captured her mouth

in a kiss and pressed his full body against hers.

Breaking away, breathless, she asked, “Where is everyone else?”

“The team is doing sweeps outside, and the housekeeping staff has

turned in for the night.” He gazed into her eyes and pursed his lips. “It looks like we’re all alone.” He smiled wickedly.

Rainne felt her stomach do flips and wondered if this feeling,

these first love flutters, would ever go away. She hoped like hell that

the answer was no. “I’m so in love with you,” she whispered.

“And I you,” he whispered. Taking her hand, he led her to the

dining room.

She was stunned. “When did you do this?” She looked around the

room in wonder. The room was lined with what seemed to be dozens

of candles, and a fire was roaring in the fireplace. In front of the fire was a giant bearskin rug that had once adorned the floor in the study.

The light from the candles was soft and romantic. It made her feel

instantly at ease.

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James chuckled softly as he laid her down on the rug. He cupped

the back of her head with his hand while balancing his weight on his

elbow. Slowly, he moved his hand down her chest, unfastening

buttons as he went. “I had the housekeeper help me while you were

upstairs supervising the movers.” He came down on her lips and

kissed her deeply.

She opened to him, letting his tongue invade her. Tangling her

hand in his hair, she cuddled closer.

Breaking the kiss, he looked down at her. “We never finished our

conversation before,” he said roughly, trying to catch his breath.

Her brow furrowed into a puzzled expression. “What

conversation?”

“I never asked you if you wanted children,” he said softly.

Rainne thought she heard hopefulness in his voice, maybe a little

uncertainty. “I had never thought about having kids. It always seemed

like something I wanted, but never actually planned on getting. Ya

know?” She cupped the side of his face with her hand. “That was until

you asked me to marry you.”

He leaned to her, kissing her neck and down her chest, stripping

her of her clothes as he went. “How many were you thinking?”

She defiantly heard the smile in his voice. “Well,” she sighed

breathlessly. It was hard to think when he was touching her like that.

“This house has ten bedrooms.” She trailed off, waiting for the bait to

set in.

* * * *

James paused.
Ten bedrooms.
Sitting up, he pulled Rainne so she straddled his lap. “You mean it, baby?” He smiled. “Are you sure?”

As the red flooded her features his cock got exceedingly harder.

“Well, this house was my father’s and he had intended to fill it with

the pitter-patter of little feet. So yeah, let’s do it. Let’s fill it.”

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James wrapped his big arms around her waist and hugged her to

his body. “Oh, baby.” He didn’t think he would be able to contain his

happiness. “Let’s start now.” He laughed.

“Definitely.” She laughed as she crushed her lips to his.

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Chapter 19

Rainne awoke slowly, entangled in James’s arms, warm and

content not to move from this bliss. “Mmm.” She sighed.

“Good morning,” he said softly into her hair.

“How’d you sleep?” she asked, cuddling into his chest. She had

no idea of what time it was nor did she care. She had all intentions of

staying just as she was for as long as possible.

“Good. We need to get more of these rugs.” He laughed. “Riley

hunts bears. Maybe he could get us one.”

“Riley hunts bears?” she asked, a bit shocked, not knowing people

could or would hunt bears.

“Yeah, and anything else worth eating.” He rolled her onto her

back, and his gaze drifted down her body. “Speaking of eating…” He

smiled seductively.

“You hungry, baby?” she cooed.

“I love you in the morning all wet and sleepy, warm and soft.” He

moved slowly down her body and parted her thighs. His gaze drifted

down to her pink lips. They were soaking wet with her lust for him.

He speared his tongue out and slowly took one long lick.

Rainne trembled. She could feel her orgasm building in her core,

ready to erupt. Her soft whimpers danced through the air around

them.

James’s head shot up when the sound of commotion was heard in

the foyer.

The distant voices were sharp and rushed. “Where did this come

from?” someone was demanding.

They rushed to get decent and flew out of the room.

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“What’s going on?” James asked anxiously.