Page 69 of Claiming What's Mine

Even through those puberty years, the boys seemed like they stepped out of some hot farmer magazine. But Jayden, he had a real man's complexion. With a five o'clock shadow at the age of thirteen, dirt under his nails from working in the cornfield, and pimples across his forehead.

I couldn't tell you then, just like I can't tell you now, but I always found him so damn sexy. Even after the acne had faded, and he was left with circle scars, I thought he was the most attractive man I had ever seen.

Remnants of those teenage years were still visible. If the light hit his skin just right, you could still see some of the small scars on his face. The five o'clock shadow was like a permanent shade on his jaw, the hair on his chest was now spread across firm muscles, and trailed down marble cut abs.

Jayden Henry was hard to resist. I couldn't resist him as a young girl, I couldn't resist him after a ten year void, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to resist him now if he decided to throw me on that table and take what he wanted.

Coming back, he was holding a pizza box and a greasy paper bag. “Dinner is served.”

“Wait, I thought dinner was under these domes?”

“Just because I'm older, doesn't mean I can cook any better.” Setting down the pizza, he smiled. “I wanted to make sure you had a dinner you could actually eat.”

My lip curled at the corner, and my stomach tumbled as I looked down at our dinner. He had ordered my favorite pizza, with white sauce, spinach, olives, and feta cheese. The paper bag was an order of mozzarella sticks with a side of ketchup.

“I can't believe you remember how I like my pizza.”

Jayden pulled the domes off and set two slices on both our plates. “I remember everything about you. You're not an easy woman to forget, Blue, and trust me, I've tried.”

“You really remember everything?”

“Yup,” he said, taking a bite. “Everything.”

“What's my favorite color?”

“Pink.”

“When's my birthday?”

“September fourth.” Swallowing his bite, he raised his brows. “Come on, give me something harder than that.”

“Alright,” I said, picking up a mozzarella stick and dunking it in the ketchup. Keeping my eyes on his, I bit the end and thought about what I wanted to ask.

There were so many things I could ask him about, but right then, I couldn't think of a damn thing that was important, because I believed him.

Asking him about our past served no purpose. We both knew each other better than we knew ourselves. There was no point in asking about who we were then, what he should be asking me was about my life now.

“Why don't you ask me something that you don't know instead?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, we both know the past, but what about what happened between then and now? Ask me something you want to know, not something you already know.”

“I can ask anything I want?”

“Anything,” I said, giving him a nod.

“And you'll answer?”

“Yes.”

Do you really want to do this, Blue?

Think about what you're giving him permission to do!

Tapping my nail on the table, the feeling of worry and dread began to fill my body. I had just given him the green light to ask me anything he wanted. There were no rules, no guidelines, nothing was off limits.

But there was one thing that should be, and that one thing could change everything between us.

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