10. Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
SAINT LAURENT
Nora
I woke with Jamie’s hands moving over me.
“Darling,” I whispered.
Those hands became fingers fisted in the silk of my nightgown, jerking it up.
I shivered in anticipation and pressed back into him.
He shifted so his mouth was at my neck, and one of his hands dipped into the bodice of my nightdress, cupping a breast and rubbing a thumb over my nipple. His other hand dove between my legs, his middle finger working miracles, making me very happy I had not re-donned my panties the night before.
When both our breathing was labored, and I couldn’t stop rubbing my backside against his hard cock, I whimpered in protest when he removed his hand from between my legs, but only so he could caress my hip, before he trailed it down, gripped my thigh and hiked it forward.
I felt his long frame shift down, then I felt him glide inside.
My head fell back to his shoulder.
His middle finger returned to my clit, and his cock thrust in and out of me.
When he made me come, I noticed distractedly that I did sound like a harlot.
No, an absolute trollop .
I adored it.
It was perfect .
A few minutes later, I found I loved the rough, rich rumble of his much more.
After his orgasm left him, Jamie slid inside and wrapped his arms around me before he murmured in my ear, “Clean you up and then you can go back to sleep.”
“What time is it?”
“You don’t want to know.”
I suspected I didn’t.
He kissed below my ear, my shoulder, then he slid out of me, climbed over me, and did what he said he was going to do.
He came back after returning the washcloth to the bathroom, and in the early morning light, I saw the stark beauty of his naked body, including his very handsome, and endowed even soft, cock.
Mm.
He sat on the bed and pulled the hair away from my face. “I’m going to shower and then get on with my day. Even though I’d like to take you out on an official date to celebrate our change, I think here tonight again. I’ve been sharing you too long.”
“I love that idea,” I said softly. “Do you want me to ask Alyona for something specific?”
“Her salmon en croute .”
I could have answered my own question.
It was his favorite.
“Consider it done.”
He bent and touched his mouth to mine, moved away minimally, and ordered, “Now, back to sleep.”
I smiled at him, thinking that would be impossible, him in my home, my room, my shower.
My life.
Fully.
Completely.
But considering the orgasm he gave me, after I enjoyed watching the backside of him walk away, and heard the shower start, I fell right back to sleep.
I was at my vanity, finishing my makeup, when my phone lit up.
Mika.
Delightedly, I took the call and put it on speaker.
“Hello, darling,” I purred.
“ You guys did it! ” she gloated.
I was unsurprised she read that in the tone of my two words.
I’d been correct the evening before, and it wasn’t (only) that I received more that morning.
I was going to feel headily and splendidly fucked for at least a week.
Nevertheless, I refused to dignify Mika’s shout verbally, but I did allow myself to smile.
“How was it?” she asked.
“A lady never tells,” I replied.
“Oh my God, don’t even with that nonsense,” Mika returned.
I brushed on blush, sharing, “Jamie is uniquely skilled at making love and fucking at the same time.”
“ Really? ” Mika breathed.
“I can’t explain it, dear. I didn’t even know such a thing existed. But I can assure you, it does .”
“That sounds amazing.”
“That would be putting it mildly.”
“I’m so happy for you, honey,” Mika gushed.
She wasn’t the only one. “He is too.”
“I could tell,” she said. “It was like he was a different Jamie, at the same time, he wasn’t. There was just something… peaceful about him the whole time you two were out here. And that’s saying something, considering why our family reunion came about.”
Blush brush frozen in mid-air, I stared unseeing at myself in the mirror as something altogether marvelous curled contentedly deep inside of me.
“Nora?” Mika called.
I went back to brushing. “He doesn’t hide I make him happy.”
“I love that about him.”
I stopped brushing.
“He does seem peaceful, doesn’t he?” I asked softly.
“So do you,” she said, just as softly.
“I’d…given up on thinking I’d have this,” I admitted.
“I know, honey. I can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled I am for you. For you and Jamie. How thrilled we all are for you.”
That snapped me out of it.
“Well, darling, rein it in. Chloe is already far too proud of herself for this happenstance, when Jamie and I did most of the work. It’s like she burnt the sugar on top but is claiming the creation of the entire crème br?lée.”
I heard her happy laugh. “No one steals Nora Ellington’s thunder. Not even Chloe Oakley.”
I dusted some highlighter along my upper cheekbones. “Precisely.”
“I’ll warn Chloe.”
“Thank you.”
“Tom and I are coming back in a couple of days. I’ll let you know when we decide, and we’ll get together after we’re back.”
“All right, dear. I’ll see you then.”
“So happy for you, Nora.”
There was a grave depth of feeling in my, “I am too, Mika.”
“Love you,” she whispered.
“And I you,” I returned.
We rang off.
I finished my makeup, rose, and went into my massive closet.
Alyona was in there, moving things around.
At this affront to my meticulous closet organization, I arched my brows in query.
“I’m doing Mister Jamie’s laundry, but when it’s done, he’ll need space.”
I fought grinning like an idiot.
But I had a feeling, when I saw the light hit her eyes, I didn’t quite hide that urge.
Alyona left, and I dressed, then reached for my Saint Laurent, black patent, slimline, small sac shoulder bag.
I switched out what was needed, found Alyona to confirm dinner plans and times, and then I headed out to peruse proper baby stores, upon which I arranged the shipment of a few things for JT.
Jamie sat back in his chair and roared with laughter.
Regardless of how handsome he looked doing it, and how attractive it sounded, I frowned at him.
He continued to laugh.
I forked off a small wedge of puff pastry, salmon and cream sauce and put it in my mouth.
Jamie eventually got control of himself and returned to his own food.
But he did it muttering, “I cannot believe you sent seven thousand dollars-worth of baby things to Judge and Chloe.”
“Darling, I hate to inform you of this, but… we’re rich ,” I returned. “Being so means we can do things like that.”
Humor was still infusing his striking face as he speared one of Alyona’s delectable, buttery, herbed new potatoes, and he said, “Yes, sweetheart, but that doesn’t mean we should.”
“Your son is very concerned about waste, or the environment, or,”—I flicked my fork out nonchalantly—“whatever young people worry about nowadays. They’ll use it all, then they’ll find someone else who can do so. I mean, we are going to the grand opening of a store this weekend where everything in it will have been previously owned .” I gave a subtle shiver. “That whole generation does that kind of thing. Someone has to keep the economy flourishing.”
“Fuck, you’re something,” Jamie said warmly, his amusement still on the surface, as well as in his words.
I loved his words, affect, and tone.
I carried on eating, that contented feeling in my belly purring, and did it sharing, “Alyona made space for you in my closet.”
“Do I need to order a medal to be engraved, give her a bonus, or both?” Jamie teased.
I rolled my eyes.
Jamie ate more potatoes, his own eyes twinkling.
“I have reservations for us at Le Bernardin for tomorrow,” he announced after he swallowed.
Shocking.
And beautiful, considering he’d selected the best restaurant in the city for our first outing being official.
I addressed the shocking part.
“How did you manage reservations on such short notice?” I asked.
“It wasn’t short notice. I had Monica phone them last week.”
My Jamie, planning ahead.
And if I wasn’t careful, that smug smile would be permanently affixed to my face.
Monica, by the by, was his assistant.
“That still had to be a squeeze,” I noted.
“Monica has connections,” he replied.
She did. She was quite the whiz. I was glad he had her. And this wasn’t the first time I had that thought.
“I’ve considered, maybe I could ask all the girls, and by ‘all,’ I mean both of mine and the one of yours, to lunch here on Sunday,” I told him.
“Am I invited?” he asked.
“Of course. I’ll ask Nico too. He might be able to come down for the day.”
“Works for me,” he murmured.
We continued eating comfortably and silently until Jamie remarked, “I noticed you don’t wash your hair every day.”
I looked to him. “I don’t. Every third day. Why?”
“When is the next wash day?”
“Tomorrow morning. And again, why?”
He sliced into his salmon, declaring, “Because you have a fantastic shower, so I’m fucking you in it tonight.”
Oh my.
I bit my lip and crossed my legs under the table.
“Exactly,” he rumbled, his eyes locked to me. “Stop looking at me like that,” he ordered. “I love Alyona’s salmon, but I don’t think it’ll taste the same cold.”
I returned my attention to my plate and took a steadying breath.
We ate in uncomfortable silence then, and for my part, I tried not to wolf down my food.
“Nora?”
I lifted my gaze to him.
He reached his hand along the table my way, so I took it.
“Thank you for waiting for me,” he finished.
I squeezed his hand, but said, “I love you gave me that, Jamie. But that’s the last we’ll speak of it. I didn’t suffer.”
“Nora,” he warned.
“Unduly,” I allowed. “But why go back when we’re here?”
He nodded his head, only once. “I agree, but that doesn’t negate the fact you need to know I understand where I was then, and more importantly, where I am now.”
“I understand,” I confirmed.
“I’m glad, but the reason it’s important to me you do is so you won’t think I’ll slide back.”
Oh, my lovely Jamie.
“I don’t think that, Jamie,” I said quietly.
“Then we’re set.”
“We very much are.”
He squeezed my hand, rubbed his thumb along the inside of my wrist, and let me go.
We finished dinner and then enjoyed Alyona’s raspberry mousse with chocolate shavings.
After that, Jamie fucked me very thoroughly in my shower.
I just knew his chest was everything .
But it was nice to know it was that and multi-purpose to boot.
The next evening, wearing my shoulder-baring, black, bow neck, chiffon, drape back Saint Laurent blouse with the dark gold, satin Saint Laurent maxi-skirt, I swanned…
And believe me…I swanned …
Into Le Bernadin.
I did this at Jamie’s side.
I saw a couple of people I knew.
I noted Jamie did the same.
But it seemed like everyone was watching us make our way to our table.
This didn’t come as a surprise to me.
We were, obviously, fabulous.
Jamie had been right all those years ago. He had a talent at making a beautiful couple.
I was just filled with glee I was part of it now.
Being Jamie, he stood while I seated myself in the booth seat, and only when I had, did he angle into the chair opposite me.
We both shook out our napkins before the waiter could do it and put them on our laps.
Jamie ordered his bourbon. It was a cosmopolitan night for me.
When the waiter left, Jamie opened his menu, looked down to it and casually declared, “Half the men in this room want to fuck you.”
I tsked and opened my own menu, saying, “Please, darling. I appreciate your attempt to stroke my ego, but I don’t mind I don’t turn heads like I used to.”
It took a moment before I realized I had his focus.
“What?” I asked when I’d caught his gaze, but he didn’t speak.
“Do you really think that?”
“I hesitate to remind you of this, considering you know it very well due to your father, but it’s very rare that men of our set have the intelligence and confidence to spend time with age-appropriate women.”
“I do know that. I also know half the men in this room want to fuck you because half of that half have told me.”
I blinked.
He looked back to his menu, stating, “It’s a trait that should be weeded out of our gender, but it perseveres for reasons I can’t comprehend that, no matter their age, some men relapse to the locker room, and often. Especially when another man of their acquaintance starts seeing a woman they want.” Just his eyes lifted from his menu when he again looked at me. “And you are an object of fascination and desire for a good number of them.”
“Are you…quite serious?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders in his lovely black velvet blazer (by the by, our clothing also matched splendidly). “That kind of man collects trophies, and you can’t be unaware you’re a lioness in this animal kingdom. In fact, you’re the alpha. As such, they’ve been rabid for you for years.”
It was wonderful he thought that way, but that wasn’t what I’d been referring to.
“What I mean is, when they thought we were together, they said those things to you?”
He slapped his menu shut decisively and set it aside. “I advise you never go to a locker room.”
I couldn’t believe this.
“How crass,” I snapped.
“I’m not immune, sweetheart. It was with singular gratification, having had you…repeatedly…that I walked in here with you tonight, knowing what they do not, and having what they’ll never have, but want very badly. And I felt that before I had you.” He shot me that roguish grin I loved so much. “Though, doing it feels much better now.”
I returned to my menu, shaking my head. “It never fails to baffle me how you lot rule the world.”
“This is part of why Castellini wants you back.”
I raised my gaze to him again.
“That and you’re you, and he knew what a huge fuckup he perpetrated all those years ago,” he concluded.
“Shall we not speak of Roland, let’s say…ever again?” I suggested.
“I’ll agree to that only after you know, his mistake was forgetting he fell in love with you and making you a trophy the first time, and it’s the same now. It’s the way men like him need to think so they can take what they want and move on to the next with zero scruples. And they do this completely unaware it actually emasculates them because it shares they don’t have the balls to commit to the hard work a relationship can be, so they can pretend not to care that they’ll never earn the vast rewards that hard work will get you.”
I snapped my menu shut, set it aside and shared, “I hope you don’t feel threatened, because that’s just ludicrous. There’s no competition, Jamie.”
“I know that, Nora,” he replied. “But have you made it clear, now that we’re back, that he’s not to infiltrate your life anymore?”
I waved a hand. “He hasn’t factored in the last two days of happiness I’ve enjoyed since I’ve been home.”
At my words, Jamie awarded me a contented look before he shifted slightly in his seat as the waiter put our drinks on the table.
Jamie did this last, murmuring to himself, “So it’ll be me making it clear. And I’m fine with that.”
“Anything to start?” the waiter inquired.
“Order for me, darling. I can never make up my mind when I’m here,” I said, reaching for my drink.
“Ms. Ellington will have the tuna to start, I’ll have the oysters,” Jamie said. “We’ll order seconds and mains later.”
“Excellent.” The waiter took our menus and slipped away.
And it was. Jamie was very good at ordering.
I took a sip of my drink and put it back to the table, saying, “I think I should deal with Roland.”
“As you wish, so do it,” Jamie returned.
I felt my eyes narrow. “Again, he is not so important that he requires priority placement on my to-do list.”
As I said this, Jamie watched me over the rim of his glass while he took a sip.
It was inordinately sexy.
He returned the drink to the table and leaned toward me. “You have, my beautiful Nora, become quite well acquainted with my cock these last two days.”
I had.
That first night. The next morning. The shower. After the shower. That morning. Before we came out tonight.
I was very correct about his virility, thankfully.
And one could say, he was quite enamored with the blouse I was wearing that night, and it was unlikely I’d ever forget the charming way he shared that with me.
Further, it was clear Jamie felt like making up for lost time, just as I was making it clear I had no issue with that.
Even with all of this, I glared at him.
He sat back. “So, being a man, and knowing how men think, you need to trust me on this and not let it play out any longer. He knew you were on a cruise…with me. So he left you alone. We’re out tonight. People we both know are here. And people talk. He’ll learn you’re back, and he won’t delay in pressing his suit. So you can’t delay in telling him to go fuck himself.”
“I don’t think he’s the problem you think he is,” I remarked.
He raised his brows. “Do I have to talk about my cock again?”
I couldn’t help it, I chuckled.
Then I said, “No.”
“Thus, we’re agreed.”
Ugh.
I huffed out a peeved breath. “Fine.”
Jamie smiled, again reached for his drink and took a sip.
And I watched the alpha lion in this particular jungle lazily and indifferently enjoying his rule of his domain.
Never in my life would I begin to comprehend just how magnificent a happily ever after could be.
But I was beside myself to find I was in the midst of learning just that.
That night, in bed, in the dark, after making love, I lay with my head on Jamie’s shoulder, smoothing my palm through his rough chest hair.
“I like JT better,” Jamie said apropos of nothing.
I tipped my head back to look at his shadowed face. “Pardon?”
I watched his chin dip down. “Chloe calls him Jimmy. I like JT better.”
“Hmm,” I hummed, and put my cheek back to his shoulder.
“What?” he asked.
Drat.
Would that I’d been smart enough to keep some of me back so he couldn’t read me so completely.
This was never a pleasant subject for Jamie, and with my concerns about his plans of annihilation, it wasn’t for me either.
His arm around me gave me a slight shake when I didn’t answer.
“Nora, what ?”
I put my chin to his shoulder to look at him again, only to see he’d angled his head to do the same to me.
“Chloe refuses to call him JT, which Judge prefers, because he likes that it honors both you and Tom.”
“She told you that?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I asked.”
“She doesn’t like the name JT?”
“She doesn’t like the name AJ, and as such, refuses to shorten her son’s name to initials in the same manner.”
He righted his head and said to the ceiling, “That’s very Chloe.”
It was.
And this brought us to something we hadn’t discussed in some time, but, as much as I didn’t like it, we were there, and it needed discussing.
“Maybe you should share,” I suggested quietly.
“I’ll share when it’s all done,” Jamie replied.
“I think they should know. It’s not like they’re going to phone AJ or some gossip magazine,” I pointed out.
“I know, sweetheart. But when I share that my father isn’t actually my biological father to anybody, I have to be ready.”
This was true.
I pushed up so I could look down at him. “Do you think he knows?”
“AJ?”
“We know he doesn’t. Your actual father.”
He shook his head as an answer to me that he didn’t think his biological father knew.
“Are you going to tell him?” I asked.
“When I officially take it from Pop, I’m going to give my birth father the ranch.”
I gasped at this astonishing news. “You are?”
“He’s been a ranch foreman for over forty years, working a ranch all his life. He’s got his own now, and two sons who work it with him. His father was a ranching cowboy. It’s in his blood. He’ll run Oakbilly Gulch, definitely better than Jeff, even better than Pop, and his sons will run it better than both of them after he’s gone.”
Jeff was Jamie’s older brother. Jeff was also a wastrel, a sneak, and a pissant, and I felt qualified to make those judgments, even if I’d never met him, from all Jamie had told me about the degenerate man.
“Do you care that he runs it well?” I asked. “You don’t have many happy memories from there.”
“I care that my mom loved him. I care that he loved my mom. I care, if she was still alive, me doing that would make her happy. That’s what I care about.”
Jamie so very loved his mother, the beautiful Cordelia Oakley (I could also say she was beautiful, considering I’d seen pictures).
He told me the story, and I still felt the depth of the honor I’d experienced when he’d bestowed it on me.
The story was, after her passing, Jamie had found his mother’s journals. As such, he’d read about the love affair she’d carried on with the foreman of the ranch her husband owned. She’d also written about him asking her to run away with him.
She’d had three children by that time, and she was well-acquainted with AJ’s nastiness, not to mention the way he wielded his wealth as a weapon to perpetuate it, which she feared would mean she’d lose her children, so she didn’t feel she could.
Jamie’s real father couldn’t stick around and watch her husband treat her like a chattel.
He’d unknowingly left her pregnant with his son, found himself a wife and started his own family.
So, when AJ had finally set her free, she didn’t go to the man she loved to tell him what they shared. She didn’t want to negatively affect his life, because, by then, he had what he’d always wanted. A wife. A family. And his own ranch.
It was a tragic story, one Cordelia bore the brunt of, but through her journals, she’d unwittingly left some of it to Jamie.
I moved a hand to stroke his jaw and said carefully, “This plan of yours is keeping you from him, and your two brothers, and, darling, none of you are getting any younger.”
“I know,” he murmured.
“It’s also keeping all that from Judge and Dru.”
He said nothing to that, except emitting a soft grunt.
All right.
We were done talking about this.
For now.
I settled back beside him.
He curled his hand on my hip, the pads of his fingers digging in. “I want you to know, you’re heard, Nora. Let me think about it.”
“Okay, honey,” I whispered.
“Have a good night?” he asked.
“The best. Dinner was remarkable. The chefs there are very talented. And my company was second to none.”
He rolled into me so we were side by side, and then he tangled us up together, but he made no reply.
Then again, the physical reply he made worked very well.
“We’re spending a lot of time at my apartment after you proclaimed we’d eventually be living at your brownstone,” I remarked.
“And we’ll continue to do so until the bed I ordered is delivered. I can’t have you in the bed I shared with Lindy, and I can’t ask you to share that bed with me.”
God, I loved him so much .
Even so, I was me.
So I asked, “What if the bed you selected doesn’t fit with my decoration plans?”
“Then we’ll get rid of it.”
“Who’s wasting now?” I teased.
I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “Shut up and let me sleep. You never do the work. If I’m going to make us both come in the morning, I need rest.”
“It isn’t me who refuses to let me on top.”
“I’m not a woman-on-the-top kind of man.”
“Because, if you were, you wouldn’t be able to control the rhythm.”
“Precisely.”
“And force.”
“Correct again.”
I sighed dramatically before saying, “If you were anybody else, I might find this vexing.”
There was outright humor in his, “It’s good I’m me then.”
It was indeed.
I snuggled closer.
Jamie held me tighter.
And not long later, we both fell asleep.