Chapter 61

61

JJ

"Excuse me?"

"I love you, Jack." Her lips curve against my fingers. "I should have said it to you earlier. I don't know why I held back."

"That's not why I made that speech," I mutter.

Her smile widens. "And you were doing so well."

"Not bad for someone who has never been in love before, eh?"

Her eyes glisten. "This feels like a dream."

"Believe it, baby." I slide my hand down and curve my fingers around her neck. "With you, I feel invincible. Like I've been given a second chance, and this time, I'm not going to blow it."

"Isaac and Tally?—"

"Did Isaac tell you about the affair he had with my HR manager?"

She blinks, then nods. "He did. And I was relieved. I told him about us as soon as we slept together, but considering we'd been eye-fucking each other for days before that, a part of me felt like I had been unjust to him. But now, I realize while Isaac and I tried to be in a relationship, neither one of us was ready to commit to the other. Oh, we tried to make it work, but we weren't right for each other."

"Are you sad about it?"

She shakes her head. "It's what led me to you, so I don't regret my actions."

I tighten my hold around her neck. "I'm going to make amends for the past. I'm going to try my best to be a good parent to Isaac and to Tally. It won't be easy, especially with Tally—I haven't spoken to her in years—but I'm going to do my best to be there for her, for both of them, from now on." I search her features. "You make me wish I'd been a better man in the past, but since I can't change that, I'm going to ensure you have no cause for complaint from me in the future, at least not when it comes to my children or the kids we're going to have in the future."

Her pupils dilate. "Who'd have thought Mr. Stuck-up-Alphahole would turn out to be such a hot, sexy wordsmith?"

"And who'd have thought the gorgeous, curvy, spirited girl who stared at me with her golden eyes would turn out to be my match."

"You already got in my pants, you don't need to flatter me," she murmurs.

"One thing you need to realize" —I pull her toward me— "I mean every single word I say to you."

"One thing you need to realize" —she leans in closer until our breaths mingle— "when I'm with you, I'm always horny."

Her phone vibrates. She ignores it, brushes her lips over mine, and it buzzes again.

"Do you need to get that?"

"It might be my family." She nibbles on my lower lip, and my cock twitches.

"You need to get it." Can't believe I said that, but if I am going to do this with her, I'm going to do it right. Which means, I need to meet her family, and her mother, and get her blessings for what I have in mind.

She pouts. "But?—"

I curve my lips against hers. "No buts. I do want your butt, but right now, you need to take that call and introduce me to your family."

She blinks. "You sure? They're a handful."

"But they're a part of you. Ergo, I need to get to know them and introduce myself, since they're going to be seeing a lot of me in the future."

She blinks, then nods. "My mom's ten years older than you."

"Is that a problem for you?" I search her features.

"Is that a problem for you?"

I shake my head. "I'm proud of you, Dinky. Proud of what we are together. And I want your family to be part of our happiness. Is that okay?"

Her chin wobbles, but her smile is so wide it lights up her entire face. Her golden-brown eyes sparkle. "Here goes." She answers the FaceTime call, then holds it up so both of us are reflected on the screen.

"Hey, guys, I want you to meet JJ."

A week later

"A million dollars and I get first right of refusal on the new app." Liam Kincaid holds out his hand. We're in the main room of the 7A Club. My club, which counts amongst its members, the most influential people in the world, and where I'm witnessing the first big transaction I've brokered. An arrangement that's going to show the zeitgeist just how powerful this organization is going to be.

The man opposite Liam blinks. "That's it? You're going to invest in my start up?"

"You do come ratified by JJ here" —Liam jerks his chin in my direction— "and believe you me, that doesn't come easily. He's done the hard work of vetting your financial plans. If he says it's poised to multiply my money by a factor of ten, then I take him at his word." Liam bares his teeth. "Of course, if you don't deliver, then I sell your company and all your assets and you work your ass off to pay off your debts."

The start-up guy swallows noisily.

"That won't happen." Liam's grin widens. He seems more like the shark he'd have to be to get where he is than the suave, Saville Row-suited gentleman he resembles.

"It… it won't?" The man's voice shakes. He has the brains to invent revolutionary concepts that will change the way we communicate, but when it comes to business transactions, he's a novice. Ergo, my club is the perfect platform for talent like his. He gets the investment, and someone like Liam, who's hungry for his next big success, gets first dibs when it comes to being an angel investor.

"Nope, you're far too smart, too strategic, too brilliant to let that happen."

"I am?"

Liam leans over and adjusts the young man's tie. The poor guy dressed up in his Sunday best—an ill-fitting suit bought off the rack from the high street, no doubt—for this meeting.

"Indeed, you are. You can't afford to fail your investors. If you do, you're done for. Your reputation is shot. And while some people have come back from it, I'll make it my personal mission that you won't." Liam pats his shoulder.

Nervous tension leaps off the younger guy. "If that's the case, why… should I let you invest?"

Liam smirks. "Given only zero-point-zero-five percent of start-ups ever achieve funding, you're in that infinitesimally tiny range, one you can't afford to walk away from. So, you'll take the deal and you'll make this a success. Now go, before I change my mind."

The younger man hesitates.

Liam glares at him. "Now," he barks.

The other man jumps up to his feet. He makes a grab for his papers, then turns and leaves. One of the sheets escapes and floats to the ground in his wake.

I pick it up and place it on the table between us.

"A bit harsh, even for you, Kincaid."

Liam raises a shoulder. "He's an adult, he knows what he's doing."

"But do you?"

"The fuck you mean?" He picks up one of the cigars from the holder and lights it.

"Heard you're getting married?"

"Pot, kettle," he says mildly.

"I love Lena."

"I love my inheritance." He smirks.

I bark out a laugh. "I used to think like you. Thought money and power were what's important in life."

"Is there anything else? And don't insult my intelligence by talking about love and the like, and?—"

"Be careful before you say anything else. You don't want to have to take back your words."

"I never take back what I say." He places the cigar between his lips.

I pick up my own, survey its unlit tip.

"He's that proud, it eats up himself: pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle."

He blinks. "Since when did you begin to quote Shakespeare?"

"I always have." I tap my forehead. "Difference is, I say it aloud now."

He surveys me closely. "You've changed, JJ."

"No shit." I smirk.

"No, really. You're a motherfucking bastard who I wouldn't trust with anything except for your business instinct and your judge of character?—"

"—you do realize that's a backhanded compliment?" I drawl.

"—I still don't trust you. Difference is, you seem more carefree, more relaxed, more, dare I say, optimistic?"

"That's what?—"

"Nope, not that." He waggles his finger at me. "If one more of you tells me it's what the love of a woman can do to you, then I'm going to have to find a new circle of friends. Preferably, those who think unicorns don't exist in the real world."

"Isn't that what you're looking for, though, a unicorn?"

"Am I?" He frowns.

"That's what led you to investing in that young man's start-up."

"Sure, like any angel investor, I'm looking for that zero-point-zero-five percent one that'll gross a billion dollars in valuation."

"You sure you're not looking for that in the real world, too?"

His lips curl. "Oh, a billion dollars is definitely real to me."

"And when you find the right woman?—"

He cuts the air with his palm. "Et tu, Brute?"

"Touché." I laugh. "Okay, no more talk about finding the 'one,' which brings me back to the question, ‘The fuck are you getting married for?'"

"To lock down my inheritance. Need to seal the deal before my next birthday in thirty days, or else, I forfeit it."

I whistle. "We're talking about all of Kincaid Industries, I take it?"

"And then some."

"Cutting it close, aren't you?"

He scowls. "Tried to find a way out of it, but unfortunately, my father, it seems, has an airtight will."

"Maybe he had your best interests at heart?" Y-e-e-p, that's how much I've changed. As a father, I understand how sometimes a parent's actions can be misinterpreted by his child, and most of us have the good of our children at heart, even if we don't always express it the right way.

Liam's lips firm. "Either way, I'm not handing over the control of my companies. I've worked too hard to get where I am. No way am I going to?—"

His phone vibrates. He pulls it out of his pocket and looks at it. "The fuck—?" he growls.

"What's up, ol' chap?"

He shakes his head. "Fucking hell, this can't be happening."

"Bad news?"

"She broke it off."

"Who broke it off?"

"My fiancée broke off our engagement," he says in disbelief.

I light up my cigar.

He sets his jaw. "It's all her fault."

"Whose fault?"

"Isla's. She's the wedding planner who's been filling my fiancée's?—"

"You mean now ex-fiancée."

"—ears with feminist crap." His nostrils flare.

I clamp the cigar between my lips and puff on it. Nothing like a Cohiba to enjoy the evening's entertainment.

"I take it this Isla is also ugly to look at?"

"Don't be daft." He frowns down at the screen. "She's tiny and curvy and has masses of gorgeous hair that flows to her waist. And her eyes…" He shakes his head. "She has these amazing eyes that I could drown in."

"So, you like her?"

"Of course not." He snorts. "Can't be in the same room as her without one of us picking a fight. She's aggravating, adamant, and can't stop running off that mouth of hers. You should have heard her when I refused to attend the first wedding rehearsal." I open my mouth and he holds up his hand. "This wedding is going to attract a lot of media attention so Isla insisted on three rehearsals to make sure everything is perfect."

"A wedding you're going to have to call off, since your fiancée walked out on you," I remind him.

His forehead crinkles. "There is that, but no matter, the nuptials have to take place... In fact, you should have heard her yell when I refused to attend the first two rehearsals. She almost took my ear off." His lips twitch.

"You mean your ex-fiancée?"

"Eh?" He frowns. "No, I mean Isla. She's a dragon when it comes to arrangements. And when she gets angry, the tip of her nose turns red, and this cute furrow develops between her eyebrows." He touches the space between his own.

"So, I take it you do like her."

He wipes the smile from his face. "Didn't you hear me, Kane? Isla's the most annoying person I've ever met. She puts my teeth on edge. Something about her makes me want to?—"

"Kiss her?"

He stares at me like I've gone crazy, which I may have. Blame it on the fact that I'm a reformed person, happily in love with a woman who lights up my life every time I see her. You know that old adage about people who get married wanting to find a spouse for all their single friends? It's true, and it extends to business acquaintances, too.

"—shake her so I can knock some sense into her." His gaze narrows. "In fact, that's what I'm going to do right now."

He slides the phone into his pocket, places his cigar in the ashtray, and rises to his feet.

"Where are you going?"

His eyes gleam. "To make her pay for this."