ADRIENNE
I wasn’t a complete fool.
I took my cell phone with me into Jason’s bathroom and called my mom ASAP. There was no way I was walking into Christmas Dinner without giving her a heads up.
“Mom,” I whisper.
“Merry Christmas, Sweetie!”
“Merry Christmas. Listen, I’m bringing a guest to dinner.”
“That’s fine. Who are you bringing?”
I stare at the gorgeous new rock on my ring finger but don’t dare tell her about the engagement yet.
“My, um, boyfriend.”
“Troy?”
“Mom.”
“The football player?”
“Yes, Ma.”
“Goodness, if I had known he was coming I would have made some extra dishes.”
“The normal Williams Christmas is fine.”
Williams is my mom’s maiden name and it will be her twin sister, their first cousins (all women), Cecily, plus a few husbands at dinner.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me before this, Adrienne?”
“It was a last-minute decision. Do you want to meet him or not?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then we’ll be there tonight for dinner. I’m just letting you know.”
“Maybe there’s time to make a shrimp cocktail.”
“Mom, listen to me, don’t do anything extra, just keep the troops in line.”
“Well, we’ve never had a celebrity over for Christmas dinner. There’s bound to be some excitement.”
“Okay, mom.” I give up. “I’ll see you at six-ish.”
I’m not sure that conversation went the way I hoped it would, but I’m just going to hope for the best and pray that my family doesn’t scare away the best thing that has ever happened to me.
“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
Jason startles me with the deep bass in his voice.
“She needed to know there’d be one more for dinner.”
He slides some of my hair out of my face.
“Let me give you a bath and settle you right down.”
He always knows what to say to put a smile on my face.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Jason draws a warm bath in his sunken jacuzzi and helps me in. He uses a sea sponge and pours a good amount of some fancy body wash on it and rubs it all over. He washes me by starting at my neck, to my arms, then my shoulders, my breasts, my stomach, and then finally uses additional pressure to slide the sponge between my legs. My head drops back against the base of the tub as he slowly and methodically cleans between my legs.
“Does this feel good, baby?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Shit, you’re already quivering.”
I swallow thickly as an orgasm coils around my spine and settles in my core.
“This is a greedy pussy. She wants all my time and attention.”
I nod shamelessly.
“She does.”
“Then I guess I better give it to her.”
Jason slides opposite me into the jacuzzi in his boxer briefs, lifts my legs onto his shoulders, and devours me ravenously. The orgasm hits me fast, hard and straight to the back of my head. I see stars.
“Jason!”
He lowers me back down in the water as I come down from my orgasmic high.
“Open your eyes, beautiful.”
I do as I’m told.
I’ll do whatever this man tells me to.
“I love you,” he says irrefutably.
“I love you too.”
“Good, I’m going to take a shower now.”
“Okay,” I say dumbstruck.
He kisses my mouth gently and climbs out of the tub. Then he peels off his soaked boxer briefs and enters his walk-in shower. His eyes are trained on me as all four of his shower heads turn on and stream hot water all over his massively beautiful body. He finally turns away from me and leans his body against the shower wall, allowing the water to his shoulder and his back.
Seeing his ink and his physique from this angle, through the glass doors, makes him look like a work of art. My ovaries immediately send a direct message to all the nerve endings in my body.
Make babies with this man.
Hell, I’m practically drooling.
I can’t believe he’s mine.
“Adrienne.”
“Yes?”
“I told you to finish up.”
Yes, sir.
If I thought I felt stupid gawking at my brand new fiancé as he took a shower in front of me today, imagine how I feel as several Williams women silently make bedroom eyes at him throughout dinner. These women have never been this quiet in my life. The men at the table are no better either.
“This ham is delicious, Mrs. Hodges.” Jason compliments my mother’s cooking.
“Thank you, it used to be one of Adrienne’s favorites.”
“It still is mom.”
Cecily hasn’t said a peep but has been glaring at me for the last hour. On the other hand, her husband has been chomping at the bit to talk to him ever since we arrived.
“So, Jett, the news says you may come back for the playoffs. I play in a fantasy league and it might be good to get some insider info.”
Seriously?
“I’m still on the injured reserve list, but I’ll be ready if anything happens to Rivera.”
“That’s good to hear. You were a phenom in college, by the way. I followed you big time when you were at Penn State.”
“Thanks, man.”
Dinner continues to be awkwardly polite but relatively manageable until Jason looks at my hand. I still have on my ring, but the band is turned around so that the diamond is facing the inside of my hand.
“We’ll have to get this resized.”
He grabs my finger and turns it around so that the diamond shows. It sits high and bright and reflects the light of the chandelier into what looks like a million little sunbeams.
“Whoa, Adrienne!” my Aunt Lorraine exclaims. “Are you trying to blind us with that ring?”
“Ring?” Half the table says in unison.
My entire family whips their heads over to focus their attention on my finger.
“Are you engaged?” Cecily asks incredulously.
My mother’s face turns a shade of gray. She hates being the last to know anything, and I realize I must have disappointed her. I knew I should have prepped her better than this.
“It just happened,” I try explaining myself.
“It must have just happened,” she says. “You haven’t been dating that long, have you?”
“I’m the luckiest guy, aren’t I?” Jason says to break the tension. “I asked her last night, and she thankfully said yes.”
“I’d say that Adrienne is the lucky one,” Cecily interjects with a bitter intonation. “Two engagements in one year? You must have a snapper between those legs.”
I stand straight up from the table and my chair falls back on the floor with a loud crash.
That’s it.
I’m sick of her shit.
I slam my fist on the tabletop and stare her down fiercely.
“What the hell did you just say?”
“I’m just saying what everyone is thinking.”
“You no class bitch!”
My entire family stands up and tries calming us down, especially our mothers. Jason is visibly angry, but I can tell he’s holding back for my sake. The last thing I need for him to do is to overreact in defense of me. I need to fight my own battle this time.
I touch his hand as a signal to stand down.
“Maybe this one won’t dump you,” Cecily spits.
“Cecily, that’s enough of that.” My Uncle Bobby, Cecily’s dad, finally speaks up, albeit ineffectively.
“I should have let you drown,” I tell her.
“Adrienne!” My mother reprimands.
I know, that was low, even for me.
“Are you talking about summer camp?” She guffaws. “You’ve always hated me, haven’t you? You know I didn’t want to put you in the wedding but Mommy made me.”
“You think I wanted to be in that ridiculous blush pink Thanksgiving Day wedding?”
“Adrienne,” Jason grabs my hand because I’m visibly shaking with rage.
“This is why I didn’t want to come.,” I say to him in a shrill voice. “Do you see?”
“You’ve always thought you were better than me, even back then,” Cecily continues berating me.
“I am.”
She didn’t expect that response and is quieted by my confidence and Jason’s silent but strong support of me. Of course I ruined dinner, but the look on her face was frankly worth it.
“Lorraine? Can you come here for a moment?”
My mother pulls her twin sister to the side, and they have a brief conversation. Their mannerisms are almost identical and their facial expressions are somber. I don’t know what exact words were exchanged between them, but they hugged afterwards and then suddenly Aunt Lorraine announced it was time for everyone to leave.
“Do you want to go too, baby?” Jason whispers in my ear.
My mother speaks before I can answer.
“I’d like for you to stay so we can get to know Jett better.”
“You can call me Jason, Mrs. Hodges,” he tells her with his signature hundred-watt smile.
“Then, Jason, please stay and you can call me mom.”
My mother pulls me in for a long hug, and whispers in my ear, “I like him and more importantly I think he loves you.”
I grin and whisper back, “I hope so, because I’m head over heels for him.”
After the three of us finish our dinner and splurge on a slice of apple crumb cake, my mom asks if we feel up to staying a little longer. Jason is of course happy to stay. He’s working so hard to win her over after Cecily and I basically ruined Christmas.
“Movie or photo albums?” I ask him.
“That sounds like a trick question,” he replies.
“If you don’t make a choice, you have to drink.”
“You know I’m not drinking any alcohol right now.”
He’s back on his strict eating and exercise regimen to get back in shape for football.
“Sorry, but that’s how the game is played. If you don’t want to mess up your diet, then you should just answer the question.”
He looks between both me and my mother and finally gives an answer.
“Photo albums.”
My mother claps a single time with approval.
“Great choice! I’ll go get them. You two get comfortable.”
After my mom is out of earshot Jason comments, “So, um, I see why you picked elopement.”
“We should have hung out with my Dena and Danny,” I chuckle.
“That cousin of yours is a piece of work.”
“Did you want to slap her?”
“I don’t hit women, darlin’.”
“But if you did, you’d want to slap her, wouldn’t you?”
He chuckles lightly.
“No, but I almost thought you were going to.”
“You knew my mom wanted to look at the photos instead of a movie, didn’t you?”
“I think she wants to introduce me to your father and I can’t wait to meet him.”
I give him a chaste kiss on his lips.
“Thank you. I knew I didn’t walk into The Wild Boar for nothing.”
“Your father sent you there to meet me. It wasn’t an accident.”
I kiss him a little longer this time.
“You are amazing, Jason Jett Caraway.”
“I know, beautiful, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you for months.”