Chapter 17 #2
“Whoa there,” he said, disappearing from sight. He came back a few seconds later, holding onto Edmund. “You’re gonna fall over, big guy.”
Edmund’s response was a hearty laugh. “I’ve already fallen, son.” He placed his hand over his heart and began to sing some song about falling in love.
Jagger looked at me, amused. “It’s Hootie and the Blowfish.”
Edmund sang his heart out, while Jagger helped him sit down on the bow. My stepfather was a great guy, but his personality was usually somewhat stoic, definitely not the type who sang about being in love.
I smiled and enjoyed the playful moment of him bellowing with his hand over his heart, until his memory seemed to run out of words. After, he let out a hearty laugh, and Jagger and I joined in. It was impossible not to. And it was also exactly what I needed.
I moved over and put my arm around my stepfather. “I didn’t know you could sing so well, Edmund.”
“That mother of yours could make a grown man bark like a chicken.”
I chuckled. “I didn’t realize chickens barked.”
He waved me off. “Whatever. I came to check on you. I feel like I’ve subjected you to so much these last few weeks—with the speedbump.”
I smiled. “It’s fine. I get it. He’s married to your daughter.”
He pointed his finger at me. “I’m going to make it up to you. Next time we get together, I’ll make you my famous slow-cooked ribs, and it’ll just be the three of us.”
I loved that he cared so much. “You don’t have to, but I’ll also never turn down your ribs.”
Edmund gestured to Jagger. “And this guy. This guy can come too. We need him to get to know you so he can see for himself how special you are.”
Jagger winked at me, spreading warmth through my belly. “Pretty sure I already know that, Ed.”
My stepfather slapped his hands to his thighs. “Welp, let me get back to my birthday princess.”
Jagger took Edmund’s arm, helping him up. “How about I make sure you get there in one piece?”
***
“Thank you for helping me herd everyone in and out of the car,” I said.
Jagger and I stood in the kitchen of Edmund’s summer house later that evening.
My stepfather had driven to the marina earlier but hadn’t been in any condition to drive home tonight.
So I’d driven his car and the others had jumped in an Uber.
Thankfully, Jagger had come with me, because Edmund had grown shaky on his feet by the time we got home. He’d just helped him into the bedroom.
“No problem. I’m glad they cut loose and had a good time.”
“I think they might wish they’d had a little bit less of a good time when tomorrow morning comes around.”
“True.” Jagger smiled and pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call an Uber and get going.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“It’s fine. I don’t want you to get lost. The backroads aren’t lit out here.”
I picked up Edmund’s keys. “I know you haven’t driven in a while, but we have this thing called navigation now.”
He shook his head. “Wiseass.”
“Come on.”
Out front, I started to walk to the driver’s side, but then thought better of it. “Hey, Langston?”
When Jagger looked up, I tossed him the keys to the Range Rover. “You drive. It’s time you break the passenger-princess streak.”
He chuckled, but waited for me to climb into the passenger seat and shut the door behind me.
His grip on the steering wheel as we backed out of the driveway did all kinds of things to my libido.
This evening had been the first time I’d been in Jagger’s presence that I hadn’t felt like a horny schoolgirl.
But looking at his muscular forearms now sent me right back to the eighth grade.
Damn it. He rested one hand on the gear shift, while the other wrapped around the leather wheel, and my mind drifted, imagining those confident hands touching me all over.
I needed my head examined when it came to this man. One minute I was telling him my deepest, darkest, secret, and the next I wanted to jump his bones.
When we pulled into Jagger’s driveway, I wasn’t anywhere near ready for the day to end. I looked up at his picturesque home perched on a cliff and sighed. “Your house really is incredible.”
He shifted the car into park. “Thank you.”
“Could I…see it?” I nibbled my bottom lip. “Maybe a quick tour of the inside?”
Jagger hesitated. “It’s late. That’s probably not a good idea.”
It felt like he was making the responsible decision, yet something about the way he said it told me it wasn’t the one he wanted to make. “It won’t take long.”
Our eyes met in the darkness. I could see he was still struggling, and I thought he was about to turn me down a second time. “Please?” I asked.
Jagger’s jaw tightened, yet in the end he nodded. “Sure.”
He led the way to the oversized, arched door, unlocked it, and flicked on lights before moving aside for me to enter first.
I took one step in and stopped. “Holy shit.”
Soaring ceilings made the entry feel grandiose, but the real spectacle was the view. Standing at the front door, you could see clear through the massive living room and out to the ocean, even in the dark.
“It’s so lit up outside.”
“There are a ton of lights out back, including some spotlights installed on the bluff. I flicked on that switch along with the interior lights.”
“Your view is the polar opposite of the one in New York City, yet there’s still something similar about it.”
He nodded. “It’s the big windows as soon as you walk in. The rest of the house was a bonus. I knew I was buying this place the moment I stood here.”
“I can see why.”
Jagger ushered me in, yet he stayed several feet away as I looked around.
An oversized, cream sectional with plush pillows acted as the centerpiece of the great room, positioned in front of a massive stone fireplace.
White walls were decorated with colorful art, and a few antiques blended everything together.
The only sign that anyone was staying here were the piles of paper on the glass coffee table.
I pointed. “Were you working from here earlier?”
He nodded. “I spend too much time inside working as is. The least I can do is take in the view while I’m doing it.”
“Do you come out to Montauk year-round? I bet it’s beautiful in the winter, with a big fire going, snow falling, and the ocean in the background.”
“I should, but it’s been a while since I’ve been out here.”
“How long?”
“Not since last fall.”
My jaw dropped open. “If this was my house, I’d be out here every weekend. Hell, if I were you, I’d move the office to Montauk.”
Jagger smiled and nodded toward a hall. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the house.”
The remainder of the beautiful home was on par with the grandeur of the great room—a gourmet kitchen with not one, but two islands, a solarium-turned-office with a glass ceiling and walls, four bedrooms decorated to perfection with plush bedding and coastal-style furniture.
All through the tour, though, Jagger kept more distance than usual.
Perhaps it stood out to me because of how physically close we’d been earlier.
When we came to the last unopened door, he opened it but stayed in the doorway.
While I walked in and looked around, he leaned against the jamb with both hands in his pockets.
His broad frame filled almost the entire width of the opening.
His bedroom had French doors that led to a deck with another incredible view, and there was an en-suite bathroom with a clawfoot tub and separate shower with a dozen heads.
Jagger might have been across the room, but I felt his eyes follow my every step.
“This house is perfection, Jagger.” I ran my hand along the plush bedding and made my way closer to the door. My pulse picked up when he didn’t move. “Can I ask you something?”
His smile was lazy. “You just did.”
I tilted my head and took a tentative step closer. “What made you come out here this weekend?”
Jagger pursed his lips. “You should probably get back home so Edmund doesn’t worry.”
“Edmund’s sound asleep.”
Jagger still hadn’t moved from the doorway, so I took another step closer.
He cleared his throat. “It’s late.”
“You always do that,” I said. “Ignore my question when it’s one you don’t want to answer.”
“What would you like me to do? There are some things that shouldn’t be said.”
Another step. We were maybe a foot and a half apart now.
“Why shouldn’t they be said?”
His eyes dropped to my lips and stayed there as he spoke. “Because they’re highly fucking inappropriate.”
I took another step, a baby one this time. Only a foot separated us.
“Did you come out to Montauk because I was going to be here this weekend?”
“It doesn’t matter if I did.”
“It does to me.”
Another baby step. Six inches now. The air around us crackled. His breathing picked up, and I could feel it tickle my skin. Instead of making me nervous, it invigorated me. “Answer the question.”
He stared at me while I wondered if I should take the last step. I was just about to do it when he closed his eyes. “You should go home, Sutton.” His voice was stern, cold, and detached.
I took an immediate step back. Had I been misreading his desire? I suddenly felt like a troll rather than the temptress I’d thought I was just a minute ago. Heat crept up to my face. “Okay.”
“I’m going to use the bathroom.” Jagger stepped away from the doorway to let me out. “I’ll meet you downstairs and walk you out in a minute.”
My heart felt heavy as I returned to the living room.
I thought about leaving before he came back, but that would only make me look like a petulant child.
Instead, I took a seat on the living room sectional and forced myself to wait to say goodbye.
Staring down at his piles of work papers, I felt so damn foolish, and I wasn’t really seeing anything—at least until some pages ripped from a yellow legal pad caught my eye.
They were sticking out sideways underneath a stack of clipped-together papers, and I recognized the computation since I’d worked through it myself just yesterday. I bent and slipped the pages out.
At the top, a number was written above the margin and circled. The answer—the right answer.
Did Jagger work through the rest of the problem after we left the conference room? For some inexplicable reason, I knew he hadn’t.
I scanned the pages, eyeing rows and rows of computations. There were at least a dozen sheets of paper filled, and from what I could see at a quick glance, they were all right. I reached the last page just as Jagger returned to the living room. He looked at my hands before his eyes met mine.
“You let me win?” I asked.
He looked conflicted. So I asked a different question.
“Why did you let me win?”
“I figured it would help your confidence. Plus, I didn’t finish that much faster than you.”
“You even offered me a prize after I supposedly won—why add that to the mix?”
He met my eyes again. “I wanted to see what you’d ask for.”
A fire lit inside me. “I think I finally figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”
“The prize I want, assuming you’re still giving me one since I now know you just let everyone think I won.”
“That depends.” Jagger’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “What is it you want?”
“You.”