A Lover's Secret by Bethany Bloom Page A

dear.”
    “Nobody is going to eat me alive, Grandma.”
    “Well, do take your phone. Check in with us,” Grandma said.
    “Yes, make sure to check in,” Monica chided, “So we can come
rescue you after he does the chewing and the spitting.”
    Jess’s heart was racing. There was no turning back now. “You
know what? I’m not even going to take my phone. He’s not going to eat me alive,
and he’s not going to spit me out.” She leapt forward and, in one motion,
grabbed her handbag and slammed the door behind her.
    She paused on the front porch for just a moment, wishing she
had packed a bag and wishing she wasn’t still dressed in last night’s pajamas.
Then she rushed toward the waiting town car. The driver’s eyes widened and he
scrambled to open the door for her, just as Monica and Grandma spilled from the
house. Grandma’s white nightgown flipped in the wind, and Monica waggled her
index finger. “Don’t go, Jess. Don’t go.”
    Once the door clicked shut behind her, all Jess could hear
was the soft jazz lilting from the stereo. She watched for a moment as her
sister and grandmother gaped their mouths, like puppets she could no longer
hear. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back.
    “Thanks for not leaving,” she said to the driver, trying to
keep her voice from trembling. “I decided to come after all.”
    “Of course, miss,” he replied. “I take my orders from Mr.
Lassiter, and he specifically said not to leave this property without you. As
I’m sure you are beginning to discover, he doesn’t often take ‘no’ for an
answer.”
    With that, the driver sped away from the curb, leaving Jess
to wonder what on earth she had just gotten herself into.
    ***
    By the time Jess arrived back at the hotel, a new energy
surged through her. What started as anger had intensified into a vitality, a
potency. She felt more powerful than she ever had before. Was it from rage or
simple, unmitigated desire? She could see Jake’s body, so vividly, in her mind.
The finely sculpted muscles of his chest. The hard line of his jaw. His
glinting, soulful eyes.
    The car stopped on the circle drive, then, mere inches from
Elizabeth, who stood with her wrists and ankles crossed. When she met Jess’s
eyes, her mouth curved into an easy, wide grin.
    “Just the person I wanted to see,” Elizabeth chirped. “Jake
says you two are taking a holiday, and I need to talk to you about a few things
before you go.”
    “Okay…” Jess felt a knot in her belly.
    “I’m on my way back to L.A., and Jake needs to be there, as
well. In three days.” She held up three fingers. “Three. Not a day later.”
    “Okay…”
    “As you probably know by now, the man does whatever he
wants.” Elizabeth laughed from somewhere deep inside. “So I’m hoping that you
could perhaps…encourage him…to make that deadline.”
    Jess nodded and Elizabeth went on. “It’s really fairly
imperative that we make this happen. Really quite imperative. And, as you know,
Jake can get distracted from time to time.”
    “I’ll try,” Jess said, “but I’m not sure I have much power
over him.”
    “Oh, but you do, sweetheart.” For a split second,
Elizabeth’s face took on a forlorn quality, as though she were a very young
girl, alone and lost. Then the grin appeared again. “I think you’re about to
find that out. So… take care of him, okay, Jess?”
    “Sure.”
    “And Jess?”
    Jess raised her eyebrows.
    “Don’t let him drink. Nothing with alcohol. Not even a sip.”
    “Why?”
    “Well, because. Because that would be bad. Really, really
bad.”
    Jess’s shoulders hunched and she felt a shakiness in her
arms and her legs. “Is there something about Jake that I should know?” she
asked. “Something that no one is telling me?”
    Elizabeth looked her full in the face for a moment and
swallowed. “That’s for him to share with you,” she said, and then she reached
out her arm and stroked at Jess’s cheek with her thumb,