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“Tonight?” Jason needed air because keeping up with the surprises Lauren dished his way was an Olympic sport.
Brock cocked an eyebrow and leaned deeper into the doorway for a front-row seat.
Lauren breezed up to Jason’s desk and hooked her arm in his. “I know an elopement is supposed to be a secret. Sorry for spilling the beans, honey, but I’m just so darn excited. We’re catching a hop to Vegas. Hokey, I know, but, well—” she caressed her stomach “—it’s obvious we don’t have a whole lot of time to plan unless I want to get married wearing a tent.”
Brock stuffed his hands into his pockets, his face inscrutable. “We all had no idea. Congratulations.”
Jason adjusted his tie. “Thank you.”
Lauren smiled apologetically. “Blame me for that secrecy part, Mr. Maddox. I tend to be very private about my social life. I’m working on being more open.” She smiled up at Jason, her fingernails digging trenches into his arm, the only indication her joy was anything other than authentic. “Did you tell them you’ll be late for work tomorrow?”
He patted her hand, easing her nails away. “Uh, not yet.”
Brock straightened. “Sounds like you two have some plans to make. We all look forward to celebrating with you when you get back. Congratulations again.” He held the door open for wide-eyed Celia to follow.
Man, Jason owed her an apology. But he also owed Lauren his loyalty. Had she been serious about eloping? If so, why the sudden change of heart?
Once the door clicked shut, Jason turned to Lauren, eyeing her warily. Her hand rested mighty darn close to the pewter antique compass he used as a paperweight. Was she the kind of person who threw things? She was usually so calm he wouldn’t expect behavior like that from her. Although he also wouldn’t have expected her to announce to the world they were jetting off to Vegas in a few hours.
He closed the gap between them, watching her stoic face for the least sign of her mood. “Were you serious about eloping tonight?”
“Serious as a heart attack.” She set the pewter paperweight down with an extra-hefty thud.
“That’s great, really great.” He wasn’t sure what had caused her change of heart. Hell, he wasn’t sure what had propelled her to come to the office in the first place, but he didn’t intend to argue. He brushed her hair back over her shoulder, lightly, intimately. “You have nothing to be jealous about with Celia.”
“Who said I’m jealous?” she snapped.
“You’re obviously upset.” He cupped the back of her neck, massaging, hopefully soothing.
She shrugged free of his hand. “I don’t like being made a fool of.”
“There’s nothing going on between Celia and me.” And there wasn’t.
“Does she know that?” Lauren jabbed a finger toward the door.
“I was making sure when you walked in.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So there is something between the two of you.”
“Whoa, hold on. Let’s back this up.” His feet damn near paced the shine off the black floors. “You’re confusing the hell out of me. I try my ass off to charm you, and you all but toss my ring in the Bay. But when you think I’m flirting with another woman—which I was not—you’re ready to elope?”
“As soon as you can pack your bags and book the flight.” She closed the gap between them, blocking his pacing. Her jaw jutted aggressively. Which also happened to thrust out her full, kissable bottom lip.
She was hot when she was mad. Her eyes glimmered and her hair all but crackled from the heat radiating off her.
He was trying to do the straight-up best thing for their baby, and she was jerking him around nonstop. “If you’re so pissed at me, why did you announce to the world we’re headed to a Vegas wedding chapel?”
“Before—” she inched closer, tipping her head back until there was only a whisper of static-charged air between them “—I was worried about our feelings getting tangled up. But believe me, you’ve laid to rest all my fears about broken hearts and muddying the waters with an emotional train-wreck marriage like my parents went through. Now I know without question, there’s not a chance in hell that I could fall in love with you. So let’s go to Vegas.”
Lauren held it together all the way through the introductions to Maddox Communications employees as Jason escorted her to his car. At least Jason had seemed to get the message she didn’t want to give anything other than simple yes and no answers as he chartered a flight to Vegas.
She even managed to stay dry-eyed during the flight and through the sham of a wedding ceremony, difficult as hell to do since Jason had somehow managed to find a garden chapel service.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” The wedding chapel official closed his book of vows, running his hand over the floral cover. His Hawaiian shirt was a little over-the-top, but there were flowers and plants everywhere, just as she would have wanted, which made her all the more emotional.
Jason brushed her lips with a kiss, nothing overly dramatic and yet still perfect. Although the feel of his mouth against hers, even closed and only lightly touching, sent heat sparkling through her veins.
And made tears prick her eyes.
He palmed her waist gently, his thumb stroking so lightly but enough to send her spine arching toward him. Her stupid, stupid traitorous body.
She broke away, looking down quickly, needing space. “Excuse me.”
Lauren raced to the washroom, desperate to leave before she embarrassed herself by falling completely apart in front of Jason. The whole day had been like a ride on a high-speed roller coaster, with more than a few loops tipping her life upside down. And somehow she’d zipped right along with it, never once calling for a halt, or even a slow down.
What in the world had she just done?
Lauren rushed into the restroom, potted palms and hanging ferns packing the space. She sank onto the rattan sofa and yanked tissues from the box on the end table. Finally she let the tears flow, tears she’d bottled up since the minute she’d found out she would be having a baby alone. Tears collected from worry about how all of this would affect her mother. Tears over the possibility of losing her business.
And tears over Jason?
This was her wedding night and as much as she wished she could allow herself to enjoy the fringe benefits without worry, she simply couldn’t throw caution to the wind that easily.
She would do what it took to save her business. And yes, she would help Jason advance in his career, as well, because that was in the best interest of her child. Once this farcical marriage was done, she was through with Jason Reagert.
But first, she had to get through her wedding night.
Jason had a backlog of work waiting on his laptop propped by his seat on the plane. Normally flights made for the perfect time to play catch-up, and the pilot had just given them the all clear to use electronics.
Tonight he had no interest in what waited on that hard drive.
He shifted in the large leather chair, the aircraft droning softly through the dark, and studied his new bride reclined in a seat, talking on the plane’s phone. She’d just finished telling her father about their elopement, making him swear not to tell Jacqueline that he’d been called first.
And although this wasn’t a traditional wedding night by any measure, that didn’t stop him from aching to share a good old-fashioned honeymoon suite with Lauren.
The single-engine plane offered enough room to move around and a small galley kitchen, but no sleeping quarters other than the chairs that reclined all the way back.
His wife—he paused at the surprise jolt to his pulse at just the word—dialed again and pressed the phone to her ear. She tucked her legs up to the side, adjusting the folds of her teal-colored dress.
“Hey, Mom,” Lauren said, fine lines of stress and exhaustion fanning from the corners of her eyes. “Sorry to bother you so late, but I’ve got some really important news.” Her gaze flicked over to him briefly, brushing him like the tips of a flame crackling over his body. “Remember Jason Reagert… Right… you met him at my place last week. Well, he’s actually more than a friend. We just got married in Vegas….”
Jason thumbed the simple gold band on his finger. The wedding chapel had supplied it at the last minute, and he figured the ring would only help cement their case. He hadn’t expected to notice its weight quite so much.
Lauren continued, nodding. “Yeah, Mom, I know you would have liked a heads-up so you could attend. But, uh, prepare yourself for more amazing news. Time was kinda tight for us. We’re expecting a baby—”
A shriek sounded from the phone, followed by a long string of indistinguishable babbling. Lauren looked over at him briefly with a light wince before continuing. “I’m due in a little less than five months from now—No, I don’t know the baby’s gender yet—Uh, honeymoon? We have work… ” She stopped, interrupted for what must have been the tenth time.
“Mom, that’s really—” Sighing, she squinted her eyes closed while the voice on the other end rambled louder and louder.
Jason took the phone from her hand. Lauren gasped, but he wasn’t backing down. “Jacqueline? This is your new son-in-law, Jason, and I’m about to assert my marital rights. We’ll be turning off this phone until at least noon tomorrow.”
“But wait—” Jacqueline interrupted.
Jason interrupted right back. “Good night, Jacqueline.”
He turned off the phone.
“Wow,” Lauren said. “Just flat-out wow. I don’t know how to thank you for making that easier for me.”
He wanted to… Hell, he didn’t know what he could do to shield her from this sort of fall-out. “Are you all right?”
She smiled shakily. “At least that’s done now.”
“But are you all right?” he pressed.
“Of course.” She straightened, the effort of gathering her control so obvious and laborious he wanted to pull her to him.
Protect her.
But she radiated stand-back vibes.
Calling her parents really had her freaked out, beyond just tense family relations like he had. “What’s really going on here?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” She toyed with her purse, avoiding his eyes.
“You’re obviously stressed over that phone call.” He stroked her chin, tipping her face toward his. “I realize your mother is, uh, wired rather tight, but I think I’m missing something.”
“I might as well tell you. You’ll find out, anyway, over the years since she’s the grandmother of your baby.” She gripped the armrests in white-knuckled fists. “My mom was diagnosed as bipolar at twenty-two.”
Damn. Not at all what he’d been expecting. “I’m really sorry. All this time we’ve known each other and you’ve never mentioned it.”
But then, he’d been equally dodgy about his own past, which probably accounted for why he’d never probed too deeply about hers.
She rolled her head along the rest to face him full on, her expression wry. “It’s not the sort of thing to come up in the workplace or during after-hour drinks—‘Hey, my mom’s manic-depressive.’”
What if he’d taken the time to talk to her more over the past year, to really listen, beyond discussing work and exchanging lighthearted banter? Could they have reached a point earlier where she would have shared this with him? He had no way of knowing, since apparently it took a forced marriage to coerce her into opening up.
He hadn’t dug more deeply before, but he’d be damned if he’d make the same mistake again. “You said she was diagnosed at twenty-two?”
“She’s been in and out of a doctor’s treatment for a long while.” Only going when her husband pushed or her daughter pleaded. “There were some good times when I was kid. But the past couple of years, she’s decided she doesn’t want to take any more of it—therapy or meds.” Lauren straightened the drape of her dress again and again, restoring order. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not whining. Growing up with those sorts of mood swings was difficult, sure, but I like to think I’m a stronger person for it.”
He respected the way she tried to put a positive spin on things, but he suspected Lauren had done that so often no one noticed when she needed help. “Still, it must have been beyond tough for you as a kid, never knowing what to expect.”
She plucked at a stray thread on the hem of her dress, nibbling Her bottom lip. “I used to worry I would be like her. Since she never seems to accept she has a problem, what if I’m just oblivious? I’ve even visited doctors—shrinks—to have myself evaluated.”
“And what did they say?”
She hesitated, folding her hands in her lap and studying him intently, then smiling. “You don’t look like you’re ready to run for the door.”
“Given we’re in an airplane, that would be damn reckless.”
Thank God, she laughed. The sound stroked over him, arousing him as much as her soft hands. Hell, everything about her seemed to turn him inside out lately. But he wouldn’t let that distract him. Her vulnerable eyes said she needed something from him now, and he was determined not to come up short.
“Lauren—” he measured his words as carefully as he had in any million-dollar presentation “—I’ve worked with you for over a year and I haven’t seen anything to lead me to believe you have similar issues. I may not have any kind of psych degree, but I do know enough about you to be sure if there was ever a problem, you would do everything possible to take care of it.”
Her throat moved in a long swallow as she blinked back tears. “I appreciate that. I like to believe that about myself. But when people learn about her illness, I feel like they look at me differently, as if my feelings are discounted because I’m just—”
“Hey—” he reached for her hand, unable to resist touching “—I take you seriously.” And he did, personally and professionally. He trusted his judgment and for a year he’d seen the depth of her stability. If anything, he wondered how to break through her calm stoicism.
“Thank you.” Linking their fingers, she squeezed his hand, her engagement ring and wedding band glinting in the low lighting overhead. “So far the doctors have all said they see no signs of bipolar disease in me. It usually crops up in your teens and twenties. I know there are no guarantees, but you won’t hear me complain about turning thirty.”
“That must have been a relief to hear.”
“More than you can imagine.” She curved her hand over her stomach. “Although now I’m worrying all over again. What if I’ve passed along the gene to our child?”
How did he feel about it? He’d barely processed he had a kid on the way. His thoughts had been focused on securing the baby’s future, luring Lauren to California, steering clear of a career crash for both of them.
There were so many aspects of his child’s life to worry about. And there were some things he absolutely couldn’t control. His energies were best spent focused on dealing with what he could control.
“You’re aware. I’m aware. We’ll watch and provide whatever help our kid needs if the occasion arises.” He squeezed her hand, enjoying the way her pulse leaped under his thumb. Or was that his heartbeat kicking up a notch at the feel of her silky-soft skin? “Hell, I’ve got a family history full of diabetics and a sister with dyslexia. There are few families with perfect medical histories.”
A tear trickled down her cheek. “God, you can be so wonderfully logical and sweet both at the same time.”
“Sweet? That’s a new one for me.”
“Hey, I’m serious here.” She slid her fingers free and cupped his face in her hands. “Somehow you knew just the right thing to say and I could tell you meant every word.”
“Just this morning you told me I’m the consummate ad man, good at making the sale even if I have to lie.” He wasn’t sure why he would try to wave a damn red flag in front of her when she was finally seeing something worthwhile in him. Since when was he into self-sabotage?
And then it hit him. Lauren was too important to him to be anything but completely honest. Could it be that he wanted more than just this wedding night from her?
He forced his focus back on her words, tough to do when it felt like the deck was rolling under his feet even though he knew the plane was flying steady on.
Her hands caressed his face lightly. “Maybe I’m starting to trust my instincts more and my instincts are telling me you’re a good man.”
She pressed her lips to his.
Her fingers slid back into his hair and he angled his head sideways for a better, fuller fit. The soft give of her mouth against him stirred a barely banked fire. He’d wanted her—hell, dreamed about being with her—since that night in her office. As much as he’d tried to tell himself he was merely immersed in the mayhem of starting a new, high-powered job, no one caught his eye or attention the way she had.
The way she still did.
Lauren leaned into him, her amazing curves pressing close. He burned to get his hands on her again. Skin to skin, touching and traversing every dip and valley, watching her skin flush from wanting him.
Damn it, his hands were shaking.
She smiled against his mouth a second before she eased away. The kiss wasn’t an invitation into her bed, but it was a step in the right direction.
“Good night, Jason,” she whispered, her hands gliding off him as she settled into her seat again. Her lashes fluttered closed and that fast she was asleep.
