Knowing You (The Jade Series #2) (36 page)
Read Knowing You (The Jade Series #2) Online
Authors: Allie Everhart
Tags: #New Adult Romance, #College romance, #Contemporary romance
Or can I? Now that I’m here next to him, I’m finding him hard to resist. He’s shirtless and has on the cologne that I love. I kiss his chest, breathing in his scent.
“I thought we were just sleeping,” he says, a hint of laughter in his voice.
“We are. I’m just kissing you goodnight.” I work my way up to his lips. As I scoot my body up against his I notice that he’s wearing nothing. Nothing! I thought he was just shirtless. There’s no way I can turn him down now! I don’t have that kind of self-control, especially not when I’m this close to his naked body.
“Garret, where are your clothes?”
“I was hot.” He runs his hand down my stomach and slides it under my pajama pants. “You seem a little hot, too. You should take yours off.”
“Damn, you! At least let me lock the door first.” I hear him laughing as I get out of bed and lock the door, ditching my clothes on the way back.
“Nobody’s coming in, Jade. They’re asleep.”
“So how are we going to do this?” I ask, seeing his bandaged chest.
“
You’re
going to do this. Get on top, like you did before.”
“What if I hurt you?”
“You won’t hurt me. And I’m going to be like this for weeks, so you’ll have to get used to it.”
I straddle him and he reaches up and brings my mouth down to his for a long, slow, deep kiss. Damn, he’s a good kisser. Like seriously, he could win a contest.
He pulls back just enough to talk softly against my lips. “When I said I missed you, I meant that I really, really missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” I kiss him back as I position myself over him. His hands move to my backside and he pulls me into him as he pushes up with his hips. After a while of him guiding me, I move his hands away and take over. I still have no idea what I’m doing when I’m on top like this, but Garret definitely likes it, so I guess I’m not that bad.
Afterward, I lie down on the non-injured side of his chest. “Merry Christmas, Garret.”
He laughs. “Are you saying that was my present?”
“No! I was just saying Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas to you, too. Are you ready for your gift?”
“Let me get dressed first.”
We get up and put our pajamas back on.
He walks over to his closet. “Remember that it only cost $1.50, so don’t get too excited.”
“Wait. First I need to go to my room and get yours.”
When I come back he has the regular room lights on. We take a seat on the bed, facing each other.
“You first,” I say.
“Okay, now you may think this is totally lame, but I didn’t know what else to do given the fact that you won’t let me spend any money.”
He hands me a small green notebook. It’s the one we started using early in the semester to write down stuff we were too embarrassed to say out loud.
“That’s funny,” I say.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He looks offended. “You don’t even know what’s in it yet.”
I pull out my own green notebook from behind my back. “We had the same idea.”
He takes the notebook. “That
is
funny. So what’s in yours?”
“You have to read it. That’s why I wrote it down. I’m too embarrassed to say these things out loud.”
“Well, yours is kind of a mix of stuff. Last semester, I started writing down things I wanted to remember about us. Like our first date. The bowling. The Mexican place. That type of stuff. You’ll see. And at the end I put a list.”
“A list of what?”
“You always ask me why I want to be with you. So I answered you. Now you’ll have tons of reasons and they’re all written down. I’m hoping it will make you stop worrying that I’m going to leave. After you read it, you’ll see there’s no possible way that I could.”
“Yours sounds way better than mine. Maybe you should give me mine back and I’ll add some more.”
“Relax, Jade. Whatever you wrote, I’m sure I’ll like it.”
I get under the covers and lean against the headboard. Garret does the same. Then we start reading.
Garret’s notebook has about 10 pages of writing. Each entry is sectioned off by date. He has stuff about the first day we met, the first time we kissed, our first sleepover, and other firsts. I read it all, smiling at some of it and tearing up at other parts. He wrote it like a story. Put all together, it’s the story of how we fell in love. And it’s the absolute best gift I’ve ever received.
I flip to the last page to read the list.
Why I love a potato-chip-addicted girl from Iowa . . .
She’s funny, even when she’s not trying.
She’s beautiful, cute, sexy, and hot all at the same time.
She’s innocent and sweet, despite saying otherwise.
She has beautiful jade green eyes that I can’t stop staring at.
She’s smart and can beat anyone in a trivia contest.
She’s a super fast runner and can kick my ass on the track.
She’s nice to people, even little kids, despite saying she doesn’t like them.
She’s competitive (which is freaking hot!)
She’s comfy to sleep next to.
She’s hard to predict.
She’s well versed in the art of giving insults.
She’s independent. Strong. And Resilient.
She’s a good hugger, (although she did have an excellent instructor).
She loves the small things in life, like snow and Christmas lights and homemade donuts.
She doesn’t care about money.
She keeps my ego from getting too high.
She makes me not want to drink.
She makes me want to be a man and not a kid.
She makes me want to get married someday (which I said I would never, EVER do).
Are you getting bored yet? Because I could fill this whole notebook. And probably another one after that. The more time I spend with you, the more notebooks I could fill. I love you, Jade. —Garret
It takes me much longer to read his notebook than it does for him to read mine because I just have a list. This is what I wrote.
Compliments I’ve been meaning to give Garret . . .
You’re super hot! Your blue eyes, your soft lips, your perfect smile, your rock-hard abs. . . I got off track thinking about your abs, but basically all of you is hot!
You’re a great kisser and are also great at. . . I’m too embarrassed to write it down, but you know what I mean.
You’re the absolute best hugger on the planet. Not that I’ve hugged many people, but you taught me how to do it which proves that you’re really good.
You’re patient with difficult people (I’m not saying who).
You’re considerate of others, even when they’re not that considerate of you (again, I’m not naming names).
You’re a gentleman (although you don’t have to open my door EVERY time).
You’re funny, smart, and an excellent swimmer. (Three compliments in one!)
You’re a nice older brother. (I had Lilly confirm this one for me.)
You’re a good son. (I had your dad confirm this one for me.)
You’re a great boyfriend—a million times better than anyone I’ve ever dated. (I know you don’t want to hear about the other guys I’ve dated but I had to mention them solely for comparison purposes.)
You’re a very skilled driver, especially when the brakes go out.
You know how to make green beans taste good. And chicken.
You’re fun to hang out with, even if we do nothing at all.
You’re good at making me smile when I’m in a crappy mood.
You make an awesome concession stand.
You throw a kick-ass Halloween party.
You’re a good listener.
You smell really, really good.
You’re persistent. You don’t give up on people, even when they give up on themselves.
You’re a good friend. The best friend I’ve ever had.
I could go on, but I don’t want your ego to get too high so I’ll end it here.
Okay, maybe just one more.
You can do the impossible, like make a girl who didn’t believe in love fall completely in love with you. (Totally sappy, I know. But true.)
I love you, Garret. —Jade
When I finish reading his notebook I look up to see my own notebook closed and in his lap. He’s smiling at me and I quickly wipe away the tears that managed to sneak down my face when I read what he wrote.
“So that’s what you get for a $1.50,” he says. “But it’s gotta be better than a pack of gum. Unless you had your heart set on the gum, which would really suck because I spent a shitload of time writing all that.”
I flip around to face him. “Your gift was way better than a pack of gum.”
“Yours too.” He leans down to kiss me. “You were right, Jade. The best gifts don’t cost much.”
I hold up his notebook. “Thank you for doing this. Being a guy, I’m sure you weren’t too comfortable writing your feelings down like that. I could barely do it.”
“Yeah, well, this is just between you and me. Nobody else sees that notebook. I don’t want people thinking I’m one of those overly sensitive guys.”
I laugh again. “No. We wouldn’t want that.”
“So you had a good Christmas?”
“A good Christmas, a good Thanksgiving, a good Halloween. All the holidays have been good thanks to you.”
“What can I say? I get into holidays. But again, that’s our little secret, okay? Holidays are more of a girl thing.”
“Not Super Bowl Sunday.”
“That’s true. We have a lot more holidays to go. You’re going to love the Kensington Fourth of July. We do our own fireworks show.”
As he describes it, I finally feel confident that we’ll still be together by the Fourth of July. And a long time after that. I might even be a Kensington someday.
Although I have to admit that the idea of that scares me a little. Not the part about being married. But the part about being in this family. I still don’t know their story. What is Garret’s dad really involved in? There’s no way he just owns a company and that’s it. He has too much money and too much power.
I know I can’t ask questions, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still swirl around in my head. Like how was his dad able to kill the frontrunner nominee for president and get away with it? What other stuff has he done? He’s obviously been involved in cover-ups before. He had a whole team of people there within minutes to clean up the scene with Sinclair. And what did he mean by welcoming me to the family that day? Was that some sort of initiation? If so, what was I being initiated into?
I know I shouldn’t worry about it. I’m trying to live in the present. Life right now is really good and I just want to enjoy it. And if I ever do become a Kensington, I’ll figure it out then. Although part of me feels like I’ll be finding out the Kensington family secrets a lot sooner than that.
From the Author
Thanks for reading Knowing You! I hope you’re loving the story of Jade and Garret as much as I’ve loved writing it. If so, I’d be thrilled if you spread the word by telling a friend or leaving a review.
The third book in The Jade Series is coming soon! For updates on its release, check out my Allie Everhart
----Allie
Other Books from Waltham Publishing include:
The Samantha Project Series, a Young Adult light sci-fi, paranormal romance series that includes the following books:
Seventeen-year-old Samantha has a seemingly perfect life; great parents, early admission to Stanford, and her boyfriend, Colin, quarterback of the football team and the hottest guy in school. But a shocking secret from her past turns her world upside down.
Sam discovers she's part of a global corporation's genetic enhancement project. Just as she's learning what these enhanced genes can do, the corporation decides they want her, and the technology hidden inside her, back.
During a heart-pounding race to flee from her pursuers, she encounters Erik, another person who was part of the experimental project. From the instant they meet they share an indescribable attraction to each other. Together they're in even greater danger and a rogue scientist discovers a deadly secret lies inside them.