"I'm not buying it either, Donny. I've known Jack for years and he doesn't do shit like this - cutesie nicknames and having someone on his lap. I think the two of you oversold it."
I stiffen at the breathy voice telling me I just fucked up. Wonderful. I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. I had to think fast when I stupidly pulled away from Jack after he kissed me. It wasn't just any kiss. It was an open-mouthed one. My first.
Now Bambi is telling me I oversold the whole relationship thing because I sat in his lap and he calls me Sweets. Only I didn't do any of that stuff. Jack did. Jack was the person who pulled me into his lap, and he’s the person who still calls me Sweets even though apparently it is out of character for him. Why would he do that stuff? Why would he act so out of character around people who know him? Unless...maybe he wants Bambi to realize this is all a fake relationship. She was clearly happy to see him here. Maybe they have a thing and I got in the way.
"You're right. I have never acted like this with anyone and that should tell you all you need to know about our relationship, Bambi. She's different. She's...," I turn in his lap to look at him wondering what he is about to say about me. His eyes swirl with something I can't identify. But I want to put a name to it, I want to understand. "Special."
Is special good? Damn it I wish I had more experience with these sorts of things but if I did I wouldn't be in this situation to have to figure crap out. While other girls my age were out dating and worrying about hair and clothes all I could think about was trying to help my sister. She is the person that kept me from going into the foster system. She didn't have to fight so hard to keep me, or sacrifice so much to raise me and send me to college. But she did and I want to help her. I want to be able to pay her back one day for all she's done for me. And to do that I have to finish college and start my career. Boys in high school didn't sway me from my path and someone like Jack isn't going to either.
I have to make sure Libby doesn't worry about us so she can enjoy her summer with me and Jim. To do that, I have to pretend to be with Jack. I can do this. I can do this.
"Well, if you ask me I think the whole thing is just a sham. I know you, Jack Thornton. You'll be fed up with the kid stuff sooner or later and when you do you'll want a real woman." She rocks her shoulders from side to side so her boobs sway under her shirt before looking at me, "Sorry and all. It's just how it is with men like Jack. They need a woman who they can grab a hold of and take to the ground."
I try. I really do. In the span of a few seconds, she has implied that I'm not a 'real woman' whatever that means, that I have no curves - which is just horse shit because even as I am sitting here on Jack I worry about squashing him with said curves and that someone wouldn't want to grab ahold of me and take me to the ground. What the hell am I supposed to say to that? I so cannot make this work.
No one really responds to Bambi and eventually, we all get involved with a game show that comes on. It's actually a lot of fun when you have other people to shout answers at the tv with and try to get more right than the other people around you. When it goes off some of the guys have wandered out of the room. I notice Don is still down here but Bambi seems to have left. Jim and Lib move to another chair and seem wrapped up more in each other than in the movie someone turned on.
I've been trying to balance on Jack's knee for about an hour and don't know how much longer I can do it when he whispers in my ear. "You can lie down and put your feet in my lap. That's a ‘couple’ thing to do."
I nod and try to make myself comfortable on the couch before putting my feet in his lap. It's an odd thing to do with a stranger. His hands start rubbing the arch of my foot and before I can stop myself I've moaned out loud. His hand stops and slightly squeezes up on me. It's the first sign something is off. I open my eyes because apparently I had closed them when he started rubbing and half the room is looking at me.
Jack is the first one to speak. "Why don't you try to keep those moans just for me in the bedroom, Sweets?"
"No wonder Jack's acting differently. I would be too if I had a honey pot that sounded like sex on a Sunday morning with just a foot rub." Remy elbows Duncan who just rolls his eyes at his comment but Jack smacks the back of his head.
"The word honey pot better never come out of your mouth when it concerns Lexi again. Clear."
"Yeah, we're clear but I stand by my former statement." Jack starts to stand but Remy dances away from him. "Sex on Sunday morning."
"You little shit!"
"Hey, Lexi's already changed Jack, Jim. He's said more tonight than he has the entire time I've known him. Maybe she can teach him how to play well with others and he can finally be a useful part of this team."
"I'll be right back." Jack moves fast but Remy is already bouncing on the balls of his feet like he can tell he is going to have to outrun him. They both take off and leave the room in silence, waiting. Finally, we hear a thud and Remy's shout of pain.
I look over at my sister who is smiling more than I have ever seen her do in our entire life. Love looks good on her. Her eyes meet mine. "Are they always like this?"
"No, usually Jack catches him faster. He must be slowing down." She yells down the hallway. "It sucks getting old doesn't it, boy band."
Everything quietens back down when the two men come back into the living room. Jack has a self-satisfied smile tilting his lips while Remy has a limp. He sits back down where he was before and pulls my feet into his lap but this time I notice he doesn't rub them like before. I start to drift off sometime after the hero meets his girl. It's been a long day and there has been a lot of stress.
I'm kind of a deep sleeper so when I go, it takes a lot to wake me up. I can tell it's taken Jack a long time to try to make me open my eyes and when I do I'm still not fully awake. A hard hand circles my ankle and gives me a shake causing me to become more alert. The first thing I notice is Jack's hand around my ankle. The next thing I notice is where my other foot is at.
Oh sweet mother of toadstools, I wonder how long I've been rocking my foot back and forth across his...that has to be...I'm almost ninety-nine percent sure that's his dick my foot is on. My eyes widen when I realize what I've been doing in my sleep. Oh my God! My face heats and I try to pull my foot away from Jack's grip but he doesn't let me. He looks tense.
Or maybe mad. I would probably be mad too if someone I just meet started doing something naughty with their foot while I was just trying to do my job. God, what do I do? Apologize? Pretend it didn't happen?
"Time for bed, Lexi. Come on." Okay, so he isn't saying anything so maybe I should take my cue from him and not speak of it. The last thing I want to talk about when I have a sleep-fogged brain is the fact that I just molested a grown-ass man. We walk up the stairs together and Jack comes in through my door. He doesn't say much but just before he walks to the bathroom he turns around.
"Tomorrow we start your training. Wear a swimsuit." With those two sentences, he's gone and I am wide awake.
He seemed mad. After a couple of minutes of tossing and turning I hear the shower turn on in the bathroom between our bedrooms. I wish I was the kind of woman to find out if he locks the door when he's naked or if he leaves it unlocked even then so in case I need him I can get to him fast, but I'm not. I'm not that bold and even though I might be in my sleep there is no way I would have enough guts to open the door and walk up to him, maybe even slip in the shower with him. But sometimes I wish I were that brave and bold.
What would it be like to have a man like Jack want you, lust after you, need you? I bet it is a heady feeling to have all that power over someone so big and strong. I drift off to sleep again thinking about being with someone like Jack. That’s probably why I spend the entire night having dirty dreams about him and why I am running late when I finally make it down to the pool where Jack text me to meet him sometime this morning.
When I'm finally down I see him swimming back and forth like a shark in the water. His huge body is so sleek and fast that it looks more like he is gliding through the water instead of actually swimming.
I start fidgeting with the bottom of my shirt that I threw on over my one piece. I guess having an indoor pool to swim in whenever you want would be fun. I don't wear bathing suits much and my school's pool is always too crowded for me to feel comfortable going there. Jack stops swimming and looks up from the side of the pool farthest away from me. His hair is slicked back from his face and his blue eyes are almost the same color as the water. I wait until he swims closer to me before I move to the edge and wait for him to tell me what to do. His eyes run over me from my bare toes to the messy bun I have tossed my hair up into. "Lose the shirt and come on in. I don't have all day."