Jack's Surrender (Holiday Cove 5)

“Jack!” The sound of my name turned into a satisfied purr as she crashed over the edge. Her nails dug into my shoulder blades and with a few more thrusts, I rode the twisted sensations of pain and pleasure over the edge and came hard inside her.

We crumpled together against the counter and caught our breath. Our eyes met a moment before our lips did and by the time Holly was done with me, the fire in my belly was reignited.

Holly smirked as she traced her fingertips over my balls. She knew exactly what she was doing. “Should we take the next round upstairs?”

I kissed her sweet lips and mumbled, “You’re on.”

I grabbed her around the waist, lifted her up, and then swung her legs into my opposite arm, smiling as she giggled.

Eventually, we returned downstairs to dinner. Holly wrapped up in her black robe and me in a pair of loose fitting sweatpants and a t-shirt. “What’s the occasion?” I asked her as we stepped into the kitchen. She’d made homemade ravioli and marinara sauce. The garlic bread on the table was cold but looked homemade as well. Holly was a kick ass cook but didn’t usually go through so much trouble for a regular weeknight dinner.

Holly moved past me and went to the stove to reheat the sauce. Her shoulders stiffened as she stirred the contents of the saucepot.

“What is it?” I asked, moving so she could see me from her peripheral.

Her hand stilled and she glanced over at me. “I wanted to remind you why you came home for dinner. In case you were…” Her words faded and she looked back to the marinara.

I brushed my fingers against her arm. “In case I was what?” I prompted gently.

“In case you were having dinner somewhere else. With…with someone else.”

“Baby,” I said with a sigh. “Come here.”

She let me gather her against me and I kissed the top of her head. “There isn’t anyone else. There will never be anyone else. You are my lady. Now and forever, all right?”

She nodded. “I know that now.”

It stung that she’d even had room for a shadow of a doubt. I brushed her hair—now loose—out of her face and kissed her lips, letting mine linger there for an extra moment. When we broke apart she smiled up at me. “I also wanted to celebrate a little.”

“Good news?”

“Mmm-hmm,” she replied and went back to the pot of water that was rolling into a boil. She dropped a handful of the ravioli into the water and stirred them before turning back to face me. “I have a job interview.”

“A job interview? For what?” I steeled myself for the answer. Holly was a little on the impulsive side of things. I knew business hadn’t been coming together as she’d originally planned but I hoped she hadn’t gone off and applied to work the produce section at the local market in an effort to get some money back into our somewhat depleted bank account.

“I was at Carly’s and this guy, Noah Scoville, came up to her to ask about catering some business meeting he was having. Anyway, we all three got to talking and it turns out he’s in the market for an accountant. He’s new in town but a pretty big player. Have you heard of Scoville Properties?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. That’s his company, I’m assuming?”

“Yeah.” A timer went off and Holly moved away to tend to the sauce and pasta. She flicked off the burners and rearranged the plates she’d pulled down. “They are the ones who bought the O’Keefe land. He’s going to develop commercial sites with condos above. It sounds very impressive.”

She poured the sauce over the ravioli on each of our plates.

“Wow. That must have cost a mint.”

Holly laughed. “Ya think?”

“So you’re thinking of taking him on as a client?” I asked, wanting to get back to the part about the interview.

“Well, it would be a little different,” she started. “He’s looking for someone in-house. If I took the position, I would be on his payroll.”

“But that’s not what you wanted,” I said.

Holly sighed and finished preparing the plates. When she finished, she set aside the empty pots and brushed her hands together. “It’s not what I was looking for, no. But it would be stability and long-term. Plus, he said he wouldn’t mind if I kept my existing clients so it’s not like I would be completely walking away from my own business. It would just take a back seat for a little while.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know.” Holly’s eyes flashed. “Jack, this is a good thing. Why are you so snarky?”

“I’m not snarky,” I replied, keeping my tone smooth. “But I’m not sure I understand why you’re even considering this as an option.”

“Because I need to do something. I can’t rattle around this house all day with nothing to do. Back when we met, my business was my whole life. Now, I don’t want to be consumed like that again, but at the same time, it felt good. You know? It was a purpose and the money was incredible. Our time in Germany was amazing but this is reality, Jack. And in this reality, we have a mortgage—a big one, at that—and a wedding to pay for. Not to mention planning for the future. I mean, shit, if we ever have kids—which I doubt—we need some kind of savings and we don’t have any!”