Coming Home (17 page)

All she could think about was her parents seeing that and how they would feel. That thought finally broke the dam, and she began to sob.

Reid stepped into the room and tugged her from the chair. “Come here, honey.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against him. “Shh. Don’t cry. I’m so sorry I put you in this position. I’m so sorry.”

She wanted to tell him she didn’t blame him. No, she blamed herself. She was the famous one who’d taken an awful risk with a reputation that had already taken a beating. However, she couldn’t find the energy to say the words. Rather, she closed her eyes and sank into his embrace, hungry for his comfort in the storm.

On the flight home, Jill worked the phone, calling in every favor she’d accumulated since she’d been Kate’s attorney and manager. After an hour, though, it became clear that all the favors in the world couldn’t put the genie back in the bottle.

Anxiety pooled in her chest, making her wonder if she was having a heart attack at twenty-five-thousand feet.

Ashton reached over to place his hand on top of hers. “Take a break, baby. You’ve done all you can.”

“I’ve done nothing. That video is still out there for all the world to see.”

“That’s not your fault. It’s hers. It’s
theirs
. They did this, not you.”

“My job is to protect her, and I can’t protect her from this.”

“And that kills you. I know. But she took a foolish risk by cavorting in broad daylight, and by now she ought to know better.”

Jill pulled her hand free of his. “If you’re going to kick her when she’s down, I don’t want to hear it.”

“I’m not kicking her. I swear I’m not. I’m only stating the obvious. She should’ve known better. They both should’ve.”

“You’re right,” Jill said. “I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize for being upset, darlin’. When I get my hands on my father, I may have to punch him for this.”

“Like you said, what’s done is done. No point in coming to blows over it.”

“He should’ve protected her better than he did.”

“I’m sure he’s beating himself up more than any of us ever could.”

“Probably,” Ashton conceded. “Whatever I may think of the two of them together, he was wrecked by what happened with her.”

“For what it’s worth, so was she.”

“So I suppose after all those years of yearning for each other, they weren’t exactly thinking with their brains.”

That drew the first hint of a smile from Jill since the call from Buddy.
 

“We can relate, right?” he asked with that charming grin that sent a rush of desire zipping through her veins. Once again, he took hold of her hand, but this time he brought it to his lips.

“Yes.”

He waggled his brows. “Want to join the Mile High Club?”

Jill stared at him, aghast. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Nope.” He turned her hand to focus his attention on the inside of her wrist, where her pounding pulse gave away her true feelings on the matter.

“Who would fly the plane?”

“The autopilot,” he said, gesturing to the dashboard. “That’s who’s flying it now.”

“No. Absolutely not. N-O.”

“You’re no fun at all.”

“I believe I’ve provided adequate proof to the contrary over the last few days.”

“I love when you get all lawyerly with me. Makes me hot.”

“Everything makes you hot.”

“Not everything. Only you.” Giving her hand a gentle tug, he pulled her over for a kiss.

Jill marveled at how he’d managed to diffuse her anxiety and take her mind off her sister’s mess. She closed her eyes and fell into the kiss.

“Holy shit,” he said a few minutes later when he finally pulled back from her. “For a girl who said no so forcefully a few minutes ago, that was kinda mean.”

“How do you figure?”

He rested her hand over the bulge between his legs. “That’s how I figure.”

“That feels like it might be uncomfortable,” Jill said, pushing down gently as she moved her fingers over his length.

Ashton sucked in a breath.

“Oh, sorry.” Jill started to pull her hand back, but he put his hand over hers.

“Don’t stop.”

“Ashton…”

“It’s fine. I promise we won’t crash.”

The sky stretched before them, vast and blue and littered with puffy white clouds. They were completely alone as the plane hurtled through space and time, infusing Jill with an unusual sense of daring as she tugged on the button to his jeans and unzipped him, drawing a hiss from him as the zipper traveled over his erection.

She released her own seat belt and turned in the seat.

His eyes went wide when he realized her intent. “Jill…”

“Hmm?”

“What’re you doing?”

He’d driven her crazy more than once over the last few days, teasing her into an orgasmic frenzy until she was practically catatonic in the aftermath. Paying him back would be fun.

“This,” she said, bending to tease the tip of his very hard penis with her tongue.

“Shit,” he muttered, gasping. He fumbled around the far side of the seat and pushed it back a few inches, giving Jill the room she needed to maneuver.
 

The armrest poked her in the ribs, but she ignored that to focus on him. “Pay attention to the plane,” she said, making sure her lips vibrated against his sensitive skin.

“Ah, yeah. Sure. That’s all I’m thinking about.”

She smiled and took him into her mouth, using her tongue and lips to maximum effect.
 

His fingers sank into her hair, tight enough to cause pain, not that she minded. Knowing he wanted her so badly was a huge turn-on.

The plane hit a bump of turbulence, forcing him deeper into her mouth and making him moan. “God, that’s hot,” he whispered.

“Mmm,” she said against his shaft as she stroked him with her hand and lips.

“Maybe you ought to stop.”

The note of warning wasn’t lost on her as she continued to tease him with her tongue, adding a tiny bit of suction.

“Jill, baby…stop.
Stop
.”

Not in the mood to do what she was told, Jill continued until he was coming into her throat, both hands clutching her hair.
 

“Wow,” he said, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “You’re full of surprises.”

“It’s not fun being predictable all the time.” He’d put her in touch with a lighter, playful side to herself that she hadn’t known existed before him.
 

“Come here.”

She inched closer to him and his appealing scent as his arms encircled her.
 

“I’m crazy about you,” he whispered against her ear, making her shiver with desire and excitement at the promise in his words.

“I seem to have the same problem.”

“That’s convenient,” he said with a laugh.

Jill pulled back from him so she could see his handsome face. “I have a feeling it’s going to be completely inconvenient.”

“Maybe so, but it’ll be awfully fun, too.”

“It already is.”

With his hands on her face, he smoothed his thumbs over the fragile skin under her eyes. “You look rested and relaxed. I know this thing with Kate is upsetting, but I don’t want you to make yourself sick trying to make it right for her. You got me?”

Jill smiled at him, appreciating the concern behind his words. “Yeah, yeah.” She glanced down at his lap. “Need some help putting that away?”

“Ah, no, that’s all right. You’ve done more than enough.”

Laughing, Jill sat back in her seat, feeling quite pleased with herself. She’d shown him.

Chapter 8

Whenever something went wrong in his life, Jack Harrington went for a run. Usually the exercise helped to calm him, which led to a solution to whatever was bothering him. Some things, however, couldn’t be pounded out on the pavement of Newport’s famous Ten Mile Ocean Drive. Tormenting questions kept cycling through his mind. Primary among them: What the hell was Kate doing back with Reid Matthews? And how could they have been so stupid as to be caught having sex in broad daylight?

It had been a very long time since he’d experienced the sick feeling in his stomach that had been with him from the minute he’d first heard about the video. In the ten years since his ex-wife, Clare, had recovered from her coma and they’d survived the trauma of their divorce to move on with new spouses, life had been relatively calm and quiet—well, as quiet as it could be for a father of six children who ranged in age from twenty-nine to ten. He much preferred calm and quiet to turbulent.
 

But as he’d learned from the past, life could turn on a dime and lay down a new challenge when you least expected it. In the decade that his middle daughter had been a music-industry sensation, Jack had learned to live with the rumors and the innuendo that seemed to follow her. Kate often assured him that the rumors were part of being a celebrity in a twenty-four-hour news cycle that was always hungry for the next big scandal. She’d told him time and again that he had nothing to worry about where she was concerned. She liked to joke that if the gossipmongers had any idea how boring her life really was, they’d be extremely disappointed.

Well, he thought as he jogged through the dark, Kate had certainly given them something to talk about this time. And since there was no refuting the fact that it was actually her on the video, he doubted the gossips were disappointed. Not that he’d looked. He couldn’t bring himself to do that. But his youngest daughter Maggie had told him it was indeed Kate, and Maggie had confirmed with Jill that Kate was indeed with Reid—a former friend of his who Kate had taken up with after she moved to Nashville.
 

He’d tried to call Jill to get her take on the situation, but Jill’s phone had gone straight to voice mail. No doubt she was overwhelmed trying to deal with the mess Kate had made.
 

As he ran the length of the beach near his home, he told himself Kate was twenty-eight years old. No longer a child, no longer his responsibility. However, he could tell himself that over and over again, but no matter how far she traveled or how famous she might be, she’d always be his little girl. And the thought of her in pain, even if it was pain of her own making, caused him pain, too.
 

He arrived home a short time later and braced himself to put on a brave face for Andi and their three sons. Determined to keep his torment private, Jack came in through the mudroom and was surprised to find only one light burning over the stove in the kitchen and Andi waiting for him at the kitchen table with a bottle of wine.

“Hey,” she said with the sexy smile that could still turn him to putty after more than twelve years together. “You were gone a long time. That’s usually a sign of trouble.”

He smiled because how could he not? She knew him so well. Better than anyone ever had. Sometimes he felt like she knew him better than he knew himself, which should’ve frightened him but didn’t. He was in very good hands with her by his side.

“Sorry to worry you.”

“I knew this news would hit you hard for more reasons than one.”

Jack shrugged and ran his fingers through damp hair that would probably be even grayer by morning. He credited his six children with turning him prematurely gray.
 

“Come sit with me,” Andi said. “Have some wine. Talk it out. Let me help.”

Everything in him was drawn to her and her generous offer. “Where’re the boys?”

“If they know what’s good for them, the twins are taking showers, and Eric is finishing his homework. He was upset earlier. Read about it on Twitter, I guess. He’s preparing himself for some razzing at school tomorrow.”

“That’s just great.” Jack cringed at the idea of their seventeen-year-old son watching his sister have sex online. “Tell me he didn’t look at it.”

“He said he didn’t want to know.”

“I suppose that’s one bit of good news.”

“Clare called earlier, too. She’s anxious to speak with you.”

“I’ll call her in the morning,” he said as he dropped into a chair at the table.

Andi reached for his hand. “Talk to me, Jack. It might help to air it out.”

“What’s there to say? She’s back with him and getting busy in broad daylight where anyone can see.”

“I had a feeling that her being back with him would be the worst part for you.”

“What is she thinking? She could have
any guy
she wanted.
Why him?
”

“Think about what you just said.”

“Which part?”

“About her having any guy she wants.”

Jack focused on the comfort of her hand wrapped around his. Being close to her always calmed him. “I can’t get my head around that. I never could.” He’d introduced her to his college friend when she first moved to Nashville, hoping Reid would “keep an eye” on his eighteen-year-old daughter as she tried to break into the business.