“I own a production company.” Jack ran his fingers through his hair and blew out a deep breath.

“Okay.”

My brows furrowed in confusion.

“I own the largest  p**n  film production company in the United States, Syd. My other business is making  p**n .” He watched me intently, waiting for my reaction. My first thought was, okay, that isn’t so bad. But then memories of our past conversations came flooding back and I started to put together the pieces of the puzzle.

He had 500 to 1,000 partners? He is amazing in bed? That women, with the over the top appearance at the conference, he said he brought her to piss off his father, was she an actress? I felt the bile in my stomach rise to my throat and it stung as I opened my mouth to speak. “Have you ever been in one of the films?” I held my breath waiting for the answer.

“No.” His response was immediate and unwavering.

“Have you been with any of the actresses?”

“Yes.”

My heart clenched. “Was the woman that you were with last weekend at the conference an actress?”

“Yes.”

“Is she your girlfriend? Were you with her after you got back from Hawaii?” The thought of him being with her after the week that we had shared made me sick. The tears filled my eyes and I looked away, fighting back their escape.

“No, I didn’t lie to you. I haven’t had a girlfriend since I was a teenager. And I wasn’t with her after I got back from Hawaii.”

He moved from the chair to sit next to me on the couch and I kept my head turned from him. I wanted to hide my emotions.

He took my face in his hands and gently forced me to look at him. I saw pain in his eyes when the tears started flowing from down my cheeks.

He looked into my eyes as he spoke.

“Syd, I’m not proud of who I am or things that I have done. And I know I don’t deserve you. You’re sweet and good and everything that I’m not. I tried to keep away so you wouldn’t get hurt, but I can’t help myself when it comes to you. I never wanted to be with a woman, the way I want to be with you. I want to get lay under the stars with you and talk for hours, and walk in the park holding your hand. You make me feel like I can be a better man when I’m around you.

I’m terrified of the things you make me feel and I don’t know how to control it.” I buried my head in his chest and he wrapped his arms around me while my tears turned into sobs. I wasn’t even sure why I was crying, I was just so wrought with emotions and everything he had shared that I couldn’t help but explode. Jack stroked my head until I slowly calmed in his arms. “You okay baby?” He whispered.

I nodded. “I just need to lay down for a bit, my head is pounding.” Jack pulled off his shirt and laid himself back on the couch, pulling me to his warm chest and wrapping me in his arms.

Neither of us was running away, it was a start.

***

I had no idea how long I had slept for, but my headache was gone when I woke up.

And at least I didn’t think I was going to throw up anymore. I looked up and found Jack awake, watching me.

“Hey.” He spoke softly and stroked my hair.

“Did you sleep?” I stretched a bit and then snuggled closer into his chest.

“No.”

“Are you okay?”

He shook his head and gently laughed. “I lay out all my f**ked up dirty laundry at your feet and you ask me if I’m okay? He emphasized the I’m. “And you wonder why I can’t keep away from you.” He kissed my forehead.

I sat up on the couch on my knees and straddled one leg on each side of him as he laid on his back. “If we are going to try this, there is no mixing business with pleasure for you. In fact, there is no pleasure for you with anyone but me.” I punctuated the sentence with my finger into his chest.

“Deal. But you know I don’t have much experience with relationships, so you need to have patience with me.”

“Patience, yes. Tolerance for cheating, no.” I smiled at him.

Jack moved and before I even knew what he was doing, he had switched our positions. I was on my back and he was kneel-ing on the couch above me, his legs straddled on either side of me.

“Got it, no cheating. And just so we are clear, you belong to me now, so no one touches your ass but me either.” My heart melted at the thought of belonging to Jack. “Deal.” Jack leaned down, bringing his face close to mine. “Are we done talking for now?”

I nodded, his handsome face so close to mine was a major distraction to my brain.

“Good, because baby, I’ve been in this apartment for almost a day, while your sweet little ass laid on top of me and squirmed with my fingers inside of you. If I don’t bury myself inside of you within the next five minutes, you aren’t going to be able to walk tomorrow.”

My eyes opened wide at his words, then narrowed and squinted as if to test him to see if he was telling the truth.

His smile was wicked and sexy. “On the couch or in the bedroom babe?” Okay, so he wasn’t kidding. My stomach did a flip and I took a deep breath in and rolled my eyes, pretending it was a sacrifice.

“Bedroom.”

“Good girl.” He scooped me up carried me into the bedroom.

***

For the first time since I moved to New York, I dreaded going to work. Jack and I had come so far in the last twenty-four hours and I hated that I had to leave him already. I wanted to stay in bed and snuggle with him all weekend. But I couldn’t let the band down, and the club would be busy on a Saturday night, so I forced myself to get up and get ready. When I walked out dressed for work, Jack was talking on his cell phone.

I watched as he slowly looked me up and down. I had purposely dressed in my favorite red shirt and black form fitting skirt, pair-ing it will five inch stilettos and a dozen long silver chains in all different lengths.

He kept his eyes on me as he spoke in-to his phone, “I don’t give a f**k what it costs, just do it.” He snapped the phone shut and walked to me.

“Is that what you wear to work every night?”

I played dumb. “No, I don’t wear this outfit to work every single night. I wear all different outfits silly.” I placed the palms of my hands against his chest. “Everything okay, you sounded pissed on your call?”

“Yes, everything is find, it was hotel business.” He wrapped one arm around my waist and tugged me against him hard. “Do you feel that Syd? I just look at you dressed like that and I’m f**king hard again. How am I supposed to watch you go to work, knowing a room full of drunk men will feel the same way about my woman?” Fuck. Me. His jealous streak excited me and now I was going to have to walk around all night with a swell aching between my legs. “I only want one man sweetie.” I reached up on my tippy toes to kiss his mouth softly.

***

Jack had insisted that he drop me at the hotel on his way home. A sleek black Mercedes SUV was parked out front when we got downstairs. I took one look at the car and knew it was Jack’s. “Yours?” I looked at him and rolled my eyes in response to his smirk.

Jack navigated us with his hand at the small of my back to the SUV door and the driver jumped out to open it. The uniformed driver nodded to Jack,

“Evening Mr. Heston.”

We pulled up outside of the hotel and I had expected that Jack was dropping me off and going back to his place, but he told his driver to come back for him in an hour and got out with me. I looked at him quizzically, as he helped me out of the SUV. “I have a few things to take care of here, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.” He took my hand and we made our way through the hotel’s front door.

“Two?” I thought maybe I had missed something, what was the other thing?

Jack smiled at me, an evil but sexy at hell smile. “Within five minutes of walking through the front lobby holding your hand, the entire staff will be buzzing. It will make you off limits and security will make it their business to keep a closer eye on you.” I stopped dead in my tracks in the middle of the lobby. “So you’re essentially a dog pissing on his territory.” Jack tightened the hand he was holding and pulled me to him, wrapping the other arm firmly around my waist. “Yep. Is that a problem babe?”

I opened my mouth to respond and Jack used it as an opportunity to cover my mouth with his and kiss me. It wasn’t a sweet quick kiss, it was a demanding make your knees week and leave me breathless kiss. His tongue explored my mouth and licked at my lips, stopping to suck in my tongue. When he broke the kiss, he kept his face close to mine, and I was lightly panting.

“That should do it baby.” He looked around, apparently satisfied with himself.

I peered to one side of the room, and then the other. Jack was right, we had apparently gotten the attention of everyone in the room “You’re unbelievable.” He kissed me chastely before letting me go. “And don’t you forget it babe.”

***

An hour later, Jack came back to the empty club while I was finishing my set up routine and said goodbye. “Your place or mine tonight?” He said it like there was never any question that we would be spending the night together again that night.

“Yours, your bathroom is bigger than my apartment.” I smiled.

“I’ll be back at midnight for you.”

“That’s not necessary Jack. I can take a cab to your place.”

He kissed me sweetly on the lips. “I want to.”

I sighed “Okay.”

Chapter 16

Sunday morning we slept late and it was early afternoon before we got out of bed. Jack ordered room service and a pot of coffee for me. We sat at his dining room table that could sit 14 and I wondered how much entertaining he did that he needed such a big table.

“Do you host a lot of parties?”

“Here? No. The only people that have ever been up here are my boys that you met in Hawaii, and they don’t require a dining room table or hosting.” His statement peaked my interest.

“So, the five hundred or thousand women that you have…. entertained, none of them have been here?” I dragged out the word entertained because f**ked just didn’t seem appropriate at the dining room table.

I saw Jack’s face growing uncomfortable. “No, there has never been another woman in my bed Syd. You are the first woman I’ve entertained here.” He drew out the word entertained the same as I did, mocking my choice of words.

My inner goddess was delighted with the news that no woman had been in his bed before. But something didn’t make sense. “So where did you entertain the women then?”

Jack’s jaw tensed and I instantly knew I wasn’t going to like the answer. He looked down at his plate. “I keep a room on the 15th floor.”

I almost choked on my coffee.

“You keep a f**k room?” My voice was louder and more condescending than I meant it to be.

“I kept a room where I could spend the night, it is a small suite and I keep some of my things down there. It has an office in there too.” His voice was controlled and I could tell he was trying to restrain his emotion and not be defensive.

“Do you have an office here too?” I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic, but it came out that way anyway.

“I told you I wasn’t proud of my past Syd. But we’re together now and you’re in my bed, not in that room, so let’s not do this.” Jack got up from the table and stormed out of the room.

I sat for a few minutes thinking.

Jack was right, I was jealous and acting like a brat. He had been honest with me from the start and never pretended he was anything other than who he was. He didn’t deserve my judgment. I cleared the table and went to apologize.

I found him in his exercise room, running full speed with headphones on. He watched me as I walked in, but didn’t slow his pace or take out his headphones. I mouthed the words I’m sorry to him and he nodded his head as he ran. He was dripping from the insane pace that he was running at and his shirt was sticking to his heaving chest, outlining every cut of his gorgeous body. Jack kept running, but caught my eyes wandering around his body. I could tell that my admiration for his body had distracted him, but he appeared content to keep running.