Stolen Beauty (Jackson Family 1)

EMMALINE

James opened the passenger side door, his concerned eyes running over my face when I continued to only nervously stare at the outpatient entrance to the hospital.

It was time for my procedure, and while I knew it was non-invasive and that it wouldn’t hurt, I was still extremely nervous to go through with this.

Anything I wasn’t familiar with sent my anxiety levels through the roof.

“Little one?” James asked. He reached forward and gently gripped my chin, turning my head to face him. “What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” he asked me.

“I’m nervous,” I blurted. “I know it’s not going to hurt; they’re not even cutting me open.” I swallowed thickly. “I’m just nervous. Can something go wrong?”

James shook his head. “I highly doubt it, little one.” He smirked. “Besides, you know I’ll burn this entire hospital to the ground with everyone inside of it if something happens to you,” he reminded me. He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “Come on. You only have a few minutes before your appointment, and we need to go inside and fill out your paperwork.”

I blushed. It was my fault we were late. I had overslept, and James had thought I’d already had my shower and had decided to let me lay down for a nap. So, I literally only had fifteen minutes to shower and get dressed by the time James actually woke me up.

I slid out of the passenger seat of the SUV. James instantly grabbed my hand in his as he pushed the door closed, beeping the vehicle locked with his keys a moment later. Drawing in a deep breath, I steeled myself for my appointment.

James squeezed my hand. “Breathe, little one,” he ordered. He gently drew me to a stop a couple of feet from the entrance and turned me to face him. “Get through this appointment like the brave, good girl I know you are, and I’ll take you out to an extremely nice restaurant afterward,” he promised me. “And I’ll reward you with a tame, sensual session later this evening.”

My breath caught in my throat. We hadn’t had sex of any kind in a few days now, and I knew both of us were beginning to feel the effects of it. Our sessions gave me structure, and it gave James a semblance of control in his life again when something happened.

He leaned down and softly kissed me, his lips working against mine. He deepened it, letting his tongue slide with mine for a beat, drawing a moan from the back of my throat before he slowly pulled back. “Better?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I breathed.

He flashed me that swoon-worthy grin of his and led me inside of the building to begin filling out my paperwork.

~*~*~

James wasn’t fucking kidding when he said an extremely nice restaurant. I couldn’t even pronounce the name of the restaurant, and their menu gave me anxiety just looking at it. I was severely underdressed for this place in my jeans and t-shirt. Even James was in a pair of jeans and a plain, black, long-sleeved shirt, though he seemed completely unbothered.

“James, I need help,” I whispered so quietly that I could barely hear myself.

He looked over at me. “Don’t worry about it, little one. I already know what I’m ordering for you,” he assured me. I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful he was doing that for me. He smiled at me, calming my nerves. “Calm down, baby. There’s no reason to be anxious. I easily make more money in a year than most people currently dining here make in their entire lifetime.”

My eyes widened the tiniest bit in shock. How in the world had he known I was bothered about how underdressed I was? How did he somehow always know what was running through my head?

“How do you do that?” I asked him.

He laughed. “Do what, little one?”

“Instantly know what I’m thinking and feeling,” I clarified.

He shrugged. “I know you, little one,” he reminded me. “You get anxious easily.” He reached up and trailed his knuckles over my cheek. “There’s no reason to be anxious when I’m with you, though I know there’s little that you can do to help it. It’s your body’s natural response to unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations.”

I wanted to cry. God, why was he so fucking perfect? How did he pick up on so much – important shit, too – shit I was uncomfortable mentioning?

The server came to our table holding a tray with two wine glasses already filled with wine. I looked at James, confused. We hadn’t even ordered anything yet. Was he a regular, and the employees here just automatically knew what he would order?

I looked back at the glass the waiter placed in front of me. Something was glistening. I lifted my glass up, and a gasp fell from my lips, tears instantly streaking down my cheeks. I swung my eyes to James, my heart beating so hard in my chest that I was honestly surprised that it didn’t beat a hole through my breastbone and fall onto the floor at his feet.

A tender smile crossed his lips as he silently grabbed my glass from me and pulled the ring out. The waiter silently handed him a towel, and James carefully dried it off, his eyes never leaving mine.

All I could manage to do was just silently cry.

I couldn’t believe this. I had never expected this.

He dropped down to one knee in front of me. For the second time in our relationship together, he put himself beneath me. The entire restaurant was silent, everyone’s eyes on us, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away from James.

“Emmaline Louise Arnold, from the very moment your beautiful, warm, brown eyes met mine, I was a fucking goner for you.” A mix between a laugh and a sob fell from my lips. “From that very moment, I knew there would never be another woman in my life. One smile from you can turn a really shitty day into something beautiful and amazing.” He drew in a deep breath. “I want to spend the rest of my life seeing you smile at me. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you and taking care of you, little one. Will you please marry me?”

I nodded my head, at a complete loss for words. He slid the beautiful diamond ring onto my left ring finger before he cupped my face in his hands and slanted his lips across mine. I sobbed, eagerly kissing him back. People clapped around us, but they fell to background noise as I let my fiancé dominate my mouth.

My fiancé. God, I loved the sound of that.

This man – he may be a savage. He may be going straight to Hell when he dies for all of the bad shit he’s done in his life, but I would gladly follow him down to the depths of the earth to spend eternity with him.

I didn’t care if we would burn.

We would burn together.

~*~*~