“Then you’re talking about monogamy?”
“I told you that before this started, Jenna. You knew that’s what I had in mind.”
She shook her head, clearly trying to understand. “I’m trying to wrap my head around this. You’re okay with me not taking the payment as long as I agree to longer terms?”
He slashed his hand through his hair in aggravation. “No fucking terms!”
Jenna sucked in a breath, shock coursing through her. “David, we spoke for the first time not even a week ago. You bribed me into a marriage for your convenience, a short-term deal, and now you’re saying all bets are off?” She came to her feet on legs that trembled. “What’s changed?”
“Nothing’s changed.” His eyes ran over her length. “It’s the same fucking way it’s been for the last six months, only worse.”
Jenna slowly scooted around him toward the door. “You want a real marriage,” she tossed out, her words a softly spoken accusation.
He glared at her as she sidled toward the door. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Nowhere far, so calm down. I’m going to have a bath and think.” They stared at each other, electric currents passing between them. He took a step toward her.
“Jenna, I—”
“Later, David. We’ll talk later.” She fled the room.
****
Jenna came down the steps an hour later half expecting him to be in the chair waiting for her, but he wasn’t. It was late, they had eaten supper long before. All she wanted was to curl up in bed and go to sleep. She wanted a bed to herself, but she knew that wouldn’t be acceptable to him. Besides, don’t lie to yourself, she really wanted to sleep in his arms.
She saw a soft light glowing from his office and decided to try to get to sleep before he came to bed. She walked through to the master bedroom. She was already in her nightgown, and she slipped into bed. The sheets were cool to the touch as she laid her head down on the pillow, wrapping her arms around it.
Her thoughts raced. He wanted a real marriage. Why?
The bathroom light clicked on and the shower started running. Ten minutes later, he dropped the towel from his hips and let it fall to the floor. Her stomach muscles clenched in anticipation, and he crawled into the big bed and took her in his arms. Holding her in the circle of his embrace, his chest cradling her back, she felt him softly kiss her hair in the darkness.
“You awake?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
He kissed her hair again and took a deep breath, as if he were about to admit his deepest secret. “I want you without a contract. I want you without an exchange of money, without a deadline on the marriage. I want you to want that, too.”
She turned over in his arms to face him. Emotion pulsed from his body into hers. The look on his face was conflicted and tenderness coursed through her from his vulnerability. “Okay, I’ll give it a try,” she answered simply.
His grip tightened. “Thank you.”
“David?” she started, needing to know. “Was it—was it all subterfuge? Is there really a reason you need a wife for office politics?”
He sighed. His fingers slid from her back and lifted her nightgown to her waist and caressed her hip. “I’ll tell you, but first I want to know something. Are you my wife? Or are you the girl from the accounting department?”
His touch was doing crazy things to her heart rate. “I’m your wife.”
His hand stilled a moment and then clenched even tighter. “Craig thought a wife would help me attain the presidency when my uncle steps down. It was his idea and I was humoring him. I’m not worried about it. When the time comes, the job will be mine, wife or no wife.”
She wiggled against him as his hand swirled to her upper thigh and back over her hip. “But you told me—”
“It was an excuse, baby.” He lifted her thigh and draped it over his waist, running his hand up and over the silk of her panties. She sucked in a breath as he continued, “He was arguing with me about it, and suddenly there you were, popping up and offering to make my wet dreams come true.”
Her heart beating wildly, he slid her panties off her hips and pushed them down her legs and off completely.
David slid his finger slid to her sweet spot and pressed softly against her, teasing her, wanting her so fucking bad he thought he might go insane with it. Clearing his throat, his voice dropped an octave. “By that time I’d have done anything to get in your pants.” His finger moved down to her opening and her wet heat almost unmanned him. He slipped his finger inside. “Seeing you, day after day, and not being able to touch you, or talk to you.” He manipulated his finger inside her, rubbing the top wall of her vagina, swirling in a pattern that had her undulating against him. “You were driving me crazy, baby. I couldn’t date you, couldn’t ask you out, couldn’t fucking touch you.” His head reached down and he put his mouth on her nipple through her nightgown. The fabric became wet immediately where he tried to get to her naked skin.
He lifted his head and pressed his lips to her ear. “I wanted you so fucking bad and every time I saw you there was fear in your eyes. I scared you shitless and there was no damn way I could make a move on you.”
He rolled to his back and lifted her over him, held himself poised at the cusp of her wet, silky opening. “No more talk. You’re mine. You’re staying mine.” He pushed up into her as she slid down and met him. He groaned and sucked in a shuddering breath. “I’ll go fucking crazy if I have to think about giving this up.” His slid her up and down with his hands grasping her hips. “Don’t make me give this up, Jenna.”
“No, I won’t.” Her eyes closed as a look of pleasure spread across her features, filling him with satisfaction.
Chapter Ten
Four weeks later, Jenna sat in the study, screwing up her courage, waiting for David to get home from work. She had to tell him about the education she already had. The spring semester would be here soon, and he was expecting her to begin college. She wanted to get a job, and couldn’t continue to hide this from him. Her debt was only growing, and she needed to find a way to pay it off.
His uncle hadn’t retired yet, but it was coming up soon. She had met the man several times, entertained him and his wife in David’s home, acting as his hostess exactly as everyone expected of her. His uncle and aunt liked her and she liked them, and David assured her they had nothing to worry about in regards to the future of the presidency.
David had introduced her to his entire family, and the story he spilled out for their benefit was swallowed completely. Everyone believed it had been a secret love affair. She knew better, though. Certainly she had fallen in love with him in the days and weeks that had passed, how could she not? He was everything she had ever dreamed of in a husband. He was sexy, kind, considerate, and for whatever reason, she could do no wrong with him.
Ever since the night she had agreed t
o try a real marriage, his attitude had changed, the ferocious intensity of his lovemaking had calmed and he was more gentle with her, careful, worshipping her body slowly instead of devouring her whole. It completely enthralled her, and she was, for want of a better term, a smitten kitten.
She chewed on her nail and nervously waited for the moment he walked in the door. How mad would he be? Truly, she didn’t think what she had done was so bad, except for the fact that she had lied to him by omission. And of course, the small fact that she had married him with a hundred and twenty thousand dollars worth of debt. Her distress grew.
His car pulled in the garage and her stomach clenched with nerves. Her thumbnail was ragged where she had been biting it for the last half hour.
She heard the door slam and as usual, he called out her name, “Jenna.”
She took a deep breath and stood to her feet. “I’m in here.”
He stood in the doorway to the study, his eyes lighting with fire when he spotted her. He watched her for a moment. “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately, his tone anxious.
“Nothing,” she answered, her voice holding no strength at all.
He looked her up and down, a scowl washing over his features. “Don’t lie to me.”
Jenna stood in silence, her teeth tearing up her bottom lip. She dropped her eyes from his and looked down at her hands.
David felt a crushing blow to his solar plexus when her eyes dropped from his. Guilt and shame were written all over her, and fury and fear in equal measure took hold of him. “What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Jenna. Spit it out. Now.”
Jenna took a shaky breath and raised her eyes to his. He was watching her with an intensity that was chilling. “I’m so sorry, but I’ve lied to you.”
David felt the punch to his gut and almost doubled over. He took several deep breaths, and when he thought he could manage it, walked over to the drawer in his desk where he kept a bottle of bourbon. He poured two inches of the amber liquid in a glass and knocked it back. Just when he thought his world was perfect. His hand shook as he set the glass down and turned back to her. He would control himself, even if he was dying on the inside. But he would fucking kill the other guy.