Beneath This Man - Malpas Jodi Ellen - Страница 58

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‘I’ll die loving you.’ he says with all of the emotion I know he truly feels. ‘I can’t let you go to Sweden.’

I sigh. ‘I know.’

‘And you should have let me deal with your things. I didn’t want you seeing him.’ he adds.

I’m just submitting to him now. ‘I know. He knows about you.’

I feel him stiffen under me. ‘Knows about me?’

‘He told me you’re a raving alcoholic.’

He relaxes and laughs. ‘I’m a raving alcoholic?’

I look up at him, shocked by his blase reaction to something so detrimental. ‘It’s not funny. How does he know?’

‘Ava, I honestly have no idea.’ He sighs. ‘Anyway, he’s misinformed because I’m not an alcoholic.’ He raises his eyebrows at me.

‘Yes, I know.’ I relent, but I’m pretty sure that Jesse’s issue with drink would register somewhere on the alcoholic scale. ‘Jesse, what am I going to do? Mikael is an important client.’ I suddenly have a horribly unpleasant thought. ‘Did he re-hire me for The Life Building just because of you?’

He smiles. ‘No, Ava. He didn’t even know about us until yesterday. He hired you because you’re a talented designer. The fact that you’re also stunningly beautiful was an additional benefit. And the fact that I happened to fall in love with you was an even bigger bonus for him.’

‘You exposed yourself.’ I say quietly. If Jesse hadn’t trampled my meeting with Mikael, then he might never have made the connection.

‘I acted on impulse.’ He shrugs. ‘I panicked when I saw his name in your diary. I thought after Lusso you wouldn’t see him again. Anyway, he would have pursued you whether he knew you were mine or not. Like I said, he’s relentless.’

I remember his eyes bulging, his jaw ticking when he spotted my appointment in my diary. It wasn’t because I replaced the damn thing. It was because Mikael’s name was plastered all over it. ‘How do you know? He’s married. Well, was married.’

‘That never stopped him before, Ava.’

‘It hasn’t?’ I thought he was a decent bloke, a gentleman. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m in absolute mental meltdown. I can’t possibly work with Mikael now – not after discovering this. For a start, Jesse won’t let me within a mile of the man, and secondly, I don’t want to be anywhere near him, anyway. He wants to purposely hurt Jesse and is intending to use me as a tool to do this. He wants revenge and I’m Jesse’s only weak spot. Oh God, I’m supposed to be meeting him on Monday. This is going to get horribly messy. I want to yell at Jesse for not keeping it in his pants, but then my mind naturally shoots back to the day I discovered The Manor’s true happenings. That nasty creature who was being ejected by John, bawling on about husbands and conscience not getting in Jesse’s way. How many marriages has he broken? How many husbands out there want revenge?

I’m snapped from my unwelcome thoughts when Jesse cups my face with his hand. ‘How did you get here?’

I grin. ‘I distracted your appointed guard.’

His eyes sparkle, his lips twitch. ‘I shall have to sack him. How did you manage that?’

I lose my grin when I consider the repair bill Jesse will be getting. ‘Jesse, he’s sixty, if a day. I disconnected his telephone system so he couldn’t advise you of my escape from your tower in the sky.’

‘Our tower. Disconnected?’ His frown line is light across his forehead.

I bury my face back in his chest. ‘I ripped the wires out.’

‘Oh.’ he says flatly, but I know he’s suppressing a laugh.

‘What are you playing at getting a pensioner to try and keep me indoors?’ I ask accusingly. I could have outrun Clive, even in my heels.

He strokes my hair softy. ‘I didn’t want you to leave.’

‘Well, you should’ve stayed yourself then.’ I pull his shirt out of his trousers and slide my hands up to get my fix of his warm chest. He tightens his hold of me, and I feel his beating heart under my palms. It’s so comforting.

‘I was crazy mad.’ He sighs. ‘You make me crazy mad.’ He kisses my temple and burrows deeply into my hair. I shake my head in dismay. ‘Don’t shake your head at me, lady.’ he says in a stern, muffled voice, which I completely ignore.

‘How’s your hand?’

‘It would be fine if I didn’t keep smashing it into things.’ he answers dryly.

I wriggle free of his embrace. ‘Let me see.’ I sit up on his lap and he pulls his hand from behind me to rest between our bodies. I gingerly take it. He doesn’t wince, but I flick him a quick glace to check his face isn’t pained.

‘I’m fine.’ he assures me.

‘You smashed the elevator door.’ I say, stroking his recovering fist. It’s in a million pieces and I expected his hand to be too, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

‘I was really mad.’

‘You already told me that. What about the hijacking of my office this afternoon? Where you crazy mad then?’ Perhaps I should disregard his little hissy fit, especially since I’ve just thrown a woman out of his office.

‘Yes, I was,’ He narrows his eyes on me, but then he grins. ‘A bit like you were just now.’

‘I wasn’t mad, Jesse.’ I look at his damaged hand with the pity I feel for the pathetic woman I’ve just evicted from his office. ‘I was marking what’s mine. She wants you. She couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d straddled you and thrust her tits in your face.’ I screw my face up in disgust at her desperation, looking up to find his grin has broken out into a full on, Hollywood worthy beam. This smile is a step up from his one reserved only for women. This smile is reserved only for me. I can’t help the little smile tickling the corners of my mouth. ‘You look very happy with yourself.’

He brushes me away from fussing over his hand. ‘Oh, I am. I like it when you’re all possessive and protective. It tells me you’re crazy in love with me.’

‘I am, even though you are stupidly challenging. And don’t be calling Sarah, sweetie.’ I mock.

He circles our noses and pushes his lips onto mine. ‘I won’t.’

‘You’ve slept with her.’ It’s a statement, not a question. He recoils, his green pools all wide and wary. I roll my eyes. ‘A dabble?’ I ask.

His eyes drop down slightly. ‘Yeah,’ His expression and body language scream uncomfortable. He’s not happy with this line of conversation.

I bloody knew it. Okay, that’s fine. I can cope with this as long as he keeps the hussy at arm’s length – or further. That might be bloody hard when the woman works for him and follows him around like a lost puppy.

‘I just want to say one thing.’ I press. I need to make this clear if I’m ever going to keep company, both socially and professionally, with any men in future, although I’m fully aware that Jesse’s possessive streak is never going to go away completely. ‘It’s all about you.’ I drop a kiss onto his lips to reinforce my declaration.

‘It’s all about me.’ he mumbles against me.

I grin. ‘Good boy.’

He pulls back and runs his fingers down my neck, his eyes full of satisfaction. ‘Why is your hair wet?’

‘I had a shower but didn’t have time to dry my hair. I needed you.’

He smiles mildly. ‘I love you, Ava.’

I rest my cheek on shoulder. ‘I know.’

I’m not kidding myself that this is the air completely cleared. I have a woman scorned to contend with and Jesse’s possessiveness to work on. The latter, I think, will be a lifelong bone of contention, but if Jesse, especially like this, is my compensation, then it’s all worth it. But on top of all that, there’s the huge issue of Mikael and his need for revenge. I can’t even begin to think of how we’re going to deal with that. I know one thing, though. I won’t be working with him anymore. What will Patrick’s reaction be to that?

‘Take the day off work tomorrow.’ His voice is beseeching.

I’ve not even advised Patrick of my afternoon appointment with Mr Ward, but I need a break and a long weekend with Jesse is hard to turn down.  I’ve no appointments and I’m ridiculously up to date with everything else. Patrick owes me a few days in lieu. He won’t mind.

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