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Chapter Thirty-One
Only Jackson would do something infuriating by inviting her to his sister’s eighteenth birthday party days afterthe incident. And yet, Ollie couldn’t refuse him. Now, a week later Ollie was nervous and very underprepared for what she was about to walk into.
As per her request, they weren’t taking a gift, but Ollie insisted on flowers for his stepmother. So on their way to Middletown, they stopped at a florist and picked up a bouquet of lilies. She’d never met the family of the person she was dating—Ollie got so close to meeting Pierce’s family, but theneverythinghad happened.
When Jackson parked in front of a two-storied classic American home, Ollie let out a shaky breath and mentally coached herself to keep breathing. She got out, swapped her flip-flops for heels and nervously smiled at Jackson as he came around to take her hand.
“I won’t leave your side,” Jackson told her, clearly seeing the panic on her face.
“What if I need to pee?”
“We’ll just have to go to the bathroom together.”
Ollie laughed and using her free hand, poked Jackson in the side. She’d never worn this off-white dress before, because she thought the large flowers madeherlook bigger. But the minute she’d tugged it on the night before during her display of clothes, Jackson had saidyesemphatically. Not one to be undone, he’d pulled out all the stops with his clothes knowing it would drive her insane—cream Henley and dark pants that were tucked into his boots and his signature messy hair look.
“You look beautiful, Oleander.” When he spoke, she realized that she’d been staring at him.
“I was just thinking the same about you.”
Jackson smirked. “If you get tired, let me know. We’ll hide in my old bedroom.”
“I can’t believe you had Ninja Turtles wallpaper.”
“Now I’m sad that you’ll never see it,” Jackson said with a pout and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
Okay, she could do this. It was a gathering of people and nothing else. Jackson led her into the house, sidestepping guests and smiling politely at people trying to get his attention.
But the minute they stepped through the front door, Ollie stopped breathing.
The Huxley house was gorgeous, it was like the house fromFather of the Bride.The house was not only well maintained and clean, it also smelled amazing clearly thanks to the flowers set up everywhere. Ollie let her eyes wander over the gorgeous staircase and the polished banister as Jackson tugged on her and her visual treat was blocked off by a door.
“What…where are we?”
“I just wanted to put our bags down.”
“This is a nice house, Jackson.”
Jackson nodded, “Yeah, Mindy really did it up after she married my dad.”
“I never asked, but how rich are you?”
“I’mnot rich, my dad is. He’s richer than this house, to be honest, but Mindy loved it so much she refused to let him move them into some gaudy mansion,” Jackson explained. Setting the bouquet down on the table, Ollie took a minute to look at the room they were in.
It was an office, most likely Mindy’s judging by the flowers, paintings and photographs everywhere. Jackson was still speaking, but she tuned him out and surveyed the space. She had an incredible view of the front lawn and street where they’d parked from the windows behind the desk she was running her hand over.. It was neatly organized and color coded, and she appreciated Mindy for that alone.
“Oleander.”
“Mmh?” She turned to look at Jackson. He was smiling at her in a way that told her he knew she wasn’t listening to him at all.
“Ready to go out there and meet my family?”
“Sure. I put on this gorgeous dress and we drove all this way.”
Jackson growled softly. “Don’t talk about the dress. Because every time I look at you, I’m thinking of all the ways to take it off of you.”
“You cannot destroy this dress, so you’ll have to be patient.”
“Now that’s all I want to do.”
