Page 44 of Ruthless Financier
His lips curled up and that smile of his blossomed on his face and made him seem younger as he laughed, “You enjoyed yourself.”
His laugh rushed through me like he was all I’d ever need. As his rumbles subsided, I clutched his strong shoulder and said, “Honestly, I thought orgasms like that were just the whispers of women who still giggled over men like they were the boys in high school.”
He winked and traced my naked body like he owned me. “Well, I’m not a boy.”
“Clearly not,” I said. No one would ever rule me, but Jacob … if I was to ever truly let myself fall in love, he’d be it.
He sat up and slipped the sheet off me, so he could see my naked body as he said, “You light up the room when you laugh.”
I scooted up and hugged my knees. I met his gaze and pushed my hair behind my ears. My heart was open as I said, “Jacob, I … like us together.”
“Love” almost came out of my mouth, but I’d stopped that. Love wasn’t real anyhow.
He glanced at the window at the twilight sky, where the moon had just risen, as he said, “Indigo Steel, I’ve not felt the remotest feeling for a woman in years. You’re my exception.”
My entire body melted, and I squeezed his hand. If he said he loved me, I wasn’t sure what I’d do, but the thought hit me that I would say it back. But I’d never be like my mom, weak and dependent.
I said, “You’re clearly mine too. No one else, ever …”
Had been close enough to steal my heart. The words stopped flowing but my body trembled. We were temporary. I was his wife only for five years.
He stood, stark naked and not caring that I saw his penis swinging as he stretched. He said, “I realized that, which was why I went slow.”
Coldness entered me. Yes, my parents had been in love, but my father was always the heart and mind. I saw how hard he worked to keep us together and keep my mom calm … I didn’t have it in me to be like her, and honestly, that thought had been with me since I was a girl.
I held the sheets as I said, “Good. Glad you showed me what an orgasm actually was.”
This was easier to talk about than love. How funny. He grabbed a towel from theen suitebathroom and tossed it at me as he asked, “So you’d do it again?”
I got out of bed and wrapped myself in the towel as I said, “I’ll happily stay right here and avoid the party.”
He flipped the light on in the bathroom and brushed his teeth. I tiptoed in and joined him. As he finished he stared at me in the mirror and said, “Part of me wants to just take you and run away from my own plans.”
Trauma had left my mom suffering from panic attacks, even hiding from our neighbors when they’d come to the door. Running solved nothing; it only caused more issues. I finished brushing my teeth and rinsed my brush as I said, “But we’ll go to the party, and you’ll win against your father.”
He leaned on the vanity and said, “He’s going to attack our marriage. I need you to be strong.”
“I will.”
I’d been too honest. I’d never told anyone anything as private and dear to me, as I’d done with Jacob. I pressed my hand to his heart and wished I was capable of love. He deserved that. He deserved a wife who would love him—not me, the ice queen who ran from her emotions so I’d never fall apart.
“You paid me twenty-five million dollars to be your wife,” I said, “and I’ll convince everyone that our marriage is real.”
A ring buzzed in the silence. He pointed to the desk where my phone vibrated and said, “Speaking of …”
“My family already likes you.” I patted his naked butt. “Take a shower. We need to get ready.”
He laughed at me as I rushed through the room in my towel, and said, “Tell your sister ‘hi’, and she can have whatever she needs.”
He turned the water on in the stand-alone glass shower and steam quickly hid him from view. I picked up the phone and asked, “Ridley, what’s going on?”
“The court is giving me custody if I show up in Texas to get Chelsea.”
Things had worked out for my family this time because of Jacob. I said, “That’s awesome.”
“I took a leave from the hospital. Nicole is going to care for my plants and apple tree.”
Ridley spent hours on her feet taking care of her patients and never complained. She deserved a vacation—though this wasn’t exactly a vacation. Soon she’d have someone else to take care of.
