Chapter 14
fourteen
Jaclyn
As soon as Andrew heads to the door, I jump off the chair and dart down the hallway to the bedroom.
Wearing only his T-shirt while we’re alone is fine.
But it’s a hell the fuck no around visitors, I don’t care if it is one of his brothers.
There’s way too much of me on display for anyone but my husband to see.
Whoa, husband. I said it earlier, but I don’t think it sunk in until now.
Blowing out a breath, I look around his bedroom—our bedroom.
Maybe the plane crashed, and I’m living some weird-ass dream.
Or maybe I’m dead. Ewww. I don’t want to think that.
Pinching my arm, I flinch from the pain. Nope, not dead or dreaming.
I kinda knew I wasn’t. Still, I could be in the record books for having the most bizarre week ever. Dropping onto the bed, I take a moment to just breathe. From the moment I boarded the plane in San Francisco, everything has been moving at the speed of light, the exact opposite of my norm.
Cheri always whines about how I overthink everything. She’s right, I do. It’s how I learned to protect myself growing up. Until now, until Andrew. It’s been a whirlwind since our eyes met. Who gets married this fast? Apparently, you do, idiot.
I keep expecting to panic. But even though I’m feeling overwhelmed, I’m not scared.
There’s no urge to run. That means something, right?
Andrew says it’s fate, and maybe he’s right.
Certainly, enough horrific things have happened to me with no notice; why can’t it be something amazing this time?
Because this truly feels extraordinary. Monumental.
Precious. Yes, it’s precious. Even as I think the words, all the doubt drains away, leaving certainty.
Andrew is my present, my future. One we’ll build together.
I finally have a family, and it will grow.
We’ll have babies—tomorrow if he has his way.
What is up with all this breeding shit, anyway?
The ink is barely dry on our marriage license.
Craziness, which seems to run rampant among the brothers.
A knock on the bedroom door pulls me out of my reverie.
“Come in.”
“Jaclyn, are you okay?” Concern clouds Andrew’s face as he steps into the room, closing the door behind him.
“I am, actually. Are you?” It’s probably the most confident I’ve ever been answering that question. Go figure. “Is one of your brothers here?”
“Yeah, it’s Adrian.”
I don’t know why I suddenly remember what we were doing in the kitchen just before he knocked. Oh. My. God. Was I screaming Andrew, or worse—Daddy? He has to have heard me. Maybe I’m not okay. I’ll have to hide out in here forever.
“Hey, baby, whatever thought just ran through that big ol’ head of yours, forget it. Everything is fine.” He pulls me off the bed and into his arms. Surrounded by his sandalwood and bourbon scent, with the beat of his heart against my cheek, he instantly makes everything better.
“Yeah, no. Not this time. He had to have heard us in the kitchen. I screamed when I orgasmed. How will I ever face any of your brothers after that? Like being covered in hickeys wasn’t going to be bad enough,” I huff, pulling out of his arms and crossing mine over my chest. “Seriously, I can just live in this room and not see anyone ever again.”
“Jaclyn, even if he did hear, he won’t say a word to anyone. Won’t give you strange looks or tease you. I promise. He’d be too worried about what I could tell his woman after he finds one.”
“You really think so?” I mean, the room is nice and all, but I don’t want to have to spend the next sixty years in it.
He chuckles and nods. “I know so.”
“Okay, I guess.” Why do I always feel young around him? It’s so weird. But that’s for future me to figure out. For now, I need to get over my temporary meltdown. “So why is he here? Did something else happen at JNG?”
Andrew steps forward and grasps my chin, rubbing my cheek with his thumb. His gentle smile settles the buzzing bees in my stomach, which is good since I really don’t want to puke up the stew.
“Why don’t you put on some clothes and come out when you’re ready. Then we’ll talk about it. But before you go down the rabbit hole, it’s nothing bad.”
“Okay.”
“Good girl.” He kisses my forehead and walks toward the door.
“Drew?”
“Yes, Sweetpea? Did you need anything? I assumed you ran in here to get dressed, but is it something else?”
“No, you’re right. But…I just want to say, I love you. Truly, madly, deeply, as that song goes. It shouldn’t be possible, but it doesn’t matter because it’s true.”
He’s pulling me into his arms so quickly my head spins.
“I love you, Jaclyn Gallant, with all my heart. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.
” His kiss is everything I never knew I needed.
He pours all his love, devotion, and concern into the kiss, and when we break apart, I even feel different—whole—like he said earlier.
“Now go get dressed so we can get rid of Adrian. My brother is not the person I want to spend tonight with.”
“Yes, Daddy,” I sass, because I can. He raises his eyebrow and laughs.
“You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you, little bit?”
I nod. “Maybe even two.” I love that I can make him laugh, and he’s still chuckling as he closes the door behind him.
Looking around, I don’t see my suitcase anywhere.
It’s got to be in the closet, right? When I open the door and peek in, my suitcase is leaning on one of those stands you see in hotels.
My clothes are hanging there, next to Andrew’s.
When did he have time to do all of this?
The girls and I didn’t take that long to get me ready.
After pulling a pair of jeans and a T-shirt off the hangers, I toss his T-shirt onto the bed for later and drag on my clothes.
Shit! The hickeys! I need to do something with my hair, anyway, since I didn’t dry it, so I step into the bathroom and turn on the light, wincing when I see what a mess I am.
At least this time, I’m not doing an impersonation of a trash panda.
But still, yikes. Damn, even my toiletries are all unpacked, and a scrunchy is in the same drawer as my brush.
My hair is thick, kind of wavy, so when I don’t blow it dry, it has a mind of its own—like now.
Luckily, over the years, I learned how to tame the beast, and dragging it into a messy bun on top of my head is the easiest.
With my hair up, you can see four hickeys on my neck.
Holy shitshow. Is he really a vampire? My breasts are covered with them, too, but thankfully, you can’t see them through the shirt.
I nibble my bottom lip, trying to decide whether it’s worth the effort to try to hide them, and decide, fuck it.
I have a feeling this won’t be the only time I’m walking around like I have purple polka dots covering me.
After one more check in the mirror and a teeny pep talk, I grow a pair and head down the hallway to see what is going on.
I don’t try to be quiet, but I’m barefoot, so it just happens, but they’re on to me quickly. All I manage to overhear is the fucktard’s name. Whatever is going on is about JNG.
“Hi Jaclyn, sorry to interrupt dinner,” Adrian says. I don’t know him well, and I can’t tell if he’s lying to save my life. This is one reason I chose contract law. Can you imagine me questioning people on the stand? What a fucking disaster.
“It’s okay, we were just having dessert.” As soon as I say the words, I want to swallow them back down. My cheeks heat, and I know I look guilty. So much for calm, put-together me.
“Come sit, baby.” Andrew pulls me onto his lap when I move close enough.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I bite the inside of my lip because even though Andrew said it was nothing, I need to hear it for myself.
“I told you, I would. Do you remember us telling you about Tristan?” Andrew asks.
“Yeah, vaguely. It’s all sort of mixed up with the feds and David and getting married.” I sigh. Usually, I’m more on top of things. Details are my life and make me great at my job.
“Want me to explain?” Adrian asks.
“Go ahead.”
Before he can start, his phone buzzes. He pulls it out to check, and while we wait, he clicks through a few screens. I lean into Andrew, soaking up his warmth, as Adrian sends off a few text messages.
“Problem?” Andrew asks, his eyebrow quirked. Oh, I know that look well already.
“Got it handled.” Adrian nods. Whatever the heck that means.
“Now, where were we? Oh yeah. Here’s the basics.
When you wrote to Andrew, it alerted us to a problem with the contracts, specifically Enki Inc.
’s contracts. I called an associate—Tristan—who did a deep dive for us.
Taking the information you found and what you told us about Mercier, he tracked down more than enough to pinpoint the issue and those involved.
Sure, the asshole alerted the feds the other day, but it was solely to cover his ass.
He made several mistakes, the biggest one was trying to implicate you and my brother. ”
“So, does that mean I’m not under investigation anymore? I can go back to work?” A tiny flame of hope burns deep in my chest, and when Andrew covers my hands with his, I realize I’m clenching my fingers. Trying to rein in my excitement is so hard, as I wait to hear whatever else Adrian has to say.
“Yes, that’s exactly what it means,” Adrian answers.
Yes! I don’t know how I refrain from bouncing up and down in Andrew’s lap.
“There’s more, baby,” Andrew says against my ear.
“A joint taskforce from the FBI and Homeland Security took Mercier into custody this morning. You’re in the clear.
I’ve already heard from our attorneys that they want to take statements from all of us.
The legal department will work with the task force to make the arrangements.
Jaclyn, I know you don’t know us very well yet, but we protect our own, and the truth always comes out. ”