CHAPTER 25 #2
The mariachi band had been replaced by a quintet of well-dressed musicians who slowed the tempo down. Antonio watched as couples filed out onto the dance floor, ready to slow dance under the lights.
“Want to dance?” asked Antonio. “Burn off these tacos and cerveza?”
Jackie scoffed.
“We don’t know these folks. Besides, when have you ever cared what people thought of you?” Antonio knew he was calling her bluff. Jackie wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.
Finally, she held up one finger.
“Fine, one song,” Antonio agreed. If he could have Jackie in his arms all night, he would.
One song would never be enough. “But I’m telling you now, you’re going to want to dance for more than one song.
” He stood, extending his hand to Jackie.
She looked down at it, brow raised. “Are you gonna let my arm fall off?”
“You can chill, Billy Dee Williams,” Jackie typed before she stood, taking his hand and letting him lead them out onto the dance floor.
The band began to play their own rendition of a classic Javier Solis tune as Antonio pulled Jackie toward him. In heels, she barely reached his shoulder. The angle was a bit awkward, but Antonio was determined to make it work.
“Closer, Jackie. I won’t bite.”
Unless you ask me to, he thought. Because the way her ass was jiggling like nursing home Jell-O in this sundress should have been a crime.
Jackie let down her arms and wrapped them around Antonio’s waist. He pulled her close, his hands moving down the exposed, silky-smooth skin of her shoulders and back.
The woman must moisturize with angel tears, he thought.
He felt her shudder, and he relished the idea that maybe his touch had done that, and not the temperature of the air.
Eventually, his hands found her waist. Well, as close as he could get to it, given the height difference.
When Antonio looked up, he saw Hector across the way, saluting him with a beer.
“I don’t typically dance,” confessed Antonio.
Jackie looked up at him, puzzled.
“You look entirely too beautiful tonight. I wanted to show you off.” Antonio could see the skepticism in her eyes. “And here you go not believing me, thinking I’m piling on the Steele Charm, but it’s true.”
Jackie sighed, resting her head against him again. The wind blew the smell of her hair in his direction, and he savored it.
“I know it’s hard for you to believe me after I dropped such a bomb on you yesterday.” Antonio felt a knot in his stomach. “It was eating me up inside to keep the truth from you for so long, given the circumstances. I fucked up.”
Jackie looked up and frowned, as if to tell Antonio to let it go.
“I just hope you don’t blame PJ,” Antonio said. “He may be a multimillionaire athlete, but he’s still a kid. Marilyn. Me. We are the adults here. I know you know that. We failed him by keeping you in the dark.”
He felt Jackie’s hands wrap tighter around him, silently assuring him she was listening.
“I know, Lucky,” sighed Antonio. “Tacos and dancing won’t make up for it. I got a lot of work to do. If there’s anything you want to ask, I’m an open book. But I’ve told you everything there is to tell. Well, except one thing.”
Jackie paused her swaying and nodded, encouraging Antonio to go on.
“AMW tried to get me to sign Katrice Nixon a while back. It was at the height of her career. But I passed.”
Jackie’s eyes widened at the mention of her ex’s name.
“Because anyone that does you dirty isn’t someone I want to represent. At that point, we hadn’t spoken in a minute, but the Jackie I knew wouldn’t have smashed someone’s car for no reason. Something had to really have pissed you off for you to do what you did.”
Jackie let out a low whistle.
“Listen, you don’t have to give me the details. I heard the rumors, of course. But if she hurt you the way I suspect she did, then you should have bashed the windows and slashed her tires.”
Jackie giggled, and he felt the vibration of her laughter against his chest. One laugh for the night and counting.
“I know she hurt you, Lucky. She didn’t deserve you. But it’s not foolish to be in love. Falling hard for the right person is always worth it.”
Jackie looked skeptical.
Antonio sighed. He looked up into the night sky, which was full of stars.
The quintet sang an especially soulful, heart-wrenching bolero.
Perfect fucking timing. He sucked in a breath.
“It’s true. You’ve spent the last ten years hating me, and I’ve wasted ten years trying to figure out why.
Because I never stopped thinking about you.
You are worth the wait.” Antonio hadn’t expected to say that, but the words hung in the air like the cigar smoke from the domino game two tables over.
Jackie stepped back. Antonio knew that look; she was about to bolt.
“Jackie, it’s my fault we lost this time. I should have just picked up the phone like a fucking adult and told you the truth.”
Jackie scowled, but she let him take her hand again.
“Not just about PJ either. I should have told you that I was crazy about you, ma.” Antonio held her hands little tighter.
His brain was going a mile a minute. Just stay with me, Jackie, he silently pleaded.
Stay in this moment. Let me say this. “There is something between us Jackie that is just…inexplicable. You can’t tell me you ain’t feel that shit back in Vegas.
Shit, you can’t tell me you ain’t felt it these past few days.
Every time I’m near you. Every time I touch you, it’s like a current is running through me.
I can see the past, present, and future all at once. ”
Jackie rubbed her bare arms, clearly uncomfortable. Antonio knew he was doing it again, pushing her too hard. But wasn’t this Jacqueline Miles, after all? The woman never surrendered or admitted defeat. She might have been scared, but ultimately, she wanted honesty. She deserved that and more.
“Let me guess,” Antonio said, softening his tone. “You think soulmates don’t exist, huh?”
Jackie gestured as if to say, Exactly.
“Then what do you call this, between us?”
Jackie scoffed, shrugging her arms.
“Stop,” Antonio interrupted. “Stop fronting, Jackie. Just admit it. You’re scared.
This isn’t about Marilyn calling me that morning in Vegas and you assuming the worst. It isn’t about us running in the same professional circles.
You felt something then, something major, and you ran.
And you’re feeling something now. Admit it. ”
Do something, Lucky, he thought. Show me you feel it. Anything, love.
Jackie was trying to avoid his stare, which he knew was hot enough to burn a hole somewhere deep. When she fixed her eyes on a point just behind him, Antonio was officially annoyed.
“Seriously, Jackie! You can’t even look in my direction? Don’t leave me out here like an ass.”
She just craned her neck to the side and squinted.
Antonio spun around, following Jackie’s gaze, and peeped Mo Williams sitting in a corner, nursing a beer, oblivious to their presence. He had a bodyguard near him who stuck out like a sore thumb. Antonio turned back to Jackie, who motioned her hand in Mo’s direction.
Antonio groaned. “Fine. Do what you got to do, Jackie. But we talking later. Aight?”
Jackie moved as if to make a beeline to Mo, then stopped abruptly. She turned back, stood on her tiptoes, and placed a quick kiss on Antonio’s lips. There was a promise in that kiss, and Antonio felt it.
When she tried to break away, Antonio held on to her waist, deepening the kiss. His tongue found hers, hot and receptive. “You better not forget,” he said, breaking against her lips. He let Jackie go with a smack on her ass. “Go get ’em, ma.”
Jackie blushed ever so slightly as she smoothed a hand over her nape. Antonio loved when she did that. She straightened her back and walked over to Mo’s table.
Antonio moved to the bar and leaned against it, watching Jackie work her magic. He might have been a big, strong former football player, but Jackie was the one with real fortitude. Babygirl had guts. He could learn a thing or two from her about being relentless in her pursuits. Maybe he had…
Hector sidled up to Antonio, holding two cigars and two beers. He handed one of each to Antonio, and they tapped bottlenecks.
“?Salud!”
They took a sip. After a few beats of silence, Hector asked, “You love her? No?”
Antonio, whose eyes still hadn’t left Jackie, sighed deeply. “Unfortunately.”