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I smiled when I felt Jackson at my back. Wrapping one arm around my waist, he used his other hand to open the cabinet and pull down a mug for himself. The silence at that point changed from merely quiet to stunned. I’m pretty sure we’d have heard a pin drop as our parents took in the scene before them. When he finished making his coffee and stepped back, we turned in unison. Even though our parents had had ample time to school their expressions, our fathers both looked stunned.
Only Aunt Madeline looked as if she’d been expecting us to wind up together all along. I made a mental note to ask Jax if he’d talked to her about Aria. Even without confirmation from him I was willing to bet money that he had. Jax and his mom were thick as thieves. If it was important to him, she was in the loop.
“So, I take it you kids are… seeing each other now?” Uncle John asked as we each took a seat at the table.
Jackson snicker laughed as he set his mug of coffee on the distressed white table his mom and I had refinished together years before. “We’re more than seeing each other,” he said. Turning to me, he held my gaze as he answered his dad. “Chloe is mine, I’m hers, and we’re going to be together from here on out.”
“This is the answer to so many prayers,” Aunt Maddie said gleefully.
“For us too,” Jackson agreed. “Really hoping you all aren’t going to make it weird, though,” he joked.
“Us? Weird?” my dad asked. As he talked, he made funny faces.
“We won’t make it weird,” Aunt Maddie promised. “We’ll be perfectly normal.”
Jackson and I didn’t try to hide the look of disbelief that we exchanged.
“Have we ever done anything to embarrass you?” Uncle John asked.
Jax and I were too busy laughing to answer. Parents embarrassed their children whether they tried or not, but all three of our parents were funny. Over the years they’d not hesitated to prank us when the opportunity arose.
“So now that this is all settled, you two can pay up any time now,” Aunt Maddie announced as she set a plate of scrambled eggs down on the table.
“Don’t think I don’t know you cheated, Maddie,” my dad griped.
“Goddamn con artist,” Uncle John grumbled.
I bit back a laugh as I looked between my dad and uncle. “How much did she take you for?”
“A hundred bucks,” Dad answered.
“Each,” Uncle John added.
They spent the rest of breakfast trying to detail all the times Maddie had bet and won money from them. I knew they did it to keep from staring at me and Jax as we held hands and exchanged loving glances throughout the meal.
7
Chloe, One week later
“Do you know where he’s taking you tonight?” Caroline asked.
I shook my head as I held up two hangers, one held a red lace bra, the other a pale pink satin bra. “Somewhere in Boston, but I don’t know where. Which do you think?”
She looked back and forth between both options before she pointed to the pink. “That’s more you, especially for losing-your-virginity night.”
I hummed in agreement and hung the red back up before I moved to the section that had matching panties. It only took a minute to find the beautiful pale pink satin panties that matched the bra.
“Are you excited?” Caro asked as I headed toward a display of pretty satin robes.
“Excited doesn’t begin to cover it,” I admitted. “He’s been adamant about making sure that this is special for me and I love that, but waiting has nearly killed me.”
“It gets worse once you do it,” she snickered. “Once you break the seal, it’s impossible to put the genie back in the bottle.”
“Which explains why you and Alec are like rabbits,” I joked. “I hardly get to see you anymore because you spend all of your time over at his apartment doing whatever it is that you two do.”
“We do each other,” she deadpanned.
“On Jackson’s grandmother’s old lady furniture,” I teased.
Caro shrugged as she pulled a fuchsia robe from the display and assessed it. “What can I say? The floral patterns really get me hot.”
I shuddered as I chose a champagne colored robe and put it over my arm. “You have no idea how glad I am that Jax didn’t keep that furniture. It would feel sacrilegious doing anything on it.”
“That’s your loss because I’ve had many religious experiences on that furniture,” Caroline laughed. “In fact, the neighbors probably wonder why I spend so much time calling out to God.”
I pretended to gag. “If you don’t shut up I’m going to spend the rest of the day praying to the porcelain gods. Considering what’s on tap for me tonight, I’d rather not do that.”
* * *
“This view is amazing,” I said as I ran for the floor to ceiling windows that overlooked Boston harbor. Behind me, Jackson was putting our bags on the bed.
