Page 18 of Ruthless Financier
I tugged the dress off, but that didn’t stop the butterflies in my belly as I wondered what would happen next. I shimmied out of the dress and stood there alone in my bra. I could see how my hairs all stood on their ends. Damn. I wasn’t ready for Jacob tonight.
I hung up the dress and told myself to live up to my name: Steel. I was supposed to be so tough no one got to me.
Ever.
Twenty-five million was why I was here, not love, or even lust. Love wasn’t real. And all this desire in my veins was for a man I hardly knew.
Right. I wiped my brow. Cold sweat raced up my spine and I gripped the edge of the sink like that might hold me together.
Jasmine had told me not to marry Jacob, but then she didn’t have these zaps of electricity coursing through her. I don’t know why. He’s the hottest man I’d ever seen. Either way, I hadn’t listened to Jasmine, or been smart about setting conditions, like waiting. Now … part of me wanted to run, but I refused to be weak.
Jacob knocked on the door and asked, “Do you need help getting out of your dress?”
I glanced at the door. I was undressed already, not that he knew. And he wasn’t fighting off physical jolts, like I was from years of suppressing my sexuality.
Tonight, he expected me to live up to the contract that included sex. And he’d been fucking … nice … about everything. Mr. Ruthless was confined to work, it seemed. And I wanted him bad enough to marry him immediately and not ask for time.
This was on me. I traced the beautiful dress with the tiny rosebuds on the bodice that I hadn’t even noticed at the store. Now the small detail made this feel real.
I let out a long sigh and took a deep breath. I had to stop this crazy overthinking. I opened the door a crack and said, “One more minute. I’m almost ready.”
I locked the door fast before he said anything. It was easier to get air in my lungs if I wasn’t soaking in his woodsy cologne.
He called out, “I’m happy to help if you need me.”
The sound of his voice made me melt a little, but I said, “Just wait.”
I rolled my shoulders and grabbed my cotton sleepwear. Once I put it on, I looked like I was ready to walk the co-ed halls of a dorm to get to the showers. As I took a quick look in the mirror, my phone rang.
I saw the number and glanced at the door. I’d married Jacob to help people like my cousin, so I answered quickly. “Mary?”
“Is this a bad time?”
My wedding night. Where I’m hiding in a bathroom. It wasn’t exactly something I could say to her. I curled on the marble floor and saw the huge tub that would be amazing to soak away my fears in—or share with the muscular, sexy man who made my knees weak.
Damn. The dream was so visceral. His kisses made me weak, which I never was. He didn’t need to know he got to me this bad, though.
I said, “I’m … it’s fine, Mary. What’s going on?”
“My face is better now, and I called Georgie.”
The black and blue and swollen eye she’d had a week ago weren’t just a one-time deal, though I hadn’t pressed her for more information when she’d checked in to the shelter with her baby. She’d been beaten for months, clearly.
And the sight of her infant son in tears still broke my heart. I let out a sigh of relief and asked, “What did Georgie say?”
“She’s sending Ridley to come and get me and Bruce.”
Good. I cared about helping all the women at the shelter, but Mary was family, and like another sister to me. So was Jasmine, but she hadn’t been like Mary. When Mary met her loser ex, she’d pulled away from us. So I said, “I’m glad you trust your family to help.”
“But I don’t want to go if Arthur can find us.”
The ex. I’d run him over with my BMW if he came near my house. I whispered, so Jacob wouldn’t hear me, “Even if he figures out you’re with your family, we’re not letting him in anyone’s house. Besides, we all have security.”
“I’m still scared.”
The Steel family stuck together. If she needed to be shipped out to California, Phoenix would have her back. Or she could just go home. Her brother, Joseph, would move closer in a heartbeat. I said, “Don’t be. You’re with us again.”
“You’re right. Thanks for letting me stay at your shelter.”
