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“I love you, too, sweetheart.”
The smile that appeared on her face was genuine. “Let’s not give them any more thought tonight.”
“Sounds like an excellent idea.”
But we were both lying, because I could think of nothing else. What if Emilia decided to bring these women into her life and they somehow managed to talk her into giving them money? Or worse, pulled her away from me?
Later that night, we were lying in bed, our bodies cooling after having made love. Emilia was curled into my side, my hand stroking her spine softly as she did the same to my chest. “I know what you’re thinking, Jase, and it will never happen.”
I raised an eyebrow and shifted so I could look at her. “What will never happen?”
“They could never change how I feel about you. Even if I do decide to meet them, and form a relationship with them, they could never do or say anything that would take me away from you. So stop worrying about it.”
She kissed me softly. “I love you. I’m marrying you. We have a company we run together and I’m proud of it. I’m not giving it—or you—up for anything.”
The look on my face must have given me away because she let out a laugh. “You’re stuck with me forever, mister.”
“Good.” My voice was hoarse. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.” I rolled over so I was hovering over the top of her, my arm underneath her, holding her close, and kissed the shit out of her. Our tongues tangled, breathy moans coming out of her as my right hand trailed down over her warm, bare skin.
I kissed every bit of her my mouth could reach: her lips, her cheek, her neck, her shoulder. When I began to trail my lips down her body, coasting her breasts, she let out a huffy laugh. “No sleep yet?”
“No sleep yet. Not until you come on my tongue.”
Her laughter stopped once I reached my target.
Emilia didn’t speak about her mother and sister at all the next day, and I didn’t ask. I knew she must have read the report Connor had put together over and over, but still she said nothing.
It wasn’t until a couple of days later that she told me she wanted to meet her mother. Just Janet. She agreed bringing her to the office and having Connor with us was the best course of action, so I set it up, asking our head of security to contact Janet directly and arrange the meeting.
She agreed to come in the following day, a Friday, and I’d had Connor make it late afternoon because I knew Emilia would not be in any frame of mind to work after it.
At four twenty, I held my fiancée’s hand as we made our way down to reception. Janet was due to arrive in ten minutes, and we wanted to be in the room when she got there, away from prying eyes. Emilia didn’t want to see her mother for the first time since she was four in front of an audience.
Connor had been waiting in the reception area, and at four thirty on the dot he pushed the door of the meeting room open. Janet followed him in, and both Emilia and I stood.
The expression on the older woman’s face had been grim, but then her gaze landed on her daughter and tears instantly welled up. The cynical side of me believed it was a ploy, but I said nothing.
“Oh, baby girl! Look at you, so grown up. So beautiful.”
Emilia eyed her mother warily. “Hello, Janet.” She didn’t offer her hand or move closer to her, and thankfully Janet didn’t try to hug her.
“I just…wow. I can’t believe this day has finally come.” The crocodile tears didn’t move me in the slightest, and when I felt Emilia’s hand seeking mine, I immediately took it and entwined our fingers together.
“I know you’ve already met Jason, my fiancé and business partner, and this is Connor, our head of security.”
Janet dipped her head to acknowledge us. “Yes, Jason was kind enough to speak with me the other day.” She turned her gaze to me. “I wasn’t sure if you were actually going to tell Emilia I’d popped in. Thank you for doing so.”
I bristled at the insinuation. “I said I would. I don’t give my word and not keep it.” Everything about this woman bothered the shit out of me, but I tamped down my disdain and mistrust for Emilia’s sake.
“Yes, of course. My Emilia wouldn’t have agreed to marry you if you weren’t trustworthy.”
There were so many things wrong with her statement that I hardly knew where to start. Emilia was not hers. What would she know about being trustworthy? This whole situation was bullshit and I was already fed up.
Emilia must have been able to sense how I was feeling because she squeezed my hand. “You don’t know a damn thing about me, Janet, so don’t walk back into my life after almost thirty years and pretend you do. Let’s just cut the bullshit, shall we? What is it you really want?”
Her mask slipped, just a little, and I saw the ugliness underneath. “The only thing I want is a relationship with my daughter.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate, because I’m not interested.”
