by Anthology
But then the door swung open and we tumbled into the dark room. I couldn’t see a thing but Jackson’s hands were already on my face, running through my hair, pulling my head up in line with his so his lips could find mine.
On second thought, much better to have found privacy, I thought vaguely before my mind became preoccupied with other matters.
God, he was a good kisser. I tried not to think about how many women he had kissed before—he was clearly experienced. His mouth alternated between soft and gentle to demanding in the blink of an eye. And his hands—holy hell. They were amazing. His fingertips ghosted across my face before coming around to clasp the back of my neck, growing more urgent as he pulled me closer. Then, before I could stop enjoying the feel of them there, they slipped down to my lower back, pulling my entire body flushed with his.
For a moment I was nervous—would my bump totally turn him off? But it was strange. There in Jackson’s arms, I no longer felt so lumbering or klutzy. Maybe it was because he was so much taller, his shoulders so broad. Or maybe it was in the almost reverential way that he touched me. Or maybe it was just because it was so dark in the room and I didn’t have a visual for just how big my ass was. Whatever the reason, he made me feel delicate and important. Like I was desirable. For the first time in months I stopped worrying about the baby—about the pregnancy and the prospect of having an infant to look after. I stopped worrying about how it might affect my life, how it would change things. For the first time in months I let it all go. I enjoyed myself.
“Sofie,” he muttered, running those soft fingertips down my forearms, making my entire upper body erupt in goosebumps. “Your skin is so soft.”
“Jackson.”
Then he was pulling me tight again and I’m afraid I got a little out of control. It had just been so long since I’d been with a guy, even making out, and damn it, he was so freaking hot. So I couldn’t really blame myself for wrapping my arms around him, pulling him as tight as I could. And if, in my enthusiasm, I accidentally pushed him so hard that he lost his balance, that’s not really my fault, right?
Unfortunately, there was only one thing Jackson could brace himself against to stop his fall. The pile of presents behind him.
“Shit,” I muttered, feeling the stack wobble.
Jackson pulled back slightly, looking over his shoulder in the nearly pitch darkness. “I think they’re okay—” No sooner had he opened his mouth did the first present fall down and hit him on the head. “Bollocks!” he cried. I started to laugh but then something hard hit my shoulder and I gasped instead. “Move, Sofie!”
Before I could take a step back more boxes were raining down on us. Jackson threw his arms around me, sheltering me with his body, pushing me back to the door where I stood, breathing heavily, trapped in the cage of his arms.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking down at me.
“I think so.” The deluge of falling presents seemed to have stopped, the only sound in the room our labored breathing. “That was pretty cool—the way you saved me.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” he asked, his voice bright and boyish. “It was like a movie!”
I snorted. “You sound pretty tickled by that. Haven’t you done tons of action scenes?”
“Yeah, but those are all so choreographed and broken down. This was real.”
I wanted to kiss him again, even more than I had before. There was just something so appealing about boyish, unvarnished Jackson. Before I could act on the impulse, there was a loud shattering behind him, followed by what sounded like rushing liquid.
“Uh,” Jackson said, sounding slightly nervous. “Maybe we should find that light switch.”
“Ruined,” I muttered several minutes later as I took in the carnage of the storage room. “Ruined.”
“It’s not that bad,” Jackson said bracingly, pulling another piece of wine-sodden wrapping paper away from a box. “At least it didn’t bleed through. I’m sure the gifts are fine.”
“Look at this mess!” I cried, gesturing at the pile of presents. “How am I going to explain this to my cousin?”
He ran his hands through his hair again. “We could tell her the truth.” I raised an eyebrow and he shook his head, smiling sheepishly. “What? You don’t think she’ll be understanding when she finds out that you snuck in here to make out with me and became so enflamed by your passion that you knocked a case of red wine all over her wedding gifts?”
I snorted. “Enflamed by my passion?”
His grin grew wicked. “Sure felt that way to me.”
Of course, that only made me want to kiss him so more. I turned my head, focusing on the presents instead so I didn’t knock him over with more enflamed passion. The sight sobered me right up. At least ten of the boxes were completely covered in dark red wine. Jackson had managed to pull most of the stained wrapping paper off the gifts, and the wine didn’t seem to have spread under the paper, so it could have been worse. But still—how was I going to explain this to Lizzie?
“You know, I skipped her first wedding dress shopping trip,” I muttered. “I was all hormonal and upset about the pregnancy so I didn’t go with her. And I felt terrible after.” I met his eyes. “This is so much worse.”
“It’s not that—”
“Jackson.” I picked up a white box. “Her gifts are unwrapped. I’m the worst maid of honor ever.”
“Right, that’s it.” He stood up, tossing the paper aside and dusting off his hands. “We’re going to fix this.”
“We are?”
“Indeed.” He pulled his smart phone from his pocket and tapped at the screen for a few seconds. “Ah,” he finally said, grinning at me. “Found it.”
“Found what?”
“There’s a Boots two blocks away.” I stared at him uncomprehendingly. “Boots, you know. Like, a chemists? A drug store, you would call it. We can go get more paper.”
“More paper?”
He nodded. “Right. More paper. And rewrap the gifts.”
I gaped at him. For some reason my first thought at the appearance of his cell phone was that he was going to call a personal assistant or something. I had never expected that he would be willing to run to the drug store at this time of night and then help me wrap presents.
“What?” he asked, sounding slightly unsure. “You don’t think it’s a good idea?”
“I think it’s a great idea,” I said hurriedly. “Thank you.”
His answering grin was so big it actually made my chest ache a little. How could something so common as a thank you create such a smile? But then he was holding out his hand and pulling me back into the hall and I decided to just go with it.
“Hang on.” He stopped, looking around at the cluttered space. “Here we are.” He grabbed a spindly-looking chair that looked like those out in the dining room—minus its broken leg—and placed it in front of the door we had just exited. “That way hopefully no one will go in there and see what we did.”
Suddenly the entire thing felt really ridiculous and I was giggling before I could stop myself. I had ruined my cousin’s wedding presents because I was so busy making out with a movie star. Jackson, to his credit, didn’t look at me like I was a crazy person. Instead he grinned and placed a finger over his mouth. “Shh. We need to be sneaky or we’re going to get caught.”
“Then it’s a good thing my partner in crime is so low profile,” I muttered, taking his hand and following him down the hall. “It’s not like anyone would ever notice you.”
He barked out a laugh but then stopped at the end of the hall, peering around a corner. “Think there’s a back door?”
“May as well try it.”
So we picked our way down empty, dim hallways until we finally found a door leading out the alley behind the restaurant. I hesitated in the night air. It was really dark back here. Jackson seemed to take my caution as a challenge. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, puffing up his chest. “Don’t worry, Sofie. I’ll protect you.”
&nbs
p; It was silly, the way those words made me feel. I knew he was mostly joking, that he was an actor and any of his fighting moves were probably done by stunt doubles. But even so, I felt calmer as I leaned into his chest. Like I believed him or something. Like he really could protect me.
Using his phone for direction, Jackson led the way through the ally and out to the main road. I could see the wedding party through the plate glass windows of the restaurant and was relieved when we headed in the opposite direction. It would be just my luck that one of my nosey relatives would see me sneaking off through the window. I would never live that down.
The drug store was overwhelmingly large, covering two floors. I looked to Jackson for direction but he gave me a sheepish smile. “I actually have no idea where to find wrapping paper.”
I grinned. “Let me guess—you have staff to wrap your presents for you.” He nodded, looking embarrassed, but I only laughed. “Come on, Mr. Movie Star. We can find it.”
It only took a few minutes, but in that time I was pretty sure we attracted the attention of half of the people in the shop. Jackson was looking distinctly uncomfortable, running his hands through his hair as he glanced over his shoulder. “You usually have protection when you go out in public.”
He nodded, looking genuinely scared as he eyed a trio of whispering girls at the end of the aisle. “Don’t worry,” I told him. “I can take them.”
We grabbed a few rolls of paper, tape, a pair of scissors, and some rolls of ribbon and hurried to the register. For all my swagger, I really didn’t like the idea of Jackson getting mobbed because of me. Lizzie had told me about a time she and Thomas had been unexpectedly surrounded by fans at Disneyland and it sounded terrifying.
“Almost there,” I said soothingly as we approached the register. “Just be calm.” But then the cashier took one look at Jackson and let out a scream. “Damn.”
“OhmyGod, ohmyGod!” she whimpered loudly, sounding much more like a pre-teen than the twenty-something she appeared to be. “You’re him, aren’t you?”
Everyone in the line behind us was staring, some of them standing up on tiptoes to get a better look. I could feel the unease coming off him in waves. A few of the girls who had appeared to recognize us earlier were gathering at our side, looking excited. They were also blocking our way out. This could get out of hand very fast.
“Can we just get this?” he asked, holding up the paper. “We’re in a bit of a—”
“I can’t believe this!” she yelled, clapping her hands. “I have to call Carol. And Jill! Oh my God!”
“Is there a manager we can talk to?” he asked, but his words were totally drowned out by the shriek of one of the girls joining the group blocking our path out.
“It is him!”
Jackson looked at me, wide-eyed and afraid.
“Put down some money,” I ordered. He looked confused, but complied, pulling a fifty pound note from his inner jacket pocket.
“Can I take your picture?” the cashier was asking, already holding out her phone. “Oh my God! Carol! Carol, come here!”
“Excuse me!” I yelled loudly, my voice carrying to the group of now shrieking girls that was growing by the minute. “I am in labor!”
That shut everyone up. Jackson looked at me in panic and I stepped on his foot to keep him from saying anything.
The cashier’s eyebrows went up. “You are?”
“That’s right. Um, ow!” I hunched over, holding onto Jackson’s arm. “In fact, my, uh, water might break any minute.”
The other cashier, a tired-looking middle aged man, eyed me warily. “I do not get paid enough to clean that up,” he muttered.
I straightened a little, gesturing at Jackson. “This good Samaritan has offered to take me the hospital.”
The cashier’s eyes appeared ready to pop out of her head. “He did?”
I nodded, rubbing my belly and grimacing. “So we’re going to have to go unless you want me to have the baby right here. It would probably be a big mess. And, like, there would be paperwork.”
“He’s so sweet!” one of the girls in the crowd behind us was saying. “I knew he was famous, but can you believe what a gentleman he is?”
“That’s right!” Jackson said, getting into the role of hero. “This poor woman is in need of assistance. So if you can all just let us through… ”
“Get the paper,” I muttered, doubling over in fake labor pain.
“And we’ll just take this,” he added casually, grabbing our things from the counter. “Uh, keep the change.”
“Wow,” the cashier murmured, sounding almost teary. “He’s like, a hero. I totally need to tweet this.”
“Excuse us,” Jackson said smoothly, smiling as he pushed us through the crowd. “Excuse us.”
“Ouch,” I yelped, pushing one of the girls away so we could get through. She jumped back, eyeing my belly in apparent terror that the condition might be contagious.
Finally we were through the crowd and outside. “Don’t slow down,” I said. “One of those girls looked like she couldn’t care less if I had the baby at her feet so long as she got to touch you.”
He pulled me along the sidewalk for a few seconds and then the door behind us crashed open. “Jackson!” a girl yelled. “Wait!”
“See?” I cried.
But Jackson was grabbing my hand and breaking out into a full on run. I did my best to keep up. “Pregnant ladies shouldn’t run!” I yelled, but he only laughed.
“They do if they don’t want to get mobbed by teenagers!”
He ducked into the ally, still laughing. Luckily the girls seemed to have missed our escape because no one followed us. When it was clear that we were alone he pulled me against the brick wall of the building and kissed me, hard.
“What was that for?” I asked, breathless from the kiss and from the exertion.
“For getting us out of there,” he said, his eyes twinkling in the dark. “That was quick thinking.”
“Sometimes being knocked up comes in handy.”
Chapter Four
“Like this?” Jackson asked, looking up at me hopefully.
“Looks good.” He grinned down at the present in his hand, the same little boy grin he’d shown before, and I stifled a laugh. If I had known he would get such a kick out of wrapping the presents, I might have spilled the wine on purpose.
“This is fun,” he said happily, slapping a piece of tape on the folded edge he had just made.
“I can’t believe you’ve never wrapped a present before.”
He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t even pick out gifts. My PA handles all of it.” He chuckled. “Don’t I sound like a wanker?”
“What about before you were famous? When you were a kid?”
Another shrug, but this time his face seemed to close off a little. “My parents always had employees for that kind of thing.”
Hmm. I hadn’t realized he came from such a privileged background. I wondered why he seemed so sad about it. But then he was looking up at me with those gleeful eyes again, holding up the ribbon. “Show me again.”
So I used the scissors to curl the ribbon, earning myself what almost sounded like a giggle from Jackson. “That is so cool.”
I shook my head, smiling, as I set to work on the last of the boxes, Jackson working happily at my side. When I placed the last ribbon, he leaned back against the wall, his smile very satisfied. “This is great. Look at what we did.”
I looked over the presents. In truth, it looked like what it was—a rush job. We hadn’t really bought enough ribbon to do each box properly, and it looked more than a little suspicious that so many presents had identical paper. But I hoped Lizzie would be too happy and rested after her honeymoon to notice when it came time to open the gifts.
“We did good,” I assured Jackson.
“I know! I mean, just a little while ago these were all soggy and ugly. And now they look great! We did that.”
I couldn’t decide if I should be amu
sed by his over-the-top enthusiasm for such a simple task or depressed that he lived the kind of life where such a common thing seemed like a big deal.
“And Lizzie will be happy about it. Thank you for helping me.”
“Are you kidding? That was so fun!”
I laughed, shaking my head. “If you say so.”
“I mean it!” He climbed toward me on his knees, taking my hands once he was across from me. “Running out to the store at night, pretending you were in labor, escaping the mad fans—Sofie, that’s the most fun I’ve had in ages.”
I looked into his familiar blue eyes. It was strange how different they looked to me now. There was nothing but sincerity there—he really had a good time with me, just doing normal, everyday things like running to the store and wrapping gifts.
I leaned forward and kissed him, my hands reaching for his face. He sighed a little against my mouth, the sound happy and uncomplicated, before bringing his arms up around me.
Suddenly the door to the store room banged open. I jumped back from Jackson, narrowly avoiding knocking over the freshly-wrapped presents all over again. Samuel was standing in the doorway, his expression a mixture of amusement and surprise.
“Hey, Sof,” he said causally. “Uh, what’s up?”
“We were just. Uh. Jackson was—”
“Sofie was helping me go over lines,” he said smoothly. “For an audition.”
A muscle in Sam’s jaw pulsed and I had a feeling he was trying not to laugh. “Oh. That’s nice. Well. Sof, your mom is looking for you. And Lizzie, too. I said I would go find you.”
“Thanks, Sam.”
His amused gaze met mine and I knew I would be hearing about this for years. There are certain things you just don’t want your cousin to catch you doing—making out with a movie star in a dingy store room is definitely one of them.
“I’ll just leave you two to your, uh, lines.”
When he was gone I looked at Jackson with raised eyebrows. “Helping you go over lines?”
His expression was innocent. “What? I use that excuse all the time.”