His Ransom 4(9)
There it was. Jake’s eyes fell dark.
“Other women? When have I ever flirted with other women?”
“Belle,” I said, summoning my courage to face him. “Tonight.”
To my surprise, he burst out into hard laughter. His emerald eyes were hard, though, and he put his arms around me. I stiffened.
“Lacey, are you serious?”
“Yes!” I blurted out. I turned around in his arms so I could see his face. The city was reflected in his eyes, but right now, even his beauty wasn’t enough to make me let this go. “Are you serious? Promising to bring her a present back from Paris?”
“That’s not—”
“You did. She knew exactly what she wanted, and you gave it to her.”
Jake’s arms dropped to my waist and he looked at me with concern.
“Why are you so upset?” he asked.
“Because everything I do is irrelevant! My art is irrelevant. None of it matters. I don’t matter. You’d be fine without me.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“And you’d go flirt with someone—”
“Who?”
“Belle, or someone else,” I said, waving my hand in the air for emphasis. “She flirted with you, and you flirted right back.”
“No! That’s just how she is.”
“And you?” I asked. “Is that just how you are? Flirting right back?”
Jake sighed.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I am. I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear. It’s just… business.”
“I don’t like that kind of business,” I said flatly.
“Lacey—”
“And now you’re going off to Paris, for business, in the company of a bunch of super models and super successful businesswomen, and… and… Can you not see how I would be the littlest bit insecure?”
“No.”
“NO?!”
“I mean, yes, but no. Lacey, you’re… you’re you.”
His eyes softened, and the lights behind sparkled in his irises. I didn’t know if it was the city lights or the stars that I was seeing.
“What about me?”
“You’re mine.” He said it with such emphasis that the words shook me physically. All of a sudden, I felt the familiar fear of heights. I leaned forward against his chest and he wrapped me in his arms. Jake was the only person who could make me forget my fears.
“So you care about me?” I whispered.
I hated myself for being this needy. I didn’t know what would make me happy. Shouldn’t I be happy already?
“Lacey, of course I care about you. I’m sorry if I don’t say it enough. I’m sorry if I don’t say it in the right way. I never knew what it was like to have a caring family.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. And I meant it.
Jake had had a truly tough beginning. When he’d told me about his family dying in the apartment fire, I’d felt the pain in his heart. It had been the first—and only—time he’d let me see him cry.
“My mother hated my father,” he said. “And my father…”
He shut his eyes, his face contorted. I squeezed his arm to comfort him.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I know.”
I know that your father was a drunk. An abusive husband. An abusive father.
“It’s not okay,” Jake said. His voice was filled with anger. “I don’t know if I could be a good husband. Or a good dad. Or anything like that. I don’t know what any of that is like.”
I nodded, thinking of my own family. How different we were. My parents were poor, but they had always been in love. And his parents had given him everything he wanted… everything except love. Until they too had been taken away from him.
In a burst of sympathy, I wrapped my arms around him. He held me tight against his chest, pressing a kiss down onto the top of my head.
I could hear his heart beat calmly, steadily. His chest was warm against me. He rested his chin on the top of my head and looked out to the view below.
“New York City isn’t all bad,” he said.
“No, it’s beautiful.”
“So are you.”
He pressed a tender kiss to my lips.
“Lacey, let’s… let’s talk more about this when I get back from my trip,” he said. His face looked torn with worry. “I promise we can talk then. I’ll have more to say. Just—”
“Alright,” I said. “Alright.”
I thought about what he had said before. In the art studio, in bed… I was entirely his.
And if I was his, shouldn’t he be mine?
Chapter Five
“Okay,” he said, tugging me away from the railing. “Now, let me give you your present.”