Dirty Rich(32)

Chapter 44

Jax





Cate doesn't say much as she slides into the passenger seat of my rental  car. It's an Audi-the best they could do on short notice at the airport  I flew into a couple of hours away from here-but she doesn't seem to  care. She doesn't say much as I steer the car away from her sister's  house, or when I navigate straight to the main street of the town, which  is of course called Main Street.

She doesn't say much, but she never lets go of my hand.

If she feels anything like what I'm feeling, she's searching for what  she wants to say to me, but there aren't enough words in the whole  goddamn world to describe it.

I park the car in front of a storefront between a book shop and a café.  Cate turns to me, one eyebrow raised. "You didn't come all this way to  take me out for coffee, did you?"

I laugh, and some of the tension in my gut eases away. "If you want  coffee, we can get some right now. But no, I didn't come here for that."

"What are we doing here?"

"You'll see."

The storefront has paper over both the huge front windows, blocking the  inside from view. Cate follows me tentatively, and when we reach the  door and I pull a key from my pocket, her mouth falls open.

"Jax-why do you have a key to this building?"

I lead her inside. I had a crew come in overnight to freshen the space,  which is an empty canvas for just about any kind of business you can  imagine. Everything is newly white and smells like possibility.

"What's that?"

She's spotted it.

At the back of the room, smack in the middle of the wall, is a single  desk. It's an antique-one of the ones they used to use at the old New  York Times offices during the newspaper heyday. I purposefully chose it  to be the opposite of the sleek furniture that crowds every inch of the  Basiqué offices.

This is a space for Cate.

Dropping my hand, she moves toward the desk, and as she gets closer I hear the tiny gasp that escapes her.

"What is this, Jax?"

She turns to face me, her eyes shining with so much delight I think the  room actually gets brighter. On the desk is a nameplate. I woke up one  of my business vendors in the middle of the night to get it made before I  flew out of LaGuardia, so it's been tucked in one of my bags since  yesterday.         

     



 

After I left my mother's hospital room, I flew to the largest available  airport in Cate's home state and got in after midnight. I debated  driving to her hometown in Winthrop Harbor right away, but decided that  would look a little insane, so I booked a room at the best hotel in  town.

This morning I drove to Cate's old address in Winthrop Harbor. Sandra  Sarzó gave it to me after I dressed her down for the way she handled my  request about transferring Cate's duties over the following months.  Lucky for me, Cate's emergency contact is still her mother, so I didn't  have to have one of my people track her down. When I showed up at their  home this morning, Cate's father shook my hand and, after several  minutes of pleasant conversation that nearly killed me, he let me know  where Cate's sister lives in Beechford.

Which brought us to this building.

I bought it hours after leaving Christian at the club two nights ago.

No matter what happens between us, I'm leaving Cate with the one thing she needs more than anything: security.

The nameplate on the desk reads:





Catherine Schaffer

Editor-in-Chief





"It's for you," I say simply.

"The nameplate?"

"The building."

Cate shakes her head, smiling helplessly. "Why in the hell would you buy me this building in Beechford, Jax?"

I cross over to her and take her hand.

"I shouldn't have done what I did about your job at Basiqué. That was fucked up. I know that now."

"Jax, I-"

"No, let me finish. You should know that I never intended for you to  feel like you didn't have any options. I had several ideas for  businesses you're more than capable of running, and I wanted to talk  about them all with you. When things started happening with my mom, I  didn't get the chance, and then Sarzó-" I let out a frustrated breath.  "That's all irrelevant. The point is, you have options, and one of them  is to stay here in Beechford, close to your family, and run your own  publishing imprint."

"What?"

"You told me once that if you could do anything, you'd be in charge of  your own publishing house. I've been working with my business manager to  establish one in your name. It doesn't matter where in the world it's  located-I can guarantee that people will be breaking the door down to  have their work published with you. And you can take it in any direction  you want. Books. Periodicals. Internet sales. People are working on it  right now to get everything off the ground. All you need to do is run  it."

Cate wrinkles her forehead. "I can't run an entire company."

"Yes, you can. If you can survive Sandra Sarzó for a year, you can run  any company you want. But you can leverage all of my resources for  business advice, if you want to."

"Why are you doing this, Jax?" She looks up at me, eyes wide, hopeful, anxious.

"Let me show you one other thing before I answer that." I move behind  the desk, open one of the drawers, and pull out the portfolio, opening  it and turning it so she can see the papers inside.

"I want you to understand that all of this is yours-no strings attached.  These documents are proof that this company and all its assets-which  come with startup funds and five years' worth of salary for you and any  employees you hire-belong to you even if … "

"Even if what?"

"Even if you're really done with me."

She puts a hand over her mouth, and I can't control the pain in my  heart, can't get a handle on the tightness in my throat. I'll give  anything to her. But I need to know. I can't wait any longer.

"Are you done with me, Cate?"

One long moment passes.

Then she shakes her head, tears in her eyes.

I hold my breath.





Chapter 45

Cate





It takes me a second to get the words out because I'm so overwhelmed by the magnitude of everything Jax is saying to me.

"I'll never be done with you."

His shoulders collapse as he registers what I'm saying, and then he  closes the distance between us and takes me in his strong arms, the  motion so powerful my heart nearly stops.         

     



 

Then his mouth is on mine, his tongue is in my mouth, he tastes like  mint and magic and it's all so right I could scream, I could cry, but  instead I kiss him back with everything I have, like there's no moment  other than this one, like this is my only chance.

When he breaks the kiss I gasp for breath.

There's something else I need from him.

"Will you give me anything I ask for?"

"You know the answer to that," he murmurs in my ear as his hands tighten on my waist.

"Will you prove to me that I belong to you?"

He pulls back, looking deeply into my eyes. "How should I do that?"

I take a deep breath, then reach for my shirt, pulling it over my head.  My shorts are next, dropping to the floor in a crumpled pile of cotton,  and Jax watches as I strip off my panties and bra.

Then, slowly, I kneel in front of him.

My hands shake with anticipation.

"I broke our agreement," I say, my voice soft. "I didn't follow the rules."

He instantly understands.

"And you need me to correct you?"

"Yes, Mr. Hunter."

I need it so badly that I don't know how I survived without him these  past days, without our meetings in his office. I don't know how I kept  breathing from one minute to the next when there was no possibility of  him possessing me, dominating me, like only he can.

I am desperate for him to take charge.

In my professional life, I need to have the reins … but here, where we are  the only two people in the world, I need him to be the man I know he is  at his core.

Powerful. Measured. Raw.

He unzips his pants with one motion and frees his cock, which is already so hard it twitches when the air hits it.

"Suck."

His voice is all authority, all command, and it sends a shiver down my spine.

I obey immediately.

Taking him into my mouth, I go to work as if this is the most important  thing I will ever do, circling the head of his cock with the tip of my  tongue, dragging the flat of it along the sensitive underside, sucking,  sucking, building the rhythm faster and faster until-

He pushes my head away, then shoves his cock back inside his pants.

"To the desk."

I start to get to my feet, but he holds out his hand. "Crawl."

My opening is dripping as I crawl across the freshly shined floor to the  brand new desk. Jax gets there first, moving the nameplate to the  side-it doesn't matter here, in this deliciously dirty game we're  playing.

"Up."

I stand.

"Bend over."

I arrange myself over the desk and spread my legs, lowering my breasts  to the cold metal surface and arching my back. My breath comes fast and  shallow, the anticipation so strong I can hardly stay still.