Fall in Love

by Anthology

  It had seemed like a solid plan at the time.

  Unfortunately, neither of those things had happened.

  As the years went on, Jason’s feelings for Katie did not diminish one iota. In fact they only grew stronger. He knew that Katie and Nick’s relationship was not going to survive through their college years. Nick loved Katie in his own way, but Nick loved Nick more. And he definitely had his flaws. Jason was of the firm opinion that, as great of a guy as Nick was, Katie still saw him through rose-colored glasses and that her vision would clear once she started getting to know the big, wide world outside of Harper's Crossing.

  As it turned out, one of the many gut-wrenching consequences of Nick's death, for Jason, was that now he would forever be clothed in the protective, softening cloud of memory where Katie was concerned. How could Jason compete with a saint?

  Before the accident, there were so many times that Jason had almost confessed his true feelings for Katie. One thing always stopped him, though. Katie seemed happy. Not just with Nick, although he was a funny and cool kid. Still, there were a lot of ways Jason did not feel that Nick treated Katie right, and he’d told Nick so. He would not have let the relationship, alone, stop him from telling Katie how he felt.

  No, it was that Nick had something Katie needed, and it was something that Jason could not give her. Nick had a big, happy family that had adopted Katie as their own. He knew that was something she had always wanted.

  Sure, Jason had his dad and brothers, not to mention that Uncle Pete and Aunt Sandy were around with his four cousins pretty often. But Nick had the perfect Norman Rockwell fantasy family to offer her: a mom and a dad, a little sister who adored Katie, and (the cherry on top) Grandpa J.

  Jason couldn’t compete with that, and he didn’t want to take that ‘family’ experience away from Katie. She always went on and on about how fun their family dinners were. Jason knew it was true. Once or twice a week, he would stay at the Hunters’ for dinner and witness, firsthand, just how much Katie enjoyed her time there.

  He could see the happiness written all over her face, glowing from within her, causing her to shine the way only basking in love and acceptance can. He wasn’t going to be the guy to rob her of that joy.

  Now, as he watched Katie walk from the store to the truck, an odd sensation swept over him. He wasn’t quite sure how to describe it or categorize it—even to himself. He just knew, now, more than ever before in his life, that the feelings he had for Katie were not puppy love and they weren’t going away—so he had better decide exactly what he was planning to do about it.

  He had always operated on the assumption that the straightforward approach was the best and most effective in any given situation. Say what you mean, mean what you say.

  The only problem with that plan of action was that Katie seemed very skittish, even for Katie standards, at the moment. Going with straightforward might just send her running for the hills.

  He needed to pace himself. He had the whole weekend to wear her down, and that was exactly what he planned to do.

  Chapter Nine

  Katie could feel her heart pounding out of her chest as she made her way back to the truck. She automatically started reciting her handy-dandy mantra inside her head.

  You can breathe. Just breathe. Breathe in and out slowly. You can breathe.

  Oh. Dear. God. In. Heaven.

  Why, why, why did he have to look so gorgeous in the sun? It was like God, himself, was Jason's own personal lighting technician.

  How in the world was she going to make it through this weekend without a repeat of what happened the night she left Harper's Crossing? She was just going to have to keep focused on the wedding and not focus on how amazing that kiss had made her feel.

  “Did you get everything you needed, Kit Kat?” Jason pushed off from where he had been leaning against his truck and opened the passenger side door for her.

  “Yep, I’m all set.” Katie’s jaw tensed, but she made a valiant attempt to sound as unaffected by the ridiculous nickname as she possibly could. She knew that part of the reason (most of the reason) he insisted on calling her by it was that he loved getting a rise out of her.

  Reaching under the seat and feeling around as she got in the truck, Katie realized the program had not fallen out in Jason’s truck. She asked, a touch of despair tingeing her voice, “Jas, have you seen my itinerary? I need to know what time the luncheon is.”

  “The luncheon is at 1:00 and, no, I haven’t seen your itinerary. Do you think you could have left it at Mona’s? Maybe it fell out of your bag during your fitting,” Jason sounded matter-of-fact and logical but also distracted as he pulled out of the CVS parking lot and made a right onto the parkway.

  “Yeah, it probably did,” Katie sighed, looking at her watch and already knowing the answer to her next question. “So...I guess I don’t have time to get freshened up before heading over to the luncheon, do I?”

  “Not unless you want to show up fashionably late. But if I recall correctly, and I believe I do, you were always somewhat anal when it came to punctuality,” Jason replied with that challenge-hiding-behind-a-tease tone to his voice he knew was always good to get her riled up.

  Well, she wasn't going to oblige him. She was going to keep it calm, cool, and collected.

  “Just because I enjoy being on time for things does not automatically equal being anal,” Katie responded, her tone measured and even, although it did kind of drive her crazy that he always had to make such broad statements about her. Yeah. Come to think of it, that was really aggravating.

  “No, I guess it’s not fair to call it anal,” Jason teased. “I know lots of girls who show up to the prom by themselves because their date is fifteen minutes late to pick them up.”

  “Oh, come on. You cannot be serious. Just because I didn’t want to be late to my senior prom does not mean that I am anal about being punctual. And can we please stop using that word? I’ve always hated it.”

  Katie saw a flash of amusement cross Jason’s face, and that sent her irritation meter shooting from five to ten.

  “I thought 'panties' and 'moist' were at the top of the 'perfectly valid words Katie hates' list.”

  “Those, too. But don't try to distract me when I'm on a roll.”

  “Is that what you're on?”

  “Yep. And might I point out, while we're on the subject, that it was a certain Mr. Jason Sloan that was responsible for the aforementioned tardiness incident. I do believe that someone forgot to pick up a corsage for his date and forced the limo all of the guys —my date included—were riding in to go into town and stop by The Flower Pavilion so he could pick up the flowers. Sound familiar? Hmmm?”

  Katie felt unreasonably pleased with herself that, for once, Jason was going to have to take responsibility for something. Let’s see you charm your way out of those facts, Jas.

  To this day, Katie couldn’t quite believe that on prom night, of all nights, Jason would forget something as important as picking up a corsage. Nick had made her promise not to harass Jason about it at the time because he didn’t want their night to be ruined by her and Jason fighting. But what the hell? They weren’t at prom now, were they? And truth be told, she was probably more excited than she should be at the opportunity to finally confront him about it.

  “I mean, really, Jason? Really? There were four other couples taking that limo, and the fact that you would disrupt everyone else’s night just to get yourself out of the doghouse is beyond me. Really and truly beyond me. And don’t even try the 'I was too busy with sports' excuse because Nick played just as many sports as you and he managed to find the time to pick me out the most amazing wrist corsage made of the most incredible and beautiful Calla Lilies I'd ever seen.

  “But, nooooo. Mister ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ couldn’t be bothered to plan ahead, even for senior prom. Even when nine other people were counting on him. Didn’t you even consider the fact that I might want to show up to my senior prom on time? Did that tho
ught even cross your mind?”

  “Are you finished?” Jason asked dryly as he pulled off the road and into a small parking lot Katie did not recognize.

  “Yes. Yes, I think I am,” Katie confirmed, not even bothering to hide her self-satisfied grin.

  “Well then, let me set a few things straight, counselor.” Jason turned to face Katie after parking his truck in an empty space at the very corner of the lot.

  They were hidden under a canopy of trees, and it felt…intimate. It felt like they had entered another realm—a fantasy forest filled with wizards and fairies, where she was the beautiful princess and Jason was the dashing knight.

  Katie tried to push that vivid imagery from her mind. Fairy tale situations were the last thing she needed to be thinking about. Those fables ended in happily-ever-after, and there was no way that’s where this was headed.

  Turning towards Jason to focus on the here and now, on reality instead of magical realms, the cab of the truck suddenly seemed very small and very warm. Katie felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as Jason’s eyes bore into hers. As much as she knew she ought to, she could not bring herself to look away.

  Holy cow—how was it possible that this man had such a hold on her? He was just a person, for heaven's sake—he wasn’t supernatural. No one else in the entire world affected her this way.

  Katie prided herself on always being in control of her environment and especially of any conversation she was a part of. She wouldn't have made it very far in the legal profession if she couldn't get the upper hand in a conversation with an untrained civilian—it was, literally, how she made her bread and butter. Stay in control, never let the power balance shift, and don’t get flustered—these were all techniques she had mastered.

  Being a lawyer, she could say that she was, in a sense, a professional argument winner. Yet with Jason, she had never quite felt in control of anything, and from that look in his eye, she already knew she was going to lose this argument.

  “I bought Krissy Anderson, my date, a pink pin-on rose corsage the Wednesday before prom,” he began calmly but intensely, “and when Nick got to my house to get ready for prom, I asked him where his corsage for you was. He said—and I quote—‘Katie doesn’t even like flowers and the corsage I bought her for junior prom just got in the way all night. She couldn’t stop fidgeting with it.’”

  Jason lowered his hands from the air quotes he had been shaping and his right hand came to rest on Katie’s thigh. Her breathing quickened. She wondered if the placement of his hand had been deliberate but then stopped wondering and simply started panicking, because, oh boy. The weight of Jason’s hand felt waaay too good resting on her leg. She could feel the pressure of his long fingers as they wrapped around her thigh and it felt…amazing.

  “There was no way I was going to let you go to your senior prom without a corsage just because numb nuts Nick didn’t bother to get you one. So, I had the limo driver stop at The Flower House, Flower Emporium, and finally The Flower Pavilion. Want to know why we made more than one stop, Kit Kat?”

  Katie simply nodded because she was unable to speak, distracted by the reaction her body was having to Jason’s touch.

  “We made more than one stop because I didn’t want to get you a simple rose corsage. I remembered that in fifth grade, we were walking across Lincoln Park on the way home from school and I picked you a rose. You said that you thought roses were overrated and common. And I was not about to settle on anything that you considered ‘overrated and common.’ I did find a Chrysanthemum corsage at The Flower House but it was a pin-on and I knew that you had a chiffon dress and that you wouldn’t want to put holes in it. Plus, I remembered that you’d had a pin-on for junior prom and that was probably why you were fidgeting with it. So I made the driver take us to one more stop and that is where I found the Calla Lily wrist corsage.

  “Oh and as far ‘considering the fact that you would like to be on time to your senior prom,’ I bribed the driver $50 extra to speed to your house, and I wouldn’t let any of the other guys pick up their dates, or my own date for that matter, even though two of them were on the way to your house. Why? Because I knew you would be pacing the floor every minute that we were late. How did I know that? Because I know you, Kit Kat.

  “We came screeching up to your house only to have Aunt Wendy tell us that you had left with your mom five minutes before we got there because you didn't want to be late. So in answer to your question, yeah. I guess the thought of you getting to prom on time did cross my mind.”

  Katie heard the words that were coming out of Jason’s mouth but she couldn’t quite wrap her head around what he was saying. The story he was telling her didn’t sound much like the Jason she’d known since the first day of kindergarten. It sounded more like something Nick would have done for her.

  It was all very confusing and hard to believe.

  Not to mention the fact that there was no way she could hold together a cohesive train of thought with Jason’s hand sitting on her thigh and the stare of his whiskey brown eyes sending shockwaves of bliss erupting through her body. Still, even with that hormonal distraction, she knew there was one thing that wasn’t adding up and needed clarification. Facts to back up this story. Not that she thought Jason was lying. He might be a lot of things, but a liar was not one of them. She just needed to make sense of it all.

  “How did you know that my dress was chiffon? I didn’t tell anyone what my dress looked like except my mom and Aunt Wendy. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

  He didn’t even blink, much less hesitate. “I was at Richards’s getting fitted for my tux and I heard your laugh coming from Mona’s. I looked around the divider and I saw you standing on the pedestal in the middle of the room, swishing back and forth in your strapless, royal blue, floor-length prom dress. It was the single most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my life.”

  Katie was starting to feel lightheaded. He had an answer for everything, but things still just weren't adding up.

  “But when we had the ‘switch partners, ladies choice’ dance and Krissy chose Nick, leaving me to dance with you, you were clearly pissed off to be stuck with me. You weren’t even talking to me. I remember it perfectly because you seemed so upset about dancing with me that I tried to make you smile by telling you that you looked nice. Then I asked if you thought I looked okay, and you practically yawned as you said, ‘You look as good as you can look.’

  “Then when I hit you on the arm, you said ‘Hey, don’t ask a question if you don’t want the answer.’ That is a far cry from,” —Katie now adopted the air quotes technique Jason had used earlier—“the 'most beautiful sight you had ever seen,' like you claim.”

  Jason shook his head, looking slightly past her as if lost in the memory. She had rarely seen him look so pained. Her heart squeezed at the sad, almost tortured, look that she saw in his eyes.

  “What was I supposed to do, Katie? Admit that I put Krissy up to asking Nick to dance just so I could have an excuse to have one dance with you? Tell you that you were by far the most gorgeous girl at that prom, or anywhere, for that matter? You were dating my best friend, and you had been for six years. My hands were kind of tied.”

  As Jason gave this impassioned speech, he gently squeezed his hand where it rested on her leg and then proceeded to start rubbing his hand up and down on her thigh as he continued.

  His gravelly tone washed over her like an erotically charged breeze as he spoke, “Do you have any idea how it drove me crazy seeing you and not being able to touch you or kiss you or even just tell you how beautiful you were.”

  Katie felt her core begin to pulse with heated arousal as Jason’s large hands ran up and down her thigh, each time getting a little closer to her center. She knew she should push him away, make him stop, but why did this have to feel so good? And how could she bring herself to pull away from him after the things he had just told her?

  Her head was spinning. She was confused yet also thoroughly enjoying the th
rilling pleasure racing through her body. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath.

  Oh good Lord, if she was going to have a panic attack, she just wanted to get it over with already. Screw the mantra.

  “Jason,” Katie said. She had been aiming for a warning tone, but it came out more like a moan.

  “What?” he replied, sounding as innocent as a newborn lamb.

  But when she looked over at him, she saw the look of intensity in his eye. He was nowhere near innocent and certainly not going to stop because of a warning tone, particularly one as weakly delivered as what she had managed.

  This had to stop. She couldn’t let this go further until she had a chance to figure out what in the world was going on with her raging hormonal response to Jason’s every touch, every look, every smile. She felt like she had stepped into an X-rated version of The Twilight Zone.

  She moved in her seat, fully intending to shove his hand away, pick up her purse, and get out of the truck. That’s what she planned to do anyway. But as she reached down to push his hand off of her thigh, he used her shift in position to slip his hand further up her thigh, not stopping until it was snuggly resting between her legs. The side of his index finger was pressed against her center, and he began gently rubbing his thumb lightly back and forth over the area above her core.

  Katie froze, uncertain about what to do next, as Jason began pressing his fingers against her, massaging her intimately. She felt the most overwhelming sensations starting to wash over her. She closed her eyes and laid her head back. She couldn’t think, couldn’t rationalize what was happening. She could only feel.

  As Jason's sensual touch moved to directly over the apex between Katie’s legs, an intense pressure began to build within her belly, waves of extreme pleasure radiating out like shockwaves from the epicenter of an earthquake.

  She had a vague realization about how inappropriate this behavior was, but she felt nearly powerless to act on it. She forced her eyes open to turn away from Jason and made one last valiant effort to move his hand away from her body, but to no avail. Her muscles were weak with arousal, and her half-hearted efforts at pushing his hand away amounted to little more than a light brush against his forearm. When she exerted every ounce of her remaining will to wrench her head to the side, hoping to free herself from his magnetic power, she ended up looking directly into those oh-so-amazing eyes. Lifting his free hand he cupped her jaw, pulling her face towards him and capturing her mouth with his in a blisteringly hot kiss.