Ready for Him (5 page)

And she had him to thank for that, too.

* * * *

It was eleven p.m. when Jade unlocked the door to her room.

They had gone to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant. Piper had insisted on ordering champagne—Leonie had got very drunk and spilled her spaghetti bolognese down her shirt, and Shaundra had fallen off her six-inch heels and knocked a waiter over. Jade had been slightly tipsy, but had managed to get through the meal with no mishaps. In fact, thanks to the constant chatter and the presence of three of her favourite dishes on the menu, it had been a good evening.

Returning to an empty room was less pleasant, but unavoidable.

As she opened the door, her eye was immediately drawn to something on the bed. It was a black box, about the size of a shoebox but cubical, with a gold envelope resting on top.

What the hell?
Had reception sent this up? She crossed the room, picked up the envelope and looked at the front. ‘Jade’ was written there in a simple script.

A thought struck her, and she tore the envelope open, catching the enclosed card as it fell out. She could already see the card was written in the same handwriting, and her heart pounded as she read the words.

Jade,

There is no one else I would give this to.

Will

The box was velvet-coated, with a heavy lid that opened on a hinge. Jade flipped it open and stared down at the sparkling contents.

It was a jewelled collar.

She lifted it up, watching as the light reflected from the facets. It was black leather, encrusted with diamonds and emeralds. Turning it in her hands, she found the buckle, gold with an amethyst stud, and so shiny it was almost a mirror.

A knock on the door startled her so much she almost dropped the collar.

Will.

He was standing there when she opened the door, dressed in black jeans and a T-shirt. Automatically Jade stepped backwards to let him in. He was looking at her with desperate eyes, as if he thought she would disappear.

The silence was broken by the thud of the door closing. Jade asked the question that had been on her mind all day.

“Why did you leave?”

“I went to get the collar.” A flicker of anger crossed Will’s face. “I told Matt to let you know and keep you in the room till I got back, but the jackass fell asleep. He’s lucky he still has a job.”

Jade looked down at the collar, which was still in her hands.
He went to get me this. He didn’t leave me.

When she looked back up, Will had moved closer, his eyes still fixed on her face.

“So what do you say?”

“I—What does this mean?”

Will raised his hand and cupped her cheek, holding her gaze.

“It means I’m asking you to be my submissive. Permanently. No others—I don’t share, and I don’t expect you to. I’m asking you to be mine.”

“With a contract?”

“I’ll get one drawn up that we both agree on.” Will bit his lip, and Jade felt something flutter inside at this sudden vulnerability. “So—what do you think?”

There was one word that still stood out for her.

“Permanently?”

Will took a deep breath.

“I’m also asking you to marry me.”

Chapter Five

“Oh God. I swear I’m going to faint.”

“Oh, relax.” Jade swatted Leonie’s shoulder. “You’re going to be fine.”

“It’s all right for you,” Leonie muttered, leaning towards the mirror to check her makeup for the fifth time. “You wait till next month. You’ll be shitting yourself.”

Jade shook her head indulgently, inwardly admitting Leonie was probably right. Next month she would be terrified.

Because next month, on a Friday to be exact, was her own wedding to Will Vandenmeer.

She crossed the room to where Piper was posing in front of another mirror, watching how her ivory column dress swished as she turned. Piper raised an eyebrow at her, one corner of her mouth quirking in a smile, and Jade grinned back, suddenly overwhelmed with how events had snowballed.

This was just going to be
amazing.

“It’s nice to see you so happy.”

Jade was about to protest that it was Piper’s day, not hers, but stopped. “Thanks. I still can’t believe how quickly it’s all happened.”

“Neither can I, but you know what you want, so you may as well grab it.”

Jade flashed her a wicked grin. “I did.”

“Thanks. I didn’t need to know that.” Piper made a mock-fingers-down-the-throat gesture.

“I’m so jealous,” Shaundra called from across the room, where she was adjusting her tiara. “Your wedding is just going to be
huge
.”

“I’m just glad I don’t need to organise it all.” Jade shuddered at the thought of trying to plan a wedding in a month. The Las Vegas trip had been complicated enough. Fortunately, Will apparently had contacts in every company on the West Coast, since he had managed to pull strings to organise everything at the last minute.

He had offered his help right from the beginning.

“Seriously. Just tell me what you had in mind, and I can fix it.”

“Had in mind? I’ve never planned my own wedding. I’ve no idea.”

Will had rolled his eyes. “Typical. I’ve picked the one woman on the planet who hasn’t been designing her wedding since birth.”

Remembering the detailed lists Leonie, Piper and Shaundra had had, Jade had found herself laughing. All this had just been too much. In the end, Will had made some calls, and a few hours later had presented Jade with an itinerary.

“What’s this?”

“Appointments with a dress designer, a florist, a wedding cake company and a jewellery designer. Oh, and a couple of potential venues. We can take the rest from there.”

And so they had. After a whirlwind day of silks, roses, glitter icing and hotel ballrooms, Jade had collapsed in Will’s room, exhausted but secure in the knowledge that the ball was rolling on just about every possible issue, and ready to let Will strap her to the beanbag and fuck her into breathless submission.

She glanced down at her left hand, where a pear-cut diamond sparkled on a platinum band.

“I knew you’d pick a weird ring,” Piper commented, pulling back the hem of her dress to admire her ivory shoes.

“Oh, shut up. It’s a solitaire, same as yours.”

“It is not. Mine’s a diamond cut. Only you would go for pear.”

Jade flipped Piper off with her other hand, joining in as Piper laughed. The mood in the room was beginning to grow tense as the time of the triple wedding drew nearer—Jade thought they needed all the laughter they could get.

“It’s so romantic, you guys.” Leonie sat down on an upholstered chair, smiling beatifically at her. “Getting married in a month…”

Piper snorted. “I’d hardly call that collar romantic.”

“It’s a Prada collar,” Shaundra commented. “That makes all the difference.”

The collar was something Jade had worried about, but her friends had been surprisingly accepting. More surprising had been Will’s insistence that she not wear it for the wedding.

“I thought you’d want that. I’m not ashamed—”

“I know, and neither am I. But you’re not
just
my sub. You’re my fiancée, and what we do behind closed doors is our own business. Besides, I’m not going to hold you up as an example. The press are going to have a field day as it is.”

That much was true. Will’s PR team had been working for days to ensure that nobody gatecrashed the triple wedding in an attempt to get a photo of Jade. How they would handle the actual day was giving Jade nightmares. The comparison between Will Vandenmeer, billionaire, and Jade Bleecker, tattooed freak, would be enough for pages of comment.

But she was happy, and Will was happy, and that made up for a multitude of annoyances.

Especially when she was about to play bridesmaid for three different, panic-stricken brides. Looking around her, Jade could see the tension gradually building in each of their faces, the knowledge that in an hour’s time they would all be walking down the aisle.

It was a good job that she was so relaxed, because she could sense meltdowns on the horizon.

* * * *

The ceremony was beautiful.

Despite Leonie’s pleas, there was no Elvis impersonator. Nevertheless, as she floated down the aisle in a cloud of white daubed with colour—bright blue eye makeup, glittering red heels and a huge bouquet of pink roses—Leonie looked happier than Jade had ever seen her. And Jade had seen her very happy.

Shaundra came down the aisle like a runway model, towering heels and short skirt with a cascading train, but the look she gave Andrew
as she reached the altar was pure adoration, and Jade smiled to see them.

Piper insisted on walking alongside Jade, a vision of ivory and pearl next to Jade’s teal green. She was the picture of cool control, but as she held Jade’s arm a tremor communicated between them—Jade squeezed her hand in sympathy.

Even with all three together, the nerves were there, but there was no need.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the officiant announced warmly, and Jade inwardly cheered as all three couples kissed. After a few moments she diplomatically turned her head away, looking back at the sole guest at the back of the room.

Will.

He smiled, looked her up and down, then gave an approving nod and a wink. Jade bit back a laugh.
Glad he likes this outfit, anyway.

The one thing she had held firm on was that Will should
not
see her dress before the day. Will had graciously bowed to this request, possibly because Jade had worded it politely and addressed him as ‘sir’, but more likely because she had been on her knees at the time.

The dress was one-shouldered, close-fitting ivory silk, worn with a diamond-threaded mantilla veil and gold heels. If Will liked her bridesmaid’s dress, he was bound to love her wedding gown—but that could wait until the big day.

The thought made her stomach catch. So little time to get used to it. So little time before she would be calling herself Jade Vandenmeer.

And yet she knew, instinctively, that she had made the right choice.

* * * *

Jade closed her eyes for a moment as the elevator doors opened, breathing in the familiar, welcome scent that always greeted her on the top floor of the Bellagio.

They had arrived back yesterday after three weeks in New York City. Despite the glinting jewel on her finger, Jade had found herself floundering in first-date nerves. What had happened in Vegas could have stayed in Vegas, but back in New York things were suddenly very real—and just a little unnerving. She had pulled Will aside immediately after they got off the plane and insisted on dating him properly for the few weeks they had.

I refuse to be carried away by wedding planning and amazing sex. I need to know you outside of that—I need to know I’m right about you.

And Will had agreed.

Their first official date had been at the Sanctuary. Jade had raised an eyebrow at this, but Will had explained his reasoning—security. Having a recognisable face, the last thing he wanted on a date—especially a first date—was to have a camera or microphone shoved into it. The Sanctuary was a safe haven in more ways than one.

It also served very good food. Over a bottle of champagne and a bowl of squid ink pasta, Jade had admired the surroundings and bantered back and forth with Will about anything and everything.

Will was—entertaining. Fun. Intense. He was passionate about his work, yet never took business calls at dinner. His eyes would light up whenever she hit on a topic he was interested in, and their conversation would flash and glow for hours, hopping from one point to another, never getting dull.

He had been fascinated to hear about her own career.

“So what do you do for a living? I don’t think you ever said.”

“I’m an EFL teacher. I spent a year teaching in Japan.”

“Wow. That’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go.”

“Seriously? You’ve never been to Japan?” Somehow Jade had assumed that every rich businessman would have been there.

“Nope. One of many places, actually. We’ll have to go sometime.”

He had even suggested it for their honeymoon, but Jade had managed to strike a compromise. They had booked one week in Tokyo and one on a beach in Thailand.

After three packed weeks of private restaurants, wedding planning and nights spent in Will’s apartment—which Jade had been unsurprised to discover was a penthouse at the top of an extremely expensive skyscraper—they were back in Las Vegas for their wedding. The previous night Will had arranged a helicopter flight out to the Grand Canyon for a candlelit dinner, something Jade had known was possible—Leonie had found it in one of her Vegas wedding brochures—but had never expected to experience.

“This is the most amazing place I have ever seen.”

Will had smiled lazily from the other side of the table, a forkful of shrimp risotto halfway to his mouth. “There are so many places I want to show you.”

And there were so many things, and places, Jade wanted to be shown.

Now Will stepped behind Jade and unfastened her emerald necklace, dropping it into his pocket. Jade said nothing, recognising what this meant.

The collar.

It was in its box on her bedside table. As they entered the room, Will closed and locked the door while Jade retrieved the sparkling band of leather, sweeping her hair aside to bare her throat for him.

“Good,” was Will’s only comment. His breath tickled the nape of her neck as the collar brushed her skin, and Jade shivered as he unzipped her dress and unfastened her bra. “Strip for me.”

“Yes, sir.”

She slid the dress over her arms, letting it drop to the floor along with her bra. As she untied the sides of her panties, Will moved to stand in front of her, holding out his hand, which was filled with gold chain.

“Step out of those and stand still.” He flashed her a wicked smile. “I’m going to decorate you.”