Chapter 26 Jade #2
My hackles rise, and I’m close to snapping. It wouldn’t be a crime if she was visiting because she cares about me, but the sad truth is, she doesn’t want to see where I live to be supportive—she wants to snoop and find ways to manipulate me.
I didn’t realize until I was out from under her thumb that’s what she’s been doing since I was a teenager. The betrayal stings, and Tieran must notice the hurt, because his grip on me tightens, and his thumb lazily strokes my side in a soothing motion.
I’m here. I’ll always be here. It says.
“Well, I’ve had a long day crunching numbers, and Jade has been non-stop since five this morning. It’s mad how hard she works.” He nods his head in the direction of the dinner spread out on my coffee table.
It’s as much of a get the fuck out as I’ve ever heard, and my heart swells even further for him. Yeah, it’s definitely love I feel coursing through my bloodstream. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.
I risk a glance up at him to find him already looking down at me, a soft smile playing on his lips and mischief in his azure eyes when he winks.
I’m in deep, unending trouble where he’s concerned.
Maxine hoists her shoulder bag a little higher, fitting it snuggly under her arm. A body language expert would say she’s fidgeting from the tension floating through the air, but I know it’s because she’s attempting not to bash it against Tieran’s head for dismissing her.
“Meet me at my hotel tomorrow, and we can arrive at Selfridges together. It’s best to get there early, so we can make sure everything is to our standard.” To her standard, she means.
My mother turns, strutting out of the still-open doorway, leaving me to follow behind her to close the door.
When I do, I take a minute, staring at the back of the door with my hand still on the knob like I might run after her.
Begging her to see me as more than a cash cow, plead with her to tell me she’s proud of me, ask her if I didn’t have all this wealth and fame if she would still love me. Does she really love me with it?
But I don’t, because I know the answer already.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
Strong arms band around my waist on the exhale, and Tieran’s mouth drops to my shoulder kissing me softly over the fabric of my blouse.
“Come on, Hellfire, let’s get some food in you and talk about what an absolute delight your mum is.”
I snort out a laugh, happy to have the tension broken as he grabs my hand and leads me to sit down and eat. Tieran settles in behind me on the couch, strong legs bracketing me where I sit on the floor while I start to dig in.
Silently, I pass him a samosa, leaning lightly against the dragon tattooed around his knee, too exhausted to pretend I’m not rattled. His hands snake their way around my shoulders, digging in and kneading until the tension starts to slowly dissipate.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks, continuing his ministrations.
“No.”
“Alright, we can jus—” he starts.
“It’s just…” I turn slightly to face him. “Where does she get off?”
“It—”
“She shows up at my door, and I’m supposed to be happy about an unannounced visit?
I need at least one business week to prepare myself to see her.
” Tieran digs his thumbs in deeper, working in concentric, hypnotizing circles that forces a grunt from the depths of my throat.
“London was supposed to be my safe place, but even here, she’s inescapable. ”
“But you don’t want to sack her?”
I drop my biryani back into the container. “I do. But then I feel bad for even thinking it. She’s done so much for my career, and it feels ungrateful to repay her by firing her.”
“You paid her for all those things, though, so there’s no need for repayment. She was doing a job.”
“Yes, but—”
Tieran’s fingers move from my shoulders up under my chin until he’s twisting my face to look in his eyes. “When was the last time she was a mum to you, Jade?”
I search his eyes as I spend an embarrassingly long amount of time trying to find the answer to that question. The longer it takes for me to reply, the more devastation fills his eyes.
“When was the last time you let anyone take care of you?”
Tingles dance around my nose as tears threaten to build. “I don't know,” I whisper.
His hand makes its way from under my chin and coasts up my jaw before coming to rest on the side of my neck, his fingers twining in my hair. Dazzling blue eyes search my face before resolve sets in them, and next thing I know, he’s craning his neck down and placing a soft kiss on my lips.
It isn’t rushed or dramatic, but it settles something within me while simultaneously making me feel cherished—loved.
And when he pulls away, I feel as if he’s taking a piece of me with him, a piece I want him to have, because I know he’ll safeguard it. I know he’ll treat it as if it’s the most precious thing in the world, the little piece of my heart that only beats for him.
“Eat up, gorgeous, because I’m taking care of you tonight,” he says right before placing a sweet peck to the tip of my nose, hopping up from the couch and moving into my bathroom.
I don’t think anything of it, continuing to inhale my food at an alarmingly rapid rate until I can’t possibly take another bite.
After several minutes, Tieran still hasn’t come back, and I’m getting mildly concerned about what could be taking him so long.
When I go search, though, I find him checking the temperature of the bath he’s just drawn me.
The tiled room is softly illuminated by the candles I have spread about, one on the counter and one on the small corner table by the tub.
Lemon and honeysuckle waft through the room, and when he looks back at me, tanned hand glistening with bubbles and water, my heart almost bursts.
“You—” I’m speechless, mouth gaping open like a fish, because I can’t quite believe it. “You ran me a bath?” The words come out soft and nearly inaudible.
Tieran smiles, his dimple pops, and all I want to do is kiss it. “Don’t get soft on me now, Hellfire.” He steps over to where I’m frozen and grabs my hands, thumbs rubbing back and forth against my skin.
“Why?” My head drops against his chest, eyes casting down to where his strong, tattooed hands hold me so gently.
Tieran’s voice reverberates through my whole body. “You’ve had a long day. A long few months, I'd imagine, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders and never asking for a damn thing in return. Let me help you relax. Let me give you even a fraction of what you give me.”
“What’s that?”
“Peace.”
I scoff. “I’m no man’s peace.”
“You’re mine,” he rumbles in my ear, his voice soft yet unyielding.
Tears threaten to spill for what feels like the thousandth time today. Does he know that his words are disassembling every brick I’ve built around myself like a fortress?
Tieran tugs on my hands, and I finally look up at him.
Adoration, pure and unfiltered adoration, shines in his eyes, and I don’t know how to handle it. No one has ever looked at me that way. It is disarming and exhilarating in equal parts.
“Let's get you in the bath.” He turns me, spanking my butt lightly to get me to move.
“Is this just your plan to get me naked?” I throw him a smile over my shoulder, stopping before the clawfoot tub.
“We both know I don’t need a bath to accomplish that.” I whip around, smacking him on his chest, but he grabs my hand, brings it to his mouth, and places a kiss on my palm.
I can’t deny the truth to his words, so instead, I glare, causing a laugh to rumble from his chest.
His fingers skim the hem of my shirt, pulling upward. “Lift.”
I obey, raising my arms in the air as he pulls my blouse up over my head, dropping it to the tile. I’m about to complain about him dropping one hundred percent mulberry silk on the floor, but the look on his face stops me dead.
Unadulterated appreciation.
“Magnificent.” He takes a step toward me until we’re toe to toe, close enough that I can smell the scent of his bodywash.
My heartbeat kicks up its pace at his proximity, never being able to anticipate his next move.
Outside the bedroom, Tieran is easygoing, fun, and steady, but inside, he is unpredictable—rough.
He is tailor-made to blindside me around every turn.
His hand strokes up my side, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake, and I shiver under the force of his unflinching stare.
He runs the tip of his finger under the band, back and forth, before deftly unfastening the hooks.
Slowly, the garment falls off my shoulders and drops to the floor, joining my blouse.
Tieran looks hypnotized, borderline catatonic, as he takes my peaked nipples in, reaching out and pinching a rosy bud between his thumb and forefinger as if it’s compulsory. Like he can’t help himself.
Suddenly, he’s spinning me around, pulling me against his chest with his arm banded around my waist, placing a soft kiss to the space that connects my neck and shoulder, sneakily moving his hands until they’re hooking into the band of my skirt, pulling it and my panties down together until I’m able to shuck them off the rest of the way.
His grip on my hips tightens, and I groan at the pressure, wanting his touch everywhere, all at once. I squirm in place, trying to relieve some of the tension collecting in my core.
Then, he’s stepping away from me, his warmth gone. “Get in the bath before the water goes cold. I’ll be right back.”
Disappointment courses through my body that this isn’t going where I hoped it was, but that dissolves the second my body hits the hot water and my muscles instantly start to loosen.
Within two minutes, Tieran is back, handing me a glass of wine before settling behind the tub. He pulls my hair to the side, accessing my shoulders and starting to knead until I’m groaning in pain and pleasure.
“You’re really good at that.” His hands move down my arms, squeezing and bracing me with his own in an almost hug. “I like these tattoos.” I kiss the celestial pattern sitting atop a ridge of mountainous terrain that runs around his forearm. “Do they mean anything?”
He stops his movements but starts peppering my shoulder with small little pecks.
“My mum used to make us go on camping trips to the Highlands when we were younger, something her parents did with her. I think it was her way of distracting us when Dad was gone on a longer drive for work, so we wouldn’t feel his absence so much.
We hated it at the time, especially Lottie, but every night, she would make us lay down and look up at the sky, count the constellations, and she would tell us fables until we fell asleep.
I always felt so…small looking up at the stars.
” I tilt my head up, Tieran’s voice soothing me as he lays his heart bare.
“As I got older, the feeling of wonder remained, but the implications changed. Life was getting harder, things were changing, masking his absence was getting more and more difficult, until we eventually stopped going on those trips altogether. Things shifted and nothing felt permanent anymore. One day, Dad was home but not really there, and the next, he was gone again. One second, the press loved me, the next second, I was a pariah. At any moment, everything I’ve worked for could be taken away.
Everything in life felt fleeting, here one second, gone the next.
It started to shape the way I saw everything.
But one day I looked up at the stars and realised they were the same ones in the sky on all of those trips, and it brought me comfort, because they were always there, even when they were hidden by the clouds.
That at least would never change.” He places another kiss on my shoulder.
“The tattoo is the spot we used to go to as kids, so that when it’s too hard to see the stars in the sky, I can still see them here. ”
My throat chokes with emotion. “That’s really beautiful, actually.”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” he chuckles in my ear, breath coasting over my skin.
“I’m not. I just never thought about it like that.” He straightens a little in his position behind the tub.
“You have your own constellation.” He connects the dots of the beauty marks scattered across my back—the places he previously had been kissing. “I think I’ll use these stars as my reminder from now on.”
He places a final kiss to my neck and stands, moving to the opposite side of the tub before reaching in and grabbing my right ankle. I place my arms on the edge of the basin to keep my balance, dropping my head back in ecstasy as he wages war on the arches of my feet.
“I love that your toes are blue.”
“Foot fetish?” I tease, cracking an eye open. He’s looking at me intently, so intently that I start to squirm under his gaze. “What?”
“Will you go to the gala with me? As my date.” It's not what I was expecting him to say, and my heart takes flight at the same time as it nosedives.
“You know we can’t go together.”
“Maybe not, but you can still be my date. We’ll know, even if no one else can.”
Bitterness coats my tongue, because for the first time in my life, I want to be seen on someone's arm. I want everyone to know he’s mine and I’m his, but I can’t jeopardize his opportunity for a spot on the National Team.
Thinking about the impermanence of our situation makes me want to throw up after what he just admitted, because for once in my life, I don’t have a solution, and it’s killing me.
But one look into his eager eyes so full of trust, kindness, and love has me speaking without thinking. “Yes.”
The smile that stretches across his face is worth more money than I have to my name. It’s worth everything—he’s worth everything.
Out of nowhere, he’s springing forward, scooping me out of the tub, and splashing water all over the floor. My legs wrap around his waist of their own accord, and my wet body soaks through his clothes instantly.
“Are you crazy?” I shout, devolving into a fit of giggles.
“For you? Most definitely.”
I crush my lips against his, coaxing his mouth open and kissing him soundly, forgetting about all the work piling up in my inbox, about the threats to our relationship looming on the horizon, and, for once in my life, I do what I want instead.