Jessica narrowed her eyes. “Don’t test me.”
He jerked his head toward the hall. “I’m glad to see you didn’t lose your sass. Go shower. I’ll take you shopping.”
Chapter Forty-One
Friday.
Ryn needed a stiff drink and a merit badge for making it though the week. She went from planning a Monday elopement to confessing her past to Maddie in the most graphic way, followed by her daughter hating her, then the cherry on top—Jackson left, forever.
While she cleaned her two houses for the day, Omaha received another eight inches of snow, making the drive home a crawl through the busy late day traffic.
A needed grin crept up her face as she pulled into her driveway that was shoveled and covered in a good inch of ice melt. “Funny, Drew.” She rolled her eyes at his attempt to make fun of Jackson’s over-the-top ice melt incident. Payback would be fun.
After knocking the ice melt off her boots she opened the door. “Hey, baby,” she said to Gunner. Then she flipped on the light.
“Oh. My. God.” Her words were barely a whisper. Anything louder would have required her to have air in her lungs.
Breathless.
The walls were painted, the furniture was new, bookshelves, lamps, throw rugs. However, the shocking part was she’d seen everything before because every detail was a photo from her Pinterest boards.
She continued to the kitchen, but she knew how it was going to look before she rounded the corner—new appliances, light fixtures, even the wine rack—all from her Pinterest boards.
On the small, white, built-in desk by her back door was a new computer. The screen saver flashed photos of Ryn, Maddie, and even a few of Gunner. She clicked on the mouse, revealing a message on her home screen.
I changed my mind … wait for me.
Ryn swallowed her heart and turned around. There he stood wearing the sharpest black suit and tie she had ever seen.
“Did you wait?”
A million words jumbled into so many questions. Why? How? Are you for real? She shook her head.
“You didn’t wait for me?” Jackson’s eyes widened.
Ryn shook her head again. “I couldn’t. Once you left there was a line of guys waiting at my door.”
“Young, no doubt?” His eyes narrowed a bit.
“Mere babes in the cradle.” She smirked.
“Jude died. For good this time.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. He stood in the way of me being with you.”
Ryn blinked back tears, swallowed hope, and waited for the unknown. At some point in her life she forgot how to dream … how to imagine having any sort of lasting happiness.
But … there he stood.
“Are you?”
With just a few slow steps, his larger-than-life presence swallowed the space between them. The pad of his thumb caught her first tear.
“Are you with me?” she whispered, desperate for him to pull her out of the shadow of doubt that loomed over her.
“Forever.”
“Jackson …” Her arms flew around his neck. She held him with all her strength, daring life to try and take him away again.
His hands cupped her face and he kissed her. She didn’t care how many people died for him to be with her. His touch made her selfish. She didn’t care why he was there. His past didn’t matter. He was her future.
Fuck the past.
“You hacked into my Pinterest account and hired an army of help,” she murmured.
His lips devoured every inch of her neck as one of his hands laid claim to her ass and the other to her breast.
“I did.” He unfastened his pants.
“Are you going to invade my privacy for the rest of our lives?”
He bit her shoulder, a grin playing along his lips. “Yes. There’s not a single part of you or your life that I’m not going to invade, dominate … claim as mine.” He stood.
“What if—”
He kissed her, swallowing her words of protest.
Taking her into his arms, he backed her against her new stainless-steel refrigerator. Then leaving her breathless, he stepped back.
“Take off your clothes.”
The familiar flush surfaced along her skin. She used to hate it, but no longer. It meant the beautiful man before her wanted to see her body. It was crazy, improbable, and utterly flattering.
“You first.”
Jackson grinned. He reached for his tie.
“Leave on the tie … and your glasses.”
He raised a brow, his cocky smile taking over his face.
Ryn melted to a puddle on her new floor as he undressed for her. He widened his stance and crossed his naked arms over his naked chest, with the exception of his black tie.
“Your turn.”
It took a few seconds for her mind to stop chanting, mine, mine, mine … The tattooed specimen before her was hers. That … she would never completely understand, but for women over forty everywhere—and the greater good—she would spend the rest of her life trying to figure it out—figure him out.
Fuzzy socks, skinny jeans, a pink V-neck T-shirt—she stripped for him. He made her feel sexy, something no other man had ever done. Letting her bra drop to the floor, she slid off her panties, leaving them next to her bra at her feet.