I close my eyes as his words wash through me.
“To fucking stick it to my family. Her father and my mother are together, divorcing their spouses to be together so she’s pissed at my mom. Aiden marries someone else so she’s pissed at him. I’m the one that wanders into the bar and gets roofied.”
“Oh my God.”
“I take some blood tests to prove I’m drugged because my mother and brother are let in by her and look at me like I’m a piece of shit at the point I wake up, still dopey and not knowing what the fuck happened. I leave a few hours later and come home and meet you while your brother is having a party.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. It’s probably not even worth it to mention at the wedding I got into a fist fight with the fiancé of a sort-of ex.”
“Ouch. That explains the black eye.”
“Yeah. I get here and get the test results and Carly, still in St. Kitts, gets hotel security footage showing some damning footage of her. I have Sienna arrested. I’ve been livid. Absolutely out of my mind livid that she did that to me and that everywhere I turn and tell this embarrassing story to - people try to talk me into dropping the charges. Reverse chauvinism is alive and thriving in my circles.”
I grab his hand and hold tight.
He claps his free hand over mine and looks into my eyes. “I run into her two days after my father has another heart attack and she tells me she’s pregnant.”
It’s coming together for me. The timeline of when he turned cold after the phone sex.
“So, yeah, I’ve been hot ‘n cold with you because I didn’t wanna drag you into this shit… but I couldn’t keep my mind or my hands off you. Not to mention I couldn’t keep my mind straight with the right thing to do about anything.”
I blow out a breath.
“Until I saw how you wanted this thing with us to go.”
I look away.
“Don’t play off like it was just a story. I saw so many threads of truth woven in there. And I’m here. Wanting it, too. I’ve been here and will be here for you. I read your story, you know that and we haven’t talked about it. But I don’t only wanna play games. Not with the important stuff. I want you to come to California with me. I want you to move there with me when I’m done here in a couple weeks.”
“Oh my God.”
“I’m not joking. Sell your father’s house. When your brother gets out of the hospital, we can help him move to San Diego, if he wants. Try it. If you don’t love Cali, we’ll talk. If you do, we can offer to help him get set up with a place and a job. I know lots of people. You always wanted to go to the ocean, taste the air.”
“What if we don’t work?”
“How will we know if we don’t give it a shot?” he asks.
I bite my lip.
“Jada, I’ve always wanted a girl I could connect with on multiple levels. I have that with you.”
“You do?”
“The banter. The jokes. The being able to unload on one another as an outlet. Not that I’m planning on being a dick with you, but feel free to turn on the sass. You know – if you want your ass spanked.”
My eyes bulge.
He laughs at my reaction, then pulls me onto his lap and kisses my jaw. “The way you cook. The sex. Your filthy-beautiful brain and the way you write. The sex. How sweet you were to my niece and nephew. That my sister loves you. That you repeatedly tried to be nice to my mother when she was an absolute bitch. The way you had no idea Andrew wanted to fuck you, or the way you’ve been acting like I’m going to disappear into a puff of smoke any second.”
“I do not…”
“You do.”
I totally do.
“Your eyes track me continuously. You breathe differently when I’m touching you. The sex with us, Jada – it’s fucking exceptional.” He says this with a knowing look – like I couldn’t possibly disagree.
“And I like that you’re a good girl. My good girl who I suspect will let me fuck her any way I want.”
I bite my lip. His lips touch mine briefly and then he’s looking into my eyes, running his fingers through my hair. And I’m melting here on his lap.
“I’m gonna earn that, you know? Chapter four? The window cleaning scene? That’s gonna happen.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Well…” I say huffily, ”if we’re moving to California in a couple weeks, you better do it soon. You live in a house there, not a skyscraper. The fantasy won’t pack the same punch in a two-story house.”