“The last time I saw it was in here.”
Lex looked at Jillian, and they both dove for the money, shoving it into the bag.Jillian just grabbed the last several wads when his mother stepped inside the room.Lex went with his instinct and pulled Jillian into his arms, her back to the door.Her hands, still clutching the money, were wedged between them.
“Fuck… fuck… fuck…” Jillian cursed softly under her lips.
Lex blinked and stared down at her.The cursing was unexpected.She chose the moment to look up, saw his expression, and cringed.
“Sorry,” she mouthed.
Okay, so his future wife had colorful language.Interesting.Not exactly a deal-breaker.But from her expression, she was mortified she’d whispered those words.His arms tightened protectively around her as he glanced toward the door.His mother watched them with a grin.
“Mother?”Lex asked.“Can I help you with something?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said, not sounding sorry in the least.“I seem to have misplaced my diamond bracelet, the one your father gave me.You don’t happen to have seen it, have you?”
The bracelet had a faulty clasp, but he’d personally taken it to a jeweler to have it fixed.His nosy mother was using it as an excuse to check on him and Jillian.He was thirty-nine for pity’s sakes.
“I thought I saw it in the basement,” Lex said.“You know, in the room with reinforced steel.”The panic room was also used as a vault for family valuables.
His mother didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed.“Really?I must be losing my mind.I’ll leave you two alone.Jillian, I’m happy you’re still around.”
The look Douglas shot Lex as he closed the door was apologetic, but Lex didn’t react.He didn’t blame his chauffer for being dragged into one of his mother’s schemes.No one could refuse Estelle Fitzgerald anything once she set her mind on it.From the looks of things, she was determined to stick her nose in his business.
Jillian’s shoulder trembled, and Lex’s arm tightened.She was shaking.Probably the aftershock of almost getting busted by the one person they were supposed to convince that their relationship was normal.If his mother had seen the money…
“Sorry about that.My mother—”
Jillian looked up.Instead of panic, her eyes twinkled and her lips were pressed tight as though she was trying hard not to laugh.That she found the situation amusing was both cute and disconcerting.
“You thought that was funny?”he growled.
“You should have seen your face.”She tried to block the sounds with the back of her hand, but couldn’t contain the laughter.It burst from her lips.
Lex watched her as she stumbled back and dropped on the chair behind her.She was a total contradiction.Lady-like, charming, and polite, but she also had a dirty mouth.The mouth he wanted to capture and mold to his will.He swept the money from her arms and pulled her into his.
“Swear again,” he whispered.
Her eyes widened, not with fear, not from the smile that tilted her lips.Somehow she knew what he was asking.“You liked that?”
“I don’t know,” he said.Most of the women he’d slept with were so straight-laced.So bland.Jillian was… different.“It makes me want to do things to you.Naughty things.”
Her eyes grew wider, and Lex wondered if he’d gone too far.He had wanted to take it slow, but that had gone through the window the moment she had pressed her lush body against him and cursed under her breath.“So it’s okay to occasionally forget I’m, uh…”
“A lady?”he supplied.
“No, Lex.Cultured.Modest.I’d never claim to be a lady.”
He didn’t want her to.“Say it again.”
Her smile broadened, turquoise eyes gleaming with mischief.“Say what?”
“Fuck, Jillian.Add ‘me’ to make things interesting.”
She lowered her eyelids and whispered in a sultry voice, “Fuck me, Lex.”
He crushed her lips with his before the words completely left her lips.The taste of her was like a punch in the gut, twisting and tightening until he was ready to explode.
CHAPTER 7
