Chapter 19
I grab her arm, my heart pounding. “Are you saying he’s here? He’s the one I’m meeting?”
“It was supposed to be a surprise, but you ruined it. You’re really hard to surprise. You ask too many—”
I don’t hear what she says. I’m already out the door, racing down the beach.
“Don’t forget to text me when you’re done!” I hear her yell.
Jackson is here. Waiting for me. From all Shayla’s clues, I thought it might be him, but then I assumed it wasn’t because there’s no way he’d miss football practice. It’s mandatory, and he’s their best player. They need him to be there. So how did he get out of it?
Running down the beach, sand kicks up on my legs and gets stuck in my shoes. I’m still wearing my uniform and the ugly shoes that go with it. If I’d known I was meeting Jackson here, I would’ve worn something nicer. Something sexier. I assume this means we’re not breaking up.
But what if it does? What if he set all this up to tell me it’s over?
The small, blue tent is just up ahead. I stop before I get there, afraid to keep going.
I don’t want him to break up with me. My heart isn’t ready for that.
Neither is my head. I’ve fallen so hard for Jackson that I can’t imagine my life without him.
He’s the person I go to when I need someone to talk to. I don’t want to lose him.
A text pops up on my phone from Shayla.
What are you waiting for?
I turn back and see her standing in the parking lot, waving me on.
Taking a deep breath, I continue to the tent. If Jackson’s ending this, I might as well get it over with.
I lean down and unzip the tent. When I peek inside, I see Jackson there. My handsome, muscular, football player boyfriend. The kind of guy I never imagined myself dating, and yet now I can’t imagine dating anyone else.
“Hey.” He smiles and my heart takes off.
God, I’ve missed him. It hasn’t even been a day, but I missed him like crazy. He’s all I could think about.
I thought I’d never see him again. I thought we were over. I still think it’s possible, although I’m not sure why he’d be smiling if that were the case.
“Come here,” he says, holding out his hand.
I take his hand and go into the tent, sitting across from him.
That’s when I notice the bouquet of flowers, little pink roses in a glass vase.
Next to the flowers is a box of miniature cupcakes with pink and white frosting.
Last week, I told Jackson how much I loved cupcakes and how much I missed the bakery in New York that my mom and I always went to for our cupcake fix.
“What’s all this?” I ask, smiling at him.
His face turns serious. “An apology.”
“For what?”
He takes both my hands. “Not being truthful with you. I realized after we talked that by not telling you about Kristen I was being loyal to her and not you. I know I hurt you by doing that and I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” I half smile but feel like I’m about to cry. I’m not even sure why. I’m just so happy to see him, and happy he’s finally admitting this thing with Kristen is coming between us. “Are you going to stop seeing her?”
He shakes his head. “Not yet, but soon.”
“Are you going to at least tell me what’s going on?”
“I will, but I can’t get into details. I promised her I wouldn’t say anything, and I have to honor that promise, but that doesn’t mean I can’t at least try to explain what’s going on. I can at least tell you in general terms without getting into specifics.”
“Yeah? So what is it? What’s going on?”
“Before we get into that, I need to do something.”
“What?”
He pulls me toward him and softly presses his lips to mine.
“I’ve missed you,” he whispers over my mouth. “And this.” He kisses me and pulls me onto his lap. I breathe in his cologne as I run my hand over his soft, white t-shirt, feeling the hard muscle underneath.
“Did I ever tell how much I love school uniforms?” he says in his deep, sexy voice as his hand slides up my leg.
“I don’t think you did,” I say, my head dropping to the side as he kisses my neck.
“The skirts are my favorite.” He plays with the hem a little.
“And why is that?” I say in a teasing tone.
“I like what’s under them.” He flips me on my back, and my breath catches.
He reaches under my skirt, slides off my panties, and does those amazing things with his fingers and tongue that have me feeling like I’m about to explode with pleasure.
When it happens, I’m left gasping for breath, reaching for his belt, wanting to make him feel as good as I do.
“I got it,” he says, smiling as I struggle with his belt. He takes it off, then reaches into his pocket and takes something out. A condom. “I remembered this time.”
“What if I didn’t want to do it?” I say as I strip off my shirt.
“Then I’d have it for next time.”
His clothes are now off, leaving me with the sight of his incredible body. He has muscles in places I didn’t even know had muscles. Everywhere I look is an indent or a line, framing each muscle, drawing my eye to it.
“What are you looking at?” he asks as his body lowers over mine.
“You.” I kiss him. “Your body is amazing.”
“Lots of hours in the gym.”
“It’s worth it.” I smile. “Turns me on.”
He thrusts inside me. “Everything about you turns me on.”
He kisses me, his hips rising and falling, pushing himself deeper each time. The slow, undulating movement is so addicting. I’ve missed it, wanted it, don’t want it to end.
“I’m close,” he says, his breathing getting heavier. “You feel so damn perfect I can’t slow down.”
“I’m almost there,” I say between breaths, my hips rising off the ground.
Jackson thrusts harder. Faster. But with that same steady rhythm.
I suck in a breath, the feeling racing through me before I was even ready. I was trying to hold out, make it last, but I couldn’t.
Jackson couldn’t either, coming just moments after me. He slowly pulls out, collapsing on the ground next to me.
“Mommy, wait!” I hear a kid yell.
“Shit!” I hurry to put on my clothes. “There’s kids out there!”
“They’ll turn around,” Jackson says, putting his shirt on. “We’re at the end of the beach. Nobody comes out here.”
“You sure it’s okay to have a tent here?” I ask as he finishes getting dressed.
“It’s not. It’s against the rules, but I was willing to risk it. I know the lifeguards on duty. Told them I was doing this and would have it gone in an hour.”
“You told them you were having sex with your girlfriend? They know what we did in here?”
He smiles. “I didn’t mention sex. I said I planned a picnic for you and wanted privacy.”
“Is this the picnic?” I ask, holding up the cupcakes.
“It’s all I had time to get. I remember you saying how much you loved cupcakes.”
“Can I have one?”
“Help yourself.” He reaches behind him for a sack and hands it to me. “I brought you some soda. It should still be cold.”
“Thanks.” I take a bottle from the sack. “And flowers?”
“I was trying to be romantic, but like I said, I didn’t have much time.”
“And you skipped practice? Aren’t you going to get in trouble?”
“I told Coach I wasn’t feeling well, which is true.” He turns my face to his. “I didn’t sleep last night. I just kept thinking I screwed up. That it’s over between us.”
“It wasn’t over. We just had a fight.”
“Which we haven’t had before. And you hung up on me and didn’t call back. Or text me.”
“I was waiting for you to do it. When I didn’t hear from you I thought you were telling me it’s over.”
“Let’s agree not to do that again. Even if we’re fighting, we still stay in contact.”
“I agree.”
He opens the cupcake box and takes one out, handing it to me. “They’re chocolate.”
“Can I eat more than one?” I say, biting into it. “I’ve been seriously chocolate deprived since moving here.”
“They’re yours. You can eat them all if you want.”
I smile. “Two is enough. Maybe I’ll give one to Shayla. Hey, how’d you get her to do this? You guys aren’t exactly friends.”
“She’s the only person I could think of who could get you here.”
“Did you pay her?”
“I tried to, but she wouldn’t take my money. Instead, she said I had to convince her to do it.”
I laugh. “She said you gave her a long speech.”
“I did. And I told her my plan. When I was done I didn’t think she’d do it, but she did.”
Setting my cupcake down, I turn to face him. “We don’t have much time left so tell me what’s going on with Kristen.”
He blows out a breath. “You can’t tell anyone about this. Nobody. Not even Shayla.”
“I know. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Even later, when this is all over, if someone asks, you can’t say anything.”
I nod. “Okay.”
“Daphne Reynolds, Kristen’s mom, isn’t as rich as people think. After all her divorces, she’s worth less than half of what she was worth when Kristen was a baby. If she keeps this up, Kristen’s going to be left with nothing.”
“So this is about money? Making sure Kristen stays rich?”
“It started that way, but I wouldn’t agree to it. I wasn’t going to do shit just so she ends up rich. Personally, I think it’d be better if Kristen ended up broke and had to get a job. I think it’d be good for her.”
“If it’s not about money, then what’s this about?”
“The money thing is still there. Kristen still wants to preserve her inheritance, which she will if the plan works.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“Steven is cheating. Kristen can’t prove it, but she’s overheard conversations that make it clear he’s seeing someone else. She needs to get actual proof she can take to her mom so she’ll divorce him. With the prenup, Steven will be left with almost none of Daphne’s money.”
“I still don’t understand why you’re involved. This is still about money.”
“There’s more.” He pauses. “Daphne isn’t at the house much. She travels a lot or stays at one of her other homes, leaving Kristen alone with Steven.”
“Yeah? So?”
“A couple months ago, Steven took an interest in Kristen, the kind of interest a stepfather shouldn’t have with his stepdaughter.”
“When you say interest, you mean . . .” I wait for him to fill in the rest.