Chapter Nine #2
She kissed his chin, sending a fiery chill across the rest of his skin. “As long as my father stays on his side of the world.”
His mouth enveloped hers again, desperate to stave off the fear that circled him. Like it or not, now that they were married, he had something to lose, and that scared the living shit out of him.
Her mouth opened for him, salt from her tears mixing with the sweetness that she exuded. God, she tasted like heaven and hell tempting him at the same time. If given the opportunity, he’d devour her whole, temptation and sin be damned.
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “I’ll do everything in my power to make it impossible for him to touch you, starting this afternoon. Let me make some phone calls while we eat to start the paperwork for your green card. Is that okay?”
“Thank you, Jace. I’m going to check on Maddie and grab lunch. I think part of these tears is because my body is eating itself from the inside out.”
Jace chuckled.
“Go eat. I’ll work out here and see what I can get done.”
When Aurelie left, Jace felt her loss in a visceral way.
His body felt lighter but heavier at the same time.
Sighing, he pulled out his phone and made good on his promise, starting with the American consulate.
It was time to see what his name could do for him.
He sent off a silent prayer that all his philanthropic work, which had thrust him into the limelight, would pay off in political dollars now that someone he cared for was in need.
While he spoke on the phone to assistant after assistant, followed by a hold that seemed to last an eternity, Jace got his laptop from his bag to handle the PR of his situation to his benefit, since his agent had chosen the absolute shittiest time to decide to stop doing her damn job.
He pulled up his social media accounts and cropped a photo of Aurelie in her stunning dress, hair tumbling over her right shoulder, her eyes looking down at the ring that sparkled in the dim lighting of the courthouse.
She was the furthest thing from a hillbilly, which Cammie would know if she’d bothered asking questions instead of worrying how this all looked for her.
He added a caption that he knew his fans would eat up.
Starting a new life begins with picking the right partner. Feeling lucky and in love. #weddedbliss #thenewandimprovedJaceM
Before he posted the pic, sure to draw the attention he needed to garner support on the legal front, he popped his head in the house.
“Hey, Aury,” he called. She poked her head up from the couch, her cheeks puffed like a chipmunk readying for a harsh winter, crumbs stuck to her still-pouty bottom lip.
He chuckled. There wasn’t anything about this woman he didn’t find adorable or that didn’t make him wish he could be back where they were an hour ago.
But there would be time for that. Now, she needed him in a different way. “You have social accounts?”
“Yesh,” she managed to get out before swallowing and smiling back at him. “Aurybelle, one word.”
“Belle with an e?”
“Um-hm,” she said, diving back into her sandwich. He liked that she wasn’t shy about what she ate or drank around him; it was a refreshing change of pace from who he’d dated in Hollywood. No salads with quinoa and lemon for this woman.
He found her accounts, the profile pictures boasting a stunning backdrop with cerulean water and eggshell-colored sand, the sky clear and as blue as it had any right to be.
The only problem was that neither could hold a candle to the woman in the foreground.
Sensual skin that he’d just touched was exposed, save for three thin strips of white fabric hiding the most precious parts he’d also experienced.
However stunning the photo was, it didn’t let the viewer know that there was a small spot on the nape of her neck, just below her right earlobe, that sent shivers down her spine and led her to call out his name in rapture each time he drew his tongue along it.
No photo, no matter how beautiful or evocative, would let anyone but him in on that secret.
It was a secret he would cherish, guard along with whatever else he learned about her. Someday, when he let her go so she could find love and build a family, he’d always have this moment.
He posted the picture, tagging Aurelie for an added shield of authenticity, then dialed Cammie to let her know. Lesson learned, albeit a little late.
Her phone went directly to voicemail. During business hours?
He’d have to talk to her about that. The office phone should have at least gone to her assistant.
Oh well, now he had a few minutes of free time while he waited for his lawyer to email him the forms he and Aury needed to fight the U.S.
government. The marriage, combined with her job at the hospital and pro bono work, should be a solid enough case, but still, Jace was worried.
The U.S. government had been a formidable opponent of late.
“That was the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life,” a singsong voice called over him.
“You only say that because our lovemaking session was so intense you’d have eaten anything I put in front of you,” he replied, coming back in from the porch and reclaiming his place on the couch.
“Modesty and good looks. Aren’t you the full package?” she teased. He tossed her a wink. “You’d agree with me if you ate more than three bites of yours. Aren’t you famished?”
He glanced down at the pathetic attempt he’d made to finish his lunch.
He’d barely made a dent, and the measly bit he had managed to choke down he hadn’t tasted.
Truthfully, he didn’t have much of an appetite, which was so against his normal MO it worried him.
Until he felt the long, silky fingers of his new bride rest on his shoulders, rubbing them with a firmness that belied the strength hidden in her delicate features.
Suddenly, with a rumble decidedly south of his stomach, Jace knew what he was truly hungry for.
He wrapped his hands around her wrists and pulled her onto his lap, eliciting a scream that would thwart his plans for her if the baby woke.
He mimed shushing, and she nodded. Her full lips were turned up in the corners, her eyes sparkling with desire that matched his.
He strained to hear anything out of the ordinary, but so far there wasn’t a peep from Maddie.
It took the smallest movement, his head leaning into her, for him to cover her mouth with his.
Her mouth met him, open, a willing participant in the dance of their tongues.
Aurelie tasted like sweet ginger, the after-effects of the sandwich she’d enjoyed, and suddenly he found himself ravenous, his stomach growling its needs in a Morse code of hunger.
Her body was now pressed up against him, her legs straddling him so that only a slight shift of his weight would mean indescribable pleasure for them both.
His hands slid down her curvy hips until they cupped her perfectly round backside.
She whispered his name, a sensual purr that urged him to make love to his wife and screw the other plans.
His wife. Two words that somehow had unlocked the power to undo him. So much for distance…
His hands picked up the pace, feverishly reaching for parts of her he’d had in his grasp just an hour prior, but that satisfaction only resulted in more need.
How long would that be the case, him wanting her more each time he had her?
If this kept up, he’d be the most unproductive rancher in Banberry…
hell, in the U.S. But damn, what a way to tank a career before it started.
Just as his hands ducked under the hemline of the slinky shorts she wore, he heard a voice he would have recognized anywhere coming from the back side of Paige’s house. His hands froze along Aurelie’s panty line.
It wasn’t a voice that belonged here. In fact, as it floated up and into the house, it threw into harsh perspective the difference between Montana and LA.
But, no. It was impossible. She couldn’t be there.
“Cammie,” he whispered.
“Excuse me?” Aurelie asked, pulling away from him.
The look she shot him was a potent mix of surprise and contempt.
He shook his head, realizing how horribly inappropriate that slip was, especially since Aurelie had no context regarding why he’d say another woman’s name with his hands up her shorts.
“No, no, babe.” The pet name slipped so easily past his defenses, but it didn’t sound odd. No, it was…right. “Sorry. It’s just that I swore I heard…” he trailed off as her voice rang through the living room loud and clear. “Shit. It’s her.”
“Her, who? Jace, you’re not making any sense.”
“Cammie. My agent.”
“The one you talked to this afternoon?”
Jace nodded.
“Yeah.” But the why still eluded him. He lifted Aurelie off his waist, missing her proximity almost immediately. “I, uh, I need to go figure this out.”
Aurelie nodded, sitting back on the couch, her long, smooth legs tucked up underneath her. An ache surged in Jace’s chest. He hated that his two worlds were colliding here, where his past and future met up.
He slid out the back door, leaped over the railing that followed the wrap-around deck, and jogged toward the voice.
“Jace. Pick up your phone. I’m on your property, and there’s no house!” she yelled into the receiver.
He rounded the corner, and the visual of Cammie there, the sharp, dynamic cliffs of the Basin behind her, the bright colors of decay boasted by the foliage acting as a crown atop her perfectly styled hair, was as jarring as her voice.
She didn’t belong. Her white pantsuit, nude pumps, and enough makeup to outfit a Vegas showgirl stood out as different, and not in an endearing way.
No, she was an emissary of everything he’d left behind in LA on purpose.