Chapter 6 #2
I set the glass down and turned to go, but his words stopped me.
“What about you?” he asked me suddenly. His eyes bored into mine, strangely intense. “What’s in the cards for you, Roxy Lawson?”
“Me?” I asked, surprised. Weirdly, no one had really asked me that before.
Not even my dad, when he was alive. It felt strange, having someone — especially when that someone was Jackson Stone — ask whether I had hopes or dreams beyond being a pharmacist’s assistant in Lupine, Colorado.
I felt suddenly shy, embarrassed at the attention.
“Oh, I don’t know. I guess…” I began slowly.
I almost hesitated to say anything. I was worried that it would sound dumb.
“I guess I’ve just always kind of wanted to travel.
Around the country. Do you know, I’ve never even left Colorado except for once?
” I laughed softly and shook my head. “And that was only when I rode to New Mexico with my dad to deliver a part to someone down there.” I shrug.
“I guess I’d just kind of like to see some of the places I’ve read about in books. ”
The corners of Jackson’s mouth quirked up. “So, you’re trying to convince me to tie myself to Lupine, when you’re dying to get out of here?” he teased.
“I’m not dying to get out…” I countered hotly. “I just wish… that I had a choice, is all. I wish I could see the world a little, and then choose to come back afterwards.”
“You always have a choice, Rox,” he said gently. “Everything you do is a choice, whether you know it or not.”
I almost burst out laughing at his words.
Maybe he was right, but it didn’t feel like it.
It didn’t feel like I had a choice to be the woman of the house growing up.
It didn’t feel like a choice to take care of my dad when he was sick — not that I would have chosen any differently.
And it didn’t really feel like a choice to stay here in Lupine now.
Not if I wanted to be close to the only family I had left, anyway.
“Maybe,” I said doubtfully, because Jackson was looking at me so intently I felt like I had to say something.
“You do.” His voice had dropped lower, softer.
There was a gentleness in it I’d never heard before.
And something else, too. Something… intimate, almost. Jackson lifted his hand slowly to my face, and brushed aside a stray lock of hair.
As he did so, his fingers grazed my chin, and I suppressed a shiver at his touch.
“You’re pretty damn special, Rox,” he murmured. “You deserve a good life.”
He moved closer then, his eyes locked on mine.
It felt suddenly like all the air had been sucked out of the room.
I had never been this close to Jackson Stone in my life.
I could practically feel the heat radiating from his skin.
Dizzily, I realized he was going to kiss me — a thought that terrified and excited me at the same time.
Unconsciously, my lips parted, my breathing shallow and rapid.
My eyes fluttered half-closed, already surrendering to what I knew was about to happen.
The kiss, when it came, sent a shiver through my whole body that felt like it had been years in coming. I had imagined kissing Jackson dozens of times over the years. Maybe hundreds. But this… this was something I could never have imagined.
The kiss was tender and demanding, all at once.
I shuddered and suppressed a moan as our mouths opened together, our tongues finding one another.
Jackson reached up and fisted a hand in my hair, tugging my head back to kiss me more deeply.
I reached up and found myself clinging to his shoulders for support, lightheaded almost to the point of losing my balance.
Jackson groaned and wrapped his other arm around my waist, drawing me to him.
I felt the full length of his hardening shaft as it pressed against me, and took a sharp breath in as heat pooled between my legs.
I hadn’t felt this aroused in a long time.
It was like floodgates had suddenly been opened.
I moaned again and clutched at him harder, moving myself against him. Any trace of resolve I might have had slipped away entirely as I gave myself to the moment, mentally saying yes to anything and everything that was about to happen.
Then, suddenly, Jackson froze. Every muscle in his body seemed to tense like steel.
After a long second that felt like an eternity, he moved back, almost imperceptibly, breaking the embrace.
He cleared his throat, his eyes flickering away from me toward the floor, and took a careful step away.
“I’m sorry, Rox,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have done that. I just kind of got carried away.”
My face flushed hot with a mixture of confusion and shame.
I wasn’t sure what had just happened. He had wanted to kiss me, at least at first. Was I that bad at kissing?
Or did he just feel bad doing it because I was Les’s sister?
Had he just been toying with me, to see if I’d let him do it?
Lord knows, in high school he was able to wrap any girl around his little finger just by looking her way.
I was sure that hadn’t changed much. Had he kissed me just because he knew he could?
Just because he knew I’d respond, and wanted to prove it to himself?
It didn’t seem like Jackson would be that cruel.
But, I had to remind myself, I hardly knew him, really.
Trying to hide my humiliation, I ducked my head and turned away. I needed to try to preserve any small shred of dignity I had left. “Well, I should go,” I mumbled. Before I could do anything else stupid, I fled through his front door, ignoring his voice as he called after me.
Suppressing a sudden wave of confused, frustrated tears, I half-ran toward my car and flung open the door.
I was starting to shake as I started the engine and pulled away from the curb.
Dammit! I was pissed off at myself for caring so much, I didn’t know how I’d let Jackson Stone get under my skin so quickly.
In spite of all the years that had passed, thirty seconds with Jackson and I felt just as awkward and ridiculous as I had as a teenager.
When an impossibly handsome boy with a cocky, self-assured grin had filled my fantasies, guaranteeing that no other boy would ever compare.