He couldn’t afford to lose control. He needed to corral his thoughts with so much at stake with their child, not to mention the business implications of a family merger with a Garrison.
Jordan eased his mouth from hers and tucked her head against his chest as he worked to slow his heart rate. The gusts of her breaths along his neck told him she was every bit as affected by him—which didn’t help calm him.
Still, his hands smoothed along her back. The timing to woo her over would be tough for him with the preparations for opening his Hotel Victoria next month, a smaller hotel than her family’s Garrison Grand. But he was certain it would rival the Garrison property in luxury—and attract the same clientele. Hell, yes, he’d earned his ruthless business reputation honestly.
He would need that same drive now to win her over. Not only because of the baby, but also because he knew the chemistry he and Brooke shared didn’t come around all that often. In fact, he couldn’t think of any other woman who turned him inside out with the stroke of her hand the way she could, not even the ex-Playboy bunny he’d dated—and broken up with shortly before that steamy night with Brooke.
Jordan nuzzled her ear. “No lawyers.” He nipped the lobe, tugging on her diamond earring gently. “A judge. Two rings.” His hand slid around to cup the sweet fullness of her. “And a bouquet by the end of the week, because this child will be born to married parents.”
Two
Marry him?
Was he out of his flipping mind?
Or maybe she’d lost hers. Brooke pulled out of his arms so she could regain her balance in the rolling chair. Certainly Jordan’s kisses had a powerful effect over her, a large part of why she’d run from his bed so hard and fast five months ago.
The utter loss of control she’d felt with him scared the spit out of her, then and now. “Marry you?”
“Of course.” He stroked two fingers down the length of her ever-errant stray lock of hair until she thought maybe she would leave her hair that way from now on. “It makes perfect sense. You’re carrying my kid. Our families have been feuding long enough, don’t you think? That sort of contentious environment can’t be good for a child. Now that Emilio is engaged to Brittany, the rift has started to mend. We can solidify that by marrying each other and fully merging the two family corporations.”
Wow, he’d almost had her thinking he possessed a heart, right up to the last word … corporations. She pushed out of her chair and stalked away from him, toward the Christmas tree, pivoting back with a huff. “Shall I give you a club to go with your caveman orders?”
“You want romance?” His blue eyes narrowed, then turned heavy lidded, sexy. “I can give you romance. I simply thought a practical woman like you would appreciate the no-nonsense approach to business dealings.”
“Whoa. Back up there, Mr. Romeo Incorporated. You romanced me more than enough five months ago, thanks all the same.”
Jordan’s heat seared her now, as well. “Then answer my question.”
She couldn’t regret that night because she refused to let her baby ever feel like a mistake. And the sex had been beyond amazing, but good heavens, she wouldn’t enter a marriage based on attraction and business mergers. She also refused to risk a sham of a marriage like her parents lived.
“No.” She crossed her arms under her breasts. “I will not marry you.”
His jaw flexed.
“Be reasonable, Jordan. We barely know each other.”
“We’ve known each other for years.”
“As business acquaintances who’ve sat in a large meeting maybe three times or passed each other in the same restaurant on occasion.” Strange how memorable each of those encounters seemed. She’d always noticed him, but placed him in the off-limits category.
Until that night.
That night when Brooke had been mourning the loss of her father. The loss of an image. She’d always been Daddy’s girl, running to him when her drunken mother’s barbs were too much to bear. To find that her father had lied to them all, as well …
She couldn’t think of that now. She had her own child to consider. Providing a stable home for her baby had to come before some illogical desire to lose herself in another kiss from Jordan.
He scooped up one of her shoes and tapped the heel against her mouse pad. “Yet suddenly you’ve decided to avoid me.”
“Because I wasn’t ready to tell you about the baby.” She decided he didn’t need the extra ammo of knowing why she’d run scared from his naked side.
“Or because the fireworks between us were too much for you to handle.”