I jerked back. Disapproval was one thing, but I wouldn’t let her belittle Jacks. “What are you talking about? He is amazing with her and she adores him. He spends time with her every day. He has never once acted like she is a burden. And could you please stop acting like I have one foot out the damn door? Because I don’t.” I couldn’t understand her concern. Jacks was doing the best he could and from where I was standing, which was pretty damn close, he was doing a great job.
“Yeah, he spends time with her, plays with her. But what about all the other things she is going to need? Counseling? School? Boundaries? Jacks is a child, and he needs to learn to be a parent.” Dylan turned to me, taking my hands in hers. I barely resisted the urge to pull away. “And what about you? Is it fair to ask you to stay here, to help him? You just finished college. You need to be finding a job, getting your life together, taking on your own responsibilities.”
I stood. “This is my life, Dylan. Right here, right now, I’m living it. I’m not running from anything, can’t you see that? I’m just…” I threw my arms out to the side. “Living.” I put my hand on the back door. “I’m staying here, with Jacks and Landry. And I’m not asking your permission or your opinion.” I went inside and stood in the kitchen. I wasn’t really sure what to do now. Jacks and Landry were still gone, I was done talking to Dylan for the moment, and everyone else was still asleep.
I didn’t need to be in South Carolina to figure out my future; I could do that from here. And Jacks was a good father. He’d known about Landry for less than a week; it was okay that he hadn’t figured everything out yet. I took my tea and headed back upstairs. I sat at the small desk in my room and started going through the catalogues that Lexi had left for me. There was a note with a checklist attached. Jacks’s house had five bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms. Seemed a little large for just him and Landry. But I guess one day he’d have a wife and more kids. Would that be me? We’d decided to take our friendship to the next level last night. But there were a hell of a lot of steps between making out and moving in together, right? I flipped open a huge magazine full of light fixtures and lost myself in decisions for a house I might never even see.
Chapter Fifteen
Jacks
Landry and I had been gone forty-five minutes, and the second I got home all I wanted to do was find Bryan and kiss the hell out of her. Because I could. Because we’d crossed that line, hell, we’d shot that line all to shit. I wanted her before, but now? It was a whole new level of want. “B? You up here?” I peeked my head into my room. Then walked farther down the hall. “Doll? What are you doing?” She was sitting at the desk, a pile of catalogues surrounding her and a pen stuck between her teeth.
She looked up when I walked in, a bright smile on her pretty face. She still hadn’t put her contacts in yet and seeing her sitting there with that topknot and sexy glasses about made me pass out. She must have noticed my level of want, because her smile turned wicked. She started playing with the pen in her teeth and brought one of her bare legs up to rest on the chair, causing her shorts to ride up her thigh. I growled like a dog with a bone and made it across the room in two long strides. She stood and threw her arms around my neck when I got to her. I put my hands on her tight little ass and pulled her against me, kissing her sweet mouth. She moaned, the vibrations making me lift her up and wrap her legs around my waist. I stepped forward, putting her back against a wall, grinding against her core. My hands were braced above her head, her grip on my hips with her thighs and the wall were the only things holding her up. “Tonight is date number two, right? Another date, another base, baby doll?” She grabbed me by the hair and brought my mouth back to hers, nodding furiously. I smiled against her skin, trailing my kisses down her neck.
“That’s hot. Now I’m horny.”
I pulled my mouth off Bryan’s throat and rested my forehead against her chest. I was breathing like I’d just run a marathon and I could feel her heart racing. “Is there something we can help you with, Lex?” I could hear the unusual edge to my voice. I was wound tight. That little shower session last night helped calm me down for all of fifteen minutes. About as long as it took for B to come get in bed and snuggle her perky ass against me.
I sat Bryan on her feet as Lexi walked in and took a seat on the bed. “As a matter of fact, yes you can.” She pointed to the desk. “I need to get your color choices to the painters.”
“For what? The house? Was I supposed to be picking out paint colors today?” I reached down and adjusted my dick. I was hard as fuck and I didn’t really care if Lexi knew it.
And judging by the smirk she had on her face, she did. “Uh, yeah, you were.” She shrugged. “But I knew you wouldn’t. So I asked Bryan to do it for you.”