Boxed Set: The His Submissive Series Complete Collection (Part One-Part Twelve) (25 page)

"You sure you don't want me to walk you out to your car?" I offered, trying to tuck a subliminal message in the words. "It's really no trouble."

Mom’s lip smirked slightly as she shook her head. She got the message, but chose to ignore it. "That's alright, sweetie."

Dad rose and shook Jacob's hand and waited while Mom gave Jacob another squeeze. She leaned down to my cheek and whispered, "Talk to him" before they hustled toward the exit.

‘Talk to him’? My date who'd gone from charismatic to quiet as the grave over some silly crush I had on Cade? I honestly didn't even know where to begin.

The waiter came back with Jacob's black Visa card and Jacob slipped it onto his money clip. I shook every drop of alcohol I could from my glass and still came up wanting. There would be no dulling the nerves that had taken up residence in the pit of my stomach.

"So are we going to talk about this?" I said finally, breaking the silence.

"Talk about what?" He chewed every word and spit them out, refuting the nonchalant question.

"About Cade." When he tensed, I added, "
Mr
. Wallace."

"So
now
you want to talk about your attraction to him?" Jacob said heatedly. "When I've already agreed to represent him?"

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. "You're saying that if you knew that I had some stupid crush on him forever ago, you wouldn't have brought him on as a client?"

His silence was all the reply I needed.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Jacob Whitmore was saying that he'd stonewall Cade Wallace, hell, any man that I dared to have a crush on? It was mind boggling. How did I become this person, this woman worth burning bridges and cutting ties? Me, just a regular girl from Douglas Heights, making the sexiest man I'd ever met jealous to the point where professionalism was irrelevant?

The sound of his chair scraping backward cut through my laughter. "I'm glad you find all of this amusing."

"Jacob-"

"We're leaving." And with that he raged toward the exit like a bull with red in his sights.

As much as I was dreading sliding into his two seater, I was dreading a ride home in a taxi even more. If we were trying to build a relationship and my feelings for Cade hurt him, I had to figure out a way to talk about it and make it right.

I hustled behind him, trying to grip his elbow but he wrenched from my touch.

"I want to talk, Jacob."

He stopped, but he didn't turn around. "I need to cool off first, Leila. Anything I say now will only make things worse."

"You won't even look at me!” I said, my voice rising. “How can it get any worse than that?" I knew we were putting on a show that would have put my mother's water debacle to shame, but I didn't care. I was trying to talk and be understanding and he was turning me into the villain. "I just don't get what the big deal is."

"I'm not going to do this here." He burst through the door and I had tunnel vision, my anger causing me to completely miss the people camped out in front of the restaurant.

"Stop walking away from me!" I said shrilly as I followed him outside and came face to face with the paparazzi. They gobbled up my plea and worked themselves into a frenzy as they snapped pictures left and right.

I futilely held my clutch as a shield, trying to hide from the flashes as the valet helped me into the car, but their questions had already hit the mark.

"What were you two arguing about Leila?"

"Is there trouble in paradise?"

Jacob barely let the valet close my door before he stepped on the gas and the car swung into traffic. He snapped on the radio before switching gears, darting and weaving in between cars like some daredevil Nascar driver. It was clear the last thing on earth he wanted to do was talk. His anger over an innocent crush made me want to talk even more.

I powered off the radio. "We need to talk."

I expected more of a fight, but he conceded. "Fine."

I tried to explain it the best way I could. "I like over the top, insane action movies. And once upon a time, that was Cade Wallace's M.O." I swallowed. "So I was a fan.
Am
a fan."

"Just a fan, huh?"

"Okay, so I would have given the president of his fan club a run for her money," I said with exasperation. "But it was just a simple, silly celebrity crush. I never thought I'd ever meet him. And even if I did, I wouldn't even make his radar."

"Oh but you did, love."

I didn't think it was possible for the L word to come out of his mouth and make me feel anything but warmth and safety. Instead, I felt an icy slash of fear, only magnified when I saw the white of Jacob’s knuckles as he gripped the gear shift.

"Jacob, I have no idea what you're talking about. We talked for ten minutes at lunch, we weren't planning some super-secret getaway!"

When all I got was silence, I'd had it. If he wanted to be angry, fine. I wasn't going to die in a mangled sports car to prove I was a good girlfriend. "If you don't want to talk, fine. Pull to the curb and let me out." When he didn't even flinch, I put all of my frustration behind the order. "LET ME OUT!"

He slowed down, but gave no indication that he planned on pulling over, so I decided to wait for the next stoplight. Too bad the paps weren't hot on our tail, or they'd get a hell of a shot of me sprinting from Jacob's Porsche.

"He tweeted something yesterday that stuck with me, even though I planned to have him delete it. It had a romantic feel to it and completely contradicts the bad ass image we're trying to portray for the film."

I clicked my seatbelt back on, abandoning my plans for escaping. "What does his Twitter feed have to do with-"

"Let me finish," Jacob interrupted forcefully, but without the anger he'd been holding onto since dinner. It was like he'd been clutching this burden and was just exhausted and eager to let it all go. He glanced at me, eyes softening. "Please."

I gave him a long look and nodded. "Alright."

"The tweet said something like, 'Met someone and felt like Cade for the first time in a long time' and when I read it, I saw your face." He inhaled deep and released it. "Before I met you, there was always this hole, this missing piece. And then there was you."

Warmth rushed all over me, the ache in my chest whenever he was near expanding.

"That's sweet, Jacob." I cautioned a smile and the side of his mouth twitched with his own as we moved closer to uptown. "But why would that piss you off? Because of damage control? I still don't get what any of that has to do with me."

"Because he tweeted it almost immediately after he left the Whitmore and Creighton building." Jacob's voice changed, something in it exposed and raw. "I think he was talking about you."

****

T
he first tip off that something fishy was going on should have been that fact that Natasha was all smiles when in the past the very sight of me was enough to make her physically ill. Ignoring the feeling of wariness, I took a deep breath and rapped on Jacob's door, running over the speech I'd been practicing all weekend.

After the bucketful of awkward with Cade's tweet and my mother's over-share at dinner, we both agreed to take a few days apart to get our heads right. Truth was even after taking the weekend, my head was anything but clear.

Even though I thought my exchange with Cade was totally innocent, Jacob's reaction and Cade's tweet had me replaying the conversation, wondering if anything I said could have been misconstrued. At any rate, I'd come up with a list of reasons why Jacob had nothing to worry about.

Number one: He was, well, Jacob. No one else could rob me of the ability to function with just a look. No one else could make everything else fade except the drum of my heart and the ache between my legs. And no one else could make me want to simultaneously do them physical harm and kiss their lips off.

I smiled when the door was pulled open with number two on the tip of my tongue. When Missy Diaz, one of the staff publicists and ringleader of Operation Leila Sucks, glared back at me instead of Jacob, I forgot what number two was.

"Missy? What are you-"

"Jacob wanted to see me bright and early so we could go over Wallace's plan of action." She made sure she said every word like they'd been up to a lot more than business. When I spied Jacob over her shoulder, he gave me a smile that dashed right through her transparent efforts. As soon as his eyes glittered deliciously, I knew that he was mine.

He tapped the bluetooth at his ear and rose to his feet. My mouth watered at the thought of running my fingers over the buttons of his slate blue shirt and diving to the muscled abs beneath. I was sure it must have been all over my face because his brow arched with interest.

Missy turned back to him, ignoring me altogether. "So where were-"

"That'll be all," Jacob said abruptly. "I'll see you in the conference room in a little bit."

When she slowly turned on her heel, her brown eyes round with disdain, I just couldn't help myself. "Jacob and I have lots to discuss. I'm sure you understand."

Once we were alone, Jacob shook his head even though he was still grinning. "Marking your territory?"

"Damn right," I took a step toward him then hesitated, remembering our argument. "About Friday night-"

He perched on the edge of his desk and beckoned me with a finger. "Come here."

I closed the distance between us, standing in front of him. "I just want to apologize-"

"You have nothing to apologize about, Leila," he interrupted. "I'm the one that owes you an apology."

I cocked my head to the side, feigning shock. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. It sounded like you said you owe me an apology."

"Haha," he said sarcastically. He reached out and locked his fingers with mine. "Am I really that callous that you think me incapable of apologizing?"

I scratched my chin, pretending to think about it. "I guess stranger things have happened." I moved closer, looking up into his eyes. "Like, who knew Jacob Whitmore could get jealous?"

He traced my jaw, sending tingles up and down my spine. "You seem to have forgotten Tall, Dark, and Italian."

I laughed, remembering taking Allegra's drop dead gorgeous nephew to dinner and seeing Jacob's eyes boil with anger.

This was different though—and we both knew it.

"I was a dick," he said softly. "Just the thought of any man thinking about you, touching you..." His jaw flexed. "It's still no excuse."

I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. I pulled back, fingering his buttons demurely. "Apology accepted."

He murmured with approval and I was close enough to feel the stir of his arousal. "And I plan on calling your parents and apologizing for my behavior as well."

"Not so fast," I said as I unbuttoned the first button on his shirt. "You're still apologizing to me."

He took my face between his massive hands and brought my lips back to his. I dropped my hand to his fly, but he ended our kiss and gently unhitched his belt from my fingers.

“Make no mistake—I want you,” he said huskily. “But we have a meeting.”

I pouted, not wanting to rein it in even though I knew he had a point. "After the meeting then?"

He stood up and buttoned his shirt. "It's a date."

I gave Natasha the biggest shit eating grin I could manage as I walked out at Jacob's side and she returned it with her own. I let go of it once we got to the elevator, instead, focusing on my game face.

I'd never admit it out loud, but hearing that I had an impact on someone I'd pretty much idolized was confusing. The action loving fan in me wanted to shout it from the rooftops but my heart felt like a rag being wrung and twisted in my chest.

Jacob’s eyes bore into me and and I realized I'd been tapping my foot.

"Everything alright?"

"Of course," I swallowed the golf ball sized knot in my throat. "Why wouldn't it be?"

I followed him out the elevator, feeling the sweat explode at my temple, trying to regulate my labored breathing. Jacob pushed into the conference room first and I followed him, pulling on a brave face.

When Cade's eyes met mine and his mouth broke into a grin, I felt ill. I stole a look at Jacob and watched every muscle in him tighten.

Cade wore a red and black checkered shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a tribal tattoo peeking out at the arm cuffs. When he completely ignored Jacob and shook my hand, I could have died right then and there.

"Miss Montgomery," Cade’s rumbled, voice deep and smoky. "It's good to see you again."

I just stood there, lips parted but nothing coming out. The rational part of me screamed that it wasn't confirmation and meant nothing; he was just being friendly since we'd already met. But the other traitorous part of me was jumping about, staring at this celebrity who was looking at me like
he
was star struck.

Jacob cleared his throat and I pulled my hand away. "Uh, Mr. Wallace, this is Jacob Whitmore."

The two men exchanged a hearty handshake and then Cade pivoted back to me, winking. "I thought we decided you'd call me Cade."

I felt the fire blazing from Jacob's eyes, turning both of us to ash and I looked down at the floor, feeling warmth invade my cheeks.

"I'm surprised that you fit me into your busy schedule Mr. Whitmore," Cade said, the bite in his voice ringing through the tension filled air. "Being CEO and all."

"While I too would prefer to jump out of planes and fire blanks into stuntmen, my company won't run itself," Jacob said coolly still wearing a tight smile.

I saw the anger flicker over Cade's face and I let out a weak chuckle and vaulted away from both of them.

Missy and her assistant, Portia Crawford, watched the whole thing with interest. I didn't need super hearing to pick up on the gist of what they were whispering because it was splashed all over their shocked faces. They didn't get what all the fuss was about.

I swatted away that tiny voice that agreed. After all, both men had been photographed with beautiful women with model-esque frames and ridiculously perfect bone structure; women that I looked nothing like. But then I saw Jacob, staring intensely at a document. I knew that gaze. Those eyes held the same power I'd seen when he looked at me and told me that I was beautiful. His certainty was contagious and it reminded me of the indisputable truth I knew with every fiber: other women's attractiveness didn't make me any less so.