She stopped to smile at Liam apologetically before returning her attention to her daughter. “Sorry dear. Jackie, you know how your relationships turn out. If you play your cards right, you can have your pick of any man.”
Jackie could feel the flames of hell licking at her gut, and she squeezed the edges of her armrest in a failed effort to restrain herself. Did her mother just so much as say she could “buy a man” when they all made barrels of money from her idea? How utterly fucking cruel. How could she fling that at her so easily?
“Honestly, I can't see how you can do a thing with VitaGourmet without my consent. You might have wanted to ask me before you concocted some fairy tale PR stunt at my expense. For your information, not that you care, I'm happy. And that means way more to me than some potential million dollar pay out.”
Her mother shrunk back, her gaze averting to her fingers.
“That the kind of control you have over your daughter, Donna? Makes sense how this happened then. She's completely off her leash.”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Liam growled.
His father fixed him with a look that could kill, then downing the rest of his cognac, he nodded to himself, like he was having an internal conversation that had just ended in a conclusion.
“You know what? Fine. None of this is worth it.”
He turned an eye on Donna, and his true face broke through the veneer of charm he usually wore as he scowled at her. “This thing between us is over.”
He rose up from his chair then, taking a hard look at his son and then Jackie, before throwing down his napkin and storming up the ramp.
Jackie drew a stilling breath when she felt Liam's fingers graze hers, and stealing a glance at her mother, she saw a look of recognition from her that was worth its weight in gold. Donna saw, for the first time, what was between them, and if her expression was anything to go on, she was already fighting a twinge of guilt over it. Served her right, but Jackie wasn't one to hold a grudge.
She just wanted this whole circus behind them, as soon as possible.
~
Liam roared at the photographer, chasing him across the front lawn of Jackie's apartment complex with a force more fierce than she'd ever seen in a man. He stomped his way back across the lawn after a quick tumble with the bastard, brandishing the asshole's camera, chucking it on the counter when he made it back upstairs.
“You took his camera?” Jackie asked with a half-laugh.
Eyes blinking up, the flames in them instantly died down, and he cracked a grin.
“Yeah.”
Smiling, Jackie took another sip of her coffee, tapping her fingertips on the surface of the tiled, standing bar.
“Are we, um... gonna read it?”
She was asking about the article. They'd made the papers, and the headline read: “National Ink Host Gets Cozy with New Stepsister.”
Liam ran his fingers through his hair.
“I don't want to read that shit, to tell you the truth. I can force them to print a retraction later. All publicity is good publicity right now.”
“Yeah, but...”
“It'll be fine. There's no marriage coming up, anymore, and you're not my stepsister. Nor will you be.”
Quieting, Jackie averted her gaze and drew another sip of coffee.
“Alright.”
“Besides...”
Her eyes flicking up to Liam, she saw he'd pulled a box out of his pocket. A round, black box that made the butterflies in her belly wake and fly in a cacophony of opposing directions.
“The relationship that deserves the publicity is the one that's real.”
Jackie swallowed her nerves as he made his way over to her.
“Open this box for me, will you?”
“Oh my god, Liam.”
He grinned and rolled his eyes playfully.
“Just open it.”
She did, and when she set eyes to the whomper of a rock tucked into its middle, she flew into his arms, whispering, “Yes. Yes. Yes!” Over and over, until he understood how entirely ready she was to officially be his.
Following that day, everything righted itself. The diva model Liam was having troubling getting in line? Fired. Corey? Hired. He had the face for it, and whatever Liam had said to him to get him to focus his path in a direction opposite the one he'd been errantly walking had worked.
But the family bliss didn't stop there. The silent half-brother who had next to nothing to say at that abysmal family breakfast, Remy, showed up at the shop a few week's after Jackie's and Liam's wedding announcement wanting to get to know the side of the family his father had been keeping him away from.
And he'd fit right in to his father's utter disgust.
He was living with Jackie and Liam now, quite happily, thank you, after dear old dad threw him out for 'going to the other side.'
Oh, and VitaGourmet? Jackie and Mom buried the hatchet, and she signed right off on the new VitaGourmet vending machines Liam put up the money for.
Turned out, she didn't need a marriage to an asshole to increase the size of her net worth. In two months, they'd already tripled their profits. But the most unexpected offer of all came from “Chef Academy,” following a slanderous comment Colin made during one of the interviews that showed the world what an utter asshole he was. A week after they sacked him, they were knocking at her door, ready to give her more money than she'd ever seen to make several, guest appearances next season.
“You gonna take it?”
Jackie flicked her gaze up at him, instantly warming at the charming smile lighting up her gorgeous fiancée’s face.
“Two reality stars in one house? Not sure there's enough room for all that ego.”
Pulling her into his arms, he leaned in to cover her mouth with a long, searching kiss that sent trails of heat reverberating through her body. Then leaning back, he looked at her, studied her, really.
“Plenty of room when the ego comes in a package this stunning.”
Jackie grinned.
“Flatterer.”
Lifting her up in his arms, he nipped her lip and tugged.
“How much you think they'll pay us for a “leaked” sex tape?”
Jackie half-laughed, her eyes darkening as she pressed herself against him.
“Only one way to find out.”
SCARLET NORTH
Scarlet North loves writing steamy romances, where her heroes are dominant alpha men, and her heroines are smart, independent, and strong-willed. With Scarlet, you can always count on two things: her stories will be bursting with emotion, and you’ll always end up with a HEA.
Scarlet is a self-proclaimed 80’s girl. By day, she can be found rocking out to channel 8 on Sirius XM, while driving her cherry red Jeep along the beautiful beaches of east coast Canada. By night, she can be found working by the light of a laptop, usually from bed, with her man-candy of a husband soundly asleep beside her.
She loves hearing from her readers at: Readers@ScarletNorth.com
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