17. Jefferson
CHAPTER 17
JEFFERSON
I don’t know what exactly happened, but something has changed with Harlow. But as a guy who’s had a lot of things come along that feel like just good timing and good luck, I’m comfortable simply enjoying this moment.
We walk toward the kissing booth, holding hands. Lots of people notice, and we get a lot of smiles. No one seems shocked, and many of the smiles seem knowing.
I don’t point that out, figuring Harlow would hate that. But I like it.
How can I convince her to keep this up past the end of the week?
“I was just coming to find you two.”
All the happy warm feelings evaporate as Zach strolls up to us.
Fuck, I really hate this guy.
“Why would you do that?” Harlow asks, pressing against my side.
Okay, maybe a few warm happy feelings remain.
“I was just going to offer to keep you company while Jefferson kisses the entire single female population of the county.”
I open my mouth to respond, but Harlow beats me to it.
“That’s not going to happen,” she informs him. “They messed up the scheduling. There is no way I am letting Jefferson kiss anyone else.”
Zach gives her a dubious look. “They messed up the schedule?”
“We told you, we haven’t been public for very long. They’ve had Jefferson on the schedule routinely for years. They just didn’t get around to taking him off after we let everyone know we were together.”
“So you're going to rob some charity of a bigger donation?” Zach makes a tsk-ing noise. “That’s so unlike you, Harlow.”
“Actually, we’re on our way over to donate right now. Believe me, I’m willing to pay a hefty price to keep this guy all to myself.”
She hugs my arm and I enjoy the press of her breast against my bicep.
I like this possessive side of Harlow. I hate that it’s fake, and I recognize the fact that wanting it to be real is problematic, but if Harlow ever felt possessive or protective of me, I would be immediately addicted. I have witnessed her feeling both of those things for other people. I have also been the target of her ire when she’s felt I was the one threatening those people.
“Flat-out donation, excellent idea,” Zach says. “I’ll come with you.”
“Why the fuck would we want you to come with us?” I ask him.
He looks around. “Probably because the Golden Boy Jefferson wouldn’t want to cause a scene.”
“I thought you were the Golden Boy,” Harlow says. “Oh, that’s right. You left. You barely come back to even visit. Whereas Jefferson came back to be a teacher and coach here. To contribute to the community. To support the people he loves and give back to the town that was so important to him growing up. He’s here in his hometown with his family and friends. And you are off doing what exactly again?”
“Oh, nothing important,” Zach says we all start walking across the square like a happy little threesome. “Just healing people. Making their lives better.”
“Strangers. Far away from here. In a city where you can make more money. Because that’s more important than taking care of the people here.”
I know that Harlow hates Zach. And I’m glad about that. But listening to her comparing the two of us and declaring that I’ve done something better, at least in her eyes, reminds me of all of the conversations she and I have had about people leaving Sapphire Falls and not coming home.
Is she finally convinced that I want to be here? That returning to Sapphire Falls was a choice I made and that I’m happy about it? Does she really understand that I did it because I love this town? And does she actually admire that?
We arrive at the kissing booth, and I’m greeted with several grins.
“There he is,” Travis Bennett says. “The man we’ve all been waiting for.”
I grin and shake my head. “Change of plans.”
“Sorry, Travis,” Harlow says. “His kisses are all mine. These lips are off-limits to everyone else.”
Travis laughs. “Oh, come on, Harlow, what are we gonna do over here for an hour?”
She laughs. “Well, we’re willing to make a three-hundred-dollar donation to cover what Jefferson would typically bring in. And then Zach’s going to fill in for him.” She looks at Zach. “I know he can’t raise three hundred, but every little bit helps, right?”
Zach bristles. “You don’t think I can bring three hundred dollars?”
She shakes her head. “I really don’t. But hey, step right up and prove me wrong.”
I smirk. Not only is she going to get Zach off our asses for the next hour, but now she’s challenged him publicly. He’ll either double the donation which benefits the cause, or he’ll be embarrassed when he falls short. Either is fine with me.
“What do you say?” Travis asks Zach. “People are going to be a little disappointed that it’s not Jefferson but…”
I like Travis Bennett. And he’s a smart guy. He said exactly the right thing to get Zach to say, “Yeah, of course I’ll do it. Anything for the hometown.” He looks over at me. “No worries at all.”
And that’s where we leave him as Harlow and I stroll off across the square to enjoy the festival.
And we really do. For the rest of the afternoon we play games, we snack, we go on rides, and we spend a lot of time talking to friends and family, some who we see every day and some who are back in town for the first time in a long time.
I haven’t had this much fun in longer than I can remember.
Watching Harlow with the town is not something new for me. I’ve seen her interact with this community a million times. But doing it from right beside her, knowing that everyone assumes she’s my girlfriend, feels different.
It feels really fucking good.
The lights around the festival have just started to blink on, the multicolored bulbs on all of the booths and rides twinkling, throwing a rainbow-colored glow over the square, when we hear, “Harlow! Jefferson!”
We turn to find Graham, Margot, Sloan, and Mia coming toward us.
“We’re all going down to the river for a bonfire tonight,” Margot says. She pins Harlow with a look. “You’re coming out with us tonight. Both of you. Together.”
Harlow looks up at me. “What do you think?”
What I think is I want to prolong being able to hold her hand, stand close, and maybe even sneak a kiss or two, and I can definitely do that at a bonfire. Some of our friends who will be there know about our situation, but not everyone does. We’ll have to keep the ruse up. This is perfect.
“Sounds fun,” I say. “We should definitely go.”
She turns back to Margot. “We’ll be there.”
“Great. See you in an hour,” Margot says.“BYOB.”
They walk off to issue more invitations and I look down at Harlow. “How do you want to kill the next sixty minutes?”
“Maybe I should change,” she says looking down at the yellow sundress she’s been wearing.
The one I asked her to wear.
Okay, I told her to wear it.
I really, really like this dress. “Why would you need to change?”
“It might get chilly after the sun goes down.”
“There will be a fire,” I remind her. Then I slide my hand around her waist and pull her up against me. “And you’ll have a boyfriend there. It’s kind of his job to keep you warm, isn’t it?”
She doesn’t pull away, she doesn’t even tense. She looks up at me from beneath her lashes. “That’s a very good point. So, I guess we can just hang out here until it’s time to go.”
Fuck yes. Cuddling by a bonfire? Bring it on.
I look up at the one festival ride we have not done. “How about the Ferris wheel?”
The Ferris wheel is something of a special tradition in Sapphire Falls. Everyone knows that when a single guy takes a single girl on the Ferris wheel, it’s a sign to everyone else that their relationship has gone to the next level. If he kisses her on this Ferris wheel, it is a public announcement to the town that they are serious and exclusive.
“I don’t know. Should we do that? We are still just pretending,” she says.
I really want to kiss her on the Ferris wheel. I really want this to not be pretend. The next time I’ll be able to kiss her on that Ferris wheel is a year from now.
I want things to be very serious by then.
That thought hits me and I’m not surprised.
“It will look strange if we don’t,” I say. “Zach has probably been watching to see if we do it.”
Using Zach is probably unfair but I don’t feel even a twinge of remorse when she says, “You’re right. We should definitely ride.”
We get in line, and I slip my arm around her, keeping her against my side.She slides her arm around my waist as well.
There are people in line with us, so I’m shocked when she looks up at me and asks, “So, you liked the begging in bed last night, huh?”
Heat rocks through me and I inadvertently tighten my hold on her. I look down, my brows up. She has a mischievous smile on her lips. That makes me glance around.
I realize that Allison and LuAnn are behind us in line. This little brat.
Okay. Fine. She started it. I don’t even have to make this up. “I like it a lot,” I tell her.“You know I love when you beg me to…” I make a point of looking around, then dropping my voice. “...do that thing you love.” I don’t drop it so low that Allison and LuAnn can’t hear me though.
Harlow’s cheeks get pink.
And she can’t fake that.
I want to know what she’s thinking so badly.
“And I will always deliver on that, Lily,” I say, lifting my thumb and tracing it over her lower lip. “You don’t really have to beg, you know. It just makes it hotter.”
She opens her mouth, then shuts it.
I look straight ahead, grinning.
She is absolutely wondering what she begged me for last night.
And I’ll happily tell her. But not with an audience.
We step up and take our seat in the next bucket. The attendant locks the lap bar into a place and then we are lifted into the air so that Allison and Lu can get on.
And as soon as we are dangling above the platform, Harlow asks, “Okay, what did I beg for?”
I look at her. “Do you really want to know?”
“I cannot believe I was so asleep that I don’t remember this. But yeah, I need to know.”
She looks like she’s bracing for the worst. Honestly, I was surprised by her request as well. She was sound asleep on the couch, I nudged her and spoke to her, trying to get her to wake up enough to walk upstairs. But she simply curled up tighter and rolled over to face the back of the couch. I had debated leaving her there for the night, but in the end, couldn’t do it. Not when I had two perfectly good beds upstairs. Of course, I had to debate myself over which bed to put each of us in. In the end, I’d decided to mess with her a little. Sleeping next to her had been torturous, but also worth making her wonder about.
“You asked me to touch you,” I tell her. It’s the truth.
Her eyes widen. “What do you mean? What did I say?”
“I tried to talk you out of it,” I say. I will never not enjoy messing with Harlow Hansen. “I told you to go to sleep. I told you that you would not appreciate it in the morning when you found out. But you were insistent. You told me you wouldn’t be able to sleep until I did it.”
Her cheeks are bright pink now and her gaze drops to my mouth. That’s interesting. She’s certainly not acting disgusted.
“What exactly did I say?” she asks, her voice softer.
“There were lots of pleases . My name. How you totally trusted me. How you were gonna die if you didn’t get my hands on you.”
She narrows her eyes. “I didn’t say that part.”
I chuckle. “Okay, some of that might’ve just been how I heard it. There were a couple of pleases, and you said it was very important. And that I shouldn’t be a prude and I should just do it.”
She seems to think that over. Then decides that does sound like her. Which it does. That was exactly what she told me.
“Okay, what was I asking you to do?” she says.
“What do you think you were asking me to do?” I ask her as her gaze goes to my mouth again.
“No. No fair,” she says. “Just tell me.”
I lean in. “Actually, I don’t think so. I would like very much to know what you think you might be willing to beg me for.”
I see her breath hitch and make a note of that. Her gaze is on my mouth again and now not moving. “I suppose it’s possible, that I asked you to...”
“To?” I ask, my voice dropping. “Because before you go on, or worry about going on, you should know that I would probably do anything you asked me to do. Especially anything you begged me for in bed.”
Now the breath hitch is more of a gasp. Her eyes bounce up to meet mine. “Did I ask you for sex? Or to touch me…”
Her saying sex already has me tensing, but I have to hear how she’s going to finish that sentence. I give her a half grin. “Touch you where,Harlow?”
Her voice drops to a whisper, and she leans closer. “Just tell me if I asked you to have sex with me or to…finger me.”
Shock, lust, and gratification shoot through me. Gratification at the fact that she said those words, gratification at the fact that she thought she might possibly, in any world, in any circumstance, ask me for that.
I keep my eyes on her and say, “Unfortunately no.”
She sighs with relief. “Okay.” Then she narrows her eyes. “Unfortunately?”
“No, you’re right, it’s fortunate because if you had asked me for that, and I wouldn’t have been able to—which I wouldn’t have, since you were kind of out of it—that might’ve killed me.”
Now her cheeks get even pinker, but I think it’s from desire, not embarrassment.
“So what did I ask for?”
I lean in. And take a breath. “You smell so fucking good.”
“Jefferson.”
I grin. “Right.” I whisper, “To put lotion on your feet and legs.”
She pauses. She stares at me. Then she closes her eyes and groans.
“I did it too,” I tell her. “You were very pouty, so I had to.”
She leans over and runs her hand down her calf. “Wow.”
I chuckle. “The begging started with, ‘I really need lotion on my feet and legs before I sleep’. I said it would be fine to skip just one night. And then I got, ‘ pleeease, Jefferson.’ I tried to hand you the bottle but you just pushed it away and said, ‘You do it.’ I finally did, but only to your knees. Then the begging got worse. Because you had to have lotion, ‘all the way up to my panties,’ I say, making my voice high, mimicking hers terribly. I grin. “That was exactly what you told me. All the way up to your panties. Both sides.”
She has her hands covering her face, but she’s laughing.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry. “
I chuckle, but I reach up and tug her hands away from her face. “You were asleep. And trust me,” I tell her. “As pervy as it sounds, I enjoyed it.”
She nods. “That does sound pervy.”
I shrug. “What can I say? You have great legs and very smooth skin. I guess now I know why.”
She’s still grinning. “I am very diligent about my lotion routine.”
I laugh. “You did also try to take your shirt off. That I wouldn’t let you do. Even when you whined about being hot.”
She grins. “I’m surprised I didn’t strip off in the night when you weren’t looking.”
I clear my throat and shift on the seat. “You did.”
Her eyes fly to mine. “Seriously?”
I nod. “I made you put it back on. Or rather I put it back on you. You sleep like the fucking dead.”
She gives a little laugh. “I don’t.”
“Well, you did last night. I put the shirt back on you without you even waking up.”
She looks at me through one eye. “Did you take a look first?”
“I have no idea what you mean.”
She laughs. “Before you answer, just know, that if you had stripped your boxers off in the night, I totally would’ve looked before I made you put them back on.”
I smirk at her. “Of course I looked.”
She tips her head. “And?”
“Are you seriously asking me how I liked my glimpse of your breasts?”
“I am,” she tells me. “Now that it’s out there between us, I have to admit I’m curious.”
“You have to be kidding,” I tell her. “You know you’re beautiful, right?”
She gives me a look. “I’m okay. I know you like my ass. But I’m specifically interested in what you think of how I look naked.”
I lean in. “Harlow, I think you’re fucking gorgeous. Of course I looked at your naked breasts. And I enjoyed it very much. And have thought of them several times today.”
She smiles. “That’s better.”
God, this is all so easy with her.
We’ve been around the full rotation twice now, since all the cars got unloaded and reloaded. I look out over the square below us, the lights twinkling, people filling the streets and sidewalks. I take a long, contented breath. I love the festival, but this year it feels even better than usual, and I am not stupid. I realize it has everything to do with the woman next to me.
“Margot and Graham have been hanging out a lot,” I comment as I notice my brother and Margot walking across the square, just the two of them now.
Harlow looks over at me. “Graham has a crush on her. Has for a long time. You know that right?”
”Really?” How had I missed that? And that makes a few things more interesting.
Harlow nods. “Yeah. Since sophomore year of high school.”
Yes, very interesting.
Should I tell Harlow that Margot has asked me what I think about a job opportunity that has come up for her in Colorado? Specifically in Denver? And does it have anything to do with Graham? Margot didn’t mention that when she asked for my opinion.
That was about a week ago and we were talking casually. The company is actually going to be contracting with my dad’s company. They are opening an office here in Sapphire Falls so they can be closer to the IAS headquarters, but they are based in Denver. Margot interviewed for an executive assistant position with the office here, but she’s thinking about asking them about openings in Denver.
I’ll admit I was surprised. Margot is a hometown girl. But if she wants to give Denver a try, I am, of course, supportive. I know our friends come to me with these ideas because they know that I’ll tell them to go for it. I assume it means that they’ve already given it a lot of thought and actually want someone to nudge them. That’s always been my role.
“Have they been in touch while he’s been in Denver?” I ask Harlow.
“I don’t think so. At least not anything out of the ordinary. They see each other when he comes home to visit. She went out there with me that one time,” Harlow says. “But no, I think they’re just kind of reconnecting this weekend. Maybe he’ll finally get the nerve to say something to her.”
“Does she have feelings for him?”
“If she does, she’s never told me but I’m definitely going to ask tonight at the bonfire,” Harlow says.
Would one of her girlfriends tell her if they had feelings for Graham or would that be awkward?
But maybe the Denver thing with Margot doesn’t have anything to do with Graham.
Should I say something to Harlow?
But no. This is Margot’s story to tell. And she might decide not to take it. There’s no reason to upset Harlow for no reason.
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if they got together?” Harlow asks, grinning as she watches them cross Main Street together. She looks up at me. “I get what Ginny said about how she loves both of us, so she loves the idea of us together.”
I return her smile. That’s really nice. I’m so glad Harlow’s not weird about a close friend being interested in Graham.
“If they get together, Graham will move back here, and we can all be together again.”
My smile fades. Oh. Yeah. Right.
Of course, Harlow would assume that Margot and Graham getting together would mean that Graham would move back to Sapphire Falls.
Fuck.
I need to say something to Margot. She needs to bring this up with Harlow if she’s serious about Denver.
Just then our car comes to a stop at the top of the Ferris wheel.
I look over at Harlow. She looks so damned happy. Beautiful. Relaxed. I’m not going to waste this opportunity. “You know what this means,” I say.
Harlow feigns innocence. “What?”
“We have to kiss. Everyone’s gonna be watching.”
Surprise and pleasure zips through me as she leans in. “Oh darn.”
And then Harlow is kissing me.
But only for a couple of seconds.
I quickly slide my hand into her hair and tip her head back so that I can deepen the kiss.
But she definitely initiated this, and I’m not going to forget that.
Yes, this is for sure my favorite festival to date.