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Chapter Twelve
Her first encounter with Jackson had been a mess and Ollie knew she was being tough on him, but her experience with men and their behavior made her gun-shy. She didn’t have the patience to deal with another man child and his feelings if it meant putting herself out there. But in the time they’d met, and the night he stayed back to help her clean up, Ollie realized Jackson was different.
Jackson was also really easy to be around. He was young, but after that first moment of frustration about his age, she got over it. Age was just a number, wasn’t that what she’d told herself every year since she was 25? They might be 10 years apart, but age didn’t make a person more mature or interesting—the person was responsible for it on their own. And so far, Jackson was proving to be far more interesting than most of her exes, men and women.
What you saw with Jackson was what you got, and Ollie liked it. He was charming and funny and whenever he smiled, her heart stopped. On top of that, he was persistent. Which should have scared her—but Jackson didn’t come on too strong. He almost seemed to know she would push him away, so he took baby steps to get to where she was. Ollie appreciated that.
Pierce had broken her in ways Ollie wasn’t sure she was ever going to be able to fix. It started with emotional trust and ended with physical trust. Ollie had told herself that after Pierce, she wasn’t going to get emotionally involved with anyone.
Apparently Jackson didn’t get that memo. Because he made her smile and even worse, made her look forward to this damn date. She hadn’t wanted it, but he’d found a way under her armor.
Thanks to Frankie, Ollie always thought only lumberjacks wore flannel. Jackson was no lumberjack, and she was pretty sure he didn’t know how to chop wood. But he looked so good. Ollie had an image of her wearing his shirt and nothing else, and it made her blush as she took in the sight of Jackson. She’d noticed his face the first time they met, but now she was noticing the sharpness of his jaw, the way his hair curled around his ears—it was incredible towatchhim. And when he’d tucked the flower behind her ear, Ollie even got a whiff of his cologne, which left her knees shaking.
Then there wasthe kiss. When he was tucking the flower into her hair, stroking her ear and jaw with his fingers, Ollie knew exactly what she wanted Jackson to do. He evenasked for permission, which was something nobody did anymore. Did Jackson sense her panic or was he decent enough to know that asking before taking was the right thing to do?
“Okay,that’s terrible. We’re never going back there again.” Ollie gagged, spitting the food into a napkin.
“I told you vegan food was weird.”
“That’s not accurate, since you inhaled that veggie burger,” Ollie teased as she looked up and spotted something on his chin. Using an extra napkin, she wiped it off Jackson’s face.
They’d been at the park for an hour and thanks to all the walking and talking they were doing, she wasn’t too full yet. They’d definitely encountered some really weird food choices, especially since they discussed trying one dish from every truck.
“I need something to wash this out of my mouth.” She gagged again and used a napkin to scrub at her tongue, like it would help. “We passed a dessert truck, wanna circle around and go find it?”
“Or,” Jackson grinned, making Ollie frown as she dumped the offending food in the bin and wiped her hands, “we let these guys surprise us with their concoctions.”
Ollie glanced at the truck Jackson was pointing to and frowned, “I abandoned a plate of food because they wouldn’t tell us what was in it and now you wantmoresurprises?”
Jackson snorted. “Live a little, Oleander. How can milkshakes be disgusting?”
“I’m not going to hold back when they give you something gross,” Ollie shot back, but let Jackson tug her towards the food truck with a unicorn painted along the side.
There weren’t a lot of people standing at the truck, but whoever had cups in their hands looked pretty pleased with what they were drinking. The giddy look on Jackson’s face told her he was going to be just as happy.
“Hey there, lovebirds, welcome to Shake For a Surprise, do you know how this works?” A wide smile greeted them and Ollie tried to straighten her face but failed when Jackson squeezed her hand.
“We place our order and you make it for us?”
“With a twist!” They laughed and Ollie fought back a groan, leaning into Jackson’s side as they were handed scraps of paper. “Fill this out by ticking off the things you like and we’ll whip up something magical.”
Ollie shook her head, already preparing to watch Jackson throw away another terrible food choice. But he was right, how could dessert be disgusting?
“This sounds really dangerous.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes, but I don’t trust them. They’re too happy,” Ollie said with a frown.
“Live a little, babe,” Jackson told her with a chuckle and with his paper against the side of the truck, he started ticking things off his list.
“Wow, we’re at thebabepoint of the day already,” Ollie teased and stepped up beside him, ticking things off her list before stretching up to see what he’d selected.
“If you’re not a fan of it, I won’t use it again.”
“Never been called babe likethatbefore, so I don’t know how I feel about it yet.”
Jackson arched an eyebrow, “How have you been called babe?”
