Chapter Fifteen #2
“I know you have a hard time trusting people,” he says softly. “And with good reason. But I would never hurt you on purpose. I know I can be really stupid sometimes, well, most of the time, but I—”
“You’re not stupid,” I say with a huff, and despite my best efforts, I feel my arms go around his waist of their own accord. “Don’t call yourself that.”
He chuffs a laugh against my hair. “I can be known for it sometimes.”
“You’re not,” I assert.
“Last night was special to me,” he says quietly. “I mean that.”
I swallow thickly, worried that confessing this will come back to bite me, but the words are already out of my mouth before I can stop them. “It was for me too.”
“Yeah?”
I nod into his chest. “Yeah.”
I can practically feel his smile, and there’s a part of me that wants to say fuck this breakfast he made and drag him back to bed after a speech like that, but a sudden buzzing against the counter jolts us apart.
“My phone,” he says. He reaches for it, frowning when he looks at the screen. “It’s Ian.” He grimaces in my direction. “Wow. This is awkward. How am I supposed to talk to him when I had my mouth on you last night?”
“Well, maybe don’t tell him that part,” I say, wrinkling my nose.
“I’m a terrible liar, Abby.”
“Well, you’d better get good at it really fast.”
“Shit,” he mutters, tapping the screen and bringing the phone to his ear. “Hey, man, what’s up?”
I settle into my chair while Ian says something back, taking another bite of bacon as I cringe at the idea of my brother finding out what Jack and I did. There’s no way in hell he or Lila would ever let us live it down with all the shit Jack has talked about them and their love life.
“Uh, Abby?” Jack’s and my eyes meet, his going round. “She’s still sleeping. That’s probably why she isn’t answering. Yeah. I bet that’s it.”
I grimace. He really is a terrible liar, but I find that kind of endearing.
Jack scratches at the back of his neck. “Today? Sure, man, I can do that.”
I’m digging into my food fully now, wondering how in the hell Jack got to be such a good cook. I thought Lila was the cook in the family.
“Oh, well…” Jack waffles, shifting on the balls of his feet. “I can ask her if she wants to. You know. When she wakes up. Because she’s still asleep.” He frowns. “I know I already said that. Dude, I just woke up too.”
Jack nods to no one, chewing on his lip. “Uh-huh. Sure. I’ll let you know what she says. I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours either way.”
I’m stuffing a bite of pancake into my mouth when he hangs up the phone; I cock a brow at him. “What was that about?”
“Ian and Dee are heading over to St. Michael’s again today to work with Kyle. They invited both of us.”
My brows rise. “Me too?”
“You too.”
“Is that going to be weird?”
“Why would it be weird?”
I shoot him a look, frowning.
“Oh, right,” he says, the concept dawning on him. “Because of last night.”
“Obviously, we can’t tell them.”
He makes a face. “Ian would never let me live that down.”
“So we agree we should keep us a secret?”
His lips curl so high that his dimple pops, and I have the strangest urge to lick it. “Are you saying there’s an us?”
“You know what I mean,” I mutter.
He reaches over to plop another kiss on my cheek, and it’s appalling really, how I keep allowing that to happen without even so much as a fuss.
“I sure do, lover,” he teases.
I groan. “You’re going to make me regret this, aren’t you.”
“I mean, knowing me, probably? But I could think of a few ways to make it up to you.”
He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively when he says the last bit, and I have to resist the urge to let loose yet another eye roll. What in the world have I gotten myself into?
Jack rounds the counter to his own plate, and I cock my head curiously.
“Where did you even learn to cook like this, anyway? It’s really good.”
He shrugs. “I used to help Aunt Bea a lot when I was younger. She was working when she took us in, so sometimes I had to feed Dee and me.”
I feel my chest squeeze at the thought of a much tinier Jack making dinner for his little sister, and it does nothing to stanch the lingering horniness I feel as memories of last night continue to flutter through my thoughts.
“So what do you think?” he asks.
I pause with my fork midair. “What do I think about what?”
“Do you wanna come with me today?”
I hesitate. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“I think it could be fun,” he hedges. “Besides, what else do you have to do today? You don’t have class.”
“How do you know I don’t have class?”
He lifts a brow. “I pay attention?”
It’s a tiny detail, but it does things to me all the same, him noticing my schedule and remembering it.
I consider his offer. I know that being around Ian and Lila the day after Jack had his head between my legs is going to be awkward as hell, but Jack looks so eager with his big brown eyes all wide and hopeful, and I fear I may be developing some sort of inability to say no to him.
Especially when he looks at me like that.
“I guess I can come with you,” I say finally.
Jack beams at me, and the force of it is so bright, I almost want to cover my eyes.
“Awesome,” he says, shoving a bite of eggs into his mouth. “We can shower after breakfast, and then we’ll go.” He smirks then. “Unless you want to shower together? You know, conserve water and all that.”
“Absolutely not,” I say immediately.
He shrugs again, looking unperturbed. “Suit yourself, but I look even better wet.”
I groan as I drop my head toward my plate, shaking it.
I may have inadvertently created a monster, but if the smile touching my lips is any indication…
I may not mind very much.