The Earl's Outrageous Lover Page 0,55
hairbrush and a small wooden box on top of his dresser. She knew that he kept his cuff links in the box, having seen him go through them before when he was getting dressed.
She lifted the lid, wondering how many he had. Not many, she realized. They were all good quality, but there was a gold pair, a black onyx pair and a silver pair. Hmm…she thought. Just like shoes. Sort of. She laughed at how silly she was since she owned about fifty or more pairs of shoes. She probably had three pairs of black pumps so those already outnumbered his cuff link collection.
Something was tucked underneath all the items though. She bent low and pulled out the smaller wooden box. When she opened the box, she found a pressed flower. It was flat and white with brownish edges and it took her a moment to figure out what it was. When she finally made the connection, her heart almost melted with the love that struck her at that moment.
The flattened whitish object was the rose she’d snuck to Edward the day of his mother’s funeral. He’d been sixteen, she’d been five and she’d cried for him and for his loss. They’d watched each other during the funeral and she had sent her aching heart to him, crying those tears for the young man who had been admonished to not show any emotion.
Well he had, and the evidence was right here. Whether he’d saved this rose because she’d given it to him or because it had been from his mother’s funeral, she didn’t know. But the rose had been preserved and cared for all this time.
The love for the man she was married to burst in her chest and she could no longer deny how she felt. The man was impossible sometimes, but he was hers and she loved him for all of his human frailties that he refused to show. Except with these small gestures, she thought as she twirled the rose carefully in her fingers.
An idea occurred to her and she blushed at the possibility of even asking someone else how to break through this issue. Would Edward be angry that she’d discussed their personal relationship with another man? But James was her friend and they’d talked about so many other things over the course of their friendship, wasn’t this just more of their confidences?
They’d laughed and talked about politics and economics, science and numerous other subjects, but this was much more personal. And she didn’t want Edward to be offended by her talking to someone outside of their relationship.
But she really didn’t want to go through another night like she’d had over the past week. There was no doubt that he could manipulate her body so that she was a marshmallow when their lovemaking was finished, but it was a lonely process. She never felt like he was her partner in the sex act. It was more like he was the maestro and she was the orchestra, making all the music by herself, but somehow separate from him at the same time.
She nibbled on the pad of her thumb, trying to figure out the best way to handle this. In the end, she couldn’t come up with an alternative. She reached for the phone and called him.
The following day, Jessica smiled at James as she crossed the restaurant, giving him a big hug before she sat down across from him.
“This was a surprise. What’s the occasion?” he asked as he sat down as well.
Jessica took the menu from the hostess and smiled before setting it to the side. “I need your advice,” she said and leaned forward, crossing both of her arms across her stomach and looking at him intently.
James did the same, his watchful eyes trying to decipher what was going on. “Okay,” he said and noticed her blush and the way her eyes looked downwards. “What’s up?”
She fiddled with her fork and opened her mouth to start to speak, but the waiter arrived to tell them about the specials for the day. Jessica quickly looked at her menu and ordered a salad, then waited while James put in his order. She was relieved when the waiter finally left them alone once again.
“Okay, spill it,” he said, leaning forward on his arms as he watched her carefully. “You obviously have something very important to discuss and I’m dying to hear all about it.” He paused for a moment and stilled. “Edward isn’t mistreating you is