The Temporary Wife (16 page)

“Put the ring on my finger, Megan.”

Looking up at him, Meg took his hand and slipped the platinum band on his ring finger. Both of them stood still as statues for what seemed like forever, wondering about the significance of what just happened. Jason leaned in and softly kissed her temple, letting his lips linger there, tasting her skin, and wondering how he was going to let her go when this was all over. Then he wondered why he had to.

“We should get back,” she said, holding his hand and keeping him close. “People will wonder what happened to us.”

“Let them wonder.” He took his time nipping her skin as he worked his way down her jaw to her neck, kissing the spot right where her pulse beat rapidly. God, she was beautiful. Everything about her was soft, warm, and completely female. Jason couldn’t get enough of her, much the same way he wanted her constantly when he was eighteen. As he was taking sips of her lips, Meg’s hands came to his face. When he opened his eyes, she was looking at him with all her heart.

“My girl, you’ve always been my girl.”

“What?”

Jason snapped out of the daze he’d been in, drunk on her scent and feel, and wondered what the hell he’d said. “I—what—did I say something stupid?”

She giggled. “No, you said something about the boat, I think.”

“You two should be putting on this show for company.”

His brother, Josh, leaned into the door frame, drink in hand and shit-ass grin on his face. Meg stiffened in Jason’s arms. Josh had mastered the art of making people uncomfortable. It’s how he kept things in his control.

“Get lost, Josh.”

“What, and miss all this? I hope your prenup is ironclad, or she’s going to take you for everything.”

Jason had his hands on Meg’s shoulders. Her back was to Josh, and she was staring at the studs in Jason’s shirt, not moving, barely breathing. “Why don’t you go back to the party?” he said in her ear. “I’ll be out as soon as my brother and I come to an understanding.”

Meg looked up and locked eyes with him. She was upset, that was obvious, but there was a sprinkle of doubt in there, the worry that his brother’s words would destroy what they had started to rebuild.

She stepped away and walked to the door, glancing back only once. Josh grinned and shook his head. The snide, snotty kid he used to be hadn’t changed, he’d just gotten taller.

“A bunch of us are taking bets on how long it takes for her to get pregnant to get a bigger piece of the pie.” Josh had mastered the arrogant son-of-a-bitch attitude that served him so well in business, but he wasn’t amoral and Jason had to wonder if Josh’s bravado was covering for something else.

“There are worse things than her being pregnant.” That he felt that way, that he’d changed that much, made Jason feel like he wasn’t such a lost cause after all. If Meg told him she was pregnant tomorrow, he’d be thrilled.

Josh came all the way into the room and looked around. “Why aren’t you staying in the master?”

Jason couldn’t say a word for fear of giving up their secret. Which was a nonissue now that he fully intended to stay with her tonight and every night if she’d let him.

“I am,” he lied, knowing it wouldn’t be a lie for long. “We redecorated, so that’s why my stuff is in here.”

“I’m not buying it,” Josh said.

“Believe what you want.”

“She’s using you, Jay. She wants money or power. Something.”

“It’s nothing for you to be concerned about.”

“I can’t figure this all out, but I will. There’s something not right about you two. It’s too perfect.”

“Maybe you should let me worry about Meg and you keep Molly’s money safe. I’m happy. She makes me happy. It’s nice to see a marriage doesn’t have to be toxic like Mom and Dad’s.”

“There’s no such thing as a happy marriage, brother. There are advantageous marriages, profitable ones, and necessary ones, but not happy. Which one is yours?”

***

Meg took a sip of her wine and bit into the scallop wrapped in bacon. It was succulent, flavorful, and while she’d had something like this before, the version being served here was nothing like the kind found in the frozen food section of the local discount club.

Harper slithered up beside her, and Meg looked around for something else to eat. If she was eating, she wasn’t talking. But if she was eating, she wouldn’t fit into a size two like the Harpy. Damn calories.

Why did Harper have to be so gorgeous? The woman was tall, dark-haired, and looked like she stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad, wearing her black evening gown like it was made for her. Meg loved her own dress, but she knew Harper wore the clothes better, fit into the whole charity benefit scene better—Harper belonged here, sipping champagne and eating canapés.

Meg felt like she should be at the local bar having a beer and some wings, especially after the way Josh looked at her.

“Your dress is gorgeous,” Harper said. “It’s so hard to wear couture when you’re short.”

Meg glanced over and hated Harper in all her tall, gorgeous, Ivy League perfection, but she wasn’t going to let her get off a shot without returning fire. If she wanted to make this a middle school fight, that was fine. “I’m sure you’re right,” Meg said. “I had such a hard time finding dresses to fit my body. Everything is designed for women who are tall, skinny, and flat-chested.” Glancing up and down Harper’s body, Meg shrugged. “I bet everything fits you perfectly.”

Harper turned her head and snarled. Literally snarled at Meg. “He’s not going to stay with you, you know. You don’t belong in his world, you didn’t when you were in high school and you don’t now.”

“Maybe not, but you know what? I had a life before I married Jason, and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll have a life again without him. You, on the other hand, depend on him
for
your life. Don’t depend on a man for your life, Harper. It’ll end badly.”

Meg saw Jason on the other side of the living room, and she started to move toward him, needing to be with him.

“Are you telling me I should get a life?” Harper’s voice was incredulous.

Meg looked long and hard at the woman. She was a picture of elegance, but she didn’t have anything that was her own, and Meg suddenly felt sorrier for her than she did for herself.

“I guess I am.”

Chapter 17

The limo left the museum, and before the driver made the turn to cross Central Park, Meg’s head had dropped onto Jason’s shoulder and she’d settled in to sleep.

It had been an amazing night. Meg had been amazing.

Aside from being so beautiful that everyone in the room stopped to stare at her, it seemed she made a decision to stop letting others define her. The insecurity about what people thought about her profession, the worry about not being from money, all of it vanished. He wasn’t sure exactly what changed, but something had, and the woman who emerged was one he never wanted to lose. Never.

The high point of the night came when the director of the charity congratulated Jason on his marriage. When he asked about Meg, who was talking to a hot A-list actress that minute, Jason mentioned she was a teacher.

That was all it took. Within minutes she was holding court with the director of the arts charity, the head of children’s programs at the museum, and a couple of benefactors who wanted her opinion about programs, arts education, learning styles, and anything else that had to do with kids. She was no longer “just a teacher.”

Something that had come up was a pilot program they wanted to test in her district, but every student would need access to a tablet. The schools were a mixed bag of students, from upper middle class to the homeless. Meg loved each and every one of them, and on some days he thought she loved the neediest ones the most.

To pilot the program in all the elementary schools, they would need about two thousand iPads. It would cost a million bucks, and because of budget cuts, the district didn’t have the money.

But Jason did.

Meg stirred and snuggled closer.

He had an idea and wanted to talk to her about it. “Are you awake?”

“Mmm-hmmm. Just resting my eyes.”

“I want to ask you something.”

“Okay.”

“How would I go about donating iPads to your school?”

Meg sat up and looked him square in the face. “What? Why?”

“All the elementary schools, actually. I want to outfit every classroom with a cart of thirty tablets. That’s enough, right?”

“Oh, my God. Jason, are you serious?”

“Yeah. The kids need them, so why not? The teachers could do some great work with them, and you could do that pilot program with the museum.”

“It’s going to cost millions.” She was still gazing at him, her face saying she didn’t quite believe him.

“About a million and a half, with carts and cases for two thousand tablets.” He stroked her cheek with his index finger, marveling at the softness of her skin. “I should probably up the amount, though. I’ll need to set up in-service training for the teachers, and I should make sure each of them has their own iPad. Do your classrooms have interactive whiteboards? I didn’t look when I was there last week.”

She nodded, and then a smile bloomed and Jason’s heart filled. He made her happy. That’s all he wanted—to make her happy.

Meg tossed her arms around his neck and kissed him. “It’s so generous. I don’t know what to say, how to thank you.”

“It’s only money, Meg. What you do with it is the important thing.”

She leaned in and kissed him again, and Jason knew right then that while letting her go was the right thing to do when the marriage was over, the collateral damage that he’d thought would be only on her side was going to be on his as well. Maybe more so, because when she and Molly left, the light would leave his life. Meg, on the other hand, would take that light wherever she went.

This wasn’t about the agreement anymore. He loved her and he couldn’t let her go without completely losing himself.

“I’ll get all the details about the purchase on Monday. Find out who I have to talk to in order to get this moving. If it looks like it’s going to get bogged down in red tape, I need to know right away.”

She nodded. “I love it when you get all CEO on me.”

He felt himself grin and get very, very hard. “Yeah?”

“Uh-huh. I like a man who’s in charge.”

Jason ran his hands over her shoulders and saw her eyes spark. That was all he needed. Dropping the privacy glass, he addressed the chauffeur. “Take a ride around the city. At least an hour.”

He put up the glass and turned to her. Meg was sitting back in the seat, her legs crossed and the fingers of her left hand playing with her hair. Her wedding rings glinted in the light, and he’d never seen any woman more desirable, more gorgeous, than his wife.

Jason always thought great sex was about variety, that having different women brought excitement to the bedroom. Now he knew, gazing at the bombshell he was married to, that excitement came from getting to know everything about one partner, about finding out what made one woman, and only one woman, beg you to take her to bed.

He had that chance with Meg. Sitting next to her, he leaned over and kissed her. Her mouth opened for him immediately, and his tongue invaded the sweet space. There was warmth and wetness, and she gave, just gave everything without question. Their tongues tangled and the taste of her became part of him. Everything about her, her softness, her scent, her taste, became part of him.

Reaching down, he slipped his hand under her gown and ran it slowly up her leg, stopping at the soft globe of her ass. Holy God, she felt so good. So soft, so smooth. Moving his hand between her legs, he fingered the scrap of material and found her warm center, and that’s when Jason almost broke, thinking about taking her right in the backseat of the car.

But he knew that wasn’t what this was about. This ride in the limo was wanton and reckless, and maybe a little dirty. It was about fun, and teasing each other to distraction. Of course, the way she arched against his hand when he touched her, and the way her tongue played over her lips, this could get a
lot
dirty. But it wasn’t only about sex—it was about trust.

“Touch me, Jason,” she said. “Touch me everywhere.”

That’s what he wanted more than anything, her trust.

“Oh, baby, you can count on it.”

***

When they pulled up in front of the apartment building, Meg was limp in Jason’s arms. God, what that man did to her. What he was still promising to do to her was probably illegal in twenty states.

His hands were like magic, tender, patient, and skilled, and his kisses took her places she’d never be able to go without him. She’d been worried that everything she was feeling was based in physical attraction. She wanted to believe she was savvier than that, but she wondered if her emotions had mixed with her hormones.

She opened her eyes and took a good long look at the man she’d married. It wasn’t her hormones talking, it was her heart. He was the one for her—the only one who could make her feel whole, who was her other half.

Jason was her soul mate.

A few weeks ago, she’d wondered how she’d ever continue to live with him, with his work and his moods and his entourage. Now that he’d let down his guard, she saw the eighteen-year-old boy paired with the man he’d grown into, and she didn’t know how she’d live without him.

Meg came to the realization that she was hopelessly in love with her husband, and it was a bit sad because she didn’t know if he could ever let himself feel the same way about her. She saw glimmers of feeling, and gestures like wearing his wedding ring gave her hope, but until he finally broke and let himself love her completely, it would only be half a marriage. And if she’d learned anything over the past couple of months, it was that she didn’t have to settle for anything. Her life was up to her.

How this went, how it ended, was also up to her.

“Come on. We promised to call Molly if it wasn’t too late.”

Meg slid out of the car and into Jason’s waiting arms. “I hope she’s still up,” he said.

“She’s with my sister and my mother. Trust me, she’s still up. They’re probably having English muffins and jam while watching endless Disney movies.”

“English muffins and jam?”

Meg smiled and held on to his arm as they walked into the lobby of the building. He nodded to the doorman, who smiled as they walked by. “English muffins are kind of a sleepover tradition in my family. When Carly and I slept over with my grandmother, we’d always have them. It was a special thing. I don’t know. You must think it’s stupid.”

He grinned and pushed the button for the elevator. “No, I love it. Traditions like that are important. I used to go to my grandfather’s office a few times a year, and we always went to a special place for lunch. Mario’s. It was in Little Italy, and they had the best spaghetti and meatballs.” He stepped into the elevator with her and pressed the button for their floor. “It’s good your mom will give her that. She’s not getting it from my parents.”

Meg rested her head on his upper arm, and when she did, she caught sight of herself in the elevator mirror. Her hair was all over the place, her lips were swollen, her face flushed. “Oh, my God!”

“What?” Jason wouldn’t care. He got her this way, but her reflection told her what other people saw.

“Look at me! I’m a mess! I look like . . . like . . .”

“Like you just had great sex?”

“Yes! Oh, my God!”

Turning her so her back was to the mirror, he kissed her collarbone. “You’re going to have lots more great sex before the night’s over.”

“Oh, Jesus. Why can’t I control myself?”

“You want to control yourself?” Jason ran the back of his hand over her cheek. “Why would you want to do that?”

“I don’t, but look at me.”

“I am,” he said on a breath. “I can’t get enough of you. God, Meg, I need to be inside you.”

She nodded, powerless to do anything but agree. She wanted him, too; even after having multiple orgasms in the limo, she wanted him again. It was crazy.

The door slid open, and they moved into the foyer and then into the apartment. One light burned in the living room, and the place was spotless, like there had never been a party. Jason dropped his tux jacket over a chair and pulled off his tie before reaching into his pocket and taking out his cell. His movements were smooth and graceful, which was unusual for a man who was so big. He pressed some buttons on the phone and smiled at her. “Hi, Mrs. Rossi, it’s Jason. We wanted to say good night to Molly.” There was a pause. “The event was very nice, and Meg was a hit.” Another pause, and he smiled at her. “She looked gorgeous, but you knew that. I’ll show you a picture when I see you. Thank you.”

The small talk with her mother was new, but Jason had been doing more to win over her family since her mother’s birthday. When they’d gone there on Halloween, her mother had commented on how well they were getting along and how wonderful he was with Molly.

“He’s different,” her mother had said.

And he was.

“Hey, Molly girl! How’s Grandma Meryl’s house? Good . . . Uh-huh . . . Right . . . English muffins—gotcha.” He shot a knowing grin at Meg. “Oh, you want to talk to
Mommy
?”

Meg stopped in her tracks.
Mommy?

Jason passed the phone into her trembling hand. “Did she really ask for Mommy?”

“She did,” he said, right before he touched his lips to her temple. “She’s making a transition.”

Meg nodded, shaken, because as much as she wanted Molly to accept the fact that she was going to be her mother, she never wanted Molly to lose Grace. She took the phone. “Hi, honey. Are you having fun? Yes . . . I had a very nice time . . . There were a lot of people there, uh-huh . . . You’re going to bed now? Okay, sweetie. I love you, too . . . Night.”

Meg dropped into a chair when the call ended, and Jason knelt before her. “You okay?”

“That was so strange. Why do I feel like I’m betraying Grace? God, Jason, I don’t want her to forget her mother.”

“She won’t, because we’ll keep Grace and Mark alive for her. She’ll always know they are part of her life and we will be, too.”

“I know this is normal and I loved hearing it, but it also felt wrong somehow.”

“Don’t do this to yourself. As I told you, I know why Grace picked you. You have such a capacity for love, Meg. I wish I hadn’t been too stupid to see it when we were younger, but I see it now. Your heart is so big, so full. Molly is lucky to have you.”

Meg reached out and locked her arms around Jason’s neck. “She’s lucky to have both of us. I thought I could do this alone, but she needs you, too. And it’s not only about custody. She needs you.” Keeping her arms firmly around him, Meg leaned in and kissed him. “I need you.”

He didn’t say anything, not at first, but Jason took her hands from around his neck, stood, and brought her with him. Once she was standing, now without her heels, she had to look up to see that he was gazing at her with so much feeling, so much emotion, she almost believed he felt the same way she did.

“Meg, I don’t want to let you down. I’m afraid that I will, but I want to give you everything, absolutely everything.”

His mouth covered hers, and he started to turn her toward the bedroom. It was a dance . . . a true and beautiful dance that had Meg hoping he was finally learning to trust his feelings.

“Have faith, Jason.”

“I have faith in you,” he said. “Just not in myself.”

“Then I’ll have enough for both of us.”

***

It had been too long since he’d been with her like this, and the anticipation of making love to her was building to an explosive point. Jason took in the floral scent of her hair, felt the curve of her back, and relished how her body pressed into his so tenderly. She reached up and wound her arms around his neck and rested her head on his chest. They moved slowly, as if there were really music, and eventually she looked up. Her eyes were softer now, more liquid.

“What?” he asked.

Her hand came around and stroked his jaw. There was so much he wanted to say to her—how much she meant to him, how much he needed her—but it would all have to wait. He lowered his mouth and captured hers in a slow, deep kiss. Soon their tongues were winding in another dance, and the heat between them was almost unbearable. Jason swept her into his arms and sat on the big chair by the windows overlooking the park with Megan securely in his lap. Meg seemed unaware that they’d moved. Her fingers ran through his hair and gripped his head. He left her mouth in favor of kissing her throat, and her soft purr of approval warmed his blood a little more. With one hand he supported her back while the other traveled up the length of her leg. Her scent, her taste, clouded his brain.