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“This is true.”
Standing, he carefully cradled the baby against his chest before he leaned to place her in her crib. Then he checked the wall thermometer, just as Autumn’s detailed instructions had suggested he do. “One blanket,” he said to himself, pulling the pink fluffy square over Skyler’s sleeping body. “Sleep tight, sweet girl.”
Walking quietly across the room, he took Lydia’s hand. “Wanna go make out some more?” he asked her.
She glanced down at the phone in her other hand. “Yeah,” she said, trying to ignore the melancholy feeling lying heavy on her shoulders. “But your mom called. You should call her back first.”
He took the phone from her hand and slid it in his back pocket. “She can wait. Let’s go back to the living room. I need you.”
Lydia laughed. “You want me to pretend to hate you again?”
Tracing the outline of her lips with his finger, he slowly shook his head. “No,” he told her. “As hot as that was, I want to kiss you. The real you. No pretend, no make believe, just you and me and nothing else.”
She sighed, and the warm air rushed against his fingers. “You always know the right thing to say.”
“It’s the truth.” And while he was being truly honest, the intensity scared him a little.
He wanted her to know who he was from the inside out. To kiss him because she wanted him, the true and honest version nobody else knew.
Rolling onto her tiptoes, she curled her arms around his neck, her warm eyes meeting his.
“Kiss me, Jackson,” she whispered.
Sliding his hands beneath her behind, he carried her to the living room and did exactly what she’d asked.
And yeah, it was still hot as hell.
Lydia sighed and rolled over into Jackson’s waiting arms. The bedcovers were a wrinkled mess at their feet, their clothes strewn all over Jackson’s bedroom. They’d run upstairs as soon as Jackson had opened his front door and they’d both walked inside. She guessed that’s what happened when you spent the whole evening only hitting second base.
Eventually, you were desperate for a home run.
“You okay?” Jackson murmured, pressing his lips to her head.
“More than okay.” She smiled, nestling into his embrace. His skin was warm against hers.
“We should probably sleep. We don’t want to be yawning tomorrow.” He traced his finger down her spine. “People will talk.”
“Are we that interesting?” she asked, wrinkling her nose as she looked up at him.
“This is Angel Sands. Somebody blowing their nose gets the gossips going. You and me, we’re going to be the talk of the town.”
She bit her lip. “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Does it worry you?”
“Not really.” She shook her head. “I was just thinking that my dad’s flying in for Skyler’s naming day on Saturday. I’m not really looking forward to seeing him.”
“Why not?” Jackson frowned. “Don’t you get along with him?”
She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. “I guess I just feel like I constantly disappoint him. I always have. Most of the time it doesn’t bother me, but that’s because I don’t see him a whole lot.”
“How could you disappoint him?” Jackson asked. “That’s crazy.”
“He wants me to be more like Autumn. He always did. I spent most of my childhood trying to hide my school progress reports from him, because he’d always look at them and sigh loudly.”
“Your progress reports sound interesting.” Jackson kissed her neck. “What exactly did they say?”
“Things like, Lydia needs to spend less time staring out of the window, and more time looking at the white board.” Her lip curled at the memory. “Or variations on that theme. I was a dreamer. I didn’t like learning the way they tried to teach me. And when I told him I didn’t want to go to college…” She shook her head. “Let’s just say he was lucky to come out of it with all his arteries intact.”
