by A. Aubry
“We aren’t goin’ straight to bed?” Jackson teased as he walked into the bathroom.
“I don’t know about you, but I am not a fan of the sticky ice cream feeling on my skin. Would you like to join me?” I winked as I slipped my tank top over my head.
“Would I ever turn down a shower with you?” Jackson responded, grabbing his shirt from behind his neck and tugging it over his head.
I giggled, “You could always start, I don’t want to assume anything.”
He strode over and reached behind me, unhooking my bra and dropping it onto the floor, “You can always assume that I love to take showers with you and if I am there, I will always join you.”
His eyes slowly moved from my eyes, down my face, to my chest and I followed his gaze. A line of ice cream had leaked in between my breasts and Jackson had licked his lips.
“Looks like we missed a little ice cream,” he smirked as he leaned in and licked the warm ice cream off of my skin.
My head fell back as his tongue moved from in between my breasts and up to my neck. His teeth nipped at my neck while his hands unbuttoned my shorts and pushed them down to my ankles, my panties following soon after. I ripped open the button of the jeans he was wearing and hooked my fingers into his waistband, gripping his boxers and jeans before dragging them down his legs. My hand excitedly reached out and began to stroke his cock as Jackson moaned.
“Better than your hand that you’ve been using the last five days?” I smiled innocently up at him as I kneeled on the cool tile.
“Definitely better,” he locked eyes with me and gave me a devilish grin.
Just as I was about to begin to suck, Jackson shook his head and picked me up off the floor, sitting me on the vanity. His hand trailed down my body before it ran over my clit and he pushed two fingers deeply into me. Jackson kissed my lips as a moan escaped, and I knew he was trying to keep me at least a little quiet. We weren’t all alone in his big house anymore where we could be as loud as we pleased. There were people just on the other side of the wall that could hear everything.
“You are so fuckin’ wet for me. It is so fuckin’ hot,” Jackson whispered against my ear.
I couldn’t take the torture any more. I needed Jackson inside of me. Four fucking days I had been without him sexually and that was more than enough time. Reaching down, I pulled his hand out of me and scooted to the end of the vanity. I carefully took his cock into my hand and led it towards my entrance. There was no time to play games, I needed this now. Taking a deep breath as Jackson slowly pushed into me, I let it out with a moan as he easily sunk in.
“That feel better than your toys?” Jackson growled as he thrusted deep into me.
“So much better. Make me come, Jackson,” I brought his lips to mine and kissed him as passionately as I could.
That night, Jackson and I made love more times than I could count. We weren’t only making up for lost time, but we were promising each other so much more. And while Jackson slept next to me after we finally exhausted one another, I was cranking out pages in my story. He was the best type of inspiration and my story turned into our story. How one guy had swept one girl off of her feet after they both had terrible luck with love. A story where love could change the world, because our love was changing mine.
Chapter Ten
Our trip to Chicago flew by, but I never regretted a second of it. After the Twins’ game on Saturday, Jackson and Owen took us to Millennium Park where we saw the infamous sculpture of what everyone calls The Bean and took in a free concert that was being played by a band I had never heard of. We sat on the grass like everyone else, my place taken between Jackson’s legs as he held me in his arms. At one-point, other concert goers had gotten up to dance to some of the ballads that the band was playing. Jackson happily stood up and offered me his hand. The man knew how to dance, that’s for sure, and it took my breath away.
Sunday, we got to go to the Twins’ last game in Chicago and have dinner with the guys before they had to get on the bus to Milwaukee. Even though Jackson was going to be home in a few days, it was still hard to say goodbye. But we did, and we made it through the next three days perfectly fine. The next week and a half of home games were amazing. I lived with Jackson and attended as many games as I could. He taught me how to make some of his favorite recipes and we went out on plenty of dates. Halfway through our little honeymoon stage of his return, news had broken that Josie was going to indeed have that six month no dating rule put into their divorce papers. Effective August 1st, Jackson and I were no longer going to be able to publicly date.
But, we still had a little over two weeks before that was going to be put into effect. Thanks to that pain in my ass ex-wife of his, I took off of work for a week to go on the road with Jackson. Today, though, was about Jackson’s father and future stepmother. Jackson had flown in straight from the Allstar game the night before and my plane had just landed in Houston. I had to take one of the earlier flights out so that I could get to Houston well enough before the wedding. Up until the ceremony, Jackson and I wouldn’t have a ton of time together seeing as he was slated to be his father’s best man. The second that I saw him as I exited the terminal where many families were waiting for their loved ones, I was so excited that I almost fainted.
“Jackson!” I called out as I ran to where he stood outside of security and jumped into his arms.
Our lips met as though we hadn’t seen each other in weeks rather than a few days. My arms wrapped around his neck as his arms snaked around my waist, holding me tight against him. I hadn’t been this close to him since Sunday night after his home game, but my body was responding to his like I hadn’t gotten laid in ages.
“I’m so happy you could make it,” he said softly against my lips.
“Time with you? I wouldn’t give that up,” I grinned.
Jackson put me down, but the expression on his face told me that he didn’t want to. Before we even made an effort to go find the baggage claim, we had exchanged at least five more kisses. As we watched the luggage carousel slowly turn, my arms were circled around Jackson as though he would disappear at any moment. I pointed to my bag when it came around the corner and he easily lifted it up and onto the ground beside us.
“Ready to go meet my father and future stepmother?” Jackson asked as he held onto my hand and rolled my suitcase behind him.
“Is it wrong if I say I’m nervous as hell?” I asked, it was the first time I voiced my nervousness out loud.
“There’s nothin’ to worry about, the man will love you…just like I do,” he smiled and led me to where he parked his car.
Jackson held the door open for me to climb into the passenger seat and as I closed the door, he put my bag in the trunk. He took his place behind the wheel, started the car, and eased us into the bumper to bumper traffic that I wasn’t expecting. With one hand on the wheel and one hand on my thigh, I could feel my nerves slowly starting to dissipate.
I looked over at Jackson, “So, how much about me does your father know?”
Did he know that I lived with his son nearly every other week? Did he know that technically now we weren’t even supposed to be dating? Shelby knew quite a lot about us from her stay—including how loud I could get in the bedroom—but I hoped to god their father didn’t know that.
“Pretty much everythin’. I’ve kept the intimate details to myself, but he knows just how crazy I am for you.”
“And how crazy is that?” I giggled at his choice of words.
He pulled up in a long line of stopped cars and brought his face close to mine, “I’m head over fuckin’ heels for you, Maddie.”
“And I’m over the moon for you too,” I smiled shyly and gave him a quick, innocent kiss.
Jackson blushed as he gave my thigh a light squeeze. Traffic finally began to loosen up and Jackson talked to me about some of the things he had planned for us in his free time the week I would be traveling with him and his team. He had booked all of my hotel rooms and trav
el, something I didn’t really expect him to do. It also sounded like he had some great moments planned for us as the final weeks of our public relationship were coming upon us.
He turned off the main road and drove up a long-paved driveway, one that really reminded me of his driveway in White Bear Lake. The house that we pulled up to was gigantic. It looked maybe a little larger than Jackson’s home back in Minnesota, but then again, he also had a lake behind his house. Catering trucks were everywhere and there was a short woman with long brown hair and a navy-blue pantsuit directing everyone where to go. Jackson put the car in park and leaned over to give me another quick kiss when he saw that my eyes were about to pop out of my head.
From what I remembered about what Jackson said about his father, he was a farmer—I didn’t remember exactly what crop—but he made a good amount of money. Jackson’s grandfather and great grandfather had been in farming and Jackson was supposed to take that over until he found his love of baseball. But hey, he was pretty damn good at the game, so I think he chose the right career path. I watched as Jackson climbed out of the car and jogged around the front to open my door for me. Taking a calming breath, I took his extended hand and got out next to him. As I closed my door, Jackson got my bag from the trunk and rolled it behind us as we walked.
“Ah, Jackson, there you are. The best man cannot go off disappearin’ on the big day,” the woman in the pant suit scolded as she waved away someone who was asking her a question.
“I know, Linda. I’m sorry. I had to go get my girlfriend here from the airport, but I will not leave again,” Jackson wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
“Girlfriend? But I read in the news that your ex-wife put some no-datin’ clause in your divorce papers.”
Jackson winked, “It’s our little secret.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to me, “Hello, dear. My name is Linda, weddin’ planner and longtime family friend. I don’t expect there to be any issues and drama today because this is a celebration of love.”
I nodded, “Of course, I understand that, ma’am. I’m Madeline.”
“And how long have you two been together, Madeline?” She narrowed her eyes at me.
What, was she expecting me to be like a quick fling? She said longtime family friend…maybe she saw a lot of girls come and go with Jackson before the whole Josie relationship.
“We just celebrated our one-month anniversary last week,” I said softly as I looked up at Jackson with a wide smile.
Jackson had a nighttime home game on the day of our anniversary but that didn’t keep him from taking me out to lunch on my break and bringing me flowers for my desk. It was the simplest but sweetest gesture I had ever received from a man.
“One amazin’ month,” Jackson grinned before kissing me.
Linda cleared her throat, “Well, the men of the weddin’ have taken over the first floor of the house while the women have taken over the top. Remember, the bride and groom are not to see each other before the ceremony.”
“I guess I will just have to take you to each of them separately then. Let’s get started so we don’t hold up the weddin’. Linda here might kill me if I do that,” Jackson laughed as he led me into the house.
Shelby screamed when she saw me and barreled into me so hard that if Jackson wasn’t holding onto me, I would have fallen over. She happily took my bag and said that I could get ready with her upstairs when Jackson was done showing me off. I giggled at the idea of Jackson showing me off. I was meeting his father for the first time, I wouldn’t exactly call that what she called it. When she disappeared down the hallway, rolling my bag behind her, Jackson led me down a hallway that ran perpendicular to the one his sister just went down. We came up to a door that was cracked open and loud laughter coming from behind it.
Jackson knocked on the door before peeking his head inside, “Everyone decent?”
“Why? Do we need to get indecent?” Someone called back to him and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Jackson told whomever answered to stay decent and opened the door. Four men were sitting around chatting, all in tuxedos with their bow ties undone and a glass of an amber liquid in their hand. The room went silent as soon as I followed Jackson in and I swallowed hard as all eyes were on me.
“Dad, I’d like you to meet Madeline. Madeline, this is my father, Chase Ryder.” He walked me up to a man who was the same height as Jackson and had the same caramel colored eyes. His hair looked like it was thinning out a bit, but you could still tell that at one time he had the same head of hair that his son did. His smile was wide as he pulled me out of Jackson’s hold and into his own.
“The infamous Madeline, we finally get to meet!” His voice boomed as he hugged me tightly.
“It is very nice to meet you, sir,” I said as he released me.
“Please, Madeline, call me Chase. Jackson has told me quite a lot about you,” he chuckled as he slapped his son on the shoulder.
“Wait, who is Madeline?” One of the men around us asked.
Chase turned, “Jackson’s girlfriend, of course.”
“But the news…”
Jackson rolled his eyes and cut off the man, “Uncle Robert. Yes, I know the news says that I am not supposed to date for six months thanks to Josie and the divorce. But I had been datin’ Madeline for almost two weeks by the time Josie decided she wanted to add that in there. Even after that clause takes effect, I will still be with Madeline but not publicly.”
“Wow, must be somethin’ special if you’re willin’ to break the rules for her,” Jackson’s Uncle Robert said as he raised his glass to us.
Jackson’s father nodded and looked at us, “I can see what they have is somethin’ very special. Just look at the way that Jackson looks at her and the way that she looks at him. That’s the way Lydia and I used to look at each other when she was still alive, bless her soul.”
“Now you look at Janette that way, dad,” Jackson said, and his father grinned.
“Indeed, I do. When you find someone who looks at you like that, you keep them.”
“That’s what I intend to do,” Jackson smiled.
Keep me? Was Jackson already thinking about marriage? I mean, we wouldn’t be able to get engaged or announce we were engaged for six months. Okay, Madeline, now was not the time to think about that.
“Has she met Janette?” Chase asked.
“Nope, about to go take her up there but I just thought I would have you meet her first.”
“Well, I approve. You are a very beautiful girl, Madeline, and I can tell that you really care about my son. I hope that you enjoy yourself this evenin’.”
I smiled shyly, “Thank you. I’m sure I will.”
Jackson led me out of the room and upstairs to meet his soon to be stepmother, Janette. She was a little taller than me but had platinum blonde hair and green eyes. She looked as though she was a few years younger than his father and I was thankful it wasn’t one of those several years age difference weddings. I mean, if his father wanted to have a midlife crisis and marry someone significantly younger than him, I wouldn’t have any influence on his decision, but we were in the clear. Shelby had already talked me up to her by the time I got up to the room where the women were getting ready. She welcomed me with open arms and I could see why Jackson, Shelby, and Chase all adored her. Nobody could fake that type of sincerity.
After I had met everybody I needed to meet, Shelby practically pulled me away from Jackson. He needed to go get ready for the wedding anyways, which would be starting in just a few hours, but I wanted to spend just a little more time with him. At least I got a kiss before he was forced from the room. The next several hours were spent with the ladies. Shelby did my makeup while Janette insisted that her hairdresser do my hair for me. All of a sudden, I was thankful that I went shopping the night before and got a brand-new dress.
I changed into my pale pink lace V-neck dress that fell to my knees and my black wedged booties. When I was finished getting ready, my hair
was braided on each side of my head, meeting at the back, as the bottom half of my hair fell in soft waves over my shoulders. Shelby had outlined my eyes with charcoal eyeliner but otherwise kept my other makeup natural. As the final touches were done on the bride, Shelby escorted me out to where the wedding ceremony was taking place in the backyard. Jackson stood at the back of the aisle, greeting people who were entering into the seated area. His face lit up when he saw me and seeing him in a full-blown tuxedo, complete with bow tie, made my heart stop.
“You look gorgeous, Madeline,” Jackson said as he tugged me into his arms.
“You…in a tux…” I stumbled over my words.
Jackson laughed, “I look bad, don’t I?”
“No!” I yelled then quickly covered my mouth as my cheeks blushed, “You look very handsome.”
“Well if you are sayin’ that then it must be the truth,” he kissed me softly before his lips encouraged mine to open for him.
Soon, Shelby was tearing me away from Jackson because people were starting to stare. I couldn’t help it that his kiss made me forget where I was or what time it was. My heart was pounding in my chest as I wiped a little lipstick from Jackson’s lips. He led me to my seat, telling the usher that he would take care of it. My seat was right next to an elderly couple who looked more than happy to see Jackson.
“Madeline, these are my grandparents on my father’s side, Jasper and Eleanor. Grandma, grandpa, this is my beautiful girlfriend, Madeline,” Jackson introduced.