Sweetened With a Kiss (18 page)

“Stefan,” she groaned in protest.

He pulled her back up so she was facing him, cupped the back of her head and pulled her down for another raging hot kiss. She straddled him, rocking against him until he was forced to flip her onto her back or lose control altogether. He lifted his head. She was so unbelievably beautiful. Her caramel eyes were dilated, and her lips were swollen. He liked that he’d done that. He liked that she was dazed and trembling beneath him. He couldn’t wait to see her face when he was finally inside her. His whole body shuddered and something ravenous awoke.  He wasn’t quite ready to give into it yet. Who knew what he’d be on the other side.

“Slow down,” he repeated, his voice so hoarse he didn’t recognize it.

She shook her head, but her eyes were still smiling. “This is war,” she teased.

“We’re still not rushing this.” He heard the words come out of his mouth, but he had no idea where they came from. He didn’t actually agree with them. And he really didn’t like the pain-filled expression that darkened her brown eyes before she shut them. She hadn’t even tried to hide it from him this time. He honestly wasn’t trying to hurt her. This just meant too much to him to blow it. He wanted it to be perfect. And right now, his definition of perfect was not two minutes on his sofa. He just didn’t seem to have enough blood or oxygen in his brain to form the words that would make her understand that.

She pushed against him, only opening her eyes when he moved away. She scrambled back, trying to think of something clever to say, but she just had nothing, less than nothing really. All she could think was maybe he didn’t really want her that badly after all.

“Hey,” he said, catching her before she could fly out of the room.  He pulled her back into his lap. “Look at me,” he said softly.

She swallowed hard and braced herself for whatever mocking comment he had for her. But when she finally did look at him, she didn’t see even a trace of laughter anywhere.

What he did say took her completely by surprise. “We need to set a date.”

“A date?” she echoed.

He nodded, pushing her hair away from her face. “In April.”

“April,” she repeated, nodding, trying to come to terms with what he was saying. April was only a few months away. Not nearly enough time for Nadine Sellers to put together the wedding she would insist on. “So soon?” Jen said.

“Not soon enough. I want to do this right,” he told her, and she could see his mind was made up. And once Stefan made up his mind, there was no changing it. She could try to wear him down, keep playing her silly games and pretend she had a chance at winning. But she wouldn’t beat him. But she wasn’t going down without a fight. No way.

“That’s crazy,” she finally managed to say.

“We’ve waited this long, what’s a few more months.”

Jen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then pushed out of his arms. She told herself she should be flattered. She also tried to tell herself that it was sweet. But instead she just got angry and really, really frustrated. “You aren’t the one who promised no more boys.”

“I think that’s understood, Jen,” he laughed, making her even madder.

She got off the sofa, not sure why she was so angry. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been aching like this for years. What difference did a few more months make? But she found it made a lot of difference to her. He wanted her, she knew that. Just not nearly as desperately as she wanted him. And it was humiliating.

It really is just about the stock. It’s just a bonus that he doesn’t find you repulsive
, that sadistic little voice whispered in her ear and that second of self-doubt was like ice water rushing all over her. Then the part of her that rejoiced in jumping up and down on his buttons roared to life. She turned back around and faced him. “Where do you keep the extra batteries?”

His eyebrows narrowed in confusion. “Kitchen drawer on the end. Why?”

She didn’t answer, just marched straight past him into the kitchen, grabbed some batteries at random. She could feel his eyes tracking her movements. She could also tell the exact moment the light bulb went off. He was stunned, shocked, horrified, and definitely turned on if the blaze in his eyes was anything to go by. He honestly looked like he was having trouble breathing.

Her smile suddenly went all Mona Lisa. “See you in the morning,” she assured him sweetly, waved the handful of batteries at him, then disappeared down the hallway. Then she did something she hadn’t done in years. She locked the bedroom door.

“Wait on that, Sellers,” she smiled to herself, dropped the batteries down on the dresser, and went straight for the coldest shower of her life.

What the hell did she need batteries for? No. No way! His brain shorted out. Just went blank. Actually unable to connect even the easiest dots for a full second. She smiled at him, all slow and knowing. Then the dots slammed into each other and detonated as lightning hit the back of his head again. Her smile transformed into a provocative smirk and Stefan’s imagination went off the chain. Just snapped it in half. It was stone cold shock and not control that kept him pinned to the sofa as she flounced out of the room and stomped up the stairs. Was she actually whistling?

No. She was bluffing.  His Jen would never have a sex toy. Not ever. But she wasn’t his Jen, was she? This was the Jen who argued with him. This Jen dared him to pin her down on the hood of her red convertible and teased him with black stockings with little bows on the ankles. She tricked him into eating pancakes. Even fed him strawberries and made him want pound cake, which was one of the worst  things you could put in your body. And she had almost gone down on him like she’d been doing it for years. Fuck him! This was not his Jen. This was evil Jen from the evil alternate universe. She was killing him.

And he loved it.

Jared may have been sleeping on Rogan’s couch in the carriage house but he still seemed to spend every single moment in the house. He and Jen had set up headquarters on the new dining room table and Stefan had been forced to actually go over the business plan with the little shit, although he refused to admit out loud that he was impressed and the hippie did actually have a brain for business.

“Tell me something,” Stefan said, tossing some sketches back on the table. “You passed the bar. You have a real knack for business law, but you want to make pastry?”

Jared grinned and leaned back in his chair. “Chicks dig pastry.”

“Please,” Jen groaned. “Jared only sat for the bar exam so his father would loan him the money for the bakery.”

Stefan just shook his head in disbelief. “Just seems like a waste.”

“Nah,” Jared insisted. “Grant’s carrying on the family tradition. Now he’s exactly what you expect from an attorney. Very serious, very boring, and you never see him coming. I would just drive him nuts if I joined the family firm.”

“I thought that’s what you lived for,” Jen teased him.

“I’m starting to understand why Grant was so supportive of this whole bakery idea,” Jared laughed. “See, you never see him coming.”

Still not believing that Jared would actually take the bar exam just so he could open a bakery, Stefan finally said, “This all looks good, but I think you’ve underestimated how much money you really need. But I’m in.”

“You’re in?” Jen repeated. “I told you...”

“Jen,” Stefan cut her off. “The money isn’t coming from me. The loan is coming from our investment company. I emailed Nic the business plan and he thinks it’s solid too. Rogan has already offered to write you a check.”

“Business loan?” Jared interrupted. “That’ll work.”

Stefan nodded, and named a number that was larger than Jared’s original estimate. “If you’re going to do it, do it right.”

Jared grinned. “Deal,” and Jen watched in horror as the two men shook hands.

“What just happened?” she demanded. “That did not just happen.”

They both looked at her, apparently surprised that she wasn’t ecstatic.

“You two just cut me completely out of the equation.”

“How?” Stefan asked. “This is what you wanted!”

“I asked you for my money, Stefan, not a loan,” she gritted, feeling inexplicably betrayed by the two men she loved most in the world. And why were they all suddenly so buddy buddy? She liked it better when they were spitting at each other.

“That’s not going to happen. You want the bakery, these are my terms.”

Jen stood up, pushing her chair back. “You don’t get to set the terms either. It’s my money.”

“I know it’s your money,” he shot back. “But you’re not using it for this. In fact, there’s no reason for you to use any of it at all. As soon as we get married, it’s all going into a new trust for our kids.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. She was so angry she couldn’t even form words. But then he’d mentioned kids. Kids? Something burst inside her and went to war with the anger and Jen wasn’t even sure how to feel about anything. It was the way he said
our kids
. It was so sweet it hurt.

“Jen,” Jared tried to calm her down and it was exactly the wrong thing to do. She turned on him then.

“Don’t,” she hissed at him and left both of them gaping at her.

“You should go after her,” Jared smirked.

“You’re her best friend,” Stefan reminded him.

Jared stood up and grabbed the empty beer bottles. “Dude, this is all you. Sorry.”

He found her sitting on the edge of the guest bedroom bed. “There are tax advantages for us if we loan you the money,” he said.

She nodded, not looking up at him. “It’s fine.”

“You also get Nic Maretti,” Stefan reminded her. “He makes money in his sleep, Jen.”

“It’s okay, Stefan.”

He sat down next to her. “It doesn’t make it less yours.”

She nodded again.

“So can we cease with the hostilities now?” he asked, shouldering her, trying to make her laugh. “I’m really trying here. I’m even playing nice with the hippie. Cut me some slack.”

She smiled, pushing her hair behind her ears. “I feel like I got off the wrong plane.”

He slid his arm carefully around her shoulders and relaxed when she leaned into him.

“C’mon,” he told her, tightening his arms around her. “I DVR’d all the
Walking Dead
episodes while you were gone. You up for zombies?”