Chapter 4
Sallie
“Dance with me, Doll?” Jack asks, settling his hand at my lower back and turning us toward the dance floor. I can’t focus on anything besides the heat and pressure of his hand just slightly above my butt.
With a quick glance at his face, I nod. “Let’s dance, Bone Daddy.” Clearly, based on his startled darting glance at me, we need to watch my favorite movie together again; he seems to need a refresher of the movie’s details.
I try not to notice the glances and whispers around us as Jack sweeps me onto the dance floor.
My mind is still blown at the fact that we came as Jack and Sally without coordinating our costume plans.
I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised that my best friend pays attention to all the little details in my life and remembers my favorite Halloween movie.
“You look amazing, Sallie. You made this costume yourself, didn’t you?” Jack murmurs against my ear, where he’s bent down to make sure I can hear him over the noise in the room.
“Yup,” I say with a small chuckle. “I’ve been working on it since August, actually. I took some stage makeup classes this summer, and I think they, plus the YouTube tutorials I watched, paid off.”
“Yeah, Doll, they really did. Everyone here has eyes only for you. You are definitely stealing the show tonight. And I’m the lucky bastard who can say you are all mine,” he growls out with a playful nip to my neck.
“Jack!” I gasp, raising my shock-filled eyes to my best friend’s face.
“We didn’t get to practice this week, Doll. But I promise, nobody here will question if this relationship is real or not,” he murmurs into my neck as his hand sweeps down my back to settle at the top of my ass.
Have I entered an alternate dimension? This feels like we are in a real relationship, a real couple instead of role-playing for the elite.
I lose track of time as one song rolls into the next, and we continue to glide around the room, wrapped in each other and the beat of the music. Jack’s hand continues to stay firmly against my lower back and ass, and his face dips every so often to skim his lips against my neck and shoulder.
“I think it’s time for a confession, Sallie.
Take a walk with me out to the veranda?” Jack wraps his arm around my back and walks us off the dance floor and toward the open doors across the room.
He doesn’t let the comments about our great couples costume slow him down. He’s clearly a man on a mission.
The cool night air feels amazing against my overheated skin. We’ve been dancing for hours; I wonder how my makeup is holding up. But before I can worry about that further, Jack pulls me against his solid chest, and I lose track of my thoughts.
“I can’t do it anymore, Doll. I can’t keep lying to myself and to you. I just hope you’ll hear me out,” he says so earnestly that it takes my breath away. Jack is always so confident and usually more of a jokester.
“What’s going on, Jack? We’ve been friends for years; you know I’m not going to bail over whatever you’ve got to say,” I reassure him, not realizing my hands have started to stroke soothingly down his firm chest.
“That’s the thing, Sallie. I don’t want to be just your best friend…
I’ve been a coward; I’ve been in love with you since college, but you never gave any indication you felt more, and I didn’t want to lose you.
But here’s the thing, Doll: You’ve become the most important thing in my life.
I look forward to your battles with Brewcifer each morning; you’ve made me become a holiday person, especially Halloween.
I enjoy watching your talent grow with your costume design, and this fuckin’ amazing makeup you do.
I’d do everything in my power to make you the biggest name in Hollywood if only I wasn’t such a greedy bastard and wanted you here with me.
But say the word, Doll, and I’ll sell the company, and we’ll go.
There isn’t a dream too big that I wouldn’t make come true for you.
I love you, Sallie; I always have, I always will. You are it for me.”
I stare at my best friend, not sure how to articulate everything going through my mind. But as I gaze up into his dark gray eyes, I feel a sense of peace and happiness. I never thought he felt the way I did. Now I’ve got to be brave and find the words to tell him how I feel.
“Oh, Jack, we’ve been a couple of bumbling idiots since college, haven’t we?” I say with a rueful shake of my head as he tenderly cups my cheeks, careful not to smudge my makeup. Even in a heavy moment, he is always putting me first.
“I fell in love years ago with the boy I met in college, but I knew you were destined for great things and didn’t see how two such polar opposite people could possibly find love together.
So I denied my feelings, grateful for the friendship we have had and never daring for more.
You have accomplished so much in your career, and it has been an honor to come along on the journey as your best friend and assistant.
And I’ve enjoyed all the adventures we’ve taken over the years; you’ve shown me that you can work hard and play hard.
Whenever we are on vacation, you are fully invested in our adventures, and I want to spend my life perfecting that work-life balance with you, Jack.
It’s like the movie says: ‘We’re simply meant to be. ’”
Before I’ve even finished my sentence, Jack’s lips press to mine in a slow, drugging kiss that quickly ignites into more. My arms twine around his back, and he pulls me even more flush with his full body, allowing me to feel exactly how affected he is by me and by this shared confession.
Just as Jack’s hand slides down to cup my ass over my dress, I hear the mayor’s voice over the threshold into the ballroom. I quickly step back from Jack, but he doesn’t let me get far, turning me to put my back to his front.
“We’d better get out of here before we land in the gossip column for public indecency,” he jokes as he bends to brush a kiss against my neck. “But you better walk in front of me; I’m living up to the name Bone Daddy right now.”
I giggle as I take his hand behind my back and pull him through the ballroom and out the main entrance. “Take me home, Bone Daddy,” I say with a kiss to his stubbled chin as he leads me to a limo that pulls to a stop before us.
“Absolutely, Doll. We’ve got years to make up for.
Hope you didn’t have any plans this weekend.
I’m not letting you out of my bed until Monday morning, and maybe not even then,” Jack growls as we zip off into the night.
I don’t think I mind that plan at all; my Halloween decorations can wait until next weekend, gladly.