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"After food." Jackson leans forward to grab a handful of chips. "Got a new client today, the bastard's on his fourth divorce." I start laughing, and he goes on, "Maybe this one charity might get me away from the rich idiots." He stops as his phone rings. "I have to take this," I give him a nod, and he leaves the room. Hope walks in with two plates, and she looks over to where Jackson is talking.
“The pizza smells amazing.” One thing is for sure, Hope knows how to cook. Everything she has made has been delicious and the fact that she got Jackson’s stomach to fall in love with her cooking says a lot.
She stands up straight. "Can I ask you something, Leo?" She plays with her hands.
“Sure.”
"Can... I... watch the TV with you?" Her voice comes out quiet and scared all at the same time. Her question takes me back a little, and I just stare at her for a moment. No one should be asking that question.
I open my mouth to answer her, but Jackson walks back into the room, meaning Hope leaves. “You will never—”
"One second," I tell him, following Hope into the kitchen to see if she's okay. I lean on the counter as she gets the salad ready and grabs some dressing from the fridge. She goes to walk past me, and I grab her arm. I take everything from her and place it on the counter. Then I turn her to face me with my hands on her hips so that she can't move. "Can you look at me, please?"
Her head moves up slowly until her face is turned toward me, but her eyes look behind me. I’m searching her expression for an answer to a question I haven’t even figured out just yet.
“I’m going to give you a little kiss now. Can I?”
Her eyes move to mine, and there's something different; hiding, questioning. "Why?" she whispers.
Leaning closer to her I say, “Because I like the feeling of your lips touching mine,” I whisper against her mouth as I give her a kiss. I feel her body shiver under my hands.
She pulls away and leans her head on my chest, and we stand for a moment in silence. My hands run softly up her back. "Shall we go watch some TV?" I ask her.
* * *
Jackson puts the proposal on the table. "So, you really want to do this with them?" He's been reading it for a while, and I've not been able to stop watching Hope watching the TV.
“What do you think?” I ask him. If I was a hundred percent sure about it, I wouldn’t need to ask him.
"I can see that they've put a lot of thought into it, but it needs a lot of work. When do they want to open?"
“I don’t know, it doesn’t say anything in there about it. I think they’re waiting to see what I say about it first,” I tell him grabbing another pizza slice off the table. “I think with both of us helping with this it might just be a good thing for everyone.” There are times I have no idea what he’s thinking and others I can read him like a book.
“When are you meeting with them again?”
“I’m waiting for you to say if you’ll join me on this first. Plus, I need to make sure that this is the charity that I want not justmyname on, but my father’s name on. We have so many that come through our doors. I have to make sure this is the right one.
“If you’re in, I’m in. You’ve never taken me in the wrong direction before.” Jackson stands up. “You want another beer?”
“Sure and—”
Hope stands up quickly. "I can...get them!" She starts to walk out of the room, but Jackson stands in front of her, so her head turns down to the floor.
"Beautiful, I know that you like to do things around here, but I think I can get my beer. Would you like anything?" Jackson takes two steps back from her and bends down a little, to see if she will look at him.
“Jackson—” I go to tell him to move out of her way, but he flips me off. He wants Hope to trust him a little, but we both know that it will happen slowly.
“Just let me look at your face once. I just want to see if you’re as pretty as Leo is telling me.” He leans close to her ear. I can’t hear what he says to her.
Hope walks around Jackson and into the kitchen.
“Leave her alone,” I tell him.
“I won’t touch her, you know that.”
I do, and I know that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her either, so I never thought he would, but at the moment she's still taken aback by him.
Hope walks back into the lounge and hands me a beer, then turns to face Jackson and puts out her arm with his beer. I watch her closely to see what she's about to do. I can't help but smile as I tap Jackson's leg, he looks at me, and I nod towards Hope.
