“She's asleep on the couch,” she answered. “I was cooking her favorite lasagna. I made it take as long as I could. It was already out of the oven, but she didn't know it. We had a long talk. She's hurt and thinks you wanted her to look like a fool. She was at your office. Someone told her you were with someone this weekend. I've never seen her this way, but I guess I haven't been there for much with her.”
“I need to see her,” I said.
She nodded and opened the door for me to walk through. I took a huge breath and readied myself for whatever it was I was walking into.
The moment I saw her, I felt my heart breaking. Her face still stained from her tears, and she looked exhausted. I sat down on the couch and put my head in my hands. Her mom walked over and put her hand on my shoulder.
“What am I going to do?” I asked. “This is not how I saw this weekend going. I flew there to tell her how I felt. What if she doesn't believe me now?”
“It's going to be fine,” she whispered. “Just be honest with her. Tim went home. We're going to bed. There's lasagna in the refrigerator if you two get hungry. She has a car, but you can use mine if you need it. She knows where the keys are. Not much has changed here in the last ten years. We love you two. It'll all work out.”
“Thank you so much,” I said.
Her dad was already in bed, and her mom walked up the stairs. I sat watching Tiny sleep. A tear slid down my cheek, and I hurried to wipe it away. Then I leaned back against the couch and carefully pulled her against me. She mumbled something I couldn't hear, wrapped her arm over my stomach, and put her head on my chest. I grabbed the blanket and tucked it in around her body. I wrapped my arms around her tight. I had no idea how it was going to go once she woke up, and I wasn't losing however long I was going to have her in my arms.
The day had really taken its toll on me. The only thing I needed was her close to me. My head fell back against the couch. I felt my eyes pulling closed as I whispered.
“I love you, Tiny.”
Chapter 14
Tina
I was so warm and comfortable. My body felt so safe. There was something over me and something else around me. I knew I needed to open my eyes, but I didn't want the feeling surrounding me to disappear.
It was all a dream, I thought. I was going to open my eyes from my nightmare and everything was going to be fine. I'd check my phone for my morning text from Jackson. It was all I dream.
I slowly opened my eyes and let them roam around the room. It wasn't my room. Then my eyes looked in the other direction, and my body tensed. Who was I leaning on, I wondered? Had Chris come to find me? I was fooling myself, and I knew it. Chris never made me feel the kind of warmth I was feeling. I slowly and silently moved to look up at the man whose stomach my hand was wrapped around.
When I saw his face, I gasped and moved to cover my mouth. His body moved slightly and his arms tightened the hold I didn't realize they had on me. It was Jackson. I knew it was. I pulled back enough to see his beautiful face. His eyes were closed, but I could see the stress that was surrounding him. Did he always look like that, I wondered? Everything had gone so fast the weekend of the wedding. Maybe I just hadn't noticed. He needed to slow down. He was too young to have that kind of stress in his life. The edges of his eyes were pinched tight. His hair was so damn sexy. I could see where his fingers had gone through it over and over. His cheeks were covered with stubble from the day before. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to run my finger along his chin. The top two buttons of his shirt were open and his head was back. It took all I had not to slide my tongue up his throat and grab his plump bottom lip between my teeth. I noticed his shirt was all wrinkled. When I looked down, I noticed he still had his shoes on.
Things from the day before began to move through my mind. His office, his crazy, perfect assistant Andrea, and the fact that he was with someone. How did he end up on my couch? How had I fallen asleep? My mom was making me dinner before I left. Oh shit! I moved to pull out of his hold and away from him.
“Tiny,” he mumbled, as he tightened his grip.
The more I thought about everything, the more upset I became. I pulled hard against his hold and jumped up from the couch. His eyes opened wide, and he looked up at me for a second before getting to his feet. His hand instantly went to that damn hair. It was even longer than it was just a couple of weeks before when my own hands were buried in it. Stop it, I thought. My head shook from side to side. I turned around and headed for the door to grab my shoes.
“Stop it,” he said.
“No,” I said. “I can't believe this. Where the fuck is my lasagna? Did she set me up? That's bullshit. Why are you even here? What is wrong with all of you?”
I reached down for my shoes when his large hand grabbed my arm and swung me around.
“Get your hand off of me,” I growled.
“Listen,” he said.
“No, you listen,” I snapped, as I stuck my finger into his chest. “I've had more than enough of your shit for one lifetime. You need to stay away from me. I don't want you to text me, or call me, or show up anywhere I am. My brother was right. I should have stayed as far away from you as I could. Just because you're some big shot with money now doesn't mean I have to stop and kiss your ass like everyone else does. I was at your office, Jackie. You fed me some line of crap about wanting me there and wanting to see me. Then I got online to pay my bills. Do you know what I found?”
My finger was pressing hard into his chest. He had a shocked look on his face. Not everyone thought he was the be all and end all just because he had money.
“You paid my hotel bill from the weekend of the wedding. You paid every dime I spent in that place. I don't want your damn money. It means nothing to me. You know what meant something to me? You did. I was stupid enough to get sucked into the Jackson spell. You seem to pull everyone into your web. I felt bad that you'd paid my bill. You were doing things for everyone but yourself. You were working every waking moment. I made a decision. It was the stupidest one I'd ever made. I was going to put it all out there. I was going to come to Florida to surprise you. I was going to pour my heart out to you. I was going to tell you that I'd had a crush on you since I was thirteen and you scared the shit out of me at my party. I was going to tell you that I missed you so damn bad while you were at college. I was going to tell you that the night we had sex on the beach was the best night of my life. I was going to tell you how damn miserable I've been the last ten years without you in my life. I was going to tell you that the last two weeks have been like a dream for me and that I wanted to see if we could make it work.”
I stopped and looked up at him. He opened his mouth and my finger went to his lips.
“Not a word,” I said. “Then I showed up at your job. The place you go each day where you have a boss whose ass you have to kiss. For two weeks I said things like that, and you never once corrected me. The building you worked in was beautiful. When I walked in, the very pretty girl behind the desk asked me what I needed. I told her I was there to see a friend. She asked me who, and I said your name. I told her I'd wait outside, and she was adamant that I not leave. She was worried about her job. Of course that made no sense to me. I thought it was strange she knew who Tim was. Next thing I knew, a very beautiful and perfect woman walked up to me. Her name was Andrea. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about, Jackie. She takes me to the top floor, where I see an enormous office with your name on the door. Then this perfect looking woman tells me you own the entire building. She goes on to tell me that your gorgeous and she can't believe I had to be around you without jumping you growing up. She tells me how she wants to be with you. If that wasn't embarrassing enough, she tells me that you're gone for the weekend with your woman.”
His lips moved beneath my fingers, and I pushed my finger against them harder.
“I'm glad you have a woman. I hope the two of you are happy. You shouldn't be telling someone else you want them to be there and that you want to see them if yo
u're already with someone. I feel bad for the woman you're with and hope she doesn't end up crushed and heartbroken like I have. You've destroyed me twice now, Jackie. There won't be a third. I'm going to get my shoes on, and then I'm going to leave. You've had your fun. I hope it was everything you wanted it to be. I am begging you to leave me alone. I will not ever be back here again. You can have all of this. Thank you for reminding me why I've held my heart so close and never let anyone in these past ten years.”
I moved to pull my fingers away from his mouth and chest, but he grabbed both of my wrists with his hands and held me there.
“Let me go, Jackson,” I said sternly.
“I've stood here and listened to everything you've had to say. Now you're going to listen to me.”
I shook my head no and he nodded.
“Yes, you are,” he said. “I do work every waking moment. You are right about that part. Do you know why?”
I rolled my eyes and looked away from him.
“You're the reason why. I work every fucking second of the day so I can keep my mind off of you.”
“Here we go,” I mumbled.
“Zip it, woman,” he snapped. “I've listened to that cocky mouth talk shit for two weeks now. You need to knock it off and let me speak. I didn't take two separate flights yesterday and run all over town to have you walk away without hearing what I have to say to you. I've had a thing for your ass since the day I walked down those stairs and you ended up on my chest. I stayed away from you for your brother. I chased guys away from you because I wanted you for myself. I missed you so damn bad while I was gone at school. When I saw you on the beach that night and we talked, I needed you more than I have ever needed anyone or anything in my life. I walked away because of him and my family, your family. I've spent the last ten years working my ass off every moment of every day for you.”
“Why didn't you tell me you owned the place then?” I asked.
“I wasn't going to tell you while you were here with some asshole that wasn't even paying attention to you. It took all I had to hold myself together, and you see how well that went. I had to buy his ass a new phone. When you showed up at my room, I had every intention of telling you everything. I didn't want to ruin the night and planned to tell you in the morning, but you ran from me. When you started talking to me once you went home, I didn't want to do anything to make you push me away. I wanted to tell you in person.”
“I don't get it,” I said.
“I thought if I worked so hard, there would be no time to wonder where you were or what you were doing. It didn't work. I bought a house I knew you would love. I help charities I knew you would want to help. I've built schools because of you and your love for teaching kids. Do you think I care about the money? Do you think I've built what I have to impress my parents? No, I've built what I have hoping that one day you'd come back and be proud of who I was.”
“Then you don't know me at all, Jackie,” I said. “I don't care about money. You should know that. Why would you think wealth would impress me? Why would you think I wasn't proud of you before I even left? You never even gave me a chance. You fucking ran from me.”
“I know I did, Tiny. I've regretted that every single day, and that's made me work that much harder to build a life you would be proud of. I should have stood up for you, for us. I should have told your brother to fuck himself ten years ago instead of two days ago. He told me what he said to you. He still doesn't think I'm good enough for you. You know what, he's right. I'm not good enough for you. You deserve a man that would never let someone else decide their life. I've worked very hard to be that man. I don't give a shit what Tim thinks. You're my Tiny. You always will be.”
He had me, and I knew it. Then I remembered the fact that he was with another woman the day before his heartfelt words.
“Hold on,” I said, trying to pull out of his hold without success. “You did it again. You almost had me. You should bottle that shit. I have no idea how you do it.”
“What?” he asked offended.
“You really feel that way?” I asked. “You feel all of those things you just said.”
“Of course I do,” he said confused.
“If you have all of those feelings for me, why were you with another woman yesterday, and where is she now?”
He shook his head and laughed, which made me pull at my wrists even harder.
“You drive me crazy, Tiny,” he said. “I wasn't with another woman yesterday.”
“Why did Andrea say you were?” I asked confused.
“I had just walked out of an awful meeting and was about to walk into another when I got an unexpected call. It came at the perfect time. I could hear in your voice that you were worried about me, Tiny. When you mentioned coming to kick someone's ass, it sounded so good. The thought of seeing you instantly brought a smile to my face. I walked into that meeting, and you were all I could think about. I'd just been to see your brother the night before to discuss things, and that hadn't ended the way I'd hoped it would. The only thing I could concentrate on was the thought of holding you in my arms. I walked out of the meeting, walked into my office, and booked a flight to New York.”
“What?” I asked with wide eyes. “Jackie.”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“I'm not done yet,” he said. “My exact words to Andrea on my way out were “I'm going to claim my woman.” I went home, packed a bag, and went to the airport. When I arrived in New York, I went straight to the restaurant to get Chris to cancel his plans with you. He showed me the text you had sent him earlier already canceling the plans. He had me wait a few minutes before driving me to your apartment.”
“You saw my apartment?” I asked.
“I sure did,” he said before taking a deep breath. “We'll discuss that later. I had Chris send you that text. You know the one. I believe you talked about what an ass I was. When I realized where you were, I had him drive me back to the airport. I might possibly have offered him my car. He turned me down. He said all he wanted was for me to fix your pain. He really is a good guy. I had no idea why you were so upset and told me off before turning your phone off. My only hope was that you would go see your mom before you took off. I called her and begged her to keep you here. I honestly don't think she was going to until I told her that I loved you. She had to offer you lasagna to keep your ass here. I guess some things stay the same when everything else changes.”
I stood there speechless and wondering if he even realized what he'd just said.
“What?” he asked.
A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. I'd been trying so hard not to let him see what he was doing to me. I couldn't answer him.
“Don't look at me like that,” he said, as he let go of one wrist and wiped the tear away. “I love you, Tiny. You have to know that. Look at me. I flew all day yesterday for you. You're my Tiny. I don't care what anyone has to say. If they don't like it, they don't have to talk to me. I can't do it anymore. I should have stood up for us a long time ago. I might not be perfect, but I will love you deeper than any other man ever could. I don't care if I have to sell the company and move to New York. You belong with me. You always have. You can either let me claim my woman now, or you can make me chase her. It won't matter. I won't give up.”
I stood looking into his sexy, dark eyes.
“Why?” I asked.
“Why what?” he replied.
“Why me?” I asked. “Look at me. I showed up at your company in jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers with no makeup on and my hair in a messy bun on top of my head. I work two jobs to get by. I'm not anything special. I saw the way that girl in the lobby turned all red when she talked about you. Don't get me started on straight-out-of-a-magazine Andrea. Not one hair was out of place on her head. She said she'd been trying to get with you since the day she started working there. You own a car I couldn't imagine renting for one hour. Your clothes look like they're made just for you. You deserve a woman that's going to hang on your ever
y word and look like a million bucks on your arm. That's not who I am. Why not one of them?”
“They're not my Tiny,” he said. “That's why. It's always been you. I love you, baby.”
I couldn't hold back my tears. We were standing in front of each other, both looking like shit, professing our love to the other.
“I love you too, Jackie,” I said.
He grabbed the back of my head and slammed his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and jumped into his arms. He kissed me with just as passion and I was him. His teeth grabbed my lower lip and pulled before thrusting his tongue in and battling mine for control. When we both finally gasped for air, I hugged him tighter than I thought was possible. He slapped my ass and let my feet fall to the floor when we heard a sound from the other room. We both looked toward the doorway to see my mom and dad standing there. My dad had his eyes narrowed at Jackson, and my mom had the biggest smile on her face.
“Anyone in the mood for some lasagna?” she asked with a laugh.
I shook my head and laughed.
“I would love some,” I said. “I'm starving.”
It might have been breakfast time, but I was getting my lasagna. I grabbed Jackson's hand and started walking toward her.
“We need to talk about that apartment you live in,” he said sternly from behind me.
“Not now, Jackson,” my mom yelled out from in front of us. “I need a few hours with her before you piss her off again.”
We all burst into laughter, as we headed to the kitchen for some of my mom's amazing lasagna.
Chapter 15
Tina
I couldn't take my eyes off of him the entire time we sat at the table with my parents. He looked so rough and so sexy at the same time. Did he mean it? Did he really love me?
It was like he knew I was thinking about him. He looked into my eyes with a huge smile on his face.
As soon as we finished eating, he stood from the table and walked over to my mom. He leaned down and pulled her into his arms for a hug.
In Love with My Brother's Best Friend: Complete Box Set Page 19