Jackson choked, letting go of her hand to thump himself on the chest. “What?”
“I know. Crazy, right?” Ridley continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was now completely aroused.
He put his hands in his pockets and tried to hitch his pants higher to cover his erection. “She actually said that?”
“Pretty much. She knows you’re exactly my type, so she thinks I should use this time to seduce you. Of course, I told her I’d get right on that.” She laughed and covered her face with her hands. “Wow, that’s even more embarrassing than the first time I said it!”
“Jesus, Ridley.” Jackson held a hand to his heart, which was now pounding so hard he worried it might jump out of his chest and land on the grass. “If I actually thought you meant that, you wouldn’t be safe anywhere.”
“Jackson…” she pleaded. “Don’t make fun of me.” She peeked at him from between her fingers.
“I’m not making fun of you, trust me.” He stepped closer and pulled her hands down, holding them firmly in his. She watched with wide eyes as he dipped his head, her lips parting as he moved in.
There were a million reasons this was a bad idea. In fact, he’d listed them mentally just last night. However, he suddenly couldn’t come up with even one. As he zeroed in on her mouth, all he could see was that her bottom lip was slightly fuller than the top. He was going to bite that plump lip.
Just then Matt walked up. “Hey. Look who just arrived.”
It took Jackson a few moments before he could tear his gaze away from Ridley. She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a soft sigh, her breath wafting across his cheek. There were so many thoughts running through his head, all of them screaming at him to pick her up, throw her over his shoulder, and take her in the house. Then they could “get right on it” as she’d jokingly put it.
Only he wouldn’t be playing around.
“Jackson? Uh, should I give you two a minute?” He met Matt’s amused eyes and then followed his finger to where he pointed across the grass. What he saw cooled him down instantly. He took a deep breath and stepped back from Ridley.
“We’ll definitely pick up this conversation later.” Then he turned to the older couple walking in their direction.
“Mom! Dad! Over here.” He waved his arm to attract their attention.
Alana, who’d been hovering off to the side watching them, huffed out a breath and scurried in the opposite direction, her short dress riding up as she trotted away.
“Well, what got her so excited? Not that I’m not happy she’s finally gone,” Ridley said.
He reflexively pulled her against his side again. Not that he wanted to fool his parents. His mother had eyes like a hawk and fooling her was something he hadn’t attempted since he was a teenager. No, he realized he wanted Ridley to meet his parents just because he liked her.
“She never got along with my mother. She’s probably afraid to face her. My mom is a bit intimidating sometimes.”
Before she could answer, his parents approached. His father immediately pulled him into a hearty hug. “There’s my boy!”
Jackson laughed and hugged him back, his father’s joy contagious. Mark Alexander had a way of making every gathering a party and treated everyone he met like family.
Between volunteer work mentoring at their church and taking on more summer workers than he needed just so the local boys could have productive work, he was always helping others in some way. When Jackson was younger, it was hard for him to understand why his father gave so much of his time and energy to others. In some cases, he’d felt like people took advantage of his father’s welcoming nature.
Now that he was older and hopefully wiser, he saw his father’s actions for what they truly were.
Kindness.
He hugged his mother and gently kissed her cheek, then stood still so she could fuss over him as she liked to do. After several exclamations over how thin he was and how he needed to take better care of himself, he was finally able to get a word in edgewise.
“Mom and Dad, I’d like you to meet Ridley Wells. Ridley is my neighbor and lives the next street over. Ridley, these are my parents, Mark and Julia Alexander.”
Ridley glanced up at him and smiled softly, looking relieved when he didn’t mention anything about the accident. He hated that she still seemed ashamed about it. His parents wouldn’t fault her for her circumstances. If anything, his mother would probably bundle her up and coo over her just like she did her own children.
“Hello, Ridley. I’m so glad you decided to join us today.” His mother hugged her briefly and she shook hands with his father.
“Jackson was really nice to invite me. I just wish I’d had time to prepare something.”
His mother’s eyes lit up. “That’s all right, honey. Do you like potato salad? Mine is on the end of the buffet in the red-and-white bowl.”
“I’ll be sure to try it. My potato salad was never anything special, but I make really good seafood salad. It’s one of my sister’s favorites.”
Jackson was amazed. The one time he’d introduced Alana to his parents, they’d spent the entire evening making awkward conversation. Ridley, however, seemed to have no problem chatting with them. When he tuned back into the conversation, his father was trying to convince her to make him a shrimp salad.
“Dad! She’s not here to work. You’re going to scare her away.”
His father winked at him and nodded in Ridley’s direction. Jackson shook his head slowly, hoping his father understood that they were just friends. The idea of being just friends with a beautiful woman was foreign to his dad—well, to pretty much every guy he knew. But after the way they’d connected last night, they definitely weren’t strangers, yet they weren’t going to be lovers, either. He owed her better than that.
“Oh, honey. What happened to you?”
When Ridley went rigid at his side, he knew his mother had caught sight of the bruises she’d tried to cover with her long-sleeved shirt.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I was in an a…accident,” she stammered.
“That looks really bad!” Julia held Ridley’s wrist and pulled her sleeve back to examine the marks on her wrist.
“Mom, don’t—” He shook his head at her.
Julia’s eyes went wide and then she looked back at Ridley, who pulled the sleeves of her shirt all the way down. Then she gave him a short nod as if to say “We’ll talk about this later.” Jackson had no doubt his mother would want the whole story as soon as she could get him alone.