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She grabbed the door handle and opened it before the car was even completely parked. As she stepped out, she slipped the engagement ring off. Turning, she tossed it at Jamie before walking away.
Jamie slid out of the car and told his driver, “You can take off. I’ll call when I’m ready.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jamie caught Lucy just as she was getting into an elevator that would take her to the check-in area. She frantically pushed buttons, obviously trying to get the elevator doors to shut before he got there, but he stepped inside just in time. The doors slid shut as he crowded her into a corner.
“I just want to go home,” she told him.
“Well you’re not going home until you hear me out. I make myself available to you whenever you need me, Lucy. All I ask of you, all I’ve ever asked, is that you talk to me, share your true feelings…”
The doors slid open and Lucy slipped around him and stepped out. Before she could get any farther, he grabbed her arms and held her still despite her struggles to get away.
Raising her chin, she glared at him. “You want to know how they make me feel? I don’t know how it will help, but I’ll tell you. They make me feel like nothing I ever do will be good enough for them. They make me feel like trailer trash and before you tell me I ‘let’ them make me feel that way I’m going to tell you that I know that. I’ve taken a few psychology courses myself. But knowing it and living it are two different things. When I’m around them, I become less than I am because I know it’s what they expect from me, and then I hate myself for it. And the idea of you and that man doing business together, the idea that he’ll have the opportunity to talk to you and turn you against me—”
Lucy sobbed. Unable to cover her face with her hands, she leaned forward and buried her face in Jamie’s chest.
“Oh, Lucy,” he murmured. He couldn’t stand that this woman who was normally so confident thought he’d be so easily swayed by other’s opinions of her. He kissed the top of her head then lifted her chin so she had to look into his eyes. “I’m sorry they make you feel like that. I’m sorry that my brave, confident Lucy feels less than when she’s around those people. But no one, not Mason’s father, no one, will ever turn me against you. God, don’t you get it, Lucy? I adore you.”
She pulled back. “You do? Even though I’m such a snot about all your money? And I give you shit for being a nice guy?”
“Even then.”
Lucy cleared her throat. “I’m not used to feeling less than. Around certain people, I leave my self-confidence at the door. I turn back into that insecure sixteen-year-old. And I’m not sure this pretend engagement is helping me. They expect me to be different because I’m engaged to a man like you, but I’m not different. I’m just me.”
“That’s what you need to be, Lucy. Just you. We’re just playing a little game, but we’re not trying to present you as being someone totally different. If the worst happens and they turn against you, the judge will see what a wonderful person you are and grant you custody.”
Lucy stood on her toes to kiss him and his lips came down to meet hers. It was tender and exploring, like they weren’t already intimately acquainted. His tongue swept across her lips and she parted them. She drew his tongue into her mouth and rubbed her own against it. It was slow and leisurely as if they had forever.
When Lucy finally broke the kiss, she said, “I have to catch my flight, but can I—can I have the ring back?”
He grinned and held it up. “I’m afraid I was going to insist.”
This time, instead of putting on the ring herself, she let him slip in on her finger.
She stared at it, as if admiring its beauty. As if remembering how Jamie had said it reminded him of her.
“Do you really have to catch this flight? Because it’ll only take a couple of hours to get to Los Angeles. You can see my place. And we can get you on a later flight. Tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the—”
She covered his mouth with her fingers. “Let’s go.”
Lucy and Jamie held hands and kissed during the long drive to L.A. When they arrived at his place, he didn’t bother giving her a tour. Instead, as soon as the front door clicked shut behind them, he had her in his arms.
* * *
Jamie nudged Lucy backward, toward the couch, and once he had her settled on it, he knelt in front of her. After kissing her lips again, he reached down and folded up her skirt so that it was high up on her thighs. He breathed in her fresh scent and then looked back up at her. He reached up and brushed a stray hair from her face, and then for several seconds he covered the pulsating vein on her throat with his fingers. Her pulse was pounding, probably from the excitement of their fight and anticipation of what was coming next.
“Touch me Jamie.” Lucy’s back arched as she pressed her hips up.
When he finally did touch her, she sighed. His hand slid down from her cheek and brushed across her breast. She gasped and he could feel the nipple grow harder with that simple touch. He trailed his long fingers in circles around it, and then he began to release the buttons on her shirt, one by one.
Once he had the shirt unbuttoned, he reached behind her, unhooked her bra, and slipped both the shirt and bra off her so that her beautiful breasts spilled out. He leaned back on his haunches for a few seconds to enjoy the view then took one of her nipples into his mouth. He could feel it grow and harden between his lips. Pulling back, he blew on it lightly. The combination of her wet nipple and his hot breath caused her to shiver, and a small moan to escape her lips. He gave the other nipple the same attention.
Lucy ran her hands down the muscles of his back, and then pulled her fingernails gently back up his sides. She wiggled her hips underneath him, arching her back to feel how hard he was through the layers of their clothing. She wanted more, and she wanted it now. She reached down and tried to unfasten his pants, but their hips were too close together for her to get a good hold.
“Let's go into the bedroom. I need room to maneuver.”
Jamie stood and helped her up. He led the way to the bedroom and stopped at the foot of the bed. The sunlight was still trying to push its way into the room through the closed blinds. Her hair was a mess and her breasts were bouncing free. He thought she had never looked more beautiful.
