by Maise, Ella
Both hands on the seat of her chair, the girl leaned closer and whispered, “Hi.”
I grinned at her and she gave me a crooked smile.
“I love your dress. Is it new?” I asked. She looked down at herself. She wore a simple long-sleeved pink dress. It wasn’t anything special, but its owner was, and that was all that mattered.
“They gave it to me today,” she explained. “It’s pink. It’s mine now, I think.”
“It looks gorgeous on you. I wish I had a pretty pink dress like that, too.”
“You do?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “I don’t have such beautiful blonde hair like yours, though, so I’m not sure I would look that good in pink, but I’m jealous just the same.”
She gently touched my arm with one single finger and quickly pulled it back.
“My name is Rose. What’s yours?”
“Madison, but my friends call me Maddy.”
“Nice to meet you, Maddy.” I held out my arm so she would feel free to touch me again. “Do you think my dress looks okay on me? I’m not sure.”
“It’s so pretty,” she whispered longingly, and this time she felt okay enough to run her hand up and down the embellishments on my sleeves. She looked at me and then to the chaperone, and when she saw the woman still hadn’t noticed us, she crooked her finger at me. I had to take two steps on my knees to get there and then she leaned in even closer, speaking into my ear. “I’m sorry I touched you. I’m not supposed to touch anyone tonight.”
I tried to force a brighter smile on my face. “That’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
The girl sitting on her right, who could only have been a few years older than Maddy, turned to us too.
“Hey, what are you doing on the ground?”
“Hey yourself,” I said, smiling. “Just chatting with your friend.”
“I like your hair.”
“Oh, really? Thank you.”
“I love yours. I wish I had curls like that.”
She swung her head from side to side, her tiny, frazzled curls flying everywhere. “I don’t have to do anything to mine.”
“You’re so lucky.”
“Sometimes other kids make fun of it though.”
My heart ached. I’d also had kids make fun of me when I was her age. Kids could be brutal. “Don’t listen to them. Trust me, they’re just jealous.”
“What’s your name?” she asked, leaning over the back of her chair.
“Rose.”
“It’s a pretty name. You’re pretty, too.”
My heart melted. “Thank you. You’re so sweet. What’s your name?”
“Sierra.”
“Really? I had a friend named Sierra in college. It’s a beautiful name, just like you.”
The pretty blue-eyed Madison touched my arm, and I turned to her. “I really like your dress. Was it a lot of money?”
“It was a gift to me. Maybe when you’re a little older, you can buy something like this, something shiny.”
“Who bought it?”
Thinking I would point Jack out, I looked over my shoulder. I was assuming he would have his back to me since that was how I’d left him, but he had switched places with his friend and was talking to him while facing me. He glanced my way over his friend’s shoulder and our eyes met.
I bit my lower lip and turned to Madison. “You see that guy over there talking to the man wearing a navy blue suit?”
Both girls craned their necks to see who I was talking about.
“Which one? The old one?” Sierra whispered.
I looked back again and got caught in Jack’s gaze. Since he was already looking our way, even though I could see his mouth moving as he talked to his friend, I pointed at him with my finger so the girls could see him. “Not the old one, the one in front of him. He has blue eyes and he is looking at us.” Turning back to them, I asked, “Did you see?”
The girls giggled loudly.
My head whipped back to Jack, but he was focused on his friend. I also noticed a few other people from the tables around us sending me disapproving looks. I couldn’t understand why, so I ignored them. “What? What is it?”
“He winked at us,” Maddy said, still grinning. “He is so big.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Sierra asked, now sitting sideways on her chair.
“He is my…husband.” I touched her nose with my finger.
Her grin got bigger.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Maddy chimed in. “I’m too young.”
“Believe me, you’re not missing out on anything.”
“Boys can be stupid sometimes,” Sierra added, nodding.
“Yeah, so stupid, and jerks, too,” I admitted. It was something they’d learn soon enough.
When they started to giggle again, I started laughing with them, not caring that more heads had turned our way this time.
“You tell your husband he is stupid, too?” Maddy whisper-yelled.
“I told him he was a jerk tonight, right before we walked in here.”
Both their eyes got huge. “You didn’t!”
“I did.” I shrugged. “He was being a jerk so I told him to stop it.”
“But he is so much bigger than you.”
“He is pretty big, isn’t he? Well, it doesn’t matter. Just because he is big doesn’t mean he gets to be a jerk.”
Sierra nodded enthusiastically. “He is kinda cute, though.”
“Yeah, cute,” Maddy mumbled.
As I was about to say something, I felt a hand clasp my wrist and pull me up not so gently. Surprised, I gasped and almost lost my balance.
“You’re embarrassing us,” Bryan hissed, leaning in close and pulling me toward him at the same time.
I tried to jerk my hand away, but his hold on me was tight and was starting to become painful. My brows drew together as I met his eyes. “What are you doing?” I whispered in confusion when I could find my voice again. Before I got an answer, I felt a broad chest pressing against my back, and just like that, Jack’s hand was on Bryan’s wrist. I didn’t know how much pressure he was applying, but Bryan let go of me immediately.
Acting like nothing was wrong, my cousin looked around and smiled. “Try to control your wife, Hawthorne.” Then, pushing one hand into the pocket of his pants, he strolled away from us.
Confused, hurt and more than a little surprised, I just massaged my wrist.
That broad, warm chest that was plastered behind me moved slightly so he could lean down and whisper into my ear. “What did he say?” he growled, and that gravelly voice did things to me—lots of things.
I let go of my wrist and involuntarily pressed myself back, absorbing more of his heat so I could whisper back. “Nothing.”
“Rose—” he started in a low voice, his palm pressing against my stomach, keeping me in place.
Keeping me with him.
“It’s okay,” I interrupted, looking over my shoulder and into his eyes. His jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything else.
I remembered where we were—or more importantly, who I had been talking to just a few seconds earlier—so I turned back to the girls, who were staring up at us in confusion.
“I’m sorry about that,” I apologized, shifting in place and facing them again. Jack stayed glued to my back, moving his body with me. It probably should’ve bothered me, his closeness, but I would’ve been lying to myself if I’d said it did. His hand curled around my waist and gave it a squeeze.
“Uh…” It was so hard not to fidget under his touch. “Girls, I’d like you to meet my husband, Jack. Jack, these are my new friends, Maddy and Sierra.”
They both waved up at him, and I peered back to see him nodding at them with a serious expression on his face.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you girls,” he said, so smoothly my heart went crazy in my chest. Those pesky little butterflies were back in my stomach, too.
The girls were grinning again,
so all was well.
“Did Rose really call you a jerk tonight?” Sierra enquired boldly, staring up at him.
I put my hand over Jack’s, which was still on my waist, and looked back at him, too. He sighed and managed to change his expression to a really guilty one. I couldn’t hold back my smile.
“I’m afraid she did.”
“You didn’t get angry?” Maddy quipped with big eyes.
“She was telling the truth. I was being a jerk, so I couldn’t get angry at her.”
“Rose said boys are stupid and jerks,” Sierra put in.
I feigned a shocked expression. “You’re telling on me to my husband, Sierra? I told you that in secret.”
The giggles started again and I couldn’t keep a straight face. My smile got bigger when Jack played his role perfectly by leaning down and pressing a soft kiss on my cheek.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree with my wife. Boys are stupid. And sometimes jerks, I’m afraid.”
God, who was this man exactly?
Both of them had heart eyes as they stared up at Jack. I was afraid I had them as well.
“Would it be okay if I stole my wife for a little while?” Jack asked the girls. I didn’t want to leave, but they needed to eat their dinner, and I didn’t want to attract any attention to myself and embarrass Jack in any way.
“Will you come back?” Maddy asked, and I nodded.
“I will. Promise.”
“Okay. Bye!”
We got some more waves then, with his arm still around my waist and my hand on his, Jack guided me back to our table. I realized the emcee wasn’t on the stage anymore and there were no other speakers. I felt and, more than that, noticed curious eyes on us, some of them likely disapproving, but I kept a small smile on my face and made sure not to glance at the table where Joshua and the rest of them sat.
When we reached our table, instead of sitting down like I’d assumed we would, Jack pulled me over, a little to the left, out of the way of the waiters changing out plates and delivering more drink orders. We were still out in the open, and we could still be seen clearly by everyone.
“What did he say to you?” he asked as soon as he was standing in front of me. None of our body parts were touching anymore. I didn’t know about him, but I certainly felt the loss.
“He didn’t say anything important, Jack,” I assured him, putting my hand on his arm then pulling it back. “There is nothing to get angry about.”
“Then you can say what he said.”
“But it doesn’t matter.”
“I can be the judge of that.”
I tilted my head and sighed. “Jack.” He just waited with that same cool expression on his face, and I released a long sigh. Knowing him, he could keep that expression for a long time. “If you promise you won’t go over or say something to him, I’ll tell you.”
I got a sharp nod and nothing else.
I sighed, more heavily this time. “He just said I was embarrassing them. The girls were laughing, and I think some of the tables that were close by got annoyed. I don’t think I did anything to embarrass you, but if I did I’m—”
His eyes bored into mine as his jaw tightened. “Don’t even finish that sentence, Rose. You didn’t embarrass anyone. You made two little girls’ night.” He looked away for a moment and I watched his features soften. Then he lifted his hand in a wave and, curious, I followed his gaze to see the girls waving at us enthusiastically with big smiles on their faces. I smiled back and turned to Jack, the smile still strong. “They think you’re big, and cute—and Sierra thinks I’m pretty.”
“You are pretty.” His eyes were still on the girls, and he didn’t even realize he was making my heart do a little somersault. “But cute?” he asked as his eyes came back to me with my favorite frown on his face. “I’m offended.”
“Aww, don’t be. You are cute, in a grumpy sort of way.”
I laughed, and his eyes dropped to my mouth, causing me to bite on my lower lip as I quickly lost the big smile. His eyes flicked up to mine, the blue somehow looking even deeper in the low lighting of the room, then his stare went right back to my lips. Completely mesmerized, I watched a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
I swore I didn’t breathe for a few seconds and just stood there gawking up at him, entranced.
Finally, finally his mouth curved into a smile. It had only taken us a bit more than a month. It was probably my own fault, but my God! It’d been a long wait, a pretty long wait that had been worth it because when he smiled…when the skin around his eyes gently crinkled, turning his expression into something completely different than what it was when he was frowning…I simply couldn’t stop staring. My heart soared as if I had just accomplished something big, and for me, it was big—so big that I couldn’t stop myself from beaming up at him.
“Is that a smile I just saw, Mr. Hawthorne?” I asked, still a little stupefied. “This is the first time you’ve smiled at me. I’ve been trying to count them since week one, and this is number one. A smile…I can’t believe it. I wish I had my phone with me so I could capture this moment. We need to have cake to celebrate.”
I looked to my right and left to confirm that I wasn’t the only one witnessing this, but even though I was glancing around, I didn’t see anyone. The entire room could’ve been staring at us, including Joshua, but I didn’t see a single person other than Jack Hawthorne. This was actually not good news for me, the fake wife, but I didn’t care one bit about that. I’d consider that later, much later, when I was over that smile.
His smile softened, but it was still there. “You’ve been counting my smiles?”
“Trying’ being the operative word here since you like to hoard them like a squirrel hoarding his nuts.”
“I’ve smiled at you, Rose.” He lifted his hand and tucked my hair behind my ear. I didn’t think much about it because I was busy shaking my head at him.
“You haven’t.”
“Maybe you weren’t looking.”
“Are you kidding me? I’ve been looking nonstop.” I lifted a finger between us and his gaze dropped to it. “One time—there was one time I thought I saw your lips twitch, but it was a false alarm, and that’s it.”
I was still grinning, but when I looked at his lips, he had lost the smile and the expression on his face was much more intense. He took a step forward into me and my pulse quickened. When his big, warm hand cupped my face, covering almost the entire left half, I noticed the shift in the air and stood still.
Oh, this is not good.
Eyes locked on mine, he lowered his head just a few inches away from my lips and whispered, “I’m going to kiss you now, Rose.” His eyes were still open and on mine.
I swallowed.
“What?” I croaked, and then I cleared my throat, stuck in place, staring into the depths of his eyes. His gaze moved from my eyes to my lips. “I knew this was a possibility tonight, of course,” I whispered. “But is someone looking?” We needed to put on a show and I supposed the time had come, but why was I suddenly freaking out on the inside? It wasn’t like we were gonna suck each other’s faces in the middle of a charity event.
“Do you care if someone is looking?” he asked.
I mean…that was the whole reason for the kiss, wasn’t it? But did I care? Not really, I supposed. A peck on the lips was nothing. I took a deep breath and nodded, letting it out in a whoosh. “Okay. Right. Lay it on me. Let’s do this.” As his eyes swept over my face, I steeled my voice. “A little faster than that,” I whispered, keeping my voice as low as possible. “Not like a turtle, remember?”
A smile danced on his lips again as if he found what I said extremely funny, but he managed to drop his forehead against mine and our noses touched.
My heart started beating in my throat when his arm rounded my waist and he pulled me just a little closer. Made sense too, I supposed, because I couldn’t just keep my face close but my body away. Closing my eyes, I swallowed hard. My hands were inst
inctively resting on his chest. This was going to be one epic peck, and I hoped the people around who were watching—whoever they were—appreciated our acting.
His hand was still covering my cheek. “Are you ready for me, Rose?” Jack whispered in a low, insistent voice, and I smelled the whiskey and mint on his breath.
“You’re still taking it too slow—you need to—”
I didn’t get the chance to utter another word because Jack’s lips were on mine, and we were not sharing a nice little romantic peck. No, his tongue was already sweeping in and teasing mine. For a moment, I wasn’t sure what I should do. We hadn’t done this even on the day we’d said I do. My eyes were still open, and I felt a little desperate to end whatever he had started. I even tried to, twice, both times thinking Okay, this is it, he is stopping now so you need to stop too, but the more he teased me with the way he slowly coaxed me into the kiss, pulling me deeper, the more I felt myself slipping. Finally, my eyes started to close on their own. It wasn’t that I wasn’t responding—I was, had been from the moment his lips touched mine—but up until that point, I’d been doing it reluctantly, thinking the entire time it would end in the next second, thinking he’d stop after just one more beat. I was doing my very best to hold myself back, trying my very, very best not to enjoy our kiss.
Then when he suddenly stopped, I could’ve cried. I wasn’t sure if it was from relief or sorrow. Thankfully, he didn’t pull back completely, and I only swayed toward him a little. I forced myself to open my eyes.
“Am I doing okay?” he asked against my already swollen lips, his eyes staring straight into mine. The hairs on my arms stood up and his eyes became my entire focus. They looked darker, deeper, and deep ocean blue became my absolute favorite new color.
I cleared my throat and tried to move my head up and down in a nod. “I mean, it depends on what you’re going for, but much better, er, than a turtle…I think.”
“You think so?” His gravelly voice caused my eyelids to droop, and the way he used his left hand to swipe some of my bangs out of my face, the backs of his fingers gently grazing my temple…
Biting on my lip so I wouldn’t do something stupid, I took a deep breath, nodded, and forced my eyes to open. In the same second, he was on my lips again. As slow and sweet as it had started with his first kiss, with this one, the more his tongue swirled in my mouth, the more he tilted his head and tried to get in deeper, the further I slipped into a dark hole I never wanted to come out of. His hand at my back pulled me forward, a barely noticeable inch or two, but it made it impossible for me not to arch my back and help him along. I wasn’t into public displays of affection at all, but I forgot about every single person that was in that huge ballroom with us. I could’ve been standing in the middle of a stadium in Jack’s arms going at it full force and probably still wouldn’t have cared in that moment.