My Step-Dad's Brother(30)
“Lucas St. James,” I introduced myself.
She smiled, almost shyly. “Jade Jones.”
I took back my recent thought about nothing being fake. Her name was obviously made up, and I hoped it didn’t mean she actually was a stripper. I worried about the way it would look if it got out that I’d spent time with a woman like her. However, right then and there, I decided I didn’t give a fuck. I was going to have her.
“I’m going to be blunt, to save wasted time,” I stated, “I desperately want you under me. Can I convince you to leave and spend the night with me?”
She hesitated, and for a moment I was terrified she was going to refuse, but then she smiled again and nodded, the sweet blush returning to her cheeks.
One night in a hotel turned into a weekend and I was starting to realize that I would almost surely never have enough of her. Then a cold bucket of reality was thrown at me.
She’d mentioned in passing that she was an artist and I assumed it was a hobby. I casually asked what had brought her to the gallery, too busy focusing on how I wanted to have her next to care about the question.
“I’ve turned in a portfolio and I’m hoping they’ll choose me for their next show,” she chattered excitedly.
I froze as the fog of lust receded, replaced by disappointment and rage. “So, this was an attempt to up your chances? Fuck the owner so he’ll be too enamored with your”—I ran my eyes down her body—“charms to pick anyone else? I’ve got to say, Jade,” I spit her name, “even if you do take your clothes off for a living, I didn’t think you were the kind of girl to sell your body.”
She gasped in fake indignation, but she wasn’t fooling me anymore.
“What are you talking about? I haven’t done that—sold my—how could you think—?” she sputtered. “Wait, you’re the owner?”
I rolled my eyes and got out of bed, starting to dress. “Drop the act, Jade. It’s the St. James Gallery, for fuck’s sake. There’s no way you didn’t know it was my gallery.”
Dressed, I grabbed my keys and wallet and stormed to the door. I couldn’t help glancing back and saw her sitting on the bed, her eyes wide in supposed shock, her mouth forming a little O. For half a heartbeat, I wondered if I was wrong and she was being genuine. But, experience had taught me better, so I walked out and slammed the door shut.
Chapter 3
Jade
At first glance, it appeared as though Lucas’s full attention was on Mr. Wilkinson while he slit open a sealed envelope and pulled out a stack of papers. But I felt the weight of his scrutiny on me as I sipped on the glass of water I’d been given and popped a piece of gum into my mouth. The hair rose on my arms the same way it had when I felt him looking at me the night we’d met. My gaze darted up quickly, only to find him sending me a sidelong glance before I tilted my head to stare down at my hands. The brief moment of eye contact was enough to send shivers down my spine while I remembered how his eyes darkened with lust until it was virtually impossible to discern the difference between his pupils and the dark brown of his irises. How it felt to dig my nails into the taut skin of his back as he hammered into me.
Crap! I shook my head when the clearing of Mr. Wilkinson’s throat penetrated through the sensual fog that seemed to wrap around me anytime Lucas was near. It was the same effect which had me agreeing to sleep with him within minutes of our first meeting. And it was distracting me from the important matters at hand—finding out what my mom’s husband of one day had left me in his will and finding a stick to pee on at the first opportunity. Finding out if I was pregnant had moved from a niggling doubt in my mind to a screaming alert of urgency. Right after I got the lawyer to repeat what he’d just said while I was shaking off my Lucas induced daze. Because clearly it had been important based on Lucas’s reaction.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” he roared. “There’s no way in hell my father was stupid enough to do this.”
“Do what?” I repeated, shifting my attention away from Lucas and back to Mr. Wilkinson. “I’m sorry, could you repeat what you said?”
“Jonathan made arrangements for you to inherit half of his personal estate in the event of his and your mother’s deaths. Had she survived, she would have inherited it in your place. A smaller settlement would have been made upon you, since she would have been alive to provide assistance should you need it. All of his shares in the company will go to Lucas, of course, and the other half of the personal estate as well.”
“He did?” I gasped, feeling stunned by this turn of events. I hadn’t even ever met him. Why had he thought to include me in his will? And why in the world did he think my mom would have helped me if I needed it? I’d been supporting myself while trying to make it as an artist without any help from her, using the money from the life insurance policy my father had left me when he passed away four years ago.