Lessons in SECRET (20 page)

“This is okay, right?
I mean, you’re okay with me on your lap?”

That’s why she’s
waiting? I almost laugh out loud. “My ribs are still healing, and
I’m a little weak, which is why I didn’t run to you when you
walked in here, and why I had to sit down again. None of that is
going to stop me from kissing you now. Or taking you up to my room to
ravish your hot body in a little while.”

“Not in your parents’
house.”

“They won’t care.”

“You’re funny.
Not.”

“Fine. My mom would
care. We’ll go to my apartment instead if it makes you more
comfortable. But I will be inside you today.”

“Will you now?”

Oh. I shouldn’t have
assumed. “Um, maybe. Or I guess no. I should’ve asked if you
wanted that, too.”

She leans over and
sucks lightly on my neck. “I want it. But first let’s have that
kiss.”

I use my hands on her
waist to pull her against me as she leans down and takes my mouth
with hers. It’s little kisses first, but there are some tongues and
teeth involved as we play with each other. Those little licks and
nips set me on fire and I move my hands higher as I finally deepen
the kiss.

I don’t know how much
time has passed, but my shirt is off and my hands are inside her
dress when a throat clears. I remove my mouth from her long enough to
say what I have to. “Go away.”

I reclaim her mouth and
hope they listen. I’m not stopping if they don’t. Let them have a
fucking show. I don’t care. I need Isa. Our two weeks apart felt
like two lifetimes.

“Isabelle! Stop this
now.”

She practically jumps
off my lap and turns toward the unfamiliar voice. “Father?” she
asks shakily.

“This is why you
should still be at home. You could be working at the university and
dating a nice boy. One your mother and I approve of. Not behaving
like some shameless hussy. Come with me.”

“Don’t talk about
her like that,” I warn him.

“I’ll speak to my
daughter however I see fit. Now let’s leave, Isabelle.”

Shit. This isn’t
going to go my way. What she’s told of me of her parents has shown
me that they take pleasure in controlling her. And she’s always let
them.

As I watch her, I
realize that maybe she’s not going to listen this time. She
straightens her spine and adjusts her glasses before speaking.

“I love my job. I’m
not going with you. As for Jake, he’s the nicest guy I know. I
can’t make you approve of him, but that’s your problem, not
mine.”

“That foundation and
those women who work there did this to you. I’ve heard about
Matthew Corrigan. Have you slept with him, too?”

She bursts out
laughing. “Slept with Matt? No?”

“You don’t have to
laugh so hard about it, Double G,” the man in question says,
walking into the room.

“Yes I do. You’re
like a brother to me,
and
you’re marrying one of my best friends.”

“When you put it that
way, it is pretty funny. You know how much you mean to me.”

“Yet you call her by
some demeaning nickname,” her father tells him with a sneer.

I’m not letting this
go one much longer. I want her to stand up for herself, but I also
need to give her my support. Once I’m not walking around with a
steel pipe in my jeans, of course. That’s the real reason I’m
still sitting.

“Girl Genius is an
insult?” Matt asks.

“I-I thought you were
joking about…well, her less than stellar assets.”

“Thanks for pointing
them out to everyone, Father.”

I do stand then.
Hard-on be damned. “I find your assets wonderfully stellar, babe.”

“We all saw your
hands in her dress, so I don’t think that was in question, Son.”

My dad is smirking at
me. His eyes are twinkling, too. I know he’s happy for me that
Isa’s here. I’ve told him all about how amazing she is. I need to
introduce them properly.

“Isa, this is my dad,
Bill. Dad, this is Isa.”

“Hello, Isa. It’s
nice to finally meet the woman my son can’t stop talking about.”

“It’s great to meet
you, too.”

“I’m sorry about my
wife. She takes the mother lion thing a little too far sometimes. But
she thinks you’re pretty great. Even if she doesn’t show it.”

“A little is an
understatement, but I can handle her. Oh, and Father, this is my
boyfriend, Jake. Jake, this is my father.”

“You may refer to me
as Mr. Carlton. I can’t say it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I hope to change
your mind. I don’t think I can totally change to be what you want,
but there’s got to be a compromise we can make.”

“No,” Isa says.
“You’re not going to be anything but who you are, Jake. You
helped me realize that being the person I am is okay, and I won’t
let you do anything but be yourself. You don’t need to impress my
parents.”

“Isabelle, once
you’re back home, you’ll realize how wrong this young man is for
you.”

“What exactly do you
find wrong with me, Mr. Carlton?” I ask. It may not matter to Isa,
but I want to know.

He starts ticking them
off on his fingers, and I almost burst out laughing. Almost. “You
are much older than her. You’ve been with more women than
necessary. You live off your parent’s money instead of having a job
of your own. You use your fists more than your mind. And you can’t
possibly have anything in common with my daughter.”

It’s my turn to tick
things off on my fingers now. “I
am
older than Isa, but by less years than I can count on my hands. And
yes, I do use my hands to count sometimes. It wouldn’t matter if I
had to include my toes, though. I love Isa more than life. Literally.

“As for being with
other women, yes I have played the field in the past. If Isa develops
a time machine one day—or the Doctor lets me borrow his—I’ll go
back and change that. Your daughter is the only one I want for the
rest of my life.

“I can combine the
next two of your problems with me. I don’t live off my parents and
I do indeed use my brain quite frequently. I had to project that
image of an aimless playboy to hide my real job, which was in
military intelligence. In fact, I have a fairly high IQ.

“Isa and I laugh at
the same jokes, love the same movies and TV shows, and have a few
other things we both enjoy. I don’t want to be with a woman who’s
a carbon copy of me, or agrees with everything I do. I want the woman
who makes me work for her, and then gives me everything when I prove
I’m worthy. That’s what your daughter does for me.”

I hear a sniffle, and
look over to see Isa crying. I was so focused on her father that I
didn’t notice. I pull her into my arms and kiss the side of her
head.

“That was one hell of
a speech,” Matt says in the silence that follows. “I would almost
switch teams and marry you myself.”

I flip him off as he
laughs. Isa’s laughing now, too as she hugs me tight. My dad is
smiling, but Isa’s father is not. He’s still glaring at me.

“You have some nice
words, but I still don’t see how this will work.”

“You don’t need to
see it,” Isa tells him as she turns to face him again.

“Come home,
Isabelle.”

“I am home, Father.
Jake is my home.”

“We’ll be there
when he’s done with you and tosses you aside. I won’t say I told
you so, but I’ll be expecting it.”

“I guess this
probably isn’t a good time to ask for her hand in marriage, huh?”

“You won’t get my
blessing.”

“He doesn’t need
it. He has my blessing,” she tells me.

I love that she feels
this way, but I wanted her family to accept me. “You have my
blessing as well,” Maggie Griffin says from the doorway. Isa’s
friends all file in after her, and that’s when I realize that her
family does accept me. Not the one she was born with, but the one
she’s chosen.

“Thanks, Maggie.”

“Are you going to ask
me then, Jake?”

“I wanted to plan
something super romantic, but you know I can’t deny you anything.”
I drop to one knee and take her hand in mine. “Isabelle Carlton, I
love you more than I ever thought a man could love a woman. I promise
to never break your heart again. I’m a guy, so I may bruise it a
little, but I promise to kiss it better every time. Will you do me
the honor of being my wife?”

“As long as you
include some great make-up sex in the making it better part, then
yes. I would love to be your wife.”

I stand up and pull her
into my arms so I can whisper my response in her ear. “I’m going
to great make-up sex you into next month once I can get us out of
here.”

“Please do.”

We kiss as her friends
clap and whistle. When we break apart, her father is gone. I see a
glimmer of sadness pass through her eyes, and my heart hurts. My dad
pulls her into a big bear hug, and her eyes sparkle again. I mouth a
“thank you” to him, and he nods.

My mom walks up behind
me and squeezes my arm. “Congratulations, Jake. She’s a wonderful
woman.”

“She is.”

“I’m going to make
this all up to both of you. I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t try to
kill me again, and we’ll be okay,” Isa tells her.

They hug as Matt
motions me over. I talk to him for a few minutes and we shake on what
he’s just offered me. Then, I grab my fiancée and make a run for
it. We love these people, but I need to be alone with her. And a bed.

Isa

Jake’s apartment is
actually a townhouse in an upscale part of D.C. It’s definitely a
man’s place, with leather couches and big TVs. But there’s also
art and knickknacks from all the places he’s traveled to. It’s
what I think a modern day Indiana Jones’ place would look like.
Well, without the dangerous artifacts, but still. It’s so Jake, and
sexy as hell.

“My apartment’s
turning you on? We haven’t even gotten to the bedroom yet.”

“What? No.”

“Your eyes got dark,
and you licked your lips a few seconds ago.”

“Fine. I like your
stuff.”

“I
love
your stuff.”

“Is that all you can
think about?” I ask, pretending that I haven’t been thinking the
exact same thoughts since I saw him earlier.

“Right now, all I can
think about is making love to you.”

“So it won’t be
slow and sweet then?” I ask as I crook my finger to beckon him over
to me.

He swallows hard before
answering. “It could be.”

“No,” I tell him,
pulling him down on top of me as I tumble into the couch cushions.

“The bed’s
upstairs.”

“We’ll get to that
later.”

“God, I love you.”

“I know. I love you,
too.”

We don’t speak again
until our clothes are off—or at least moved around enough to make
this happen. Whispered words and promises are shared as Jake enters
me for the first time in what feels like forever. I wrap my legs
around him, digging the heels of my shoes into that very nice ass of
his. This time is fast for both of us, taking only a few minutes
before we’re yelling instead of whispering, but the words are no
less sweet.

Hours later, we’re
soaking in his big Jacuzzi tub when he brings up what happened at his
parents’ house. “Are you okay, babe? Your dad was pretty harsh. I
should’ve asked you that much earlier, but you had me a little
distracted.”

“My dad is always
harsh. And I was trying to distract you. I didn’t want to talk
about it.”

“We have to, you
know. Not now if you don’t want to, but sometime.”

“Just like we have to
talk about your mom.”

“Yeah. We can start
with her if you want. Or like I said, talk later.”

“It’s probably
better to get it over with. You know, in case you decide my family’s
too much for you.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Today was just a
little taste of how my parents can be, Jake.”

“My mother put a hit
out on you, Isa.”

I have to smile. He
always makes me smile. “There is that.”

“I wanted to punch
your dad when he was calling you names and talking about your
‘assets.’ I only held back because I knew it would make it worse
for you.”

We’re starting with
me, then. Time to rip the band aid off. “My parents deal in facts.
Never emotions. My father didn’t even consider how I would feel
when he talked about me because he raised me not to feel. I grew up
knowing how to process data and make rational decisions. When my
parents talked about me, it was the same way. If I was a certain
height and weight, I either needed to eat more or less. If my breasts
weren’t as nice as my ass, then I needed to find a guy who liked
asses, not breasts. Or just let them pick a guy whose IQ was high
enough, and who was suitably impressed with them. Because that’s
what it comes down to—how good a job someone does at kissing their
proverbial rings.

“Bow down and you can
go on a date with their daughter. Help them advance their academic
careers, and you might even get to marry her. Love doesn’t play a
part because I’m just a ‘thing’ to them. Something to make them
better than their friends. I made them famous in their circles
because my IQ couldn’t be measured. Now, I’m a commodity to be
traded. Or at least I was until you threw that wrench in their
plans.”

“I should’ve
fucking punched him,” he tells me as he kisses my neck. “And for
the record, I’m a tits
and
ass man who loves every inch of you.”

“You asking me to
marry you, despite him refusing to give you his blessing, wounded him
far more than a punch would have. And all my inches love you right
back.”

“Now I know why you
like to hide, but I have to say that you are one of the most
compassionate people I have ever met.”

“You want to know how
that happened?”

“Well, I watched that
movie,
Matilda
, when
I was younger, so I know it’s possible. But yeah, I’d like to
know.”