“What do you feel like for lunch?” she asks, sitting next to me on the couch.
“You.” I pull her onto my lap. “I’ve been thinking of the filthiest things I can do to you. I think your dirty mind might approve of my ideas.”
She puts her arms around my neck. “I am all for this, but I’m quite starving, so we need to eat first. How about you make me one of your gourmet sandwiches?”
“I’m not banished from the kitchen anymore?”
“Not if you’re going to do something useful in there.”
“Sweetheart, everything I do is useful.”
“Only if you’re wearing your dark grey T-shirt, but since you’re not wearing that today, you actually have to do something useful for it to count.”
“I’m getting my new assistant to order me a wardrobe of those shirts.”
She arches a brow. “Which new assistant would this be? I wasn’t aware you got off your ass and hired one yet.”
“I haven’t, but if I know you well, you’ve already found me one.”
“I like that you know this about me, and yes, I have found you a few to choose from. I’ve also got a book recommendation for you. A book I think might make a good movie.”
“I’m all ears.”
She gives me the name of a book she read a year or so again, and says, “It’s a pretty serious storyline, though, so I’m not sure if that would be of interest to you.”
I know the book she’s mentioned. It’s a story of hope and love set against the backdrop of war. “Mum read that book. She loved it too. I’ll definitely check it out.”
She smiles. “It was your mum who recommended it to me.”
“You know, she loved that you kept in contact with her after we broke up.” I loved it too. Jessica staying close with Mum was one of those invisible threads between us. It gave me hope that we’d find our way back to each other one day.
“Well, someone had to check in on her. You were too busy gallivanting around the world.”
I grin. “If I’d known that was why you did it, I would have gallivanted harder.”
She turns serious. “She missed you desperately, Jack.”
I run my hand up her back to rest at the nape of her neck. “Yeah,” I say, feeling every ounce of guilt I’ve ever felt over not visiting Mum enough the last six years. “I know. I tried to get home more, but I was a little selfish. I struggled being in Sydney without you, so I stopped coming as often.”
“What about your dad?” she says softly. Jessica knows better than anyone, including my mother and Ashton, what an asshole my father is. “Do you hear from him often?”
“The last I saw him was two years ago, at which time he told me that if I had no intention of taking over the family company, I could kiss my inheritance goodbye.”
“How did he not realise you happily kissed that goodbye years ago?”
I smile and bring my lips to hers again. “This is why I love you.”
“Because I know you don’t give two shits about your family’s money?”
“No, because you know me. You get everything about me.”
“And here I was thinking you loved me for my ass.”
“Yeah, there is that too.”
“What if I eat too much cake one year and my ass grows wider? Will you still love me then?”
“Fuck yes. I’ll have more to grip onto when I fuck you. Feel free to eat as much cake as you want, sweetheart. I’m all about the cake.”
“No, Mr Kingsley, you are all about the ass.”
Fuck, when Jessica calls me that, it does something to me. Something else besides getting me hard. It makes me think of what goes with Mr, that being Mrs, which then gets me thinking about her being Mrs Kingsley. And that gets me even fucking harder.
Soon.
Soon, I’ll make her Mrs Kingsley.
Until then, I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing and what I’m about to do, which is giving her all the reasons in the world to say yes to me when I ask her.
Standing, I lift her with me as I say, “You know me so well, and I do recall you wanted me to pay that ass some attention today.”
Heat flares in her eyes. “Finally, he does something useful.”
I hoist her over my shoulder, smack that ass I love, and carry her into the kitchen to make lunch. Then, I’ll take her into the bedroom to give her everything else she wants.
29
Jessica
Will: I haven’t had an update for three days.
Jessica: I’ve had eleven orgasms since your last update.
Will: I’ve had snotty-nosed children share their germs with me.
Jessica: So no orgasms for you?
Will: No.
Jessica: This is why children are still not on my bucket list.
Will: I take it Jack is still alive.
Jessica: I didn’t give myself those orgasms.
Will: Good to know. Are you still going to need that dog?
Jessica: I think I’d like a dog, but maybe not just yet.
Will: What’s the plan going forward?
Jessica: For once, I have no plan.
Will: For once, I think that’s a great idea.
Jessica: Where’s Mira?
Will: All those orgasms have affected your brain. This isn’t the group chat.
Jessica: You’re right, they have. I’ve been agreeing to things all over the place with Jack that only eleven orgasms would make me do. Say hi to her for me xx
I wander out to the kitchen where Jack’s cleaning up after breakfast. We didn’t run again today. He bossed me into that. Again. I’m wondering when we’ll run again. It’s not like I haven’t recovered from my asthma attack. He’s just being overcautious. At least today we did some bodyweight exercises. Jack initiated and led our session. It’s safe to say it’s not safe for me to do a bodyweight session with Jack. All those muscles on display are a hazard to my health.
“What are your plans today?” I ask him when I reach the kitchen.
“I want to narrow down my choice for a new manager.”
Something in his tone slows me down. Jack has been non-committal when it comes to his management team ever since he ended up in hospital last year. From what I know, he hasn’t wanted anything to do with managing his career. Sure, he hired a new manager and went through the motions, but I’ve seen the way his heart hasn’t been in it. Not like it always has been.
Ashton has been concerned, but I figured it was what Jack needed to get himself through his recovery. He needed to focus all his energy on his health, and I fully supported that. Jack may have appeared uninterested in his team and his career these last seven months, but he’s a smart man. And he didn’t get to the top of Hollywood just because of his team. They helped him a great deal, but he was always directing them. Jack is highly strategic and knows what he’s doing even when it appears he has no interest whatsoever. And what I just heard in his voice tells me he might be ready to tackle his career again.
“How are you going with that?” I ask.
“Rose’s list has three options. They’re all good, so I’m finding it difficult to decide.”