With a smile, I replied, “Yes ma’am, I’ll let her know.”
Jessie moaned, “Please call me Jessie, Jase. You don’t have to be so formal. Now, follow me in and I’ll get that casserole.”
“Yes ma’am. I mean, Jessie.” Walking up to Brad, I extended my hand. “It was a pleasure meeting you, sir.”
With the look he was giving me, I should have been down on the ground laid out dead. Gripping my hand tightly again, he pulled me closer to him. “I know people who will bust your knee caps and make it so you don’t walk for months.”
“Ah . . . that’s good to know, sir.”
Lifting his eyebrows, he slowly nodded. “Yes, it is good to know. That means if you hurt her ever again . . . you’ll be hurting a lot worse than her.”
“May I be honest with you, sir?”
“Yes. I expect it always.”
My eyes drifted over to Scott who was attempting to hold back his smile. Placing my attention back on Brad, I fought for my mouth to form words to speak. “You scare the hell out of me.”
I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone smile like how Brad was. “Good. That means I’ve done my job.”
Amanda walked up and pulled Brad back. “All right, that’s enough, Rocky. Don’t pay any attention to him, Jase. He’s trying to scare you.”
“He certainly succeeded,” I mumbled under my breath.
Taylor
Standing in the middle of my new little place I smiled. “What a day,” I whispered.
Pulling my phone out, I sent a text to Meagan.
Me: So I took the job. I’m now in the breeding business.
Meg: OMG! And the cabin?
Me: Standing in it as I type!
Meg: I’m so glad you will be closer to me and the twins.
Me: Same here. Oh. Jase and I got together today.
I stared at my phone waiting for her to respond. When my phone rang in my hand, I screamed.
“Hey. That was fast.”
“What? Jase? Back together? How? Why? When? Where?”
Laughing, I dropped onto the couch. “Well, if you would stop asking one-word questions, I’ll tell you.”
“Taylor, this is huge. What do you mean by together? Do you mean bumping uglies together or dating together?”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “God. Why are you and Grace so . . . ugh?”
“It’s called keeping it real and start talking! Wait! Do Mom and Dad know?”
I couldn’t hold in how happy I was. All those years dreaming of being in Jase’s arms. Wondering what life would be like if we were together. My heart felt as if it was about to burst. “Yep. And they’ve already met him and that was not planned. Really, nothing today was planned and that’s okay because it was the best day of my life!” I said with a giggle.
Meagan tittered. “Okay, spill it and start from the beginning.”
After I told her everything there was silence on the phone. “Meg?”
“Wow. That’s all I can say right now. I mean . . . I won’t argue and say fate certainly had a hand in all of that, but Taylor are you sure you should have run back into his arms? I mean, I know how sad you’ve been and I want to make sure you weren’t reacting with your heart only.”
I closed my eyes and pulled in a deep breath before speaking again. “Do I think Jase and I rushed into things? Yes, and I’m sure he does too, but it felt so right, Meg. The moment he held me in his arms and told me how sorry he was and I told him about Clark—”
“You told him about Clark! Why?”
With a shrug, I replied, “Why not? I don’t want anything to be between us and the reason I even slept with Clark was because I was angry with Jase.”
“I don’t understand you two. You’re not dating yet you both tell each other when you’ve slept with other people . . . as if you were cheating. So weird.”
“It doesn’t matter . . . we spent the most amazing afternoon together. It was magical.”
I heard rustling and then Meagan mumbled something to Grayson. “Hold on, Tay, let me go on the back porch.”
A few moments later, I heard the screen door open and close. “Okay . . . I want details. How was it? It had to have been better than the first time.”
I could feel my cheeks burning as I pulled my knees up to my chest. “Meagan . . . oh my gosh. It was beyond amazing. He is so . . . good!”
Meagan let out a roar of laughter before finally saying, “That’s good! How many times? Does the boy have stamina?”
Peeking out the window, I didn’t see Jase coming. “I feel funny talking about it.”
“What? Nonsense. Get used to it because tomorrow we are all meeting for lunch and talking about it. You’re the last of the group to fully have your cherry popped. Clark doesn’t count. From this day forward we never mention him again.”
“Done,” I mumbled.
“So? How many times.”
“Twice. And the second time was . . . very different.”