Fallen Woman(75)

Jase sat up, pressing his chest against mine. His tongue captivated my mouth, mimicking every thrust of his thick erection. Rolling in sync with the man I loved, he sent me over the peak and followed behind me, spilling his love into me while his fingers dug into my butt. He was calculated but tender, manly but gentle. Making love to him sent my endorphins into orbit.

As he stilled, his grasp relaxed, and I collapsed onto his chest with my arms around his lower back. He pushed warm water up my spine to eliminate the chills forming.

“I love you, Jase,” I cooed into his ear as I nuzzled his neck.

“I love you too, babe.”

I didn’t move but randomly started babbling. “Has it occurred to you that we’ve never used a condom?” I clutched his rod still lodged firmly inside me.

“I’m not using a condom with my wife.” His words were uttered lackadaisically, but the sentiment was firm.

“Don’t you think we should use some form of birth control?” The warmth of his skin kept me from caring about much as I relished his embrace. We could be talking about the weather or the color of grass if our tone was indicative of our topic.

“I assumed you were on birth control.” He didn’t pull back to make eye contact with me or push me to sit up. He didn’t even sound concerned that I wasn’t.

“No. I haven’t had a need to be, nor could I have afforded it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Mmm. We’ll make beautiful babies. Then I’ll have a reason you can’t deny for you not to go back to work.” I felt his cheek rise in a smile against my head.

I sat up and swatted playfully at his arm. “So your intention is to keep me barefoot and pregnant?”

“As long as you’ll let me.” The gleam in his eyes and the grin on his face melted my heart.

“We have four already.”

“I’ll take four more if you’ll give them to me. And we seriously need to talk about your desire to work.”

“You can’t be serious about that many more kids, and what do you want to talk about regarding work?”

“I’m absolutely serious, any excuse to stay buried inside you. And I love kids. I want a house full of them. Plus, if you’re pregnant, we can keep having sex and not have to worry about another baby until that one comes. It’s win-win really. And in regards to whether you work or not, I don’t want you to. I want you home for the kids. I want you home for me. I want you to be able to enjoy your days doing whatever you want. If that’s volunteering or shopping, I don’t care; I just want to take care of you. I want the rest of your life to make up for the past. I can certainly afford it. We can certainly afford it. And yes, I want children of my own as well as the ones we already have. I always wanted a big family, but at my age, I didn’t think I’d have it.”

“I agree. I don’t think I should continue to work at Faston, but not for the same reasons. I think it’s a huge conflict and dread the gossip I’ll face when people find out we got married.”

“Good, that’s settled. I’ll let Ben in HR know you won’t be back and to replace you in Marketing. After we get this press situation under control, we can start working on giving you another job here at home.” He wagged his brows at me, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes in return.

“I still want to work, Jase. Just not at Faston.”

“No.” He shook his head. I was waiting for him to stick his tongue out, too.

“Are you five?” I laughed.

“Some days, yes. I’m not giving in on this, Gianna. I want you home.”

Part of me wanted to argue, part of me felt obligated to do so, but the truth was, I’d much rather be a stay at home mom. I’d love being able to care for the kids and Jase in a way that benefited them, not like they came second to a job I didn’t need.

Jase and I had a blowout in Vegas, not about the rings—that was rather trivial—but it spurred the conversation, or explosion rather, that took place back in the hotel afterward. I wanted to marry Jase because I loved him, not because of the wealth he brought to the table. But I felt like that was being challenged every step I made. Jase had Hart adding my name to everything he owned, all his bank accounts, his assets. He was making me his sole beneficiary and his net worth had a lot of zeros behind it. I didn’t want it. I never wanted anyone to believe his money had anything to do with my fast decision, because that’s what it looked like to an outsider. They didn’t see the time we’d spent together or the phone calls or the texts. The months and months we’d spent cultivating a friendship when neither of us realized the other was falling in love. When he told me he wouldn’t marry me if we couldn’t share everything, it nearly broke me. His insistence at paying off all my debt, Emmy’s medical bills, adding my name to everything he owned…it would look like I was exactly what all his friends ran from—a gold digger.

“Gianna, let me make one thing painfully clear to you. I do not give a rip-roaring rat’s ass what anyone else thinks about my wife or me. We will live life our way, and I will not answer to anyone other than you. Either you let me do this my way, fully embracing you and all you bring to the table, or we can get on a plane and go home now. I waited over thirty-five years to do this. Thirty-four to find you. Money isn’t going to fucking challenge my feelings for you. If we walk down that aisle, if we say I do, everything about you belongs to me and vice versa. So make your decision now because I won’t discuss it any further.”