Page 26 of Hot Irish Halloween

“Not the same thing. I know her.”

Jack found his toiletry kit and crossed to the bathroom to stash it. When he returned, she stared at him from the seat she’d taken on a red velvet divan before a lit fireplace. Its warmth was enough to keep the outside chill at bay.

Clasping her hands together on her knees, she tilted her head. “Alright. Break this down for me so I understand what’s really going on. Am I here to make Clarissa FitzGerald jealous? Or are you sleeping with her and brought me here to cover for you, so her husband doesn’t suspect anything?”

Jack sighed, finally pausing to gaze at her. “I needed to bring a date so she’dstoptrying to ride me. I met her a year ago at some other banker cunt’s party. Since then, she’s called, she’s dropped by my gym uninvited. Made it clear she expects me to fuck her. It’s probably the only reason I was invited here this year.”

“You sure you haven’t done something to make her think it might happen?” Penny persisted.

Jack quirked an eyebrow at her. “Are you asking if my skirt was too short?” Penny twisted her lips at him, and he sighed. “Nothing’s ever happened. No time spent alone, no physical contact — aside from her grabbing my cock when she was drunk. Clarissa’s the boarding school, skiing in winter, partying on yachts in summer type. I’m just a pet she wants to slum with for a bit until she gets bored and goes after another new shiny thing. I’m a challenge to her. Something to buy, something to win. Not a person.”

“Wow. Okay. I can’t believe you brought me here to her house without telling me about any of this. I’m basically a cockblock in a princess gown.” Penny snorted to cover up the sudden hurt she felt at this revelation. Disappointment with a side helping of anger bloomed in her chest like algae in a pond. “How could you bring me to her house for a party? She is going to put me in that bonfire and light my ass up while they dance around it in a circle. Or she’s gonna put some Shug Avery pee in my soup at the very least.”

Jack grimaced. “I don’t know who that is. Don’t you think you’re blowing this a little out of proportion?”

“No, I don’t. These people own a bank and acastle,and we’re here playing in their faces. I would have appreciated being told the truth so I could decide for myself if I wanted to deal with this.” Penny got up and paced the edge of the rug, then stopped again. “Also, when did I go from a fake girlfriend to a fake wife?”

“When I decided it,” he uttered, and the tenor of his voice, deep and serious, made her belly flare with heat. “She was more likely to keep trying if you were just a girlfriend. And you are not a cockblock. I could have brought any of the other four women I vetted if I didn’t care who came with me. You were the one I wanted to bring here. Just you, Penny.”

The heat was back in his eyes, along with something so tender she was suddenly off-balance, full of need for him to cross that space and kiss her. But he didn’t.

“Whatever. Might as well get this night over with,” she finally said. “Butyouare going to taste all my drinks and my food first. And you are not to leave me alone with these people for one second. Not a second, Jack.”

“I wasn’t planning to,” he said tightly.

“Great. I’m going to get dressed.”

“Grand,” was his terse response.

Still ticked off, Penny decided to shower, even though she didn’t need one. It soothed her enough to take some of the edge off that fight or whatever she’d just had with Jack. Afterward, in a better frame of mind, she toweled off with a thick, high thread count towel and rubbed her skin with glitter body lotion. Next was a careful application of makeup, her face fully beat, unlike her everyday slapped-on eyeliner and lipstick.

Next was the hair, freshly washed and dried that morning. She pinned a metallic sprig of rose gold set with faux diamonds and pink sapphires in it. No tiaras for this princess.

Finally, it was time to put on the dress, which was a dark blush color. The sleeves were puffy, and the bodice with the squared neckline pushed up her breasts. The belled skirt fell in a soft curtain around her ankles. With her hair and the gems, the entire ensemble came to vivid life. She snapped a picture of herself in the mirror and sent it to Jade, who responded, “Dope!!!”

Penny felt gorgeous, like the princess she’d wanted to be as a little girl. Suddenly she wanted to see Jack’s eyes light up when he saw her, despite still being pissed with him for the omission of the century. She flounced into the bedroom, pretending she didn’t care what he thought of her appearance.

It was a foregone conclusion he’d be hot in whatever he wore. But this was unexpected. Jack was standing near the window, staring outside in deep thought, but at her gasp, he turned. The dark gray silk brocade vest with the black, high-collared silk shirt underneath showed off his sculpted shoulders and strong arms to perfection. He should have been banned from wearing the dark olive pants that molded to his thighs and his ass, leaving her desperately thirsty.

The raw sexual energy he exuded made her entire body come alive in a way that pissed her off even more. She’d just told him earlier that day they weren’t getting physical again. All the reasons why were about to cross over to the window and jump the hell out.

From the dark, hungry expression on Jack’s face when he ran his gaze from her hair to her feet, she got the impression she wasn’t the only one feeling that rude desire. So, she played it off like neither of them wanted anything from the other. She gathered her flowing pink tulle skirt in her hands and curtsied.

“Can you please help out with the buttons?”

The row of faux pearl buttons down the back of the dress was unreachable on her own. Penny had asked for a zipper, but the dressmaker had argued it would ruin the vintage effect. Jack had said he’d help. But now, he had the look of someone who’d just been asked to handle a lit stick of dynamite.

Still, he obliged her, circling to stand behind her. His heat radiated and caressed her from head to heels, crackling hotter than the fire in the fireplace. Each whisper of his fingers againstthe sensitive skin of her back was a torment. Penny fervently wished she’d stood her ground about the damned zipper.

Finally, thankfully, he was finished, and she could breathe somewhat normally again. But he halted her before she could turn around.

“Wait right here.”

“Okay?”

Jack went to his side of the bed (his side of the bed, was she really spending the night in a bed with this man and keeping her hands off him?) and returned with a small black velvet pouch. He took her hand. Then he shook the bag, and a pair of earrings fell out onto her palm. Pearl studs that matched the buttons.

“These are gorgeous. Thank you,” she said grudgingly. He stood looking at her while she put them in her ears. It was hard to tell what mood he was in. “As far as surprises go, I like this costume jewelry a lot better.”

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