CHAPTER347
I reach up and immediately start wiping her mark off his face with my thumb and throw a rather snippy glare in her direction.
Only bitch marking him will be me!
She seems un-phased by it and I resist the urge to elbow Jake when I catch that half smirk on the corner of his mouth as he watches me having a little green-eyed moment; amused by my possessiveness over him.
Yeah, Mr. Carrero, you think that’s funny? I know you wouldn’t like it if some guy was giving me marks all over my face!
“Miss. Briggs, we’re finally home and eager to see what’s been done.” Jake’s in charming mode, all Carrero suave and sultry voiced with his smile reserved for clients and shoulder rubbing rich folks.
“You must let me show you then.” She gushes, leaning down to slide her arm through his but I step up beside him quickly, so she’s met with my rather close cleavage; at least she has the decorum to look mildly uncomfortable. She smiles tightly and moves back awkwardly, a small rise of red creeping up her neck.
Yeah, I’m the woman of this house … Back off.
Jake slides an arm around my shoulder, swooping in to kiss my temple in a show of adoration. His way of telling her to move away, so fluently she probably doesn’t realize it. He’s doing what needs to be done to get her to understand he’s not interested. It must work as she seems to have remembered her place and smiles, stepping back further to let us continue, gesturing up the stairs towards a lot more noise, raising an eyebrow at Jake. I let him lead the way, pulling me along at a casual pace.
Upstairs, the sound is far worse than the mess and I can see, despite the tools and sheets all over, a lot has been done. The long, wide hall has plastic covering the thick carpet and an array of glossy white doors stand open to let light fill the area from each room. It’s like a corridor of doors.
She leads us across the walkway, dodging plugs, and wires, to our master bedroom which is close to the start of the main landing and I’m met with the vision we created on design boards and high-tech computer software. My breath catching, dreamily, at the vision of perfection before us. The reality much more breath-taking than the view from a computer screen.
Neutrals, softness, and a cozy large leather bed with a million cushions artfully placed in the center of a huge suede covered wall. Plush carpeting in a soft mink, fur rugs, and a chaise longue at the bed stead with a lot of beautiful furniture and seating dotted around. It’s a complete haven, a room fit for reading in, lying around, and relaxing in, or long romantic nights of passion by candlelight. I can already envision lazy Sunday mornings with Jake in this room, wandering around half dressed or even just nakedly christening every surface I can see.
The view up here of the sea, beyond the large wide windows facing us, is perfection.
“It’s gorgeous.” I breathe, letting go of his hand to walk forward and trail my fingers over a furry throw on the back of a beautiful armchair in the softest camel colored fabric. Immersing myself in the peaceful serenity of this room and catch my breath as I spot a large, traditional, dark wood crib nestled in a nook by the en suite door near the bed. Jake has obviously chosen this. It looks like it belongs there, perfectly suited to the old meets new style and cozy features of the room; the wood matches our bedframe. I turn and smile at him with damp eyes and a lump in my heart. His returning smile telling me he knows what I’ve spotted; a special moment passing between us that Miss. Briggs. is completely oblivious to.
“What do you think, Mr. Carrero?” Monica is almost kissing at him with her pouty voice, but I’m too absorbed in the vision around us and the emotion of that little addition.
“If Emma loves it then that’s all that matters. I love anything she’s picked out.” I smile without looking around, knowing he’s trying to shut down Miss. Briggs in all her flirting fury. He’s equally irritated by her amorous attention. A while ago he admitted to me that the female adoration, he receives is tiresome and annoying; even more so since meeting me.
“Oh … you have no opinion?” She sounds disappointed at his lack of interest in her pet project, she probably thought that with this being his room the work she’s done
would somehow mean more to him. She’s obviously forgotten that as a man, Jake has an extreme lack of interest in soft furnishings, especially when there is an equal lack of high-tech gadgetry in the room. She seems to be blanking my existence.
Stupid hoe.
“Well … Honestly? There’s a bed and a lot of places to prop up my sexy as sin fiancée so yeah, I love it.” I snigger at the smirk in his voice from behind me and can visualize the one shoulder shrug he’s probably giving her.
I snort and cover my mouth to hold back the giggle trying to escape, warmed by his hand running up my back softly as he comes to me, brushing around the back of my neck lightly, placing a kiss on the back of my head.
Monica seems to be at a loss for words and I can’t help but side eye him with an indulgent grin; complete adoration and tingles for my ‘reason to live’ standing beside me, but I shake my head at him sighing.
Mr. Carrero, when will you ever behave? But I love you for it.
“If you’d like to see the alterations to the games room and the home cinema you asked for?” She cuts in, a tad frostily. I roll my eyes, some things will never change with Jake, including his love of all things manly and of course his Xbox room for when Daniel comes to play.
Do men ever really grow up?
“We can look around later when you all leave for the day, we’re going to unpack and get acquainted with this room first.” Jake turns and throws her his best panty-dropping heartthrob smile. I know without looking she’s probably swooning and close to fanning herself. I jump when he grabs my ass, possessively and dramatically, in full view of her line of vision. “Need to christen the bed after all.” He adds cheekily with a wink. I guarantee her face has turned fuchsia.
I sigh and continue staring out of the window, knowing full well he’s having more fun shocking the poor woman, than is necessary, purely making a point at her expense. When she retreats amid a fumbling flurry of words and shuts the door all too quickly, he turns back to me to catch my impatiently arched brow.
“Remind me again why we hired her?” I stare at him pointedly. I am sure there are probably a million other men who could’ve easily done the job with less of the eye raping of my fiancée.
“Because she was available for an immediate start and she has a great reputation.” He slides his arms around my shoulders and props his chin on my head, joining me in looking out of the window.
“So, Friday you say?” I sigh, the noise of loud hammering and screeching cutting through the tranquility of the room, irritating me immensely. This is hardly the homecoming to a new life I’d imagined when driving here.
“Well … she promised on the phone. No more construction after Friday just a lot of decorating and moving men to deal with instead.” He kisses me in the nape of my neck and runs his fingertips across my collarbone sending tingles in every direction.
“Great, just what we need.” I sigh heavily, trying to push out the overwhelming urge to turn and molest him, currently running through my bones.
“The old PA Emma is going to love bossing around all those sweaty men and Miss. Briggs. and you know it. You were always an intimidating force in full PA mode.” His mouth has decided to linger on my throat and the warm waves of longing are becoming distracting.
I suppose I can’t argue with that, overseeing, organizing, and making things perfect is what I excelled at when working at Carrero Corp. I’m sure this is going be far more enjoyable than anything I organized when I worked there.
“I suppose. If I can’t stand it, we could always stay next door.” I beam at him when I say it; having the Carrero home less than 200 meters away is making me stupidly happy, and the only thing taking over my rising hormone levels.
“We could, bambino.” He smiles as he lets me go and wanders toward the inner door of the room, near to where we’re standing and opens it. He reaches inside and flicks on a bright light in the en suite. His eyes scanning the inner room with a look of delight.
“Oooh,” I say out loud when I spot the shining coffee-colored sparkling floor from the doorway and venture closer. The bathroom is in matching neutrals with the biggest jacuzzi I have ever seen and so many shiny, chrome taps and knobs that I am completely clueless as to what they are for.
“I know what we’re doing for the next hour.” Jake winks and yanks me into the bathroom with him, a mischievous twinkle in his eye finding no protests from me."
