Page 21 of Jack's Devotion

"Shit. Is that what dinner is about tonight?"

"Yeah, and you tried to skip it."

"Fuck." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I'm an asshole."

"Yep. You are." He grins at me. "But we already knew that."

"Dick."

His grin grows before he sobers. "Use it as cover."

"We need her father at the conference."

"Suggest my spot on the board is available." Drake's lip curls. "You know he'll fall all over his goddamn self kissing your ass for that spot. Tell him that you'll announce it at the press conference. He'll show up just to be seen next to you."

"That's…actually genius," I mutter, impressed. Drake has always been smart as hell. People tend to forget there are two geniuses in this family because he keeps to himself and doesn't make waves. But shit. Most days, he's a helluva lot smarter than I am. I'm just the one everyone sees.

"How are you going to keep her safe?"

"I'm marrying her."

"Obviously." He rolls his eyes. "Think that shit would have happened years ago if she…" He breaks off, shaking his head. "Why didn't she come to you?"

"She didn't know," I say quietly, staring at the ground. "Hell, I'm not even sure I knew. She was just a beautiful little angel I couldn't get off my mind."

"You knew." He clasps my shoulder, squeezing gently. "You didn't want to believe it because that's the kind of guy you are, but you knew."

"Yeah, maybe." I scrub a hand down my face, sighing. "It was fucked up, brother."

"Why? Because of her age?"

I jerk my chin in a nod. "She was still seventeen when we met."

"You can't help feeling connected to people, Jack. That shit happens whether we want it to or not. It would have been fucked up if you'd done anything about it. You didn't. You walked away because it was the right thing to do. You didn't act on it. You were never inappropriate. You walked away the way you were supposed to walk away," he murmurs. "Now, you've got another chance, one where shit like that doesn't matter. She's what? Twenty-five now?"

"Twenty-four. Her birthday is the 3rd."

"Same difference. The point is, everything is different now. You've held onto her memory for seven years. I'm guessing she picked your pool house for a similar reason. That's important. Doesn't matter what anyone else has to say about it or what didn't happen back then because itdidn'thappen. What matters is how the two of you feel and what you do about itnow. Life is too goddamn short, Jack. Don't waste it."

"Uh, you missed the part where I said I was marrying her, didn't you?"

"No, I heard it. I'm just making sure you hear me."

"Oh, I hear you." I stare at him, shaking my head. "Frankly, I'm just trying to figure out how the fuck we ended up here, with you giving me advice about life being short, and me talking about marriage."

"We had nothing to do with it," he mutters ruefully, scratching his beard. "We aren't that goddamn smart. It was all them."

I laugh quietly. He's probably right about that.

Chapter Six

Madison

"You're sleeping in my bed, baby." Jack scowls at me from across said bed, looking like a cranky beast. One I'd really like to jump right now. I've been thinking about it all night. Jumping him, I mean. Which means sleeping in this bed with him is a bad, bad idea.

"We can't sleep together, Jack!" I protest. "We barely even know each other."

Apparently, that's the wrong thing to say. Because as soon as the words are out of my mouth, he's no longer on the opposite side of his massive four-poster bed. He's storming around the side of it toward me. And I'm not nearly as fast as he is.

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