Jackson's Destiny (Sawyer Brothers #2) (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Bailey

“Will you please just give me the chance to explain?” Jackson said as I yanked open the door of my Jeep.

“Move, Jackson,” I said as he slipped between me and the doorway. At this point I was beyond pissed.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“So you can lie some more?” I shoved him in the chest. “I’m not a dumbass. I know you have a past. I know you’ve slept with a shit-ton of women, but you lied. I asked you one simple question,
one
, and you lied.” I poked his chest with a finger. “I don’t like being lied to, so no, we cannot talk. You, Jackson, can get the hell out of my way right now.”

“You were drunk,” he protested. “I knew if I said she and I had a history, you would have been even more upset than you are now, thanks to the alcohol.”

“Not a good enough excuse to lie,” I said, pushing my way past him. I crawled into the driver’s seat and shoved the key into the ignition. So many things were running through my mind that I wanted to say to him, but I remained silent. It would only make things worse.

I shifted into reverse, but he still stood in the opening of the driver’s-side door. I turned to look up at him, blinking back the tears. I didn’t want to cry.

“Baby,” he whispered.

“You can either move willingly, or I can run your ass over, but you only have two seconds to decide before I choose for you.”

For a split second, surprise flickered across his face. I could see he wanted to argue, like he could come up with a way to force me to stay. But there was nothing at this point that would convince me. I needed my space.

He hung his head, shaking it lightly before he stepped back and allowed me to slam the door.

I backed down the driveway and turned onto the road, refusing to look back.

***

“He’s called ten times,” Amber said as she pulled the brownies from the oven. “I’m not saying he was right to lie. But I can say that maybe when you were drunk wasn’t the right time to admit that the lady he works with daily is the same girl he screwed for a year straight.”

“Nice,” I said.

“What?”

“Now you’re okay with lying?” I tossed my spatula into the sink, then spun around to face her as I brushed the crumbs off my hands. “He lied, Amber. He had the chance to say, ‘Yes, Bailey, in the past she and I had a little fling.’ Instead, he looked me in the eyes and stated they were never together. That is a straight-up lie, and yes, it pisses me off. So let me stew, let me pout, and don’t try to fix it. He screwed up, so he can deal with it. His ass can beg and fight to make things right, and I sure as hell am not going to make it easy for him.”

When she said nothing, I began individually wrapping the brownies she’d just cut into squares. I had to busy my hands, because they were trembling. A few seconds later, a loud knock on the back door made me jerk in surprise. My gaze shifted toward Amber as I asked, “Who is that?”

She shrugged as she walked past me to take a look. “I’ll give you two guesses, but I’m thinking you’ll only need the one.”

I had a feeling I knew who it was, but before I could stop her, she opened the door, and my stomach fluttered with excitement.

“Hey, ladies, Alena is back in town. Let the fun begin,” Alena cried as she rushed inside and dropped a heaping pile of bags at her feet. I looked at them and then looked back up, meeting her stare. “Oh, sweets, that isn’t all of it. I have the trunk of the rental car full. Daddy’s shipping the rest,” she explained casually.

“What are you doing here?” Amber asked.

“I’m here to stay.” She shrugged, and my eyes grew wide. Alena is a free spirit, a traveler, and the furthest thing from a country girl. She prefers Gucci heels and Jimmy Choos to cowboy boots. I wondered if she realized she wouldn’t find a department store in Livingston, Montana, that carried Louis Vuitton bags.

“You’re serious?” Amber asked.

“Yeah.” Alena smiled brightly. “Chicago isn’t the same without my girls. And I’m sick of living out of a suitcase.” She glided past Amber and grabbed a brownie from the tray. “Plus, this place has some seriously hot cowboys.” She wagged her eyebrows, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, this cowboy is off the market.” My back stiffened and my eyes widened at the sound of Jackson’s deep, determined voice. “You’ll have to excuse Bailey for a bit. She can celebrate this little reunion later. Right now, she and I have some business to handle.”

I turned and looked up at him. “Jackson—”

“You can come willingly, or I can take matters into my own hands, but you have two seconds to decide.” I was instantly reminded of my earlier comment to him about moving out of my way. “Two,” he said as he held up two fingers. Lowering one finger, he continued. “One.”

“Jackson, I don’t—”

He gently shook his head, as if to tell me no.

I looked at Amber for help, and the traitor just smiled brightly like she was loving the show. I then looked at Alena, and she too was grinning like a fool. They would be no help.

“Time’s up, darlin’,” Jackson said as he charged forward. “I guess you coming willingly isn’t gonna happen.” He tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Oh Lord, will you stop treating me like a toddler?” I yelled as I wiggled on his shoulder, but he just walked out of the kitchen and carried me up the stairs to my apartment. He swatted my ass when I pinched his side. “Stop acting like a toddler and maybe I’ll stop treating you like one.”

He shoved through the door of my bedroom and dropped me onto my mattress. I huffed on impact and tried to roll toward the side.

“Oh no you don’t.” He grabbed my ankles and pulled me back, then crawled up the bed and straddled my waist, holding me in place. He then gripped my wrists and brought them together above my head, where he held them in one of his hands. Lowering his determined face to mine, he narrowed his eyes. “Your stubborn ass is gonna stop fighting me. You will lie here and listen to what I have to say.”

My eyebrows shot up because I didn’t give up easily. “You think so?”

“I know so, because, sweetheart, you don’t have a choice.”

“You are such a—”

His mouth covered mine in a hard, powerful kiss as he pressed himself against me. My own body betrayed me as I thrust my breasts up against his chest. God, why did he have to feel so damn good?

“I love you.” His husky, deep voice ran through me like a wave of heat. “It’s you, babe.” He trailed his nose along my jaw toward my ear. “I only want you. I won’t let you run from me. I won’t let you find an excuse to push me away.”

My throat and chest tightened. I knew I was hanging onto the edge and so close to being a blubbering mess.

“You’ve got me—completely. Anything I had before you was just a pastime. No one has ever crawled inside my mind the way you have.” He leaned up on his elbow, releasing the hold he had on my wrists. “I only see you, sweetheart.”

My heart melted, and in that moment I no longer remembered exactly why I was so mad at him.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jackson

My heart felt like it might beat right out of my chest. I had just confessed my love, and all Bailey was doing was staring up at me with a lost look on her face.

“Say something,” I whispered as I scanned her face, looking for any sign of what she may be feeling.

“You love me?” she asked, and relief flooded me.

“Yeah,” I replied.

She wrapped her hands around the back of my neck and pulled my face down to meet hers. Our lips meshed together perfectly. I settled between her thighs and continued to kiss her, devouring her sweet mouth. I could feel myself growing hard as Bailey sucked on the tip of my tongue. I tried not to focus on the fact she had not yet returned my declaration of love. It didn’t change what I had told her, though. I was without a doubt “whipped to no end, melt at the feet of your woman” in love.

“I hate that she gets to spend the days with you,” Bailey said between kisses.

“I took care of that,” I assured her, grinning against her lips. Because the alternative might have gotten another fight out of my feisty, blonde spitfire.

“How exactly did you take care of it?

“I just told Phoebe that if she wanted me to continue to train Cherry, she needed to leave me be. She, of course, argued that she had to be around me because I didn’t have anyone to assist me, and I assured her I did.”

Bailey stared up at me with a curious expression.

“I told her my girl was back in town, and she was all the assistance I needed.”

Bailey’s eyes grew wide as my words sunk in. “Me?” she squeaked.

“Well, you’re my girl, so I would say yeah, you.”

She laughed, as if what I had just said was some big joke.

“Baby, I ain’t kidding. You’ve been recruited.”

“I, um,” she stuttered. “What do you mean?”

“You are now my new assistant.” I held back the chuckle that threatened to escape. She looked like a fish out of water, and it was almost too cute to handle.

“But I work at Heavenly Temptations,” she said, as if that was explanation enough.

I bent down and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Darlin’, you, me, and everyone else in town knows you and flour don’t mix.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Let’s face it, babe, you can’t bake for shit.”

She tried to appear angry, but the look didn’t last. She began laughing, and the moment she bit her lower lip, I placed my thumb on her chin and pulled her lip free of her teeth.

“I like the idea of having you with me more,” I said.

“I’ll probably mess things up,” she confessed. “A lot,” she whispered.

“Don’t care.” I lowered my head and placed my lips against hers. And just like that, the tension of the last hour faded away.

“I’ve missed you,” I whispered against her lips as I ground my pelvis against hers. She moaned in acceptance. “I think you should ditch the girls, and we should go back to my place.” I was working her over slowly, using the power of lust to convince her to do whatever I suggested.

“I feel bad leaving when Alena just got here.” Her words came out breathy.

“Then we’ll have everyone over for dinner later. But right now, I just wanna get you back to my place and in my bed. I think spending an afternoon naked sounds pretty damn good right about now.”

***

I slid my palm over her hip before gliding it up along the trail of her spine. She hiked her ass up in the air as she panted against the pillow she’d buried her face into. I knew I was torturing her, but having her bent over in front of me was one of the sexiest things I’d ever seen. I eased into her, only to pull back out slowly before repeating the movement.

“Oh my God, please,” she groaned as she pushed herself back against me again. I paused and allowed her to ride out the orgasm that ripped through her. Her body tensed around me, squeezing my cock tight.

“Yeah, there you go,” I encouraged her as her legs weakened and she took me over and over.

Bailey wasn’t shy; she was a greedy, “take all and give me more” kind of girl, and I loved every single minute I spent with her.

“Roll over, baby,” I told her as I pulled out. She groaned in protest but did as I asked. I took a few seconds to look her over appreciatively before I licked my lower lip, positioned myself between her legs, and slid back inside of her. I longed to see her eyes glaze over with lust, to watch her pleasure. I lowered my head and sucked one of her nipples into my mouth, and she arched upward, offering herself to me. I sped up my movements, and our bodies fell into the perfect rhythm.

I had never in my life experienced such a connection with anyone. It wasn’t just the fact that Bailey drove my body insane and that I craved the intimacy we shared; it was so much more. She made me feel so raw, so completely exposed. That should have terrified me, but it didn’t. It only made me want more.

“I love you, sweetheart,” I whispered as I picked up my movements and felt her body give in to pleasure. “You’re my girl. All I need and all I’ll ever want.”

“Yes,” she moaned as we let go and came together.

I rested my forehead against hers, taking the time to calm my racing heart. Slowly, I began relaxing against her, and when I opened my eyes, she was staring up at me.

“Hey, beautiful,” I whispered.

“I love you too,” she replied, and chills raced over my body. I never knew hearing those words in return would feel so amazing, but it did. Yeah, I already knew how she felt, but hearing her admit it was one of the best fucking feelings I’d ever experienced.