Chapter Six
Jaxson didn’t want people whispering behind their backs, or for it to be obvious that people might be talking about them. So, instead, he decided to roll up his sleeves and get to cooking himself.
Everything was set up in his place, and he lived in a small house just outside of town.
It was a nice street, tended to have a lot of kids playing outside.
Most of the neighbors ignored him, just as he ignored them.
They only talked to him when they needed something and that was the way he liked it.
So, he had all the work prepared in his backyard, everything was set, and now he needed to go and pick up his date. He never put any effort into anyone else. He certainly didn’t cancel appointments and cook for them. Tillie wasn’t just any other woman. She was special to him.
So, he spent the whole afternoon cooking, and he didn’t even like to cook. He preferred to order takeout, or just bring home a pizza, or he’d go to his parents’ house for dinner, or eat the frozen meals Tillie cooked for him.
Climbing into his truck, he gave a thumbs-up to the two boys playing in the street.
They were friends and tended to come and chat with him, trying to ask him everything he knew about girls.
Their mothers had been worried, but he served them some soda, talked to them like friends, and it seemed to settle their parents down.
He wasn’t going to run down all the things he’d done with women, with a couple of fifteen-year-old boys.
That shit would not happen. He also wasn’t going to make them angry little boys either.
That was unnecessary. So, he talked to them, showed them some respect, and in return they did the same.
He spoke to them the way he liked to be spoken to growing up.
His own father had done the same. There had come a point he stopped treating him like a child and started to treat him like a man.
Of course, this had both good and bad parts, because there were times he didn’t want to grow up.
He wanted to enjoy being a grownup when it suited him and a kid at the same time.
His mother told him that wasn’t how the world worked.
He had to either be a kid and lose adult privileges, or be a grownup and accept the responsibility.
Looking back now, it had been over the stupidest thing—mowing the lawn.
He was paid to do it, as well as take out the trash every Friday.
Only, he hadn’t wanted to do that. He wanted the pocket money but not the job.
For a month, his mother gave him a taste of not doing his chores, not getting any money.
He knew she had also done it around the time he wanted something and was going to save.
Instead, she made him go without to teach him a lesson, that without hard work, there was no chance of being able to afford what he wanted.
Jaxson had learned that lesson, and the lawn was mowed every single week, and the trash was taken out.
That Christmas, he got the gift, and it hadn’t even been that important.
He just remembered and respected his parents for the lesson they had taught him.
Of course, that was now, as a thirty-five-year-old man. At the time, he’d hated them.
Pulling out of his thoughts, he made his way over to Tillie’s house. He had already gone out to the pet shop and gotten a bed and some toys for Belle. He was not going to get Tillie without having Belle as well, and he wanted both his women to be comfortable.
Holding his hand up, he went to knock on the door, but it opened, and Tillie stood before him. Her blonde hair was curled around her face and shoulders. She had on a little lipstick and some light makeup. She smiled at him, and then he saw the dress, and it had come with a sew-along as well.
It had been one she struggled not to flash her bra to the camera, but she had succeeded in doing so, and he’d watched, hoping for a part to fall.
It was curved over her chest, and he knew there were several channels of elastic—one over the bust, another under the bust, and she used something called shirring.
This happened to be elastic thread that created a crinkled effect, which made the piece of fabric stretchy.
The dress had looked stunning on her in the video when she did it last year, and it looked amazing now.
“Hi,” she said.
Belle was at her feet, and he bent down to pick up her dog. Tillie smiled, and she reached out, stroking the back of her dog’s neck.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes, yes. Let me just grab my bag. Do I need to bring anything for Belle?”
“No, I’ve got everything. Including some dog food.”
“Dog food?”
“I asked Phil at the shop what kind of dog food you use, and he got me a case.”
“Wow, okay, thank you,” she said.
He wanted to kiss her, but instead, he took her hand, and they walked back to his truck. He also purchased a harness so Belle would be secure in his truck.
Tillie climbed up into his truck, and he noticed she didn’t criticize it. There had been a couple of women who would wrinkle their noses at the truck, asking if he had something nicer.
He pushed all of that out of his mind. His past was starting to piss him off, and when he was younger and thought it was fun to sleep around with random women, he now wanted to go back in time and punch himself in the face.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
He didn’t want to tell her he hated the thought of people whispering about them, so he wasn’t going to take her anywhere.
“It’s a surprise.”
She secured Belle in place, and then herself. “I like surprises.”
He was nervous. It was still hot as fuck, and he was sweating.
The dress had raised up past her knee, and he found everything about Tillie to be intoxicating. The vanilla scent was strong but not overpowering. His cock was hard as freaking rock. All afternoon he had been so focused on getting this right. His palms were starting to sweat.
“How has your day been?” he asked, because the truth was, he was starting to feel a little sick.
“It has been good. I went to the fabric shop. Hung out with Kate all day. Helped her with a few orders.”
“Orders?”
“Technically, I shopped for her. I just went and gathered everything and brought them back for her to work on.”
“Right,” he said.
“Are you all right?” she asked. “You seem a little nervous.”
He could easily lie. Only, he pulled onto his street, waved at a couple of kids, and then pulled into his driveway. Finally, he turned toward her. “I’m nervous.”
“You are?”
“Yeah, you see, I’ve never been on a date.”
“How could you not have been on a date?” she asked.
He groaned and ran a hand down his face.
“I’m not a nice guy. Okay, I’m not a monk, and I’ve been with a lot of women.
I didn’t date them. It was nothing. Just fun, and I’ve never cared enough to be on a date with anyone.
You’re the first woman I have ever dated.
” He was not about to scare her off saying she was the only woman he ever wanted to date, as that might be a little too heavy for her to handle.
“I understand if you want me to take you home.”
“Jaxson, stop,” Tillie said. “I don’t care if you’ve been with a hundred women or a thousand women.
I want to go on this date with you, and it kind of makes me excited to know you’ve not been with anyone else and I’m going to be the first woman you dated.
” She leaned across the truck and kissed his cheek.
“Besides, I know Belle likes you, and I trust her judgment of people.”
“You’re basing all of this on a dog?”
“Dogs are amazing, and they have great judgment of character.”
Jaxson chucked.
“However, I am a little confused. You wanted to go on a date, and we’re at your house.”
“Because this is where the date is going to be.”
****
Tillie had already figured she was going to have to deal with whatever jealousy she had when it came to Jaxson.
He had a long history. The whole town knew of his bad boy reputation and she knew of his exploits with a lot of town women.
That didn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
However, she didn’t care what he did in his past. They were not on a date in the past. She was only going to care what he was like with her, and this date. The past was in the past.
He rounded the truck, and even as she climbed out, he was there with his hands on her hips.
There was some whistling in the distance from the kids. “Ignore them,” he said, whispering the words against her temple.
She didn’t know if it was the heat, or twenty-nine years of going without, but his touch was setting her on fire. She just couldn’t seem to ignore it. It wasn’t going to stop.
The moment he let go, she nearly whimpered, however, he didn’t step away. He reached across from her to pick up Belle. She loved that her dog seemed to adore him.
Jaxson took her hand, and they made their way toward his front door.
“So, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression, but when I was thinking where we could go, I struggled.
I knew a couple of places would accept Belle, but I didn’t think you would appreciate being the topic of conversation, so I brought you here.
” He opened his door and waited for her to step inside.
She was a little nervous, but she stepped over the threshold, and the scents that assailed her were amazing. There were onion and garlic, and she was pretty sure she smelled tomatoes as well as chicken. Her mouth watered and of course her stomach chose that moment to grumble.
She put a hand to her stomach and felt her cheeks getting warmer. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s good. You need to bring your appetite, because I’m not a good cook, so I think you’ll need to be hungry in order to enjoy this.”
That made her laugh.
He closed the door and put Belle onto the floor.
“I bought her a bed,” Jaxson said, but in true Belle style, she didn’t go to the dog bed, and instead jumped up on the sofa.
She started to panic as she dragged her paw across the furniture. Tillie rushed toward her dog, but then Belle circled once, then twice, and settled down, with the last rays of sunlight shining through.
“I guess that is her settled for the evening,” he said.
She couldn’t help but laugh, as her dog was so cute. “If there is any damage, I would be happy to pay for it.”
“It’s fine. The sofa’s old, and anyway, that is what a dog does, isn’t it?”
“I know, but it is still your furniture.”
“Tillie, don’t worry about it.” He reached for her hands and then they were moving toward his dining room, and it was so beautiful, as it was right next to the open-plan kitchen.
She couldn’t help but gasp as he’d laid the table so beautifully. There was a single white table cover, with the ends looking pristine. The table had been set with a couple of candles, and they were not lit.
“I didn’t want to create a fire hazard,” he said, and rushed over to light them.
She watched as he lifted a remote and soft music filled the air that wasn’t too loud.
There were little jars with single roses dotted around the room. The ambiance was incredible, then he opened the doors that led into his backyard. It looked amazing.
He pulled out a chair. “Would you care to take a seat?” he asked.
She couldn’t help but smile, then sat down, and he pushed her chair under the table.
“I’ll be right back.”
Tillie didn’t have to wait along. She watched him walk into his kitchen and go to the stove, where he pulled down the oven door and eased out a pot.
“I thought you said you didn’t cook,” she said.
“I don’t cook, but I wanted tonight to be perfect, so I followed a recipe from one of my mom’s cookbooks.
I know my dad absolutely loves her version of chicken cacciatore, and she had everything in her pantry and fridge, so I left her some money, took the ingredients, as well as her cookbook, and spent all afternoon making this. ”
“Wow,” she said.
“I know, but you haven’t tried it yet, and I’m hoping I haven’t messed this up. My mom’s an amazing cook.”
She watched as he served it with some pasta, which he loosened up with the sauce.
“Shit, I don’t think I should have cooked the pasta in advance.”
“Sometimes it’s best if you don’t. When did you cook it?”
“Before I came and got you, I put it in the oven to keep warm. Uh, you know what, we’ll just give it a go.” He shrugged.
She found it adorable as he served both of them, and then carried over the dishes. He wasn’t done, though, as he went back to the fridge.
“Mom always served this with white wine,” he said. “And yes, I took her white wine as well.”
He came to the table, opening up the bottle of wine and filling their glasses.
She didn’t have the heart to tell him she wasn’t a drinker, and what she tended to do was buy a quality wine, measure it, and freeze it in quantities she needed to make a dish.
Instead, she offered him a smile and thanked him.
It never harmed to have a sip, which she did. It was nice—subtle—but still had that wine taste, which she wasn’t a big fan of.
He sat opposite her, and his smile was nervous.
“It smells so good,” she said.
“I wanted it to be perfect.”
Tillie lifted her knife and fork and as she put her fork into the spaghetti he cooked, the strands didn’t loosen. It all came together as she went to twirl her fork. The pasta was hard. Not rock-hard, but hard.
“Fuck me,” he said, running a hand across his face.
“It’s fine. It’s fine,” she said.
Slicing into the chicken, it was tender and fell completely off the bone. If she was going to fear anything, it was undercooked chicken. She took a bite, and the flavors were amazing. There was nothing too strong, it was all a perfect balance of herbs, garlic, and chicken.
“This is absolutely delicious,” she said.
All of a sudden, her plate was taken from her, and she frowned. “I was eating that,” she said.
Jaxson didn’t say anything, as he worked in the kitchen, and she couldn’t quite see what he was doing.
However, he returned moments later with fresh bowls and the chicken inside, with another couple of spoonfuls.
“I couldn’t watch you eating around the spaghetti, or risking you chipping a tooth on one of the strands. ”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why it is so funny.”
“Because, isn’t pasta supposed to be one of the easiest things to cook?” he asked.
“Oh, trust me, it is. But it’s also one of those things you need to cook right and then know when to serve it.” She smiled at him. “However, your mom’s chicken cacciatore is absolutely delicious. I love it. When my mom did her version, she always put in a little too much rosemary.”
“I didn’t do too much?” he asked.
“No, this is stunning. I’m not just saying that, but I am shocked you cooked for me.”
“You’re special, Tillie. Of course I was going to cook for you.”
She didn’t know if it was suddenly getting warmer, or if she was the only one feeling heated.