Dare To Love Series: The Marriage Dare (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read online

  “Are you nervous?”

  “For the fifth time, no,” Jane said irritably, “and if you ask me another time I swear I’m going to ask you to add a romantic angle to H for my birthday gift and you will never hear the end of it to say yes.”

  Christian shuddered, and Jane almost smiled. Maybe if she weren’t too nervous, she would have. It always struck her as funny how revolted Christian seemed whenever some well-meaning soul suggested he make H more romantic.

  Another full minute passed, and Christian said with a sigh, “You’re going to make yourself sick, worrying over nothing like this.” He reached for her hand and grunted. “You’re cold.”

  “I can’t help it,” she mumbled. She had never brought home a boy before, and now she was, and it had to be Christian Ravenhearst, and they were already engaged!

  “Stop being paranoid,” Christian censured. Cupping her chin, he made Jane turn his way, saying reassuringly, “Nothing bad can or will happen.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “What exactly are you worried about?”

  “That you guys won’t get along?”

  “I know I’m a god, but I can do ordinary---” Jane started choking, and Christian laughed.

  “So unbelievably cocky---”

  “You did say you wanted us to be ourselves,” Christian deadpanned.

  “Actually, I said I wanted to be myself. You, I’d rather pretend---”

  “You like me being cocky,” Christian said dismissively.

  Jane gaped. “No, I do not.”

  “Yes. You do. Because if I’m not cocky, then I wouldn’t be able to do this---” And just like that, he calmly reached under her skirt and started stroking her pussy.

  “No, stop!” She tried pushing his hand away, but it only succeeded in making his fingers slip more easily under her panties.

  Her folds started to moist, and two fingers thrust inside of her.

  “Oh God.” Her legs started to part open.

  “Do you want me to stop?” Christian purred.

  “I…I…” she forgot what she had to say when she saw him unbuckle his pants with his free hand.

  His fingers thrust harder into her as he pulled his cock out, and she gasped, her body shuddering.

  “Well, pet? Do you want me to stop?”

  “I…”

  But he was already reaching for her, and then he was lowering Jane on him, and she shuddered anew as he impaled her with his engorged cock.

  Her knees slid into his seat, and she automatically adjusted herself over him.

  “Do we stop?”

  But she was already riding him. “Oh my God.” She couldn’t help it. “ Oh my God. Let’s not stop.”

  And so they didn’t stop, causing Jane and Christian to arrive rather late even though the car had been parked outside the Coopers’ home for some time.

  Jane awkwardly introduced Christian to her parents and sister.

  “Call me Mike,” her dad said.

  “Hetty would do for me,” her mom said as she planted a kiss on Christian’s cheek.

  “I’m Emma,” Jane’s teenager sister piped in. “And did you guys hear about the earthquake?”

  Christian and Jane glanced at each other in surprise. An earthquake?

  “I was looking outside the window earlier,” Emma said innocently, “and there was this rather gorgeous BMW parked out front. It was rocking really bad.”

  Jane could feel her cheeks burning.

  “It must have been a 6.0 or something.”

  Christian coughed.

  “Excuse me,” Mike said, “while I go get my shotgun.”

  “Dad,” Jane wailed. “Nothing happened!”

  Hetty raised a brow at her eldest daughter. “I don’t recall raising a liar for a daughter.”

  “Mom!”

  Her entire family laughed.

  “Christian is---”

  “50 Shades,” the whole family suddenly exclaimed.

  And it was Jane’s turn to laugh, realizing belatedly that 50 Shades had been something they had watched together on a whim, and it had been both the most awful and hilarious experience, with parents and daughters together while Christian Grey started having sex with a strung-up Anastasia Steele.

  Christian made an effort to smile as four Coopers started looking at him with great interest. “You can all call me Chris---”

  The four shook their heads simultaneously.

  “Christian,” Hetty said firmly, and her husband nodded in agreement.

  Emma was grinning. “Imagine that. I have a Christian for a future brother-in-law.”

  Christian winced at the emphasis.

  Jane patted his arm, saying laughingly, “Just give it up.”

  The whole family moved into the dining room, where it appeared the Coopers were still in the middle of dinner preparation. Christian was amused as everyone automatically moved into what seemed like their respective stations: Mike by the oven, Hetty bending over the stove to check on her stew, and Emma reaching for the knife as she resumed chopping onions.

  “I’ll set the table up,” Jane volunteered at the same time and led Christian out of the kitchen.

  As soon as the door swung shut behind them, Christian hauled her close and pressed a soft kiss on her lips.

  She looked up at him, startled. “What was that for?”

  “I like your family,” Christian said. “And I’m glad I do.”

  She grinned. “So you were worried, too.”

  Christian grunted.

  Jane surprised him with a sudden hug, her arms going around his waist. It was rare for her to initiate contact, and he looked down at her, startled and slightly concerned. “What is it, pet?”

  Her voice muffled against his chest, she whispered feelingly, “I’m really glad you like them, too.” And it was true. They had been together for a month now, and she had seen for herself that Christian hadn’t lied to her about the way he treated most people with either indifference or contempt.

  When dealing with the former, he was rather brusque, almost cruelly so, and when dealing with the latter, he could be downright scathing.

  And yet he liked her, Jane thought, and her family. It was a fact that she was still struggling to accept.

  Christian’s phone started to ring, and Jane readily disengaged herself from him. “Go ahead,” she said with a smile. “I can set up on my own.”

  “I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard that before.” And usually, ‘as soon as you can’ meant Christian leaving the bed in the middle of the night and coming back to her side in the morning.

  Jane started with the place mats first, and to her surprise, she had just started distributing dinner plates when Christian emerged from the outside. Fifteen minutes for a call? That was definitely a record maker.

  But then she caught the look on his face, and his next words, spoken rather stiffly, confirmed what she already knew.

  “I have to go.”

  “Awkward,” Emma said.

  Christian grimaced, and Jane tried to swallow back a laugh. She took hold of his hand, saying, “Excuse us, please.”

  “But we want to eavesdrop,” Hetty protested.

  “Ignore them,” Jane advised Christian, who by now had become stiff as a board. When they reached the front door and she was about to reach for the knob, Christian’s hand suddenly covered hers, halting its movement.

  “Are you angry?” he asked tautly.

  She slowly turned to look at him. “What do you think?”

  Christian jerked. “I think…” His breathing came out in a painful sigh. “I think I have the better end of the bargain, but I’m too selfish to let you go.”

  Jane bit her lip. “I hate it when you suddenly act sweet.” And then she couldn’t help it. Throwing herself at him, her arms going around his neck, she whispered, “I’m going to miss you.”

  She felt another powerful sigh rack his chest.

&nb
sp; “Same here, pet.” His lips pressed to the top of her head, and he muttered against her hair, “I hate it when you suddenly act sweet, and I don’t deserve it.”

  She laughed against his chest.

  “Aren’t you going to ask me why I’m leaving?”

  “Well…” She lifted her head. “It’s just occurred to me that there was a scene just like this in Bridget Jones’ Diary.”

  “I know what you’re talking about, pet.” Christian smirked. “And you really have a good imagination. I should hire you as my writer for my adult game.”

  Jane’s eyes shone. “Because I’m letting you off so nicely, will you finally tell me what game that is?”

  He chuckled. “Deal.” He cupped her face, kissing her hard. “And thank you.”

  Twenty minutes later, she returned to the dining room, hair a little mussed, lips a little swollen, and the rest of her suffering from a little sexual tingle, thanks to Christian Ravenhearst’s rather excellent quickie skills.

  “Let me guess,” Emma said dryly, taking one look at her older sister. “There was an earthquake again.”

  “Shut up.” But the words were spoken without heat. As Jane started placing forks and knives on the table, she could feel everyone’s gazes still on her. Without looking up, she asked, “What?”

  “Does he have a red room?”

  And since the question came from Mike---

  The three women of the Cooper family burst into laughter.

  “Oh my God, Dad. Really?”

  “What?” Mike was defensive. “I was asking for my daughter’s sake.”

  “Or you could ask for his advice,” Hetty suggested primly, “so you can build your own one.”

  Jane and Emma started to puke. “Yuck.”

  Dinner was a quick and lively affair, with everyone tacitly agreeing not to talk about Christian. By six-thirty, they were already out at the porch. It was a long-standing Cooper tradition for everyone to give out candy to trick-or-treaters – but only after scaring them with a ghost story or two.

  When she made it to bed, Jane was telling herself feverishly, Don’t text him. Don’t text him. DO NOT---

  But she did.

  Jane: Christian?

  Jane: Baby?

  Jane: Anyone there?

  Chapter Ten

  Christian Ravenhearst’s grip on the steering wheel remained throughout his drive back to Miami. His conscience, dormant for most of his life, was now giving him hell. He had never lied about his work, and yet he had found himself doing exactly that, using it as an excuse to bail on Jane, the one woman who didn’t deserve it.

  Fuck.

  Half of him wanted to just turn the car around, go on his knees and say sorry for lying, and hope that Jane would take him back without any questions.

  The other half of him, however, knew that he had already made his bed and the only thing he could do was lie on it. He had lied. To the only woman who hadn’t ever given him hell about his “third party,” the same woman he had committed to marry.

  Fuck.

  A heavy traffic jam crept up, trapping Christian in the middle of the highway, and he stared sightlessly outside his window, blind to all the red lights blazing out of the vehicles queuing on the other lanes. He glanced at the passenger seat beside him, and its empty space mirrored the hollowness inside of him.

  It was a direct contrast to how he had felt earlier, when he was with Jane and her family. Then, everything had felt right, too much so---

  And it had disturbed the hell out of him.

  All his life, Christian had found it easy to keep most people at arm’s length, having learned early on that most people were bound to disappoint him. He only trusted a small handful to get close to him, and all of them were people he had known for years.

  Or at least it was so until Jane Cooper.

  The first time he had met her, he hadn’t thought to question this. The way she could unfailingly make him laugh had enamored him, her candidness he found refreshing, and the way their sexual chemistry was off the charts something Christian had hungrily desired to explore. Everything about her had become an obsession, one that only got stronger every day. And fool that he was, none of this had bothered to him. It hadn’t even occurred to Christian to consider it a problem. Why should it? He had hit the jackpot, finding a woman who made him laugh, turned him on like no other woman could, and understood his passion for his work.

  What the fuck could go wrong?

  Everything, as it turned out.

  While Christian was at Jane’s place, he had received a call from the head of his encryption team, telling him about a small security breach resulting from the latest update to H. And since final approval of every update was his job, Christian knew the blame lay squarely at his door.

  “But we’re already working on the fix, sir,” Ray hastened to assure him. “I only called to report because of protocol.”

  “You did the right thing. I’ll hit the road in a couple and be back as soon as I can.”

  Ray released an audible gulp. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t think this would cause you to cut your holiday short. Nothing’s really wrong.”

  But the other man was wrong, Christian thought. Everything was wrong. It wasn’t like him at all to be guilty of such a slip-up, and at that moment, he only had one claustrophobic thought in mind.

  Things could only go downhill from there.

  The more time he spent with Jane, the less attention he would pay to his life’s work, and before he knew it, all his sacrifices would be for naught.

  “Just keep me posted.”

  After hanging up on Ray, who had still been apologizing profusely, Christian had found himself making up an excuse to leave and letting Jane’s assumptions take care of the rest. When she had walked him to the car, he had told himself that it was time to put the brakes on his feelings for her. It was just too damn consuming, and it was threatening to bring his world down.

  But when he had reached for the handle of the car door, Jane had suddenly hugged him tightly from behind, mumbling, “I miss you.”

  And he hadn’t been able to help himself after that.

  Christian had made love to her even knowing it was wrong. He had fucked her even though in the back of his mind he knew everything – every goddamn thing – was bound to change.

  ****

  By the time Jane made it back to the city, Christian still hadn’t answered any of her texts and calls, and she was struggling not to drown under an anarchic mix of emotions: misery, humiliation, worry, resentment---

  But most of all, it was a need to know Christian was okay.

  Despite knowing better, she had found herself texting him nonstop. Despite knowing she was turning into a nagging, whining bitch – the exact type Christian was likely to hate – she hadn’t been able to help it.

  Jane: Could you please reply, no matter how late? Just reply when you read this. That’s all I need.

  Jane: You’re really not working, are you?

  Jane: You’re with your ex. The girl with a split-personality name! I’m right, aren’t I?

  Jane: If you just want to break off our engagement, then just say it!

  She was being pathetic, and she knew it. But she just couldn’t help it. Something simply didn’t feel right, and the more time that passed and Christian’s silence continued to drag on, the more it felt like the world she knew was nothing but a bubble about to burst.

  Just look away, a desperate voice inside of Jane urged. If you close your eyes, pretend nothing’s happening, maybe everything would be swept under the rug. Maybe everything could be normal again, or at least look like it was so.

  That was what she had been doing ever since Merry had made her feel like she had no right to speak up, no right to do anything that would draw attention to herself because she wasn’t pretty or smart enough.

  And it wasn’t right, Jane suddenly realized as she stepped out of the cab in front of Christian’s apartment building. Yes, she wasn’t t
he prettiest, sexiest, smartest, or most interesting person out there. But it didn’t make her any less important. It didn’t mean she couldn’t let her voice be heard, didn’t mean she shouldn’t want her own Disney moment.

  Jane squared her shoulders and marched inside the lobby and past the gawking concierge. It was time to take her life back, she told herself, and she had to start with Christian. Even if it meant risking his wrath, she had to at least let him know that she was angry and hurt.

  Yes, she had promised to never complain about his work, but this was too much. And she mustn’t let him forget that he had been the first to break his promise, Jane thought determinedly. He had sworn to her that Halloween would be solely devoted to spending time with each other, and yet he hadn’t lasted more than a few hours before making his escape.

  By the time she made it to his penthouse apartment, she had worked herself up into a righteous state of fury. She used the key Christian had given her to unlock the door and letself her in, saying hotly, “You have some explaining to do---”

  Jane froze mid-track.

  Christian wasn’t alone.

  In fact, the living room was stuffed with people. There was Jared Westland standing next to the windows, a couple of familiar faces making up Christian’s staff, and then some more, all of them wearing IDs bearing the logo of Christian’s company.

  Shit.

  “Sorry,” Jane said in a tiny, squeaky, voice.

  But Christian’s face remained cold, and bewilderment warred with an inexplicable sense of fear inside of Jane as she watched Christian make his way to her.

  “Christian,” she heard Jared say warningly.

  “This isn’t your fucking business,” Christian answered without taking his icy azure gaze from Jane.

  What was happening? What was wrong? When he stood in front of her, she couldn’t help whispering, “Christian?”

  “I’m glad you’ve come.”

  Really? It didn’t look like he was glad. His face was the picture of a man on death row. Well, that or he was looking at a person on death row – and that person would be her.

  Jane tried again. “Christian?” She didn’t shout or cry his name, knowing she didn’t have to. It was the same uncertain tone she had used earlier, only this time she didn’t try hiding anything.