his with a long moan and released into me, hot and heavy. He buried his head in my neck as we both gathered our wits. “I’ll make it up to you later, I promise,” he said as he kissed me slowly, the promise on his caressing tongue. “I had to have you.”
“We need to talk.”
“I know.”
“Is this over for you?” I asked, hating myself for not waiting for the right moment or conversation.
“I’m still inside you, Rose. How could you think that?” He let my legs down as he pulled out of me and grabbed the towel to make quick work of cleaning us both up.
“Jack, I’ve got something that may fit her,” I heard his mother call from right outside the door. I froze, butt naked, and then scrambled quickly to the bathroom where I shut the door behind me.
“Thanks, Mom,” I heard him say as the door opened and then quickly closed. Had she heard us? Jesus, what were we thinking?!
I looked down at my stomach and felt a slight flutter and put my hand over it, willing it to calm down. The first-trimester sickness had just started, and the last thing I wanted to do was toss in front of him.
Jack knocked on the door once before he walked in with yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I took the clothes thankfully. Jack stood in the corner of the bathroom with his arms crossed.
I pulled on the fresh clothes, took a towel off the rack, and began to attempt to straighten my hair.
“You look beautiful.”
“You told them about me?”
“Of course, you were something good to report.”
“I was?” I turned to look at him with slight defeat.
“You are,” he said, taking a step forward.
“Don’t do that. Just say what you really mean.”
“Rose, I still love you,” he said, taking another step forward.
“Well, it would be pretty shitty of you to love someone else so soon after,” I countered, wanting to get to the heart of it.
“Let’s go join them at the table, okay? We can talk after,” Jack promised as I stood in front of the door.
“I don’t have to be here. I can check into a hotel. I can wait for you there.”
“Why the hell would I want that? I want you here,” he said with slight irritation.
“Kind of hard to tell what you want,” I said in an aggravated tone.
He was in front of me in an instant, cupping my face with his hands. “I want us back.”
“Could’ve fooled me. I guess I didn’t know quite how pissed off I was at you until now. Lucky you.”
He chuckled as he caressed my skin. “We’ll talk after dinner.”
“I may not want to hear it,” I said, letting my hormones talk. “Matter of fact, just shut up.”
Jack laughed harder as he leaned down and took my lips. I whimpered as a tear slipped from me that told him exactly how hurt I was.
“I fucking hate to see this,” he said as he wiped my tear away with his thumb. “Don’t cry, baby.”
“Then stop doing this to me,” I said with a sigh.
“Come on,” he said, opening the door for me. “I want them to know you.”
“What the hell for?” Jack stopped in the middle of the room and turned back to me in all seriousness. I took in his blond halo, beautiful features, and stellar body, and my heart sighed as the flutter in my belly extended to my chest.
“Because you own me.”
Well played, Jack, well played.
He reached back, took my hand, and yanked me to him. “I know we have a lot of hurt between us, but just give me dinner with my parents and we’ll sort it out, okay?”
“Okay.”
We made our way back down the hall as I prayed that no one had heard us going at it. All five of his parents stopped their hushed conversations and greeted us with smiles. We took our seats at the table, and Jack piled food onto my plate. I had just shoved a heaping forkful of dirty rice into my mouth when his mother asked her first question.
“How is the center going, Rose? Have your doors opened yet?”
I nodded to give myself time to swallow as I turned to her with a smile. “We admitted our first six patients yesterday,” I said with excitement. “Two of them are long-term care.”
“Jack said you would be taking them in for the length of their whole treatment,” Nadine said as she looked at me with admiration. “I just... we just think what