I stood at the sink trying to figure out how to make Lacie see that she was important to me. Trying to tamp my anger down at her words. I didn’t give a shit about what she brought to the relationship as long as she was there. I had to calm down, I had to figure out the right words to say. I was going to screw this up I could feel it, but oh hell, fuck, I was just going for it.
“Lacie, is that what you think? That you have nothing to offer me?” I turned to look at her. She was staring at me as I moved to the side of her chair.
“Do you think I give a rat’s ass what you have or don’t have? I don’t Lacie. I don’t care if you live in a cardboard box for Christ’s sake. All I care about is that you are here. That you are giving us a chance to be something. I care that you make me smile, that your damn pancakes taste better than anything I’ve ever had for breakfast and I care that before I ate my breakfast, you kissed me like you just couldn’t take one more second of not touching my body. Damn it Lacie, I want you! That’s all I want. I want to make you happy, I want to know when you are sad, I want to take care of you and I want to take you up to my bed and show you just how much your body drives me insane. I want to go to your hometown and kick the living shit out of Rex for putting you through what he did and I want to go to your dad’s gravesite and hold you while you cry because you miss him. I want all of you, Lacie. Nothing else. Can’t you see that the only thing I want from you is you? You giving yourself to me is more than I’ll ever need in this world.”
She was crying. Tears were rolling down her face and I fucked it all up. Damn it! I softened my voice.
“Lacie, shit! I’m screwing this all up. I just want to make you happy. I want to give you everything you deserve. No one has ever taken the time to give you the things you deserve, love, honesty and truth. I want to know you, Lacie. Not what happened to you, but you. What you like, what you think and what you need. I want to know what makes you hotter than hell, I want to know what drives you wild in bed, I want to know what makes you come and I want to hear my name on your lips while I make you come over and over again. I want to know how many times I can make you come before you beg me to stop and I want to feel what you feel like when I’m deep inside of you and you squeeze me as you come hard for me. Can you give me all of that?”
Lacie’s eyes were wide and I saw the desire there. I saw how she wanted me too. I watched as her mouth opened to speak but no words came out. She closed her mouth then opened it again,
“Jackson,”
Her voice was breathy and begging me with need. She turned her body to face me pulling my head to hers.
“Lacie, talk to me.”
She tilted her lips to mine and brushed them. I tried to pull back to look at her, but she held me with her forehead touching mine.
“Jackson, I want all of that. I want to give you all of me. I just don’t understand how that could ever be enough.”
I growled and took her lips with mine. I pressed my tongue past her lips and I picked her up off the chair hoisting her up against me. She wrapped her legs around me and I moved across the kitchen to brace her against the wall leading to the living room.
Her back against the wall, I pressed myself into her and she moaned deep in her throat. I rocked my hips to her over and over again. My need was rising and I had to stop this before it got out of control. She kissed me back with an intensity I’ve never felt before. I had her head pinned with my hands against the wall and I held her body tight with mine. My knee was between her legs and she was rocking against me. I broke the kiss and looked into her eyes.
“This is all I want, Lacie. You! In my arms, wanting me. Just wanting me for who I am, not what I can give you. I want all of you, I want all of you on your terms Lacie. Always on your terms. As much as you can give me as much as you’ll trust me with, all of you.”
Lacie looked into my eyes and said, “Yes Jackson. I want that. I want that too.”
I smiled at her and said, “I need to get you to your apartment to get ready for work.” I pulled her from the wall and let her slide down my body till her feet were on the ground.
She looked up at me. “You’re going to take me to work?”
I laughed, “How else are you going to get there?”
She grinned at him, “I thought maybe we’d call in sick today.”
He laughed at her and said, “No sweetheart, not today. But I love how you think. Go take a shower, you can throw on a pair of my shorts and a t-shirt to go home and change.”
I backed away from her slowly, “I’ll clean up here while you shower.”
She grinned at me, “You mean you’re not going to come help me?”
I groaned, and said, “Move it Lacie, or I won’t tell you about your surprise.”
She looked at me, “A surprise? What surprise?”
I shook my head at her and said, “Not until we’re on our way to your apartment, so move.”
She turned and went to the bedroom to shower and change. I cleaned up the dishes then headed upstairs hoping she was dressed because God, how she was tempting me to just throw her down and keep her in my bed today.
When I got upstairs she was out of the shower and wrapped in one of my bath towels. I felt the growl rumbling out of me. I tried not to look at her but I was drawn right to her.
“Why do you not have clothes on?”
She smiled at me, “Because I didn’t want to rifle through your drawers.”
I smirked at her and said, “Really?”
She giggled at me and said, “I’ll unwrap the towel if you tell me what my surprise is.” Her hand moved to the towel where it was tucked between her breasts. I was ready to cave, but I managed to shake it off.
“Get anything you want out to wear, I need a shower.” I turned and moved into the bathroom where I stripped out of my clothes from last night and turned the water as cold as I could stand. Damn that woman.
I had to admit, she looked better in my clothes than I did.
I grinned at her and she said, “What?”
I laughed, “You look so good in my clothes, but I like the towel the best so far.”
She laughed and said, “Okay, we’re on the way to my apartment. What is the surprise?”
I cleared my throat, “Okay. Well I wanted to tell you this last night, but I got distracted.”
She laughed.
“Don’t be mad, but after I read your story, I wanted to find your friend Abigail and try to figure out what I could do to make you give me a chance. Turns out your friend Abigail not only sent me pictures from your trip, but she copied down my number and reached out to me.”
Lacie stopped me. “She sent you pictures from my trip and called you? When? What did she say? What pictures?”
I smiled and told her about the pictures she sent me and the message. Then I told her that she called me on Tuesday.
“I made a few phone calls and after talking to your bestie and running my idea by her, I made all the arrangements. You are going to be off Saturday and Sunday. We are leaving Friday after work to go to your hometown. We’re getting a hotel, but we are going to spend the weekend with your friend and her family. I have some specific things for us to do together, but otherwise we’ll be with them, so they can get to know me and I them.”
I risked a glance at her and she looked confused.
“Wait? You got my schedule changed? You booked a hotel back in Kirktown and you made weekend plans for us and my friend?”
I nodded. “Are you mad?”
She was quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m not mad because it was a surprise, but I’m not thrilled about it. First because you called my work and I don’t like messing with the schedule there and my job. I’m not like you, Jackson. I need my job and I need all the money I can get. If I start asking for special treatment, they may not take me seriously and get rid of me. Secondly, it’s emotional for me to go home. It’s hard and to have you with me there to see all of it, all the emotion and the pain, it’s going to be difficult. And third, it’s not anything special and it’s not a grand town or anything impressive, so I can’t imagine that you’ll find it interesting.”
I was angry. We pulled up at her apartment and I followed her into her apartment shutting the door.
I turned and said, “Okay. The first one I give you. The second one, I don’t care how emotional it gets for you. I just want to be with you and to help you through it all. The more you go home and work through the issues, the easier it will get. I know Abigail misses you and wants to see more of you. She said you promised her you would try and come home more often. This will be part of it. You will need to find a way to deal with the emotions. The third, do you really think I’m that shallow? Lacie, come on, I want to know you. Seeing where you grew up is part of that. Why do you think everything has to be grand for me to like it? I’m not like that. The thought that you think that’s all I’m about shows me that we need this weekend. We need to get to know each other better and you need to see me. Not the me you think I am, but the me that is beneath all the layers. You’re not the only one that’s been hurt Lacie. You’re not the only person who lost people you loved. Why don’t you get ready? I’ll wait in the car for you to change.”