“Your father told me you had a passion for writing but hadn’t been able to do any the last few months because you were either too exhausted or taking care of our son. I just want to give you a chance to be able to do what you need to do. You can still be with him full time. The nanny can be more of a helper for when you need her,” he spoke reasonably.

“I’ll think about it,” was all she said. The thought of writing again was tempting but she would feel like such a bad parent, passing her child off to a stranger. She would at least consider the possibility.

Alex took her around the rest of the home. The home was decorated in a way she would’ve done herself. Some of the rooms reminded her of her childhood home. She loved everything about it. They arrived in the kitchen, where two other staff members were waiting for them.

“This is Edward, our gardener. He’s married to Tina. They live in the cottage on the back of the property. This is Maria, our housekeeper. They’ve all been with the family as long as Tina, which is why I wanted them here.”

“It’s really great to meet all of you,” Jessica said, while shaking their hands. The staff left them to eat the food and then an uncomfortable silence fell between them. Tina had said master bedroom. She wasn’t ready to share a room with her husband nightly. She needed more time to protect herself, to keep her heart out of it.

She would keep her things in that room but sleep in the nanny’s room for now. When the silence seemed to stretch on forever, Jacob’s cry came over the baby monitor. She jumped up in relief to get away from Alex and take care of her son.

Jessica changed Jacob, then fed him and was laying him down when Alex walked into the room. “Hold on, I want to kiss him goodnight,” he said, before gently kissing Jacob’s head. She had a very difficult time staying angry with Alex when he was always so loving towards their son.

They both stood over the crib for a few moments, both of them content watching him sleep peacefully. “Let me show you to your room,” he said.

Jessica breathed a sigh of relief, although she also felt a tiny twinge of disappointment at the same time. This is what she wanted, she had to remind herself. She didn’t want to share his bed, yet she felt bad he didn’t seem to want her at all. She was a little curvier since she’d had the baby. Maybe he was turned off by her new body.

Alex led her into the master bedroom. There was enough space for an entire apartment to fit into the huge room. The master closet was the size of her old bedroom. She stepped into the bathroom and was immediately in love. She didn’t say another word to Alex. She shut the bathroom door and started filling up the huge tub.

Jessica had to chuckle to herself at the size of the tub. It was large enough for a few people to have a hot tub party in it. After adding some soap from a bowl on the side of the tub, she placed her hair in a bun and stepped into the hot water. As she sank down to her chin and the bubbles surrounded her, a sigh of ecstasy escaped her lips.

Jessica finally relaxed and let the scents take her stress and worries away. She stayed in for over an hour, then finally managed to pull herself out of the cooled water. She wrapped herself in one of the luxurious, oversized towels and stepped through the doorway.

She wanted nothing more than to crawl into the huge four-post bed. She started to pull the towel away and noticed Alex sitting on the bed in nothing but a pair of pajama pants. She sucked in her breath at the raw power rolling off of him. He had to be the sexiest guy she’d ever seen. With clothes on he was enough to accelerate your heart, with them off he could cause cardiac arrest.

“Wh…what are you doing here?” she stuttered. She was praying he wouldn’t come towards her because if he took her into his arm she would cave quickly. She couldn’t seem to say no to him.

“I’ve been waiting for you. How was your bath? I was beginning to get worried, you took so long,” he said casually.

Jessica braced her shoulders. She knew she had to get all of her words out quickly or she’d lose her courage to do so. “Alex, I know we’re married but I’m not sharing a room with you. I can use the one next to our son’s,” she finished weakly.

Alex’s eyes went from casual to smoldering in one second flat. He slowly stood up and walked towards her. He was like a panther, stalking his prey. Her stomach felt like it was crawling up into her throat, she was so tense.

She wanted to be in his arms and knew it would be fantastic but she needed to protect herself. It wouldn’t take much to fall head over heels in love with him. She took an involuntary step back and then another, as he got closer to her.

He slowly looked at her from her head to her toes and back up again, without saying a word. When he finally reached her eyes again, they were both breathing heavily. He placed one hand behind her neck and the other at the small of her back and jerked her into his body.

“Alex, this isn’t a good id…” she tried to tell him but he swallowed her words as his lips took possession of hers. He kissed her with anger, passion and need. She tried not to respond but after a few seconds she was giving just as good as she got.

Her hands wrapped around the back of his head to pull him even closer. He was pressing her stomach into his obvious arousal. Knowing he wanted her was like throwing a lit match into a puddle of gasoline.

His hand slid down past the bottom of the towel and began touching the bare skin at the top of her thighs. She pressed even closer and a moan escaped her lips. He pulled back and turned away from her.

They both stood there, trying to catch their breaths. Alex cursed himself. He hadn’t meant for the kiss to go that far. She had a way of blocking out every thought in his head except for his desire to take her.

He finally gained control over his raging body and turned to face her again. Her breasts were still heaving with the deep breaths she was taking in. He could tell she was trying to gain control and not doing a very good job of it. He almost lost his will to turn away from her, at the look of desire in her eyes. He had to prove a point though. He knew later when he was standing in a cold shower he’d have to try very hard to remember what that point was.

“You’re my wife. You will be sharing my bed and you will be my wife in every way that matters. I will not disgrace my son, or my family, by having affairs and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a man with needs. This marriage is for better or worse and we’ll make the best of the situation.” He said all of this in a smooth, calm voice making her temper was rise.

How dare he tell her what she would and wouldn’t do! He wasn’t her boss. Yes, he’d strong-armed her into a marriage for the sake of their son and their families but she wouldn’t be at his beck and call.

Alex was enjoying the light of temper entering her passionate eyes. She was so easy to read and he could see she was ready to explode. The desire in him was growing. It was going to take all he had to walk from the room. He didn’t want to take her in anger. He respected her far too much for that.

Jessica walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face. He stood there, too stunned to move for a moment. When she saw the anger light his face, she backed up quickly, realizing she most likely had made a huge mistake.

He caught her arm and whipped her back around to face him, “if you slap me again, you will feel my wrath,” he snarled.

“You will not tell me what to do or how to be a wife. Our marriage doesn’t give you power over me. It doesn’t mean I will be sharing your bed. I make my own choices and decisions. No one makes them for me,” she said, with far more bravado than she actually felt.

Alex smiled at her with his normal confidence. “You want me just as badly as I want you. I won’t make you have sex with me, you’ll be begging me for it.” He then kissed her quickly and walked to the door. “I’ll give you tonight, alone, so you can miss me. Tomorrow and every night after, we’ll sleep in the same bed. The sex will be entirely up to you.”

With those words he walked out the door, leaving Jessica standing there, angry because she feared he was right. He barely left and she wanted to call him back to her. She sighed, knowing it was going to be a long night alone in the empty bed.

Chapter Four

Jessica walked down the stairs with Jacob in her arms. She was cranky and exhausted. Sleep had been elusive the previous night and it showed. After the parting kiss from Alex, she’d stirred in bed thinking about him, with her body on fire. To top that off, when she’d finally started to drift into a restless sleep Jacob woke and decided after he ate he wanted to stay awake for a while and play.

Alex stayed away from her for the night like he’d promised. By the second hour she’d walked the floors with Jacob she was thinking her decision for him to stay away may have been made a bit too hastily.

She knew she had circles under her eyes. She didn’t bother with any make-up and was wearing old sweats and a baggy t-shirt. She didn’t even care if she looked like something the cat had drug in. She just wanted some hot coffee and about twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep.

“Good morning Mrs. Anderson. Would you like me to take Jacob so you can eat some breakfast,” asked Tina, while she placed a cup of wonderful smelling coffee in front of her?

Jessica almost replied no, as she was so used to taking care of her son on her own but the aromas coming from the kitchen had her changing her mind. “That would be wonderful, if you don’t mind,” she finally replied.

“My husband Edward and I, weren’t blessed with children of our own. I will really enjoy having a baby in the house. I’m looking forward to spoiling him rotten,” Tina said with a wink and a smile. Tina took Jacob in her arms and when he smiled at her she laughed with real joy, making him smile even more.

Jessica relaxed, knowing her son was in good hands. “I will have Maria bring your breakfast out. Enjoy your meal,” Tina said, then walked into the kitchen with Jacob in her arms. Jessica ate her meal in silence and felt her eyes start to droop.

She couldn’t believe how tired she was all the time. She would really like to sleep for eight full hours straight, a luxury every new mother wanted. It was worth more than any amount of money in the world.

“Good morning, I hope you slept well,” said Alex, sounding far too happy. Jessica snapped fully awake at once. He didn’t look as if he’d lost any sleep, she thought accusingly. In fact, he looked as if he’d never lost a night of sleep in his life. She was a little envious of him right then.

“I slept great,” she lied. She refused to look up and make eye contact with him.

Alex sat down across from her and Maria placed his coffee and food in front of him. “Thank you Maria,” he said. The conversation halted, while he dug into his breakfast.

Alex was surprised by the punch of lust he was feeling. Jessica looked exhausted, obviously she hadn’t slept well. For that matter, he hadn’t slept well either. He was just hiding it a lot better than her. Even with circles under her eyes and dressed in such baggy clothes, she looked far sexier than any woman he’d ever seen. She had a natural appeal about her.