Once again, Jackson witnessed his sister hitting rock bottom and crawling through her blood, sweat, and tears to surface again. After AJ saw the marks on her face the following day, he paid Jackson a visit—with his fist. Jillian broke up the fight before blood stained the carpet. With a scowl and a nod, both men declared a truce, although a silent one, and contingent on the other keeping his hands off her. A promise neither could really guarantee, because they were all a bit unpredictable.
Jillian jumped all in and went to AJ’s appointments, including getting second and third opinions. Jackson, content that his sister stood on her own feet again, counted down the days until Tuesday—the best day of the week.
“Hey.” Ryn smiled as he let her inside.
“AJ home today?” he asked to break the ice before suggesting sex or marriage.
“Yes. I was pretty shocked to hear that he retired from the air force. Honestly, I’ve worked for him for over five years, but I’ve rarely seen or talked to him. Yet he seemed … I don’t know, maybe a little depressed today.”
“Jillian will cheer him up after she gets home.”
“Oh … are they …”
“Yes, he’s screwing my sister. No, I don’t like it.”
Ryn looked away with a hint of discomfort in her expression. She took her bucket of supplies to the bathroom. “Is it because of the age difference?”
Jackson followed her. “No. It’s because she’s my sister and therefore no guy will ever be deserving of her.”
“She’s lucky. I’d love to have someone feel that protective of me.”
“Could you tell her that?”
Ryn laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure she doesn’t always think of it as a blessing. So … how old is she?”
“Thirty.”
“And you’re older?” Ryn tried to sound indifferent, but he saw through it.
Jackson smiled as she fished for his age. The age thing mattered to her.
“Yes. I’m older.”
Her smile grew with a look of relief.
“By seven minutes.”
That look of relief quickly faded. “Really, twins?”
“Yes. So how old are you?”
She tapped the toilet brush on the edge and returned it to the bucket. “That’s kind of a bold question. You know it’s not polite to ask a woman her age.”
“You asked Jillian’s.”
“Let me rephrase, it’s not polite for a man to ask a woman her age.”
“Sounds like a double standard.” He chuckled. “Besides, I’m a bold guy, so it’s fitting that I ask bold questions.”
Ryn cleaned the mirror, occasionally meeting his eyes through the reflection. “How old do you think I am?”
“I’m bold, not stupid, so I’m not answering that.”
“I’m in my thirties as well.” She rolled her lips between her teeth to contain her smile.
He felt bad for playing her, but he wanted her to think of him as a normal guy. Telling her that he’d already done a full background check on her would not get him past his celibacy phase. Women were sensitive about the whole invasion-of-privacy thing.
“Can I be honest with you?” he asked.
“Honesty’s good.”
“I told Jillian I’m interested in you.”
She gulped—loudly. Then her hands doubled their pace, working at record speed. Her eyes remained focused on her task. He enjoyed seeing her uncomfortable. It meant she was attracted to him.
“She wasn’t too pleased because she doesn’t want you to quit cleaning our house or AJ’s.”
Another gulp. She had an excess of saliva.
He continued since she didn’t have anything to add yet. “So she said I should make it clear that we’re going to just have sex or else I need to marry you.”
“Oh my God! What?” She turned, holding the cleaning rag against her chest as if she were standing there topless.
A grin dominated his whole face and nothing had ever felt so good, which was weird because his dick remained in his pants. He worked her for a reaction the same way he had done for years with Jillian.
“I agree. Marriage might be too soon. I wouldn’t dream of proposing without asking for your father’s blessing.”
“I’m almost forty!” she spewed out the words like a last-minute confession with a gun pointed to her head. Even her face scrunched into a frightened grimace.
“Great, so you have a birthday coming up. We should celebrate.”
“I have a daughter. She’s twenty-one.” Another rushed confession.
“I’d love to meet her.”
Ryn narrowed her eyes. “As in … you want me to fix the two of you up?”
Jackson chuckled. “I’m keeping you from working. We should have drinks later and discuss what I want in further detail.”
“I have to take Gunner for a walk…” she hugged the cleaning rag to her chest even tighter “…later.”
“Your ferret?”
The hardened statue in front of him relaxed a little. He enjoyed the smile that reacquainted itself with her lips. “No.” She laughed. “He’s my dog.”
“Ohhh … gotcha. So leave me your address and I’ll come walk with you.” He knew her address, but once again, it didn’t seem like a good idea to tell her that.