by A. Aubry
“It’s like I’m standing on the Titanic as it’s going down…” I sighed.
“Yeah, that’s definitely not good. Well, the good news is, there’s still daylight outside. Why don’t we pick a trail and go for a walk?”
Was he asking me out on a second date just hours after we had our first?
“I don’t know…I really gotta try to write…” I said hesitantly.
“Madeline, you need to step away from the computer and let your creative juices flow. Whenever I need to really focus on somethin’ and I’m stuck, I go for a walk. I’m sure it’ll be great for you,” he encouraged.
It didn’t feel like he was pushing me for the sake of pushing. He was encouraging me to do this because he wanted to help. I guess I sounded more stressed than I thought.
“Okay, well there’s a trail right by my apartment with a lake. It’s a really serene walk. Would you mind if we did a walk over here? That way I’m close to my apartment if inspiration strikes?”
He chuckled, “Definitely. Text me your address and I’ll be on my way.”
We said our goodbyes and I quickly texted him my address. He said he would be here in fifteen minutes. I ran to the bathroom and made sure I didn’t look like a complete mess. Yes, it had only been several hours since I had last seen him but since then there had been lots of hair pulling, lip biting, and at one point…tears. Luckily, I looked presentable enough and I threw my hair into a high ponytail before slipping on some socks and my tennis shoes. Just as I grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator, Jackson texted me that he was outside.
I had never run to the front door of my building faster before today. When I got to the door, I tried to look composed and collected as I walked through. Jackson stood there wearing what I had seen him in this morning, but he looked hot all over again.
“Ready to take in the fresh air and unwind?” He smiled as he took my hand in his.
From what I had seen on the television as I had the game on in the background, the Twins had lost by one run. But Jackson had hit a home run which was a pretty impressive thing to do. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who needed to unwind. I nodded and laced our fingers together before leading him onto the walking path across the street. It didn’t take long for the lake to come into view as we began to walk around it.
“Wow, you weren’t kiddin’ when you said it was serene,” Jackson admitted quietly.
“Yeah, it’s one of the perks of living this far east of the cities,” I shrugged.
As much as I wanted to focus on the view and the fact that Jackson’s hand was in mine, all I could think about was my book. It was hard to believe that I had developed a romance between two characters that was dull. I quietly laughed at myself, it wasn’t all that hard to believe. I had never been in love. I didn’t know what it felt like to have someone other than my family say that they loved me and mean it.
“What’s so funny?” Jackson raised an eyebrow at me.
Shit. I didn’t think I laughed loud enough for him to hear.
“Jackson, my book is a disaster,” I shook my head and took a seat on one of the benches that looked out at the lake.
He sat beside me, “What do you mean?”
I pursed my lips. I was always too afraid to tell anyone what types of books I had an interest in reading and writing. On the outside, and mostly on the inside, I was completely innocent. At one point in time my friends called me goodie two shoes. But I had a knack for reading romance novels and I wanted to write one of my own. You know the ones that even though they are laced with lots of hot steamy sex (a type of sex I had yet to encounter, by the way), they also had a head over heels love story. When people asked me about my books I compared them to books like The Notebook, when in actuality it was a mix between that and every dirty smut book I had read in my lifetime.
“My book…it’s about this type of true love that happens when you least expect it. You know…girl meets boy…things just click…they fall in love. But there’s also…you know…other things that happen in relationships…”
See what I meant about innocence? I couldn’t even say the word sex to a gorgeous man like Jackson.
“You mean sex?”
For some reason, the word off his lips sent a shiver down my spine.
“Yeah…but my publisher said the romance between the two main characters was dull…like there was no connection really between them,” I fought back tears.
“Well…tell me about the chapter you are workin’ on,” Jackson said softly.
Funnily enough, the two characters were talking on a bench in the part I was writing. They had just bumped into one another for the third time in a couple of days and they knew it wasn’t just a coincidence anymore.
“The main characters are sitting on a park bench. They’ve run into each other in various places before this but never thought anything about it until this moment in time. The girl is trying to figure out why she is feeling the way that she is…something she’s never felt before. I just can’t seem to make the guys’ actions portray that while he has no idea how he’s feeling like this towards someone he’s only just met…he’s fascinated with her.”
Jackson nodded slowly and it’s almost like I could see the gears turning in his head. He sat back against the bench and turned towards me a little bit. The grin on his face screamed mischievous so much that it gave me goosebumps. What in the world was he thinking about?
“So, let me give you a guy’s perspective on this. Maybe that will help?” Jackson put his arm on the back of the bench behind me.
“Actually…that would be such a big help,” I said, relieved at his offer.
“Well, you said he’s fascinated with her. So, he probably would move closer to her as they sat on the bench,” Jackson instructed before he moved himself closer to me.
My heart rate picked up. Really, heart? That simple move and you’re already pounding? What the hell?
“Then, he’d find some way to touch her. It could be her hand, her chin, her face, whatever feels right in the moment,” Jackson’s voice dropped down to just above a whisper as he lifted my chin up so that my eyes met his beautiful caramel colored ones.
I swallowed hard, “Uh huh…then what would he do?”
One corner of Jackson’s mouth turned up and it was the sexiest smirk I had ever seen, “Well, he’d want to follow the cues that she’s givin’ from there. Is she gazin’ into his eyes?”
“Yeah…” Check. And what beautiful eyes they were.
“Is her mouth slightly parted in anticipation?”
Holy hell. My mouth was doing that. With his mouth so close to mine, it was like my mouth refused to stay closed in case his tongue wanted in.
“Yes…”
“Is her every thought seemingly about him in this moment?”
Check. Check. And Check, “Hell yes.”
“Then he’d follow his gut, let the fascination with this gorgeous female lead him.”
“Lead him to what?” I breathed.
“Why, to the kiss that changes everythin’, of course,” Jackson whispered before his lips brushed against mine.
I jumped at the chance to wrap my arms around his neck after our lips met. This was everything my characters needed to be feeling. The pounding of my heart, the fireworks exploding around me, the shifting of the Earth’s fucking axis. Wait, fuck the characters. This was everything I needed to be feeling and holy hell was I feeling it alright.
Jackson moved his hand from my chin to my hip and a tingling sensation swirled from that point to the rest of my body. His tongue slowly pushed itself past my lips and began to dance with mine and it was like my body had been waiting for this moment for a thousand years. Suddenly we were dragged out of our kiss by the sound of a dog barking. When we looked over our shoulders, a dog and his owner were running past. Thanks a lot, dog. Ruin my moment here. Wait…that was fucking perfect!
The two are mid-kiss, sharing the first searing kiss of their future relationship, when th
ey are interrupted by a dog barking as he trots past with his owner. They are in a park, so that would make sense. Technically this wasn’t mine and Jackson’s first kiss, but fuck, it always felt like the first. I jumped up from the bench and grabbed Jackson’s hand as I dragged him back in the direction that we came.
He laughed, “Where are we goin’?”
“Inspiration has stricken!” I cheered.
The second I got us up to my apartment, I released Jackson and ran into my home office. Plopping down in front of my laptop, I erased the previous park bench moment and cranked out exactly what the fuck just happened between me and Jackson. Surprisingly, it only took fifteen minutes to finish my rewrite. When I walked out into my living room, I was nearly taken aback by the fact that Jackson was lounging on my couch waiting for me.
“Good inspiration?” He grinned.
My smile matched his as I sat down beside him, “The best. Thank you so much. I might need your help again in the future.”
Jackson brushed a hair that had fallen out of my ponytail behind my ear, “Whenever you need me, just ask.”
Gently, I took his hand in both of mine and gazed at him, “How about you? I saw the game didn’t exactly go the way it was expected…Do you want to talk about it?”
“You’re kiddin’ me, right?” His mouth nearly fell open.
“Uh…no?”
He blew a large breath of air out of his lungs and shook his head in disbelief, “Sorry, it’s just…nobody has ever asked me if I wanted to talk about my work or how I might be feelin’ after a game.”
“Well, this is a two-way street. You cared about my sanity when I was having a horrible case of writer’s block and you let me talk about it before helping me. Now it’s my turn to do the same for you,” I softly squeezed his hand.
Jackson shrugged one shoulder, “You know…it is what it is. You can’t win every game, that would be nearly impossible. It just would have been nice to win. I got a home run, so that was a highlight. But right now, I don’t care about if I won or lost…because now I’m with one of the most amazin’ women I have ever met in my life.”
I playfully looked around my living room, “Where is she?”
That brought a chuckle out of him before he took his hand from mine and moved it up to my cheek, “I’m lookin’ right at her.”
I pressed my lips against his softly, “I’m happy you called.”
“You don’t know how happy I am that I did too,” he smiled against my lips and our kiss took off once more.
After what felt like an eternity of kisses, I found myself not wanting Jackson to leave. He was going to be gone for a week, that was going to be difficult when I had been so used to my boyfriends being around literally all the damn time. I felt like I needed Jackson there with me, if only for one night.
“Stay with me,” I whispered against his lips.
He pulled back and looked at me, “Madeline, we only met yesterday…I don’t want to be the kind of guy who takes advantage of you like that after just meetin’.”
Holy fuck. A gentleman.
“We don’t have to do that, Jackson. Just stay the night with me. We can watch movies, cuddle on the couch, anything. I don’t want to spend any more time apart since you are going to be gone for a week after tomorrow,” I responded, trying not to sound desperate or nervous.
Jackson’s lips turned into a shy smile and it was filled with all the boyish charm that stole my heart, “Okay. I’ll stay with you.”
Oh, thank god.
Chapter Three
When my eyes opened, the sun was shining into my room and one fast asleep Jackson Ryder was in my bed. Well if that wasn’t a sight that I could get used to seeing first thing in the morning, I wasn’t sure what was. Last night was one of the most amazing nights that I had ever had. There was no pressure to have sex, just lots of fun and laughter. Okay, and maybe some hot, steamy make outs.
“What does your fortune say?” I asked Jackson as we opened our fortune cookies.
Ordering Chinese food for dinner was Jackson’s idea since there was a restaurant right across the street. I got to show off my ability to use chopsticks and we playfully fed each other things that the other person hadn’t gotten as their main dish. I couldn’t believe that this was all happening to me.
“Ladies first, Madeline,” Jackson smiled at me as he popped half of his cookie into his mouth.
“Ever the gentleman,” I giggled.
“It’s the Texas way,” he said with his mouth full.
Apparently, his southern manners only extended to letting a woman go first.
I opened my fortune cookie, “Okay it says… ‘There is a great love in your future’.”
Jackson swallowed his cookie, “I wonder what it is.”
Shrugging, I looked at him, “Your turn.”
He unfolded the small strip of paper in his hand, “Love is right beside you.”
“No way. It doesn’t say that!” I exclaimed as I reached for it, practically falling into his lap as he held it out of my reach.
“Sure does, look right here,” he grinned and straightened it out between his thumb and forefinger before holding it up for me to see.
I barely even realized that his arms were around me as I read his fortune. Sure enough, it said exactly what he read. What were the chances of both of our fortunes being about love?
Jackson dipped his head down and kissed my cheek as I stared at his fortune, “Maybe the future for us is bright?”
“It could be…” I blushed as I turned my face and we were nose to nose.
“Always trust the fortune cookies, Madeline. They know everythin’,” Jackson smirked.
I raised an eyebrow, “Did they know that I was gonna do this?”
Leaning forward, I planted a chaste kiss on his lips. Jackson hummed his approval and nodded slowly before kissing me again. Soon, we were lying on my couch, wrapped up in each other as our tongues easily moved with one another. There was no need to rush what we had, even though I knew what we had was something much different than I ever felt before.
“What are you thinkin’ about?” Jackson’s sleepy voice asked from beside me.
I smiled as I looked into those bright caramel brown eyes that were staring back at me, “Just last night. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that much.”
His arm wrapped around me and held me closer to him, “Me neither. I had a great time.”
Snuggling up against him, I nestled my head in the crook of his neck. How the hell did one person smell so good? He smelt woodsy and it was a scent that I could spend all day smelling and not complain about at all. My alarm rang off just as I found myself ready to fall back asleep. Jackson released me, allowing me to roll over and silence the noise blaring from beside us. I laid back in bed as Jackson threw off the covers and sat up, hanging his legs over the side of my bed with his back to me.
I had almost forgotten that he slept in his boxers last night. He had asked me a multitude of times if I was okay with that and damn, I don’t know how he thought that I wouldn’t be. His back was muscular and toned, little dimples formed when he reached his hands over his head and stretched. At this rate, I wasn’t worried about getting ready for work…this tall glass of hotness was my main focus.
Jackson stood up and slipped on his khaki shorts, buttoning them up as he turned to me and I just about drooled. I brought my blankets up to act as though I was chilly when in fact I was covering my wide-open mouth. Was this man real? Because I swear to god he was just chiseled from stone yesterday and brought to life. I had never seen such well-defined abdominal muscles in all my life. His biceps were even bigger than they seemed when they were covered by his sleeves. And that V that led down into his pants? Well hot damn, I really had to bite down hard on my lip to keep from licking it.
“Time to get up, Madeline,” Jackson laughed as he pulled the blankets from my grasp and ripped them off of me.
Even though I was wearing shorts and a tank top,
I felt like I was sweating after staring at him. To say that I was hot and bothered was an understatement. We should have had sex last night, I was sure he’d give me the mind blowing, make my body feel like jelly, sex that I had spent years reading about. I tore my gaze away from his torso and up to his eyes. Fuck, he knew I was checking him out. His smirk said it all.
“Hey, Mad, you got a little somethin’ right there,” Jackson teased as he pointed to the corner of his mouth.
I rolled my eyes and threw a pillow at him, “You’re such an asshole.”
Jackson caught the pillow and put it back down on the bed, “You’re the one who is droolin’ over me.”
Getting up on my knees, I crawled over to him, “So…that makes me the asshole?”
“You were eye fuckin’ me, admit it,” he laughed as he put his hands on my hips.
I bit my lip and put my arms around his neck, “And what if I was? Nothing you can really do about it right now.”
Abruptly, Jackson pulled on my hips, lifting me up and my legs instinctively hooked around his waist. He laid us down on the bed, his body covering mine. He was so close that I could feel the fact that he was aroused by the banter we were having just seconds before.
“There’s a lot I can do in a short period of time,” Jackson said softly before covering my lips with his.
I giggled against his lips, “Jackson, I don’t think that’s something you are supposed to be proud of.”
His lips trailed down to my neck and my breath hitched in my throat, “I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.”
My mouth fell open as his teeth grazed against my skin, “What happened to taking advantage of the situation? You were so against that last night…”
Jackson ground his hips against mine and I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my lips, “Do you want this, Madeline?”
“Yes, god…yes,” I groaned quietly, my breath getting shallower by the second.
His teeth tugged on my earlobe, “Too bad I don’t have a condom.”
“But…but…” I stuttered.
I could hear his smile as he tugged on my earlobe again, “But what, baby?”
“I’m…I’m on the pill…” I whispered, unable to find my voice.