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Chapter Thirty-Nine
Jackson
Icouldn’t have been more proud of Lena. She stayed up on stage with us and performed two more numbers. I’d brought home a bottle of champagne to celebrate, and as we entered the cottage, I flipped on the light and stared at the small bed. I’d been sleeping up here holding on to Lena every night, but I had to admit, I missed my own bed. I wanted to stay with her, but I didn’t relish sleeping in that tiny bed tonight.
“Lena.”
She turned to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Yes?” she said with a grin that seemed permanently put on her face ever since that first song we performed, and I was damn glad to see it. I didn’t want to ruin anything, but I needed a good night’s sleep. “Will you come with me downstairs to my place? Sleep there tonight?”
She followed my eyes to the small sofa we’d been sharing. “What, you don’t like snuggling close on that?”
“I love snuggling close, but I’d also love to do it in a bigger bed where my ass isn’t hanging off the edge.”
She giggled, then let out a heavy sigh. “I love sleeping with you, Jackson. And I love what we do before we go to sleep, but if I go downstairs, it would be like me living down there again, and Brod—”
“Don’t worry about Brodie. He’s changed his mind about you now that he’s seen the light.”
“And what light would that be?”
I leaned my forehead against hers. “The light that glows from the top of your head like an angel’s halo when you sing.”
She laughed. “Now I have a halo? You must have been standing behind me when I was looking in the mirror or something because I think the shine came from your own halo.”
“Well, now that we’ve established that we are both celestial beings, can we please go stroke each other’s feathers in my bed?”
“Okay. Just let me get my stuff.”
I let out a puff of air and helped her to gather her sweatpants and stuff.
The house was dark, which meant Brodie was still at the bar. Good. Even though I’d said he changed his tune about Lena, I still didn’t want to run into him on our way to my room. It was only eleven, and I knew Brodie would be out until at least one in the morning. The bar closed at two o’clock, but Brodie liked to let Derrick close on Friday nights so he could have some fun with a girl, and from what I knew, Friday nights were his best chance for that.
“Lena, before we go to sleep, I have another surprise and another reason to drink this champagne tonight.”
“What is it?”
“Luke managed to get the judge to expedite the divorce and emailed the final papers to me this morning.”
“Really?” she gaped at me. “But I thought it would take ninety days? It’s only been forty.” She said that as if she knew the exact date and time everything would be final, and quite frankly, I bet she did.
“Usually, there is a ninety-day waiting period between the time he was served and the final judgment. But because of the circumstances, the fact that you were married under a year, and the abuse, Luke convinced the judge to waive the ninety days and expedite the final papers. Here they are.” I handed her the copy I printed. “The originals should be here any day now, but Luke emailed these to me this morning.”
“Oh my God. I’m really free?”
God, the way she said “free” broke my heart. As though she’d been held prisoner by the jerk. Well, I guess she had been. “Yeah, sweetheart, you’re free.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she sobbed. “Why are you crying? I thought you would be happy.”
“I am. I am so happy. So grateful to you.”
“You are now, officially, a single woman.” I smiled, pulled her close to me and held her. No one could have been happier than I was that she was no longer married to that creep.
After she’d shed all the happy tears she had, I popped the cork on the bottle of bubbly, and we toasted to her newfound independence.
“Let’s take this into the bedroom. I’d like to get comfortable and cozy.” I took her hand, and she clinked her glass against mine another time.
I set the bottle of champagne and the two glasses on the nightstand, and she took her clothes and went into the bathroom to change. I had yet to see her fully naked. I’d had my hands on almost every part of her body, but never directly on her soft skin. I knew it was soft because, although I hadn’t fondled her naked body completely, my hands and lips were no stranger to her stomach, shoulders, and neck. I’d never tried to go any further than that, not while she was still married.
I pulled my shirt off, and she walked out of the bathroom. Though it hadn’t been the first time she’d ever seen me without a shirt, her eyes grew a bit wider as she gazed at me this time. She stared so hard even the tattoos on my arms and chest began to feel self-conscious. Maybe because this was the first time she’d seen me standing without my pants too, the other shirtless times, I’d at least had jeans on. I glanced down at the blue and white striped boxers I had on, wondering if she thought they looked stupid or sexy. “Um …” she averted her eyes and walked to the dresser to set her clothes on top of it. Her back was to me now.
