Chapter 11 #3
The minute Jagger had asked for turned into thirty.
But Chelsea, with Marlena as her ally, felt she did all right.
Yes, she was a bit of a novelty because of her accent, especially when she realized how much they liked it and she allowed for a little more of the color and colloquialism of southern language into her conversation.
A few of the guests she was talking to shared the peculiarities of their own regional dialects.
“In New York, they say ‘get on line’ not to mean the Internet, but to stand in a line. I’m from California and it took me forever to realize they weren’t talking about computers.”
“Really?”
“People say New Yorkers have an accent, but I don’t hear it.” The woman standing next to Marlena said.
“Many people from New York and New Jersey retire in my area and we can hear the accent.” Chelsea sipped her wine.
“Well, New Jersey, yeah.”
“Chelsea.” Jagger took her arm.
“Oh hey, sugar.”
“Sugar. That’s darling. I’ll have to use that,” the woman next to Marlena said.
Chelsea’s smile fell when she saw Jagger’s face. It reminded her of when he’d arrived home earlier that day. As if all the happiness and life had been sucked out of him.
Before he could say anything, she pressed close to him. “I know we only just got here, but I’m not used to fancy parties. I’m a little tired.”
He stared at her for a moment, and she swore she saw only emptiness in his eyes. Didn’t he get that she was giving him an excuse to leave?
He gave his head a quick shake. “Yes, of course.” He looked to the ladies Chelsea had been talking to. “It is our honeymoon.”
“Awww,” the ladies said in unison.
“Thank y’all for such a lovely time.” Chelsea shook their hands
“It was our pleasure. Jagger, she’s a doll. Be nice to her.”
Jagger nodded but didn’t say anything as he guided Chelsea out the door, down the elevator, and out to the waiting limo. Chelsea stepped into the limo and took a seat. She hadn’t been in a limo since prom and never in one where the seats ran side long in the car.
“Just drive around the city, George.” Jagger got in behind her.
“Yes, sir.”
George got into the driver’s seat and shortly after they pulled away from the curb.
Moving sideways in the car took getting used to, but she sat back and let the tension melt the farther away they got from Jagger’s father.
He was right. His dad was an A-one douche bag.
She glanced to Jagger and knew he was holding in his anger.
It radiated in waves off his body from the moment his father approached them.
It seemed even worse now, making her wonder what his father had said.
She wanted to ask, but she wasn’t sure how to deal with Jagger in this mood.
Maybe he just needed a few minutes to himself.
Brian had been like that. When he was in a stink, he brooded for a bit and then was fine.
On the other hand, maybe Jagger was brooding because he hadn’t ever had anyone to talk to.
“Are you okay?”
“I need a minute.” His voice was terse and irritated, as if he were talking to a child.
She didn’t like his tone and had a few choice things to say about it, but decided it would be like putting salt on his wound. Let him brood. She could address his ill manners later.
“Can I have a drink or something?”
He nodded, still looking away from her.
She moved toward him and closer to the fridge. If she were taller, she might have been able to open it and get a drink while sitting in her seat. But she wasn’t taller so, with a sigh, she pushed off the seat onto her knees and opened the fridge.
“Do you want me to get it?”
She shook her head. “No, you take a minute.” She winced at the terseness of her words. She might not like his dark mood but, after meeting his father, she understood why he’d have it and didn’t want to add to it.
“Chelsea.”
“I’m okay.” She pulled out a mini-bottle, reading the label.
Vodka. While she could use a stiff drink, she didn’t want to go through the hassle of figuring out how to mix one in a limo.
Rummaging around, she found a demi-bottle of champagne.
They weren’t in a celebratory mood, but it didn’t require mixing.
She popped the top and quickly put the mouth of the bottle to her lips to avoid spilling. The bubbles exploded in her mouth. With an apologetic smile toward Jagger for her uncouth action, she wiped her mouth.
He was watching her with those intense blue...ice?...eyes. She held the bottle to him. “Maybe this will help?”
“It would take a tanker of booze to help deal with him.”
Sitting back on her heels, she nodded. “I can see that. But he’s not here now. So, what’s the problem?”
One dark brow rose. “It’s not something I can let go of easily.”
“Why not?” She took another drink, waiting for the slight lightheadedness that came from champagne. She always wondered if it was the bubbles or the booze. Or maybe it was the combination of both.
“Because he has that effect on me.”
She studied him. “You should learn to let it go.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, sometimes it takes a little more than that, but yeah. Holding on to it just lets him win. He’s not even here now and he’s winning.”
His jaw tightened. “You can just let things go?”
She nodded. “If I was one to hold on to stuff, I’d still be mad about you ditching me at Mitch and Sydney’s wedding.”
“The fact that you’ve just brought it up suggests that maybe you are.”
“Nah. I’m letting you make it up to me. It was one of the perks of getting married, remember? You know, when Brian used to get all bent out of shape, my mom—”
“You say that like I’m being unreasonable.”
“No. You have every right to be angry, but like I said, you need to let it go. Be in the moment.”
“In this moment, I have my father threatening to go to court over Kaden’s trust and my grandfather’s will, and Kaden’s mom trying to take him away from me.”
“No. In this moment, there is me and you in the back of a limo in New York City.” His expression suggested he thought she couldn’t understand, but she did. “I know angst and tension and grief.”
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, maybe because her tone turned angry.
“My brother was killed by his own colleagues. My mother died of cancer a year later. I could barely afford to pay my bills and carried the burden of being the Beemer who might lose the family house. Don’t think I haven’t felt utter despair.
But what did the worry and anger and bitterness get me?
Nothing. In fact, it kept me from having what I want.
So, I did the best I could, and I’ve worked to be grateful for what I’ve got. ”
“My father insulted you in the worst possible way.”
“So what? Don’t you think everyone at that party knows he’s heinous? They admire you and what you’ve done to turn your life around, and what you’ve done for Kaden.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I talked to them.”
His lips twitched upward, but the smile they hinted at didn’t reach his amazing eyes.
“Here.” She put the champagne down and climbed up next to him on the seat. Outside, bright lights rushed by, but she ignored them. She maneuvered onto her knees, her kneecaps lightly brushing his thigh. She leaned toward him, pressing the first two fingers of each hand on either side of his temple.
He eyed her with wary confusion.
“When my mom had a bad day, I massaged her temples. She said it helped.” She continued to rub his temples in slow circles.
He let out an expletive.
“Just close your eyes and take deep breaths.”
He did as she asked, but his jaw remained clenched. “Chels.”
“You need to relax.”
“I can’t.” His voice was tight as he lifted his head and took her wrists in his hands. “I’m still tense but now it’s because of you.”
Hurt, she tried to pull away, but he held her in place. “You’re making me tense.” His gaze dropped.
She followed the direction of his gaze and discovered her breast nearly plastered in his face. She jerked her head back up to look into his face.
“You either have to release the tension or go sit over there.”
She swallowed. He wasn’t angry tense, he was aroused tense. Immediately, liquid fire flooded her bloodstream. Instantly, the air in the car heated, crackled with erotic electricity that zapped over her skin.
His blue eyes blazed with wicked heat. “If you’re going to release the tension, my head isn’t the place to start.”
Oh, Lordy. That was a dare. There was no doubt she wanted to rip their clothes off and make good on that dare.
She wanted to touch and taste every part of him until he was a wet noodle, unable to move.
There was just that one nagging issue that by taking the next step, it would be harder than it already was to remember this marriage was a fake.
Sure, Jagger liked her, but he didn’t love her.
His desire to touch her didn’t stem from wanting to show her the depth of his feelings.
It was just sex with the woman who was pretending to be his wife.
Well, she was his real wife, but only on paper.
He let go of her wrists and the gleam in his eyes dimmed slightly.
He was letting her go, taking her non-action as her answer.
But she wanted him. Even if it was pretend and only for a short time.
She’d done the right thing all her life.
She’d worked hard to keep her head afloat and now she had the opportunity not only to breathe again, but to have fun.
So why not take it? Wasn’t that the advice she just gave him?
To live in the moment? In this moment, hot, fiery need swam through her veins until she thought she’d melt from the inside out.
Her gaze drifted down and her hand followed, brushing over the swell of his pants. His harsh intake of breath caused her to look up to his face again, wanting to see desire in the devil ,
“You’re playing with fire.” His voice was strained, his tone pleading.
In that moment, she knew she wouldn’t, couldn’t deny him.
She placed both her hands on his cheeks and pulled him in for a kiss.
His lips consumed hers, hot and fierce, and a whoosh of heat inflamed her body when his tongue snaked in, invading her mouth with demanding sweeps.
His hands pressed against the outsides of her thighs, sliding her dress up, and then lifted her to straddle his lap.
He pulled her to him, nesting her, hot and needy, over the hard steel of his erection.
A moan filled the back of the limo. His, hers.
..she wasn’t sure. She didn’t know anything except the delicious feel of him between her thighs.
She ground herself against him, wishing they were magic and could instantly get rid of the clothing barriers that separated them.
His hands slid up her back, unhooked the halter of her dress and pulled the top down. “Christ, yes.” His gaze fixed on her breasts for a moment, just looking at them before he leaned forward to devour them with his mouth.
Chelsea was sure she’d come right then. When his teeth weren’t tugging at the sensitive tips of her breasts, his lips were sucking and his tongue made hot sweeps, all while his thick, hot erection teased at her cleft.
“God, I want to see you come,” he said as his lips slid up to her neck.
She gasped as he yanked on her panties and they tore away.
It was a move she thought was dumb in the romance books, and yet here and now, it made her ache with need and desire so fierce she thought it might consume her.
In the back of her mind, she knew she should be doing something.
..touching him...but his hands and mouth worked her into a frenzy where all thought was gone.
There was only Jagger doing delicious things to her.
His fingers slipped between her folds, wrenching a long moan from her.
“Give it to me.” He took the taut pearl of her nipple into his mouth while his fingers slipped inside her. She had no defense against it. Every erotic part of her body was being assaulted by him.
“Oh, God.”
“It’s Jagger, honey. Call my name.” With that, he slipped his fingers inside, up and forward, as his thumb brushed over the hard nub between her folds.
He touched a part of her anatomy she thought had been a myth and it shot her to the heavens.
Any control she had dissolved. His name initially tore from her lips in a scream and then became a chant as her body tensed from her fingertips to the end of her toes and then shuddered, again and again, as she rode his fingers.
He let out an expletive. “Yes. Jesus, you’re beautiful.”
Even as she collapsed against him, drawing in heaving breaths, her body continued to convulse and milk him.
“It’s Chelsea,” she said on a ragged breath.
He laughed. “Chelsea, you’re beautiful.”
Her cheeks flushed at the thought of him watching her in the throes of passion.
At the same time, it was titillating. She rested her head on his shoulder, unable to make any significant movement.
She looked at his neck, glistening with perspiration.
She could still feel him hard and thick between her thighs.
She really should return the favor. Before she could muster the strength, he leaned a little to his side.
“Yes, sir.” George’s voice came over the intercom. Chelsea felt a moment of panic. Were there cameras in the car? Had George heard or seen what they’d been doing?
“Take us to the Talbot Luxe. Call ahead and have them have a bottle of champagne chilling when we get there.”
“Yes, sir.”
Finally able to lift her head, she looked into Jagger’s brilliant eyes, still cloudy with desire. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to have a real honeymoon.”