Unwrapped (5 page)

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Authors: Katie Lane

BOOK: Unwrapped
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I
love this scene,” Gerald sighed. “Rock Hudson is so cute when he's angry. God, what I wouldn't give to have him fling me over his shoulder and take me back to his tawdry apartment. Oh, the things I'd do to him behind those locked doors.”

Jac giggled and took the last handful of popcorn from the bowl that sat on the mattress between her and Gerald. She should've left it for Gerald or Bailey, especially after the extra pounds she'd gained. But it was Thanksgiving weekend, and everyone fudged on diets during the holidays.

Everyone but her sister, who never fudged on anything.

Bailey glanced up from the laptop she'd been working on. “You do realize that Rock Hudson is dead.”

Gerald rolled his eyes. “Way to ruin a fantasy, Bay. You don't hear me reminding Jac that Mel Gibson is old with at least a hundred children and grandchildren every time she fantasizes about him. I'm not such a party pooper.” He stuck out his tongue at Bailey, who had gone back to tapping away on her keyboard. He reached for more popcorn and then sent Jac an exasperated look when he came up empty-handed. “What is your preoccupation with
Braveheart
these days anyway, Jac? I swear I'll throw up if I have to see his filthy, stringy hair one more time.”

“I only chose
Braveheart
twice,” she said, fluffing a pillow behind her back.

“Twice in the last month,” her sister grumbled. “Along with every vampire movie ever made.” The computer keys clicked as she spoke. “And I'm not wasting another Saturday night watching some guy suck the blood out of women. I get plenty of that in the courtroom.”

Gerald snorted. “I'd love to meet the man who dares to try and suck your blood, Bailey.” He winked at Jac. “You need to choose a movie with dark-haired female vampires next time. Because if there's any bloodsucking going on, Bailey's doing the sucking.”

Jac ducked as a throw pillow sailed past her and hit Gerald in the side of the head, mussing his perfectly styled and highlighted hair. And no one mussed Gerald's hair and got away with it. He grabbed the pillow, knocking over the popcorn bowl as he jumped up on the bed. Bailey barely had time to close her laptop before the pillow pounding began.

Laughing, Jac got to her feet and wielded a pillow of her own. As far as she was concerned, Saturday night was the best night of the week and had been ever since they'd moved in with her aunt. Movie nights had started the summer after she and Bailey had returned from their first year at boarding school. That was when they'd met Gerald, the skinny, pale boy who was the only child of their closest neighbors.

Gerald was closer to Bailey in age, but had more in common with Jac. They both liked to play dress-up, style Barbie hair, and watch old movies. And coming from different backgrounds, they had a lot to teach each other. She taught him how to cuss, cook, and explode a mailbox using an M-80 firecracker. He taught her how to dress appropriately, how to decorate, and proper etiquette. There were a few blunders. Like the time he accidentally dyed her hair a bright magenta and plucked her eyebrows so thin she constantly looked surprised. Or the time she set the roof of the gardener's cottage on fire with the exploding whizzer firework. That incident had been the final straw for Aunt Frances, and Jac would've been sent away for good if Gerald hadn't taken the blame.

Which explained why Jac took his side in the pillow fight against Bailey. Not that having her on your team was an advantage. During a misaimed swing, she stumbled and fell into Gerald, knocking him down and cracking the back of his head on her cherrywood footboard.

“Oh my God.” Jac bounced down next to him. “Are you all right?”

Bailey reached out a hand and pulled Gerald up to a sitting position. “Geez, Jac. First you almost ruin his event planning business and then you try to kill him.”

“You know I would never intentionally hurt Gerald,” Jac defended herself. “And he's already forgiven me for the wedding fiasco.”

Looking slightly dazed, Gerald nodded. “I don't blame her for walking out on the wedding. The canary-yellow roses clashed horribly with the daffodil-yellow bridesmaids' gowns. I never should've chosen Robert as the florist…even if he is great in bed.” He pressed a hand to the back of his head. “Although the date was all Jac's fault. Why you chose Halloween for a wedding is beyond me.”

“What better date to have a fake wedding than on a holiday where everything is fake?” Bailey answered for her.

Gerald shrugged. “It would've been completely unique if your fiancé hadn't refused my Vegas costume idea. A costume wedding in Vegas on Halloween would've been the talk of the town. But without Vegas and costumes, the date was just boring and crass.”

“The entire idea of marrying for money is crass,” Bailey said. “But I can't seem to get that through Jac's screwed-up head.”

“Everyone marries for money these days, Bay.” Gerald got up and walked over to the mirror on the closet. “I've been looking for a wealthy lover ever since Mother disinherited me for being gay.” He lifted the top of his hot cowboy pajamas and pinched his waist. “And if I keep eating Jac's butter-injected country cooking, I'm not going to find one.”

“You wouldn't need to find one if you hadn't gotten involved with your jealous personal trainer. Then your homosexuality would never have gotten back to your mother.” Bailey opened her laptop.

Gerald sighed. “Ahh, Ramon. You were almost worth losing millions for.”

“Ahh, millions.” Jac flopped back down on the bed. “Just thinking about all that money makes me weak.”

Gerald glanced over. “So who's your next victim?”

Jac rolled to the side and rested her head in her hand. “I'm not sure. My friend Renie has a really cute divorced father who has six car dealerships that are going bankrupt. I figure he'll be willing to cut a deal for a year. He's sixty-seven and likes younger women.”

“Good God,” Bailey muttered. “Can't you find someone your own age? Charles and Bradford were over fifty.”

“It's the absent-father thing,” Gerald said. “She's looking for the father she never had.”

“Maybe,” Jac conceded. “Or maybe I'm just looking for a man who won't be upset with the no-sex clause in my prenup.” Of course after her night in Colorado, sex didn't seem so overrated. In fact it had consumed her thoughts for the last month. Or maybe what had consumed her thoughts wasn't sex as much as sex with a certain Scottish vampire. Thankfully, after the sheriff's deputy had driven her back to the Gerhardts', Bailey had been too relieved to interrogate her thoroughly. So Jac's secret was safe. Now if she could just get her libido in check, things would go back to normal.

“It's too bad that your aunt excluded me from possible grooms,” Gerald said. “I wouldn't mind at all if we didn't have sex.” He touched the spot on the back of his head and winced. “If you ladies will excuse me, I'm going to get some ice.”

When he was gone, Bailey stopped typing and looked at Jac. “I'm not coming to another wedding.”

Not believing her sister for a second, Jac hugged her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. “I think I'll have the next one in Mexico.”

“I really won't attend one in Mexico. I'm not driving all the way there. Colorado was bad enough.”

“If you weren't such a chicken about flying, you wouldn't have to drive.” She leaned over the side of the bed and picked up the popcorn bowl and the un-popped kernels that had spilled on the carpet.

“And my MINI wouldn't be totaled and my insurance rate increased,” Bailey muttered.

“I'm really sorry about that, Bay. But you can't blame that on me. Not when Mr. Darby tampered with the brake lines.”

“Geez Louise!” Bailey threw up her hands. “For the umpteenth time, no one tampered with the brakes. I told you that I needed new brake pads and an icy highway probably didn't help.”

“That doesn't explain the flat tire.”

“The tire on my MINI went flat before you hit the sign?”

Jac realized her blunder and quickly changed the subject. “It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I need to get married quickly before some other freakish accident happens.” She tossed the last of the kernels back in the bowl. They landed in the congealed butter at the bottom.

The sight of the yellow, foamy grease caused her stomach to flip. She took a deep breath to try to settle it, but instead a waft of butter and popcorn filled her lungs, making her even more nauseous. The fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy she'd made for dinner swished around in her stomach before rising to the back of her throat. Dropping the bowl, she placed a hand over her mouth and jumped from the bed.

She made it to the toilet just in time. After she'd emptied her stomach of dinner and what looked like the Chinese she'd had for lunch, she flushed the toilet and sat back, resting her head on the wall.

“How come you didn't tell me you're sick?” Bailey stood in the doorway, her hazel eyes filled with concern.

“Because I'm not.” She got up and moved to the sink. “It's probably just something I ate.”

Bailey placed a hand on her forehead. “You don't feel like you have a fever.”

“Because I'm not sick.” Jac pulled away from her sister and picked up the glass from the granite countertop. “Lately I've just felt a little queasy after I eat.”

“Lately? How lately?”

Jac shrugged. “For about a week, I guess.” She filled the glass and rinsed out her mouth while Bailey stood behind her, her narrow gaze reflected in the mirror.

“You've had your period, right?”

Choking, Jac spewed water out of her mouth and spattered the mirror. Her stomach churned as she stared at her sister through the dripping droplets.

“Tell me you've had your period, Jac.” Bailey's voice shook with anger and something that sounded a lot like the emotion that coursed through Jac's body. Fear. Unmitigated fear.

“I…I…” She swallowed. “I-I'm just a week late. Or maybe two.” She tried to breathe, but a huge lump had filled her airway.

“Shit! I thought you were on birth control.” Bailey pointed a finger at the mirror. “You told me you were on birth control.”

“I was!” Jac yelled back, now feeling as hysterical as Bailey. “I got off it because it was making me retain water. Besides, I didn't need it when Bradford and I weren't having sex.”

Bailey grabbed Jac and turned her around. “So you haven't had sex with Bradford?”

“No.”

“Or anyone?”

“No.” She kept direct eye contact, but she couldn't keep her right eye from twitching.

It was enough to clue Bailey in on the lie. “For God's sake, Jac.” She released her and turned away. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“But he wore a condom, Bay. I swear.”

“Who wore a condom?” Gerald stood in the doorway holding a box of frozen waffles to his head.

“Jac's lover,” Bailey said before she pushed past him.

After she was gone, Gerald looked at Jac, and his eyebrows waggled. “Shame on you, Jac, for not sharing that tasty little morsel with me.” But his teasing brown eyes grew concerned when Jac didn't laugh. “He-e-ey.” He walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It's okay to have a lover, honey. Especially one who knows how to wear a condom.”

“Except he still got her pregnant!” Bailey yelled from the other room.

“I'm not pregnant!” Jac yelled back before she lowered her voice. “Contrary to what happened in the Twilight series, vampires can't have babies—not even with humans. I looked it up on the Internet.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Her sister raced back in with her trench coat flapping and her briefcase clutched in one hand. “Vampires? What do vampires have to do with you being pregnant?”

“A lot.” Suddenly tired of being bullied, Jac glared back at her and told the truth. “I had sex with a vampire on Halloween night.”

Bailey's briefcase thumped down to the floor as her mouth dropped open. Always the peacemaker, Gerald grabbed a towel off the rack and gently wiped the water off Jac's chin. “Well, that does explain all the vampire movies.”

Bailey finally found her voice. “Don't give in to her, Gerald. That's exactly what got us into this predicament. We've gone along with her craziness for so long that she's lost touch with reality.”

“I'm not crazy. The man had fangs, and I had a bite mark to prove it.” Jac turned to Gerald. “Tell her, Geri. Tell her that vampires can't make babies.” There was a desperate edge to her voice. Probably because she didn't believe the crazy story any more than Bailey did.

Gerald lowered the towel and looked like a deer caught in headlights. But after only a few seconds, he nodded at Bailey. “It's true. I think it has something to do with not having a soul. They have no souls, therefore there's no divine conception.”

Bailey stared at him in disbelief. “You've got to be kidding me.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Although they can bite babies and turn them into little vampires. We need to be thankful we're not talking about the Devil. He has no problem impregnating women. Just look at
Rosemary's Baby
and Damien.”

Bailey dropped down next to her briefcase and put her head in her hands. “I don't know what I ever did to deserve this.”

Crouching, Gerald patted her back. “Don't worry, Bay. If Jac said the man”—he winked at Jac—“wore a condom, I believe her. Still, it might be a good idea to get one of those pregnancy tests. Just to be on the safe side. If it's positive, then we'll worry about baby vamps.”

Positive? Jac slumped down on the floor with her sister.

It couldn't be positive. Jac couldn't think of one positive thing about being pregnant. Kids had never been part of her plan. She didn't want a life with kids and a family. She wanted a life with no worries and lots of money. Children didn't fit into the scenario. Especially when her motherly example had been a bartender who got knocked up by losers and got her two illegitimate daughters' names from Jack Daniel's and Bailey's Irish Cream whiskeys.

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