The Gentlewoman (30 page)

“The phone is ringing off the hook. Word is out that you two
are engaged and we have media calling. Do you want to make another statement or
talk to any of them?”

Rory looked at Jackson and crinkled her nose in distaste.

A smile spread across his face. “You promised me we’d go
home after the meeting and stay in bed until tomorrow.”

“Oh yeah, I did.” She moved to grab her bag. “Sorry, Prego,
I have to go home. A promise is a promise.”

Rory was splayed across Jackson’s chest. Her muscles were
tired and they were both sated. They had made love all afternoon, eaten dinner in
bed, and now were back at it.

“You have incredible energy today, baby,” he murmured
happily.

She snorted into the crook of his neck. “I’m working my
frustrations out on you.”

“Happy to be your jungle gym.”

“Jungle Jackson,” she breathed. They lay together, eyes
closed, still joined.

“You’re the best sex I’ve ever had.”

She snorted again. “I find that hard to believe. I’ve seen
the competition.”

“Oh there’s no competition. It’s only you. You give me the
best I’ve ever had. In everything.”

She leaned back and looked at him. “You say the sweetest
things.”

“It’s true. That’s why we’re getting married.”

She looked at his beautiful features. “Jackson Patrick
Dorn,” she admonished, smiling.

“What? It’s so obvious that we belong together. I know we
will be.”

She turned this over in her head. “You’re right; it does
feel like I belong with you.” She smiled shyly as he looked at her. She wasn’t
used to being candid but had pledged to herself that she would be for Jackson’s
sake.

He kissed her nose. “Then what’s the problem?”

“There’s no problem. I mean, I know I love you. I don’t want
to be without you. I’ve never felt this kind of connection before.”

“So where’s the ‘but’?” he said, grasping her ass.

She laughed. “There’s really not a ‘but’… It’s more like… I
don’t know… It’s not you. I guess it’s marriage, or the idea of it.”

“I understand. Neither of us has had a good experience.”

“That’s one hell of an understatement,” Rory murmured.

They were quiet and contemplative for a while.

Jackson finally broke the silence. “What was your ideal?
What did you want when you got married?”

She closed her eyes. This was hard for her to talk about.
She didn’t let herself go there often, even still.

“I know it’s hard for you to share, but I want to be in
there with you.” He knocked gently on her head before kissing her temple. “I’ll
start. When I married Lauren I wanted love, partnership, caring and monogamy.
And I wanted kids. I wanted the picture book life I guess. And I learned it
didn’t come naturally or easily.”

Rory breathed out hard.

“Quid pro quo. Tell me what you pictured.”

“The same as you. I wanted all that. I guess I thought I’d
have it all, love, marriage, kids and the wonderful career. Missed the fucking
mark by a mile on that, didn’t I?”

He squeezed her for reassurance. “Since you have it to do
over with me, what would you do differently?”

She thought about it. “I’m not sure. I mean, I didn’t have a
marriage experience really. He was fake. You’re not. Or I mean the marriage was
fake, and what you want with me isn’t. Right?” She raised her head to look at
him.

“That’s right.” He kissed her lips gently. “We can have what
you want. We can have love. We have that now in spades. I physically feel how
much I love you.”

She moaned and kissed his lips at that romantic, honest comment.
She laid her head back on his chest.

“I wanted a lot,” she whispered.

“Me too. I wanted happily ever after. But my wife got bored
and wanted to play games. I didn’t want that,” he said. “She was just never
happy. No matter what I did or how I tried, it wasn’t enough for her.”

Rory realized again that she wasn’t the only one who needed
to heal some emotional cracks. She caressed his chest. “You make me happy. And
what you pictured sounds so beautiful.”

“Why don’t we try?” he suggested, taking her hand and
caressing her ring finger. “We could make a pact to build what we want
together. Start with the fact that we know we’re in love with each other and
want to be together, and really try to give each other what we dreamed about?”

Rory looked into his beautiful eyes and smiled. There was a
lot to think about. She couldn’t have children. Did that affect him? Did he
want more children?

“Give it some thought. I know you need to.”

“I will,” she assured him.

The following morning Rory sat on the bed smoothing out her
hosiery. She wasn’t hiding the fact that she was staring at Jackson’s body as
he stood shirtless in front of his dresser, digging for an undershirt. She
loved how the muscles in his back danced around as he moved. His black suit
pants hung from his hips, showing all those hard contours that made her so hot.
As he turned and chuckled at her for ogling, his cell phone rang.

“Dad?”

Rory’s ears perked up. Jackson had made it clear that he
wasn’t very close to his father.

“How bad is it? I see.” Rory turned to him, concerned. This
was probably about his mother.

She finished dressing while he got all the details. By the
time he hung up, Rory knew he’d have to go back to Maine.

“How is she?”

“They admitted her early this morning. She was having
numbness in her arms and her speech was affected. It’s probably the new
medicine.”

She went to him and stood between his legs, wrapping her
arms around him as he rested his cheek between her breasts.

“Oh baby, I’m sorry. Will you have to go back?” She felt her
heart sink at the thought of him leaving.

“I don’t know. We’ll see how it goes. My dad will call me
back after the doctors get some test results. We’ll know better then.” He
nuzzled her breast and held her tightly. “But if I do, you’re coming with me.”
He looked up and stared into her eyes. “No arguments, Rory Elizabeth. You’re
coming with me. I’m not leaving you here with all this shit going on around
you.”

She mentally ran down her schedule for the week. She was
pretty busy, but she would get some things done today.

“I see your wheels turning, little girl. Just forget about
it. If I go, you go.”

His dominating words turned her on. She knew it was counter
to feminism and all, but damn if it didn’t make her wet when he got all
possessive.

“Yes sir,” she whispered huskily with a sly smile, grabbing
his package. He pulled her down to him.

“That’s what I like to hear,” he growled.

Jackson walked into the Health and Human Services meeting
and stood in the back until he caught Rory’s eye. She excused herself and
followed him out into the hallway. The Secret Service agent following her tried
to look aloof.

“We have to go to Maine tonight. I need to be there
tomorrow. I’m sorry. I need to talk to the doctors. My dad is too unreliable
and the siblings are all out of town until this weekend.”

She laid her hand on his cheek. “Of course, Jackson. I can
be ready to go whenever you are. I lined things up today just in case.”

He looked relieved and leaned in and kissed her. “Thank you,
Rory. I need you with me.”

“There’s no place I’d rather be than with you.” He beamed at
her. She was opening up with much more ease, and it made him so happy.

“I’ve booked us onto a five-thirty flight. Let’s go home and
pack.”

Rory looked back into the hearing room, biting her lip.
“Shit, I can’t bail on Mary Jo. She needs my vote in this meeting.” She looked
at her watch. “Can you go home and pack and come back for me? We’ll just head
to the airport from here.”

“Sure, baby.”

“Just be sure and grab my makeup bag, a couple dresses,
boots, underwear…”

“I’ll grab everything you need or I’ll buy it for you when
we get to Portland, okay?”

She smiled and kissed him. “Okay. Should we tell Secretary
Reynolds we’re leaving?”

“I already called him. They’ll see us off and then be in Maine
in the morning. We’ll be on our own tonight, but we’ll be far from here.”

“I’m not worried. It’ll be good to get away from this crap.”

“I better get moving. I’ll be back in an hour.” He kissed
her again and opened the door, seeing her back into her hearing before heading
for the car.

Jackson raced through the bedroom, throwing clothes into his
suitcase. He had an extra case open for Rory’s things. He went into the
bathroom and grabbed her makeup bag, throwing in several of the hair clips she
always used. He grabbed both their toothbrushes and looked around. He enjoyed
sharing space with her. All her girly bottles of lotions and shower gels didn’t
bother him a bit. He added those to her bag.

He stepped into the closet and took several of the more
casual dresses hanging there. He didn’t think she’d need any of the business
suits, sexy as she was in those. He grabbed several pairs of jeans, making sure
to get his favorite ass-hugging pair with the holes in the knees. Sweaters, a
couple blouses, he knew how to dress his woman. He should; he’d studied her
body.

He grabbed her running shoes and her favorite yoga pants,
and opened the drawer where she kept her underwear. God, it smelled good. He
breathed in deeply.

He eyed the contents, wondering what the hell she needed.
“Fuck it,” he muttered as he emptied the entire drawer into her suitcase. “That
should do it.” He closed the suitcases and quickly carried them downstairs.

He could hear voices in the hallway. Thinking it might be
more of the unwelcome paparazzi who had been camped out that morning, he looked
through the peephole.

He eyed Shane Sutton unlocking Rory’s front door. He was
talking to another man with a clipboard.

“Rory’s at work right now, but I can let you in. I know
she’ll be excited that the new bed is finally here.”

He couldn’t hear exactly what was being said as the two of
them moved inside the condo, but the man with the clipboard came out a couple
minutes later. Jackson moved to his kitchen window and watched as he returned
to the truck and directed two other men inside with the pieces of Rory’s new
bed. He went back and forth. Once they had all the parts inside, Sutton closed
the door. They stayed in there awhile. As the minutes ticked by, Jackson had to
get a move on. He grabbed the bags and headed for the back parking lot and his
BMW.

As he drove he replayed what he had seen. He hadn’t been
aware that Sutton had been assigned to Rory’s condo or given a key. He hadn’t
been assigned to much at all, from what Jackson could remember, just some passport
traces and cell tower pulls. What the hell were they thinking putting him in
that condo? He just didn’t seem to fit the agent profile. Something about him
didn’t sit well. Not to mention the fact that he seemed enamored with Rory.
That just fucking pissed him off. He made a mental note to discuss it with
Marty Reynolds as he pulled into the underground parking.

Rory leaned her head on Jackson’s shoulder. It was dark and
cozy in first class and they had a blanket spread across them both. They sipped
champagne and held hands under the cover. She had turned sideways in her seat,
her legs draped over him.

“Have you heard anything else from your dad?”

“Not since this afternoon.” He laid his head against the
back of the seat and took another sip.

Rory could tell he was tense. She tried to lighten his
spirits. “This is the best flight I’ve ever been on.”

“Oh?”

“Yep. Cuz I get to be under the covers with you.” She
nuzzled his neck and took his earlobe between her teeth.

“Oh, how right you are, Congresswoman.” He turned and kissed
her lips before leaning his head back again.

“It would be better if we weren’t worried about your mom.”

He turned his head and smiled. “Thanks for that, baby.”

“For what?”

“For the ‘we’ in that sentence.” She hugged him tightly and enjoyed
his hand running up and down her back. They were both quiet, listening to the
white noise of the plane’s engines.

“Oh, your bed was delivered today.”

“Nice,” she grunted acerbically. “Tagg and Manus can enjoy
my brand new bed. I might have to burn everything if they ever leave.”

“Strangest thing. Sutton was there and let the delivery
people in. I didn’t see Tagg or Manus.” She stiffened and he looked at her
face. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” She really didn’t want to discuss Shane.

“Does he give you the creeps? There’s something about him I
don’t like.”

Good instincts
. She took another sip of her champagne
and wondered if she should tell him. Would she want to know if she were him?
Who was she kidding? With Jackson it was a safe assumption that he had fucked
any woman he introduced her to.

“Jackson,” she started and stopped.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, never mind.”

He turned farther toward her. “Tell me. I can tell it’s
something. We won’t keep things from each other, ever.”

She looked at him and winced. “Okay.” Why was this so hard
to say? It had nothing to do with him; happened ages before she met him.

“Remember I told you I had sex with one other since my
husband?”

“Yeah.” He looked at her and she winced. She looked into his
eyes and saw the anger set in as it dawned on him what she was saying.

“Sutton. That
motherfucker
. I’ll fucking kill him.”
He grasped the armrest so hard she thought he’d rip it out. She felt every
muscle in his body harden. She straightened, surprised by his reaction.

“Jackson, calm down. I didn’t even know you then. Why are
you so angry?”

He set his glass in the holder and took deep breaths.

“Give me a minute, please,” he said, scrubbing his face and
leaning forward on his knees, breathing quickly.

“Jackson, come on. I never would have thought it would
matter to you. You’re surprising me.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered harshly. “But you’re mine, and it
kills me to think of anyone else touching you.”

Rory laughed sharply before quickly clamping her hand over
her mouth.

“I’m glad this is amusing to you.”

“I’m sorry, but listen to what you just said. I’ve known you
for five weeks and have already met two women you’ve engaged in the multiple
partner Olympics with at your kinky sex club. You’ve met one man, who is
one-fourth of my partners.” She put her hand over her mouth again to hold back
the laughter.

After a moment, his face started to quiver and break into a
grin. They both cracked up. He hugged her as she laid her forehead against his
shoulder, laughter slipping free.

“You’re right, baby. Of course you’re right. I’m sorry. I
just get very possessive. I love you so much. It kills me to think of anyone
else’s hands on you.” He touched her cheek and kissed her lips. “I’m sorry if I
startled you.”

She laughed again. “You didn’t. It’s okay… In fact…” she
whispered breathlessly in his ear. “It’s sexy as hell when you get all caveman
crazy like that. Makes me so wet for you. My nipples are hard right now.” She
took his hand and placed it on her breast, placing the blanket over them.

She bit his ear before seeking his hot mouth. He plunged his
tongue inside her, leaning into her and gripping her breast in his hand. His
other hand snuck around and trailed up the inside of her thigh, all the way to
the crotch of her thong.

He whispered in her ear. “I’m so glad you didn’t change out
of your skirt.” He dipped his tongue into her ear and she parted her legs for
him. He moved her thong aside and felt her naked clit.

“Tell me what you want me to do. I like to hear you.”

She groaned as he massaged her clit. “I want you to put your
fingers inside me.” He massaged up and down her sex, getting closer to where
she wanted him. He ran his thumb back and forth over her clit.

Finally he impaled her with two fingers.

She keened quietly as his fingers fucked higher and harder
inside her. “Oh God, Jackson, I want your cock so badly.” She heard his quick
intake of breath and grasped his erection through his slacks, stroking his
thick length.

He abruptly pulled back. “Meet me in the bathroom.”

She looked into his eyes and didn’t hesitate. “Right now.”

He quickly brought his hand up and stared into her eyes as
he sucked her moisture from his fingers.

“Right now,” he repeated and rose to walk to the restroom.

Rory looked around the dark cabin. It was only half full.
Nobody moved or made any noise that could be heard above the din of the plane.
She waited another minute before walking quickly to the first-class bathroom.
She knocked and Jackson opened the door. He grabbed her hand and quickly pulled
her inside.

He spun her around in the tight space, pressing her belly
into the sink. Her eyes met his in the mirror.

“Tell me what you want,” he demanded, his hot eyes boring
holes into hers.

“Fuck me from behind,” she said, not looking away.

He moaned and pulled back, roughly yanking her skirt up and
ripping her thong from her ass. He quickly undid his fly and Rory felt his huge
cock head at her entrance. He looked into her eyes again.

“Let me hear what you want.”

“Put your cock in me now.”

She felt the hot head slide between her ass and her pussy,
back and forth. Her breath caught as he ran it over her hole.

“How do you want me to fuck you?”

She didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the sink and held on. “I
want you to fuck me hard.”

His eyes flared and she bore down on the sink as he grabbed
her hips and slammed deep inside her. She cried out as he pulled her back by
the hair, his other hand going over her mouth. He thrust into her again while
simultaneously yanking her back, driving his cock deeper inside. He stilled for
a moment and looked at her in the mirror.

“I love fucking you,” he breathed. He tightened his hold on
her hair and cupped her right breast tightly. “Do you like it?” he asked as he
moved slowly into her.

“Yes,” she gasped.

“Do you like it hard or gentle? Tell me how you want my
dick.”

“I want you hard,” she mewled.

Jackson breathed out and reared back, slamming into her
hard. He didn’t stop as he jackhammered, his hips moving hard and fast. She let
out a throaty grunt with each thrust.