“Thanks, babe.”
I nodded and held the side of his face, catching his lips once more before letting him back away. Jason was everything I could ask for – sexy, accomplished, loyal, giving, funny, kind, patient, and attentive. Sometimes I didn’t feel like a girl like me – a girl as flawed as me – deserved him. Yet and still, he stuck around through all of my ups and downs. When he caught me staring, he gave a thoughtful smile.
“What you thinking?” He asked, sipping from his cup again.
I shrugged and pulled the cover up my thighs to my hips. “About how much I love you and how much it means that you came with me this weekend.”
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “You’re my baby. Where else would I be?”
I blushed and pulled a small piece off my bagel to eat.
“I know you have a lot to do to get ready for the wedding, so I was thinking I’d get out of your hair for a while. Maybe take in a movie or hit the mall or something. What you think?”
I nodded and then looked at the time – 9:02. I needed to be to the church by 3:00, which meant I should head out around 2:30. With another shower, hair, and makeup in my future, I could easily be at it from 11:00 until time to leave.
“That’s cool. I have so much to do, I probably won’t even notice you’re gone,” I replied with a smile.
“Ha-ha-ha…real cute. You know you’re gonna miss all this.” He leaned in and kissed me again. When he pitched his cup in the trash, he took his car keys and got ready to take off. “Need anything while I’m out?”
I thought for a second. “Mmm…nope.”
“Alright, well if you think of anything, just call. I have my phone on me.”
“K,” I answered, watching Jason make his exit.
The black-out curtains had our room looking like it was still nighttime. I climbed out of bed and pulled them back, scanning the lot from the sheer curtains that kept the outside world from being able to see in.
With a sigh, I rested my hands on my hips and thought about the day ahead. I had a couple hours to kill so I thought I’d check out the gift shop down on the first floor. I could stand to spare thirty minutes and twenty bucks, so why not?
I grabbed a pair of jeans from my bag and some flip flops. Pulling off the oversized t-shirt and exchanging it for a black tank top after putting on a bra. I ran a brush through my hair a few times and figured I looked good enough for the short journey downstairs.
I rode the elevator down and followed the long hallway to the right where the sign for the shop protruded from the wall above the entrance – the flipping and flopping of my shoes echoing in the emptiness. The sound of my mother’s ringtone just as I stepped inside made me look down to feel my pockets for my phone. When I did, I wasn’t watching where I was going and ran smack-dab into a hard, wall-like chest. The arms that encircled me, keeping me from stumbling back, felt familiar before I even realized who they belonged to.
I stood there, staring up into AJ’s dark eyes as the heat from his body engulfed me like I’d stepped into a roaring fire. Needless to say, I lost my breath. His hands were hot against my back and his scent filled my senses as I stood there in…shock? Awe? I couldn’t tell which, but all I knew was that I couldn’t move.
A slight smile crossed his face at the irony of the situation, and it was almost my undoing.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” he said lightheartedly.
The memory of our first encounter in the halls of Allister Academy sobered me up a bit and only then did I take a step backward out of his grasp.
Running my fingers through my hair when my nerves kicked into overdrive, I instantly started apologizing. “I’m sooo sorry. My phone went off, and I wasn’t looking where I was going, and –“