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A smile pulled at my lips as Kat looked at me with a weird expression.
“What happened to my brothers? Did you switch them out overnight with kind, compassionate men instead?”
Laughing at her comment, I couldn’t do much else other than shrug. Instantly the tension in the room lifted for me though. I may not have been able to forgive them for all of their wrongs on day one, but it gave me hope that we could exist peacefully. Maybe they had grown into decent people after all.
6
Jackson
Harper pulled the pins from her French twist, letting her wild curls fall over her shoulders and mine. Her eyes were the color of ocean waves as she stared deeply into mine, nibbling her luscious pink lips.
Jackson, please, she whimpers as I rip off her clothes, exposing those amazing curves…
“Good morning,” Mom chirps as she steps into the room. “I’m surprised you’re all up before me today. I slept in later than I thought.”
Hearing Mom’s voice pulls me from the fantasy and back to reality. Harper is now sitting next to Kat and the two of them are deep into conversation. She’s smiling and twirling a loose curl with her finger. Her glasses sit perched on her nose; her eyes crinkle as she laughs.
God, she is beautiful… and I don’t even think she realizes it.
Harper’s gaze briefly turned my way, her smile wavering before she turned back to Kat and continued with her conversation.
She hated my guts, and I couldn’t blame her, not entirely. I had been a dick to her. Hell, I’d been a dick to everyone back then, and I knew I could still be that way. But I had meant what I said to her earlier—I was trying to be a better person. I didn’t want to treat people poorly anymore. I knew I wanted to settle down and find myself a wife, and I definitely didn’t want to treat my wife the way Dad treated Mom in the end. I wanted to be a good husband and partner, and eventually a good father to my own children.
Harper’s comments made me realize I still had a lot of work to do if I wanted to be better. I appreciated her blunt honesty; she had grown into a confident woman. Her younger self wouldn’t have had the guts to speak up to me. I didn’t know what happened over the last few years, but whatever it was, it was hot as hell.
Mom was talking to Gerard about breakfast, so I moved to the table, sitting across from Harper and Kat. Their conversation ceased as I got closer.
“You don’t have to stop talking on account of me,” I said.
“Yeah, we do. Because you’ll just make fun of us for our girl talk,” Kat said coldly.
“No, I won’t. I promise,” I said.
Kat rolled her eyes. “You might have Harper snowed that you’re a new and improved Jackson, but you’re not fooling me, big brother. I know you too well for that.”
I opened my mouth to argue with her but then thought about what I was going to say. Insulting Kat in a witty comeback would just prove her point, that I was still an asshole. If I wanted to be better, I needed to do better.
Thankfully, Mom interrupted us and changed the subject.
“So, are you going skiing today, Harper?”
Harper had just taken a sip of orange juice, and she snorted, spraying juice on the table in front of us. “Oh God, I’m so sorry–”
A snarky joke came to mind, but I pushed it aside. Harper’s cheeks were bright pink, she was clearly embarrassed. A joke would only make her feel worse. Instead, I leapt up and grabbed some napkins, handing them to her. “It’s no big deal, I vomited all over this table as a kid, a little orange juice isn’t going to cause much harm.”
“Thanks,” Harper took the napkins and began dabbing up the mess before turning back to Mom. “Uh, no, I don’t think I’m cut out for skiing, I’m afraid. I have the dexterity of a drunk toddler. I fallupthe stairs on a regular basis and barely know how to work my own two feet. I can’t imagine trying to control them attached to skis.”
“Yeah, skiing is overrated,” Kat said. “Dad used to make me go, but now that I have a choice my favorite view of the mountains is from the heated pool on the patio rather than going down the slopes.”
“That sounds lovely,” Harper said. “I think that could be part of the plan for today.”
“You don’t even want to try? You might surprise yourself, dear,” Rose said.
Gerard carried in platters of fruit and placed them on the table, Maria following behind with croissants and baguettes with homemade jam. Harper’s eyes grew so wide, it was adorable.
“And I can teach you,” I said.
Harper’s eyes moved over to me, a tense smile on her lips.
