Kelly felt as if she were walking on air the week after the party. She hadn’t spotted the car that had been following her all week and thought maybe Aunt Mabry was beginning to give up on having her watched.
She smiled to herself as she got ready to go to the clinic for the day. She replayed the week with Jack in her head, and laughed as she remembered how he grabbed her in the shower.
He had pressed her up against the wall and slipped his hands down between her legs to tease her. She thought he would drop her when he lifted her up, but he didn’t. She’d wrapped her legs around him and he’d entered her, making love to her as the water streamed down around them.
Wednesday night, they skipped their usual movie and went straight up to bed after dinner, where Jack had stripped her of her clothing slowly, sensuously, kissing her as he went. Kelly had gasped with pleasure when she felt his mouth warm and wet between her legs, and she never stopped gasping for breath as he sucked and licked until she cried out.
She had never been with a man who was so giving before. He seemed to take such pleasure in giving her pleasure, in telling her how much she turned him on—and he demonstrated that in every action.
Kelly couldn’t help but repay his generosity the next night when she surprised him by slipping into his home office after dinner. Jack’s eyebrows shot up when she locked the door, closed the blinds, and dropped to her knees between his legs to give her husband a much-deserved break from his work.
She smiled to herself as she walked down the stairs to leave for the legal aid clinic. She went to the kitchen and kissed Jack good-bye and said good-bye to Mrs. Poole then walked out the front door. Before she could even make it down the wide stone staircase, she realized her car wasn’t in the driveway. Jack’s car was there and there was a red BMW convertible—but her Honda Civic was gone.
Puzzled, Kelly turned to walk back into the house, but a grinning Jack stood right behind her.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“Like what?” Kelly asked slowly. She didn’t want to believe that Jack had bought her a car. And apparently gotten rid of her car. Without even asking her.
Jack held up a set of car keys and smiled at her. “Your new car.”
She leveled a stare at him. “Where is my car, Jack? My Civic?”
“I donated it to the Big Buddies Mentoring Program.”
“You did what!” Kelly all but yelled, and Jack’s face fell into confusion.
“Well, yeah. You won’t need it with your BMW, and this is a safer car anyway. Much safer. I passed the dealership driving home and saw it and couldn’t resist. I wanted to surprise you,” he explained as if he couldn’t understand why she didn’t appreciate such a nice gesture and such a great car.
Kelly sighed as she noticed the hurt look on his face. “Jack, you can’t do things like that. I have to go back to my life after the year is up, and I need my car,” she said.
“You can keep the car at the end of the year,” he said, and this time anger seeped into his voice. “Why would you think I’d make you give up the car?”
Kelly crossed her arms and faced him head on. She didn’t honestly know why his actions angered her so much, but it felt like a big reminder of what she was; a wife who was bought and paid for, who wouldn’t be needed after her expiration date.
Kelly didn’t want to be reminded of that fact.
“That’s not the point, Jack. I have to go back to living a normal life instead of this fairy tale. I’ll be a student. And now I’m a student who has to pay to insure a BMW. And maintain a BMW. And fix a BMW if it breaks down. Did you think about that, Jack, because normal people have to think about these things? Did you even think to ask me before you gave away my car?”
She hated that she sounded so edgy and needy, but she couldn’t reel the emotions back in. It was like a dam had broken and there was no sticking a finger in these holes.
“I’ll pay for the insurance and maintenance for you, Kelly. I won’t abandon you when this is over.” Jack looked confused as though he genuinely wanted to fix things, but he couldn’t fix this for her.
She stepped back as if she’d been struck. “So, I’ll be a kept woman, huh? You’ll put me up and pay everything for me and what? You’ll swing by for a good lay when you feel like it?”
Now Jack stepped back. “You don’t understand, Kelly. I didn’t mean it like that. You know I didn’t mean it like that. Maybe you shouldn’t leave in a year. You can stay.”
Jack said it cavalierly as if it were nothing for her to stay with him, and that’s when Kelly’s dream came crashing down around her. She had been so caught up in the fun fairy-tale life, in the incredible sex with Jack, and in getting to play house that she’d forgotten that she shouldn’t—couldn’t—fall for this man.
Because he wasn’t talking about love or forever. He was just talking about a convenient extension of a lie.
Kelly’s eyes began to tear up. She closed her eyes and held them shut for a long moment, willing the tears back. She knew that she was falling in love with him. She also knew that this was all a game to Jack, and once the terms of their agreement were honored, she couldn’t stay with him after this year for anything less than love.
Her love was there, but there also had to be his love as well, and that wasn’t what he offered.
Kelly shook her head and opened her eyes as tears began to fall.
She grabbed the keys from a stunned Jack’s hands. “This isn’t a game, Jack. This is my life, and you can’t just tell me you want to keep playing house and expect me to stay until you get tired of this—until you don’t want to play anymore. That’s not fair. I have to go back to a normal life after this. I have to get past this.” Her voice broke. “I have to get past you.”
Kelly couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth—that she would have to find a way to stop loving him in a year. So, as the tears fell freely, she ran down the front steps and took the BMW because there wasn’t any other option.
She gunned the engine out of the drive and let the tears fall as she drove to the clinic. She didn’t know how, but knew she needed to find a way to protect herself from Jack Sutton and the feelings she had for him. Deep down, Kelly knew it was already much too late. She’d fallen in love with him a long time ago.
Jack stood on the steps stunned at what had just happened. Everything was perfect. He was so happy. They were so happy. At least he’d thought they were.
Anger and frustration boiled over, and he stalked back in the house and slammed the door behind him. Hell, all he’d wanted was to surprise her, to see that smile again. What had he done wrong? Jack wondered, but he didn’t find any explanation.
That incredible, sexy, luscious, funny, maddening woman was driving him out of his mind. Jack turned to go up to his room and found Mrs. Poole behind him. She looked ready to mother him and he groaned, knowing she wouldn’t let him get away without saying her piece.
“Oh, Jack, dear. She’s in love with you,” Mrs. Poole said quietly. She wiped her hands on the kitchen towel she held and shook her head at him. “She has been for a while.”
Jack felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. How had he not seen this? How had everything been so turned upside down and backward?
Jack wheeled and went back out to the driveway and got in his car. Mrs. Poole’s words echoed in his head as he drove down the drive and turned onto the road.
His hands gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles whitened and his teeth clenched as he stewed over what Kelly had said to him. Jack couldn’t understand why she would be angry that he asked her to stay.
They were good together. Life was pretty darned close to perfect with the two of them together so why was she so eager to leave? And if Mrs. Poole was right, and she loved him, why would she want to leave?
As Jack drove, the anger gave way to confusion and then to fear. Does Kelly want to leave now? No, he couldn’t believe that. She couldn’t be faking what they had. But, what did they have he began to wonder as he drove toward New Haven. Was she right? Were they playing house?
Damn it, Jack thought as he struck the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, it’s not playing house when you’re in love.
And then Jack realized the truth of it. He had fallen in love with Kelly somewhere in all of this. Once the realization hit him, it hit like a ton of bricks. He didn’t want a year, or two years, or anything less than forever with Kelly. He wanted it all. Their love, a family together, eternity with her.
And suddenly he understood why she couldn’t accept anything less from him. If Kelly really was in love with him, she couldn’t accept an extension on their time if he didn’t love her. She needed to know that he loved her too. She needed to know that it was the beginning of forever, and that he wasn’t playing house with her.
But even if she loved him, would Kelly want more? She was going on to law school soon, and school and her career might not leave room for Jack.
Jack wanted to drive right over to the clinic to see her and tell her he loved her. To find out if their love was enough to build a life together. He started to head that way when he hit New Haven, but stopped himself.
Kelly hadn’t wanted him to jump in and buy her a new car. She probably wouldn’t appreciate him busting into the clinic and announcing his love in front of everyone.
He slowed the car as he thought through his options. He would go to work himself and talk to her tonight. He could bring flowers, open a bottle of wine on the patio under the stars, and tell her how he felt.
Jack wasn’t a patient man, but he knew he needed to have patience here. It went against everything in his nature, but he made himself wait to see her. He needed to let Kelly calm down, and telling her how he felt and what he wanted, at home in private this evening, seemed the best option.
The decision made, Jack turned his car toward his office and tried to forge on with the day—when all he really wanted was to have Kelly back in his arms and secure in his heart.