Sweetened With a Kiss (15 page)

She should have realized that Madlyn Robicheaux’s car was still in the driveway too. So it was really her own fault when she found them in the boathouse. Madlyn’s red bikini top on the floor, Stefan’s cut offs at his ankles. Jen could still feel the way the icy shock had rolled over her, freezing her feelings for Stefan so hard and so deep inside her that most of what she felt for him was still buried there. She’d told herself repeatedly that she was too young for him. That her feelings for Stefan were wildly inappropriate considering he saw her as a little sister. Still, she hadn’t been able to tear herself away from watching them for a few stolen seconds before she couldn’t stand not breathing any longer. Afraid that expelling the breath she was holding would alert them to her presence, she’d backed away from the door. But not before dead black eyes razored in on her from over Stefan’s shoulder. Scarlet nails had dug into Stefan’s hair and back as Madlyn spotted her. Terrified Madlyn was about to tell Stefan she was there, Jen had fled. She didn’t even remember how she got away. And Madlyn evidently had not said anything to Stefan, because he’d never so much as hinted that anything was up when she saw him at supper the next night.

But she’d never looked at him the same way.

And she’d never hated anyone the way she hated Madlyn.

They both turned towards her now, but Madlyn was the first to speak. Jen met those shark eyes straight on. Madlyn knew exactly what Jen was remembering. The sly cat smile curved scarlet red lips. “Jen, your ears must have been burning. Stefan and I were just going over your pre-nup agreement.”

Jen kept her face calm and did not react. Pre-Paris, she probably would have turned purple and run straight out of the room hyperventilating and dying of embarrassment. But today the girl that had come back from Paris just smiled her very best nice girl smile straight at Madlyn, then turned to Stefan.

“Sweetheart, you made Madlyn draw up our pre-nup?” She pretended to pout. “That’s kinda cold, don’t you think?” She bit back asking if they’d included an adultery clause that allowed them to enjoy their benefits even while he was married to Jen. She wouldn’t put it past Madlyn, since the other woman had always treated her like an extra stupid piece of furniture despite her insincere claims of sisterly affection.

Stefan didn’t even blink as he met her straight on with laughing blue eyes. Jen crossed the room to him and sat down on his lap, giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek. He went very still but his face gave nothing away. She could tell he was enjoying himself though. A little too much.

“I can’t believe you would even ask her to do that,” Jen said, then smiled sympathetically at Madlyn. “He’s so insensitive sometimes.”

Jen fought not to let her smile go wild when she watched Madlyn blink too hard and the lines of her mouth flatten out. Hard fingers clamped down on her waist but she didn’t react. He shifted her slightly. She turned towards him, her eyes flashing fury at him while her back was to Madlyn. But her voice was all pampered princess when she said, “You promised to buy me a car, remember? Can’t you two finish this up later?”

“You’re right, Stef, Paris was good for her,” Madlyn said, no more indication that anything Jen had said or done had affected her at all.

Stefan dragged his eyes away from Jen’s suddenly brilliant smiling face. “You have no idea,” he agreed.

“Is this it?” Jen asked, diving forward suddenly to grab the paperwork on his desk before he could stop her. “Let me guess,” Jen announced. “In the event of divorce, Stefan retains all STI stock.”

Fingers bit harder into her waist.

“Not exactly,” Madlyn assured her. “Just control of it.”

“Even better,” Jen said, as if that made her even happier.

“But your settlement is very generous,” Madlyn purred, not letting Jen score another point. The shark eyes flared to life, but unfortunately with amusement instead of anger.

“Oh, I have no doubt Stefan plans to make sure I am well provided for,” Jen gritted out, anger turning her stomach inside out, and suddenly this game wasn’t fun anymore.

“Madlyn,” Stefan finally interrupted. “I’ll read this over tonight and email you any changes. I did promise to take Jen to lunch.”

Madlyn smiled. “Of course. You two love birds have fun.” Madlyn gathered up her paperwork as she stood. “It’s nice to see you, Jen. We should do lunch.”

“Absolutely,” Jen lied.

As soon as the door clipped shut behind the Red Queen, Jen started to move, but strong fingers gripped the waist band on her jeans and stopped her. She yelped as he actually flipped her around so she was straddling him. She started to protest but she kind of liked the strain that flashed across his face as she settled her weight against him. That little move had clearly backfired on him. It was all she could do to keep from grinding down against him.

And of course he read her mind, and his hands went to her waist again, this time under her shirt, and warm fingers held her still as he laughed, sounding just a little strangled. “Oh no, you don’t. You stay right where you are,” he warned. “I think you actually scored a point. That doesn’t happen very often with Madlyn.”

“Pre-nup?” Jen said, ignoring the backhanded compliment. “You have her drawing up a pre-nup for us?” She should move her hips just to punish him.

Stefan nodded. “I believe you were the one who demanded one. It’s to protect you. Not me.”

“You just keep telling yourself that,” she sniffed. She stiffened when one hand left her waist to lace into her hair.

“She’s right, Paris was good for you,” he said, pulling her head down until her hands pressed into his shoulders, and her lips hovered right over his. “Maybe we should go there on our honeymoon.”

He didn’t kiss her. He just brushed his mouth across hers. It was worse than a kiss, because it made her ache to kiss him. Her eyes closed, and she slid her hands from his shoulders up the strong column of his neck.

“Kiss me,” he whispered.

“No,” she told him, sighing as his lips brushed against her jaw.

“Why are you spoiling for another fight?” he asked, sliding his mouth down her neck. “You can’t be jealous of Madlyn. She’s ancient history. You know that.”

“You’re drawing up a legal contract that plans our divorce, and you haven’t even bothered to ask me to marry you,” Jen told him. “You can’t even be bothered to take me on a date.”

“A date?” he laughed against her throat. “You think we need to get to know each other better? We’ve been on plenty of dates.”

“We’ve never been on a date,” she told him, furious that he thought this was funny. “But it’s okay, Stefan,” she assured him. “There’s no need for candlelight and violins anyway. I already agreed to six months.”

He moved so fast she didn’t even have time to cry out when she found herself flat on her back on his desk, with him looming over her. He leaned down, pinning her hard against the smooth wood. “I’ve had just about enough of this, Jen.”

“I am not marrying you,” she said, slowly pronouncing each word. “You got that?”

Blue eyes skimmed all over her, heating up her insides even more. She wanted to kiss him. No, no she didn’t. He had her pinned to his desk. How could she possibly want him to kiss her?

Then his face changed, as something dawned on him. “Why six months?” he asked.

“What?”

“You said you’d agreed to six months. Why would we only want to get married for six months? Where did that come from?”

“I’m not stupid,” she bit out at him. “I know you think I am, but I’m not.”

“Actually, I never thought you were stupid until now. You said you’d agreed to six months and I could have the stock.” He let go of her suddenly and backed away from her as if she’d burned him.

She sat up on the edge of the desk and watched as he crossed the office. He stopped in front of the huge bank of windows that overlooked the river. His fists slammed into his pockets. He had a fabulous view of the Mississippi but she could tell he wasn’t seeing any of that. Jen had a really bad feeling, deep in the pit of her stomach.

“You think this is all about your trust fund,” he said, his voice rough, but he didn’t turn around. He rubbed one hand across his face then pushed it through his hair. Jen watched as he stood there another minute, his shoulders stiff. The entire atmosphere in the office had chilled, and she almost shivered. “Don’t you?”

“Not just the trust fund.”

“I already control your trust fund. Try again.”

“The stock. The stock that can’t be sold until I’m thirty or...”

“Married,” he finished for her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. For a split second, Jen thought maybe she'd been wrong.  Then he turned to her, absolutely no emotion on his face. “So let’s go get that SUV.”

She nodded, no longer really hearing what he was saying. All she could hear was the distance in his voice and that nasty little voice in her head saying
See, he didn’t deny it.

He stayed on his cell phone for most of the drive. They pulled up at the dealership and he didn’t even stop his conversation, just waved to a row of SUVs and said, “Pick one.”

She stared at him for a minute but he was ignoring her again, talking on his phone. She turned to the salesman who was looking increasingly uncomfortable. She smiled slightly. “I like the car over there,” she said, pointing to a red convertible BMW instead. “Can I see it instead?” she looked at his name tag. “Jim?”

The salesman smiled at her. “Absolutely. I’ll just go get the keys.”

She followed him over to the car, and she made it as far as the driver’s seat before Stefan stopped her. “What did we talk about?”

“You said pick one.” She slid behind the wheel and waited for Jim to come back with the keys. “I like this one.”

“This is not an SUV.”

“Really?” she asked, trying to sound shocked. “I had no idea.”

“Get out of the car,” he said.

She just shook her head and wrapped her hands around the steering wheel. She really did like the shiny red car. It was gorgeous. She knew it was completely impractical, but there were all kinds of gadgets and bells and whistles. “I want this one.”

“You want another fight,” he told her. “You need an SUV. You need the cargo space and it’s safer in the city.”

She looked up at him, smiling slowly. “I’m tired of safe. Admit it. I look great in this car. Even better if I had on my black dress. What do you think? Oh, wait, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s buy this car, take it back to your place, I’ll put that dress back on and maybe you can pin me down to the hood this time?”

She watched as most of the color drained out of his face and his eyes caught on fire at the same time. He went very, very still. And because she had completely lost her mind, and because that shadow of hurt had blazed out of his eyes, she continued. “Or maybe I could just wear the shoes...and my stockings. Did you notice the little black bows? They’re my favorite.”

Jim stepped up with the keys, and Stefan looked up at him quickly. “We’ll take this one.”

“You don’t want to drive it first?”

“No,” Stefan barked before Jen could say yes. She smiled to herself and flipped her hair back. She knew she was going to regret everything she’d just said, but until he got her alone, she was going to enjoy it.

Then Stefan was hauling her out of the convertible and dragging her into the dealership, where he disappointed Jim by not financing the car, but then delighted the middle-aged salesman by not negotiating either. He just wrote a check and handed it over.

“You didn’t even try to get them down on the price?” Jen said, when Jim left them alone in his office to finish the paperwork.

“I don’t negotiate,” he said, not looking at her.

“What do you mean you don’t negotiate? It’s a car. Everyone haggles over a car.”

“I don’t,” he said.

Jen’s jaw dropped. “You’re serious.”

“Yes, I’m serious. I can afford the car. I don’t have to prove anything. And when some joker brings me a low ball offer on a property we’re flipping, I don’t negotiate that either. They either pay what we want or they find something else.”

She just shook her head. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I don’t have time for games. But I have to admit, I’m looking forward to the car being delivered. I think we’ll make another stop and find you the right lingerie to go with those shoes first.”

Prickling heat rushed all under Jen’s skin, but she told herself he wasn’t serious. He couldn’t be serious. She looked back at him and one sandy eyebrow lifted as he dared her to say another word. For the first time since her plane touched down in Kenner, she kept her mouth shut.

Jim saved her when he walked back in with paperwork.

“Can you have it ready today and deliver it before five?” Stefan asked, not taking his eyes off Jen. “I have plans for it this evening.”

“Absolutely.”