Page 42 of Until Tomorrow Comes
Before I can respond, the truck door opens up behind me. I glance over my shoulder, finding Thea’s head popping out around the frame.
“You guys aren’t trying to back out now, are you?” She huffs in mock annoyance. But after what she just said to me, I know that, if I were to tell her that I wasn’t up for going out, she would understand.
I smirk over my shoulder at her.
“And waste all the hard work you put into making me look semi-decent? Not a chance.”
Thea smiles brightly in response.
“Then let’s go!” She plops back down into the car.
I move to open the passenger door, but just as I go to pull it open, Jackson’s hand pushes mine away and he steps up beside me.
The smell of sandalwood mixed with something faintly sweet washes over me and it’s an effort to not inhale deeply. When he doesn’t move to open the door, I tilt my head, looking up to ask him what he’s doing.
All words vanish from my mind when I find him scowling down at me.
“If you think that using ‘semi-decent’ in reference to how you look tonight, or any other day, is acceptable, then we need to work on your vocabulary.” Without taking his eyes from me, he leans forward until there’s barely an inch of space between our faces. “You are as captivating as a panther.”
I don’t know what I had been expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that.
“Did you just compare me… to a cat?” I ask dumbfoundedly.
A blinding smile spreads across his face, drawing my gaze to his lips.
I wonder how they would feel.
My cheeks heat at the thought and I focus instead on his green eyes twinkling in the evening light as he answers.
“Yes I did, Kitty-Kat.”
***
“Whiskey or tequila?” Thea says over her shoulder while scanning the bar.
Before I can respond, my answer is halted by a high-pitched squeal. A blur of red and brown hair comes barreling at Thea.
My body reacts on its own accord, and I jump back, colliding with a wall of muscles.
“You’re okay, Kat,” Jackson whispers in my ear, his arm banding around my stomach and holding me in place to him. “I’m right here.”
He doesn’t let go immediately, and for a few panicked breaths, I’m leaning completely against him while I recollect myself. However, I do catch the way his hand tightens against my side while I watch the three women jump and squeal together.
They’re all talking over each other, drowning one another in compliments, and screeching about how excited they are to be here.
“It sucks that Eva couldn’t make it. Has anyone talked to her in the past couple weeks to see how she’s doing?” One of the women asks, looping her arm through Thea’s as they head toward the bar.
“Yeah, we talked on the phone a couple days ago while she was on the way to pick up Zoey from preschool. She’s okay,apparently,she has a date next week.” Thea says, to the astonishment of her friends. When she glances over her shoulder at me, her gaze zeroes in on the arm that Jacksonstillhas around me. With a smirk, she tilts her head toward the bar, silently suggesting we follow along before she turns back to pull the other two women along with her.
Reluctantly, I step out of his hold. His hand slips slowly away, almost as if he doesn’t want to let me go.
Now you’re overthinking things, Kat.
Sheepishly, I smile over my shoulder toward Jackson.
“Sorry for practically jumping into your arms.”
He smirks down at me, his eyes dancing mischievously and causing my cheeks to redden. He doesn’t need to say what he’s thinking, since his eyes do it for him. Instead I face forward, squaring my shoulders before moving to follow after Thea.
