by Ella Sparkle
“You sure?” Nick asked, still holding my hand.
“Yes, absolutely. Let’s do this.”
Chapter 24
Nick
We drove in silence. I kept sneaking glances over at Jenna and figured that after what had happened, I would follow her lead. If she needed some silence I would give that to her.
I wasn’t exactly sure what happened, but I did know seeing her like that triggered something deep within me. I suddenly had this insanely strong urge to protect her and do whatever I could to help her get through whatever was happening. The only other time I felt a surge of protectiveness like that was the night before when she mentioned how toxic her last relationship was. I could only guess, but I would bet money that the look of panic on her face had something to do with that fucker ex-boyfriend she'd mentioned.
My hands clenched around the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. The thought of someone mistreating her made me so angry. I glanced over at Jenna who had her head pressed up against the passenger side window with her eyes closed. She was so incredibly beautiful, smart, and funny. There was also a very innocent and awkward quality about her which I found quite endearing. I couldn’t believe how strongly I felt after spending such a small amount of time with her. I had never felt that way about anyone before... Jesus, I don’t think I had ever had so many feelings before, period.
Part of me started to worry that my plan of spending time with her and then having it end when she left for school was going to be harder than I thought. The longer I was around her, the more I wanted to be around her. I liked how easy it was to be with her. To flirt with her and make her blush or laugh. To talk to her. When I was with her I wasn’t Nick Blaine, owner of Blaine Construction... person responsible for everything and everyone. I wasn’t the guy who had invested several years of his life in his business and now felt like he was being impossibly pulled in a bunch of different directions. When I was with her, I was just a guy who liked a girl and was pretty sure that the girl liked him back. The bottom line was, it just felt really good to be with Jenna.
I pulled into the parking lot of our destination and when the truck stopped, Jenna blinked her eyes open. “Where are we?” she asked in a soft voice.
“The park.” I smiled at the confused look on her face. Everything had been last-minute planning because I had been unexpectedly stuck on the phone with investors that morning. A few new projects were going on in the area and I was talking to people at each one.
“The park?” she asked looking around.
“Yep. Hang on just a minute.” I jumped out of the truck and opened her door, helping her out. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was a perfect temperature, and all of the flowers were in full bloom, the leaves of the trees were lush and green and swaying gently in the light breeze. Jenna started smiling as she looked around and my heart instantly did a little pitter-patter. I hoped that being there was helping her to feel better.
'This is only temporary', I told myself. 'Only until she leaves for law school. You are not going to disrupt her plans and she is not going to disrupt yours', I continued. 'She is going to be moving and you are going to be staying here. It won’t work beyond this short time together.'
I was pulled out of my own head by Jenna’s excitement. “This place is so beautiful! I have been here before, but I don’t think I ever really appreciated it.” Her eyes grew big as I pulled out a picnic basket and blanket from the back of the truck. Jenna let out a little squealing noise and clapped her hands together. “Are we going to have a picnic here, at the park?”
“Yes, and it sounds by your excitement level, this was a good choice.”
Jenna laughed; the sound was beautiful and warmed my insides. “This was a great choice! I have never been to a picnic like this before! Thank you, Nick! Thank you so much!”
Her excitement made me feel incredible... that I was able to do something for her to make her so happy. I immediately started to wonder what else I could do for her to keep that smile on her face.
Who was I? When did I turn into a guy who got so excited doing something to make someone smile? When did I turn into this guy who cared so much about how another person felt?
When Jenna first delivered a Hawaiian pizza with extra jalapenos, that's when. As much as I wanted to try and deny it, I had been mesmerized by her since the very first moment I laid eyes on her. That was a dangerous thing. I had a lot on the line with so many different deals in the works for Blaine Construction and there were a whole lot of people counting on me for employment. I had to stay focused on everything I was doing to keep all of the balls I was trying to juggle up in the air.
For the moment, though, I was just going to enjoy my time with her. I leaned forward and kissed Jenna softly on the lips as I balanced the blanket and picnic supplies in one hand and reached for her with the other. “Well, in that case, would you like to go on a picnic with me, Jenna?” I smiled knowing what her answer would be.
“Yes! I am saying yes!” Jenna burst out enthusiastically.
I gestured ahead of us with the hand holding the basket. “There is a rose garden just up to the left. I thought we would put the blanket out there and eat. It's usually a quiet place during weekdays.”
We rounded the corner and Jenna gasped. It really was an incredible sight. There were, what looked like, hundreds of roses in every color growing as far as the eye could see. Jenna turned to me. “Wow! This is so beautiful! I'm speechless! How do you know all these amazing places?”
I spread out the blanket and started to get the food out. “My mom belongs to a gardening club and one of their big community projects is caring for this rose garden. I spent a whole lot of time here as a kid playing while my mom tended the roses.”
“I like the idea of little Nick running around here,” Jenna said with a giggle.
I waved her to the blanket. “Come sit down and eat. I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got a few different kinds of sandwiches. There's also iced tea or lemonade and I have some fruit in here as well.” Thank god there was a great deli between the Blaine Construction office and Jenna’s apartment. I even bought the picnic basket there. Brilliant marketing on the part of the deli owners.
“Nick!” Jenna gasped again as she sat down on the blanket. “This is so absolutely perfect. Thank you. I can honestly say no one has ever done anything like this for me.” Jenna crawled forward on her hands and knees across the blanket and gave me a soft kiss on the lips. “You are pretty amazing.”
I couldn’t help myself, I put my hand on her cheek and pulled her in for another kiss. She moaned softly and leaned into me. “You are so beautiful,” I whispered to her. “Plus I am a huge fan of those little moans that you make.” She blushed and gave me another soft kiss before pulling back and busying herself with getting a sandwich. I could tell, by the flush that remained on her face and by the fact that her hands were shaking as she unwrapped a sandwich, that the kiss had an impact on her. I liked that. I liked it a lot. Fuck, I just liked her a lot.
Jenna carefully unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. As she ate, she looked around the park. “So tell me about little Nick running around in the rose garden.”
I chuckled. “Not too much to tell. I was always way more into baseball than roses, so I usually wandered off to the baseball diamond on the other side of the garden.”
“Do you still like baseball?” Jenna asked before taking another bite of her sandwich.
“Absolutely! I played all through high school and still make a point of taking in a handful of games every season.”
Jenna took a drink of her lemonade before responding. “I have never been much of a sports person, so I don’t really know too much about it.”
I suddenly got very excited about the idea of introducing her to baseball. “Well, we need to do something about that! There's a big game in a few weeks. We should go.” She smiled back at me like she was unsure if I was asking her or just casually bringing it up. “Let me reph
rase that, Jenna. Will you go to a baseball game with me?
She smiled. “Yes!”
She looked so excited, it really pulled at my heart. I couldn't explain it, but I didn’t need to. I liked being around her and I might as well enjoy the limited amount of time we had. “Man, I could really get used to this saying yes plan.” I shot Jenna a grin as I took a bite of my sandwich.
She lowered her gaze and looked up at me through her lashes. “Oh yes?” she teased. “What other ideas did you have in mind?”
The way she said it was so fucking sexy there was only one thing on my mind. I tried to gulp down some air. “You are all kinds of trouble.” Jenna looked a little surprised by my statement. I lowered my voice and said, “Good thing I like trouble.” There was that blush again on her cheeks that I liked so much. I couldn’t help but smile.
The rest of our lunch went by rather quickly and, unfortunately, I had to get back to work. We packed up our picnic and were admiring the roses as we walked back to the truck.
“Thank you again for an amazing lunch and for sharing this beautiful spot with me.” Jenna leaned forward to smell a rose. “Which of the roses are your favorite?”
“I’ve never really thought about it. I don’t know that I could pick just one. How about you?”
Jenna stopped to smell another rose. “Oh, that's easy. The red ones. Classic, bold, beautiful.”
“No rose is as beautiful as you.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. I pulled her close for another kiss. There was something about kissing her that I had rapidly grown addicted to.
We reached the truck and were putting the picnic supplies in the back when I turned to her. I had to know when I was going to see her again. “So, we're going to the game in a few weeks, but I want to see you again before then. When can I do that?”
“I work the evening shift for the next few nights, but I'm free during the day,” Jenna said with a smile as she stepped closer to me.
I reached out and put my hands on her hips. “I'll take it. I don’t want this day to end, but I'm going to have to take you home so I can get back to work. I want to get a bunch of things done today so my weekend is free.” It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to try and get things done before the weekend. I couldn’t remember the last time I didn’t work all weekend, but I would do it to spend time with Jenna. I was not the kind of guy to make spur-of-the-moment decisions and schedule changes, but I had done it twice now for Jenna. Part of me felt like I should be concerned I was losing focus, and part of me didn’t give a fuck as long as I got to see her again.
“Big plans for the weekend?” she asked, giving me an eyebrow raise.
I leaned forward and kissed her softly. “Absolutely. You see, I met this amazing, smart, sexy, and completely irresistible woman. Ever since the first time I laid eyes on her, I can’t seem to stop thinking about her. I heard she might have some free time this weekend and I plan on spending every minute she will give me with her.” If I wasn’t going to work that weekend, I was going all in.
Jenna nodded her head and acted like she was really thinking about it. “She does sound pretty amazing. I think I would like to meet her. Maybe she and I could hang out sometime?”
I kissed her playfully on the nose. “Did I mention she has quite the sense of humor?”
“She sounds pretty perfect,” Jenna said playfully with a laugh.
I looked into her eyes. I was beginning to think she was.
Chapter 25
Jenna
The next few weeks seemed to fly by. Nick and I saw each other almost every day. When we were not together, we were texting or talking on the phone. I really liked Nick and I really liked being with him. He was fun, smart, thoughtful, funny... and, well, he was just easy to be around. He was unlike anyone I had ever met before. Plus, he was so freaking sexy I sometimes had a hard time believing he was real.
I was in the backroom at Pete’s Pizza on a break when I saw I had a text message from Nick. “The baseball game is on Sunday, but are you free Saturday night?”
I quickly wrote him back. “What are you proposing?”
“Dinner?”
I smiled. “As long as it's not sushi again. Trying it once was more than enough for me. :-)”
“LOL! Well, you said yes and tried it and didn't like it. No one ever said you would be batting a thousand.”
“I see what you did there with the baseball reference. Very smooth.”
“You're a quick learner...nice to know our baseball study sessions are working.”
I blushed as I thought about Nick teaching me baseball. I tapped out a message back to him, smiling as I wrote: “Well, I have a super hot teacher that hands out kisses for correct answers. You better believe I am going to study to get 100% on that test.” I wasn’t going to tell Nick that I had read a few books about baseball since he asked me to the game. I wanted to have an idea about what was going on and I thought I could maybe impress him a little with my new baseball knowledge.
“Hey, Jenna! Is your break almost over? I’ve got some deliveries ready to go for you!” Steven shouted from the kitchen.
I sighed and sent Nick a quick message. “I’ve got to go...pizzas to deliver.”
Nick responded back almost immediately, “Dinner at my place tomorrow night? I want to cook for you.”
“You cook?!?!?!?! Oh, I am saying yes to this for sure!” Good grief! Sexy as all get out and he could cook! How did I get so lucky?
“Come over around 7?”
“Catch you then! (See what I did there with my own baseball joke?)”
“Very clever, Jenna. Now get back to work. Text me when you get home tonight after your shift so I know you made it safely.”
“It will be really late. I'm closing tonight.”
“Exactly why I want to know you made it home safely.” I reread his last message a few times and my heart went pitter-patter each time. He often asked me to text him when I got home after working a late shift just to make sure I got home alright. I thought it was really sweet and made me feel like he really cared about me.
“Jenna!” Steven shouted. “Deliveries are ready!”
I slipped my phone into my back pocket and stepped into the kitchen where Kimmy was also waiting. “Here is your GPS with delivery addresses programmed in for you,” she said as she handed me the device.
“Thank you,” I said, taking it from her. My mind was still stuck on Nick as I thought about dinner at his place the next night. It seemed like everything had moved in a really great direction with him. I had developed some very strong feelings for him which made me excited to see where things between us were going to go.
“I see that dreamy look on your face... you were talking to Nick, weren’t you?” Kimmy asked with a huge smile on her face, looking like she had just solved some great mystery.
I blushed. “Maybe...”
Kimmy leaned forward resting her elbows on the counter. “How is everything going with him? You two have been together for a while now, right?”
“It's great. He’s great. It is so unlike my previous relationship that sometimes I feel like all of this might be too good to be true. Or maybe I should pinch myself and wake up.”
“Aww, girl. You deserve to be happy and have a great guy in your life! What are you going to do when you go to law school in the fall? That's going to be here sooner than you know.”
My stomach felt twisted up in knots the minute Kimmy said that. Although I tried to push it out of my mind, it was always looming in the background. I was going to be moving away to start school at the end of the summer. Nick and I had not talked about it at all other than that first night at the bluff when I told him about law school. I was too afraid to bring it up and I wanted to keep things the way they were... which was not going to be possible when law school started. Not only was it not possible from a practical standpoint, but since that night at the bluff, the plan was for this thing we were doing to last until I started school. I couldn
’t help but frown at the thought of not having Nick in my life anymore.
“I still don’t trust him,” Mike said as he took a pizza out of the oven and started to cut it into slices. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and tried to focus on what was going on around me.
Kimmy let out a huff and rolled her eyes. “Would you trust anyone that Jenna dated? You're just acting like an overprotective older brother right now.”
Kimmy threw a towel at Mike as I picked up the pizzas for delivery. Kimmy got a mischievous look on her face. “Since you want to jump into other people’s conversations, Mike, let’s start talking about you. How is Cassie?” Kimmy raised her eyebrows at Mike and his face turned bright red. He mumbled something and walked out of the kitchen.
I stared at the door Mike walked out of before turning back to look at Kimmy. “What just happened?” I asked, full of confusion.
Kimmy smiled. “I think Mr. Romeo over there has the hots for a certain redhead. It's cute. He's worked here for a long time and I've never seen him with anyone. I was starting to think he just didn’t date at all, but now I think it is because he gets so shy around women. Or at least around women that he's into. Specifically, Cassie. I think Cassie scares him a little, but I also think that he is totally into that.”
I stopped and thought for a minute. “Huh, I guess it has been a little while since I talked to Cass. I need to call her and find out what's up.” I tried to picture Cassie and Mike together. Maybe I really did catch him secretly checking her out when we were at the club that night.
“I don’t think anything's actually up. I think Mike is lusting from afar. He hasn't stopped talking about her since the night we were all at the club and he gave her a ride home. She stopped in here a few days ago to grab some lunch and I thought Mike was going to pass out. He was so nervous. He totally knocked her soda over and spilled it all over the counter.” Kimmy was grinning ear to ear.