Page 52

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

JADE

I get back to the Kensington mansion and open the door to find Garret standing in the foyer with nobody else around.

“What are you doing?” I hug him. “Waiting by the door for me?”

“Yeah.” He sounds a little out of it. He must still be tired from yesterday. “How was Harper?”

“She’s okay. I thought she’d talk about Sean the whole time but she didn’t talk about him at all. Oh, and when I picked her up at Moorhurst I ran into Jasmine. She couldn’t believe I was married. She was shocked when she found out I married you after your bad boy behavior last year.”

“Did you see anyone else while you were there?”

“No. We left as soon as I got there.” I notice Pearce’s office door is open. I peek inside. “Where’s your dad? Did you talk to him?”

“Yes, and he already knows about Carson. He’s been investigating him for months. My dad knows about Hanniford, too.”

“So what’s he doing about it?”

“He told the organization and I guess they’re dealing with it.”

“They’re not going to hurt Carson, are they?”

“He doesn’t know. It’s not up to him. Jade, this isn’t our problem so we need to stop talking about it.”

“What if Carson shows up at our place again?”

“We’ll tell him to leave and then we’ll tell my dad and he’ll take care of it.“

“I don’t like this, Garret. They’re going to—”

“Jade. It’s not our problem.” He pauses. “I have some other news. Roth is dead.”

“Roth, as in the guy who showed up before our wedding?”

“Yeah. He died in a car explosion not far from his home.”

“Someone blew up his car?”

“He was speeding and crashed into a telephone pole. It sparked a fire and the car exploded. This just happened so the news didn’t have many details yet.”

“Does your dad know?”

“Yeah, he had the TV on in his office and that’s when we found out.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I’m glad he’s gone.”

“Yeah, me, too.” Garret hugs me as he says it, and again, his hug is a little too tight.

“Garret, is something wrong?”

He pulls back. “No. Why?”

“Nothing. I just—never mind.”

I need a moment to process this. Roth and Holton are dead. The two men who were trying to control Garret, trying to take over his life, are gone. They’re really gone. I feel like we should celebrate. That’s wrong, I know. I shouldn’t celebrate people dying, but feeling safer and more secure is something to celebrate.

“Let’s go out,” I say to Garret.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know. Anywhere. Go get your coat.”

Garret gets his jacket from the closet. “I know it’s early, but do you want to go out for lunch?”

“What about your dad and Lilly? Should we invite them to come with us?”

“I don’t think so. My dad wants to spend some time with her since he hasn’t been around much, so it’s probably better if we leave. We’ll see them this afternoon.” He opens the door. “You driving?”

“No.” I hand him the keys. “Driving your dad’s car makes me nervous.”

He goes over to it and opens my door. “Why does it make you nervous?”

“Because if I get in an accident, he’ll yell at me.”

Garret laughs as I get in the car. “He would never yell at you, Jade, especially about wrecking his car. He’d just fix it or buy another one.” He gets in the driver’s side and pulls out of the circular driveway. “So what did you decide about lunch? Yes? No?”

“Yes. I’m starving. Where should we go?”

“You’ll see.”

“You’re not going to tell me?”

“It’s a surprise.” He smiles. “Because I know how much you love surprises.”

He drives out of the fancy rich neighborhood his dad lives in and goes down some winding roads for about five minutes, then turns off onto another small road. I recognize the area and know exactly where we’re going.

“The Mexican place?” I ask him as I see the sign for it just a few feet ahead. It’s the place he took me to on our first official date.

“I know you’re dying to hear that guy sing again.” He pulls into the lot and parks. “And no laughing this time.”

“That’s impossible,” I say, already laughing. “You know that, right? Because I’m telling you right now, there will be laughing.”

He takes my hand as we walk to the entrance. A man with a huge sombrero opens the door. “Welcome, amigos!”

I burst out laughing. I don’t know what my problem is, but this whole place makes me laugh. For some reason, I find everything funny here.

“Jade, stop.” Garret’s laughing, too, but at me, not the sombrero guy.

“Two for lunch?” the hostess asks. At least she’s not wearing a funny hat.

She takes us to a table that’s three down from where we sat on our first date.

“Can we have that one?” Garret points to the other table.

“Sure.” She leads us to the table and hands us our menus. “Your server will be here shortly.”

There’s hardly anyone in the restaurant because it’s just after eleven and they just opened.

“I don’t see your singer,” Garret says, glancing around. “I bet he only works at night. You wouldn’t want to waste a talent like that on the lunch crowd. You need to save it for the more serious dinner patrons.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.” I peruse the menu. “He’s so good he probably got a better job, like in Vegas or something.”

“I’m getting the burrito platter.” Garret sets his menu down. “What are you getting?”

“Nachos.” I set my menu on top of his.

“Why don’t we get that as an appetizer and you can get something else?”

“Nope. I just want nachos. And I want the whole platter all for myself.”

“You’re going to eat the whole thing?” He smiles. “Have you seen how big the nacho platter is here?”

“No. But I can eat it.”

“I bet you can’t finish it.”

“I bet I can.” I lean back, folding my arms over my chest.

“So are we really betting here?”

I shrug. “We can, but I already know I’m going to win.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, huh?” He cocks his head. “What do you wanna bet?”

“Hmm. Okay, I got it. If I eat the whole platter, which I will, you owe me a massage every day for a week.”

“Jade, I’d do that anyway if you asked me to.”

“Doesn’t matter. That’s the deal. Now what’s yours?”

“If you can’t finish it, you have to wear the cheerleader costume every day for a week.”

I smile and hold my hand out. “Deal.”

We shake on it. I wouldn’t mind losing the bet. I like the cheerleader costume and I love the effect it has on Garret.

The waiter appears at our table. “Have you decided, my dos amigos?”

The way he says ‘dos amigos’ makes me laugh but I try really hard to suppress it.

“Jade, go ahead.” Garret’s smiling at me. He knows I can’t speak when I’m all giggly like this.

“What would you like, Seniorita?” The waiter grins really wide and I see that there’s a shiny gold cap on his front tooth. His dental work should not be funny, but to me it is. What is wrong with me? A laugh sneaks out but I pretend it’s a cough.

“She’ll have the nachos,” Garret says, handing him the menus. “And I’ll have the burrito platter.”

“Gracias.” He walks away.

“Is there a problem over there?” Garret takes a drink of water.

“I think they pump laughing gas into this place. I swear they do. There’s something about this place that—” I stop as the familiar voice rings out from the side of the room. He’s back. And still off tune.

“Jade, look who’s here,” Garret says.

My laughter bursts out again. There’s no stopping it now.

“He’s coming over.” Garret’s smiling. He’s loving every minute of this.

“Make him go away.” My stomach hurts I’m laughing so hard. “I’m begging you, Garret. Wave him away.”

Instead, he waves the guy over to us. The singer nods and smiles. When he gets to the table, I clamp my mouth shut and try to smile. About a minute later, his song ends, but he remains there, looking at us.

“I know you two.” He points at Garret and me. “You come here last year. I sing at your wedding.”

“Actually, we already got married,” Garret says. “But the wedding was in California. We didn’t think you’d want to travel that far.”

“Si.” He nods. “You have babies?”

“No,” Garret says. “No babies.”

“I sing for you. Very romantic.” He grins. “You have babies. Lots of babies.”

Garret just smiles but, of course, I’m laughing. I try to suppress it, but once the guy starts singing, I lose it. He’s so loud and so off key. I cover my mouth, pretending to cough. Garret holds my hand and gazes at me, like he did last year when this guy sang to us. The song ends just as four people are seated at the table across from ours. Thankfully, the singer goes over to them.

“He needs to come back,” Garret says. “I have to give him a tip.”

“No. Please don’t tell him to come back.”

“The guy is giving us babies, Jade. He deserves a tip for that.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” My laughter goes away as I think about the baby comment. I’ve finally come to a decision about that and I need to talk to Garret about it when we get back.

Garret squeezes my hand. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“You stopped laughing and the guy’s still singing.”

“I must be getting used to it now.”

More customers arrive and the mariachi band greets them as they’re seated. The singer doesn’t come over to our table again, but he’s so loud his voice fills the entire restaurant.

Our food arrives and Garret’s right. The nacho platter is huge.

“Dig in,” he says, eyeing the platter.

Ten minutes later I’m stuffed, but half a platter of nachos remains.

“You done?” A smug smile crosses Garret’s face.

I don’t answer. I just push the platter away.

“Looks like I’ll be having sex with a cheerleader when I get home.”

“I said I’d wear the costume. Sex wasn’t part of the deal.”

“It’s implied.” He gets some money out and sets it on the check.

“Actually, it’s not, but I’ll throw it in as a bonus.”

“You ready to go? Or would you like to stay and listen to the music?”

“I think I’ve heard enough. Let’s go.”

As we walk out, Garret hands some money to our waiter, telling him to give it to the singer.

When we get outside, Garret draws me into him and kisses me. It’s a sweet, gentle kiss that reminds me of the kiss we had in this same parking lot last year.

“Are you recreating our kiss?” I ask him.

“I am. Was it the same?”

“It was better. Because now I love you.”

He pulls back. “You didn’t love me back then?”

“I’d just met you.”

“We’d been going out for months.” His cocky grin appears. “You totally loved me.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, because you know so.”

“Fine.” My lips turn up. “Maybe I loved you. Just a little.”

“And when that mariachi singer said he’d sing at our wedding, it made you think of us getting married. And you liked the idea of that.”

“Now you’re just being ridiculous. I did not think about our wedding. And technically, it was only our first date. That’s way too soon to think about marriage.”

“You thought about it,” he says confidently as he walks me to the car.

Damn, how did he know that? Was I that obvious?

He stops and gives me another kiss, then says, “Jade.” He points up at the sky. Tiny snowflakes are falling. “Must be something about this restaurant. It snows whenever we come here.”

“It’s beautiful.” I watch it fall as he opens my door.

As we’re driving back, the snow gets heavier, covering the road and the trees.

“We should go for a walk in the woods behind your house. I love seeing the white snow on the dark trees.”

Garret glances over at me, smiling. “Are you trying to recreate Thanksgiving last year?”

“I guess I am. Which means you have to kiss me again in the snow.”

“Kissing you is not something I have to do. I want to kiss you. And if we’re recreating that weekend, we’ll be doing more than kissing.”

“Garret, you know I don’t like doing it in your dad’s house.”

He laughs. “And yet we always do.”

“Well, not this time. Your grandmother is staying two bedrooms down from yours. She might hear something.”

“Then you’ll have to tone down your moaning. And be a little quieter when you yell out my name.”

I swat his arm. “I do not moan. And I do not yell out your name.”

“You do both those things, Jade.” He smiles at me. “I guess you’re just so consumed with passion you don’t even realize the sounds you’re making.”

It’s embarrassing, but true. I get so caught up in the moment, I don’t know what’s coming out of my mouth. And I do get kind of loud.

“That’s just all the more reason not to do it,” I tell him.

We’re back now and Garret parks in front of the house. He comes around the car and takes my hand and walks to the door, opening it for me. The foyer is empty and there’s nobody in the living room.

“Where is everyone?” I ask him. “You think they’re having lunch?”

“Probably.” He slides my coat off, then hangs it on the coat rack, along with his own.

“I thought we were going outside. I want to walk through the woods.”

“Later.” He takes my hand and leads me up the stairs and we go down the hall to his room. He kisses me as he shuts the door and locks it without looking.

“If we’re recreating our first time together,” I say, walking backward to the bed, “it should be the middle of the night. And I should be sneaking in here.”

“I didn’t say we were recreating our first time.” He eases me on the bed and hovers over me. “I said I wanted to do what we did that weekend, which was have sex.”

“We did it a lot that weekend, didn’t we?” I smile as he inches my sweater up, leaving soft kisses along my stomach.

He doesn’t answer. He’s too busy undressing me, kissing me, touching me. He gets up and takes his shirt off. I reach out for him and he smiles.

“You miss me?”

“Yeah, so hurry up.”

He gets the rest of himself naked, then hovers over me again, his mouth dipping down to my breast.

I moan a little too loud, then whisper, “Sorry.”

“Nobody heard you, Jade.” He kisses his way over to my other breast. “Except me. And I love that sound so do it again.”

“No. I can’t. I’ll be quiet now.”

I swear he takes that as a challenge because he teases my breast with his tongue in a way he knows gets me all fired up inside. I moan even louder.

He covers my mouth with his lips, then says, “Thought you weren’t going to do that again.”

“I wasn’t, but then you do things to me that make me forget where I am.”

“Which I will do again right now.” His cocky smile appears as he thrusts inside me.

I suck in a breath, then smile. “Forget it. I can’t be quiet.”

Although it’s not like I don’t try. It’s just that Garret’s really good at this and sometimes being quiet is not an option. When we reach the point where I tend to yell, he kisses me before I can, and keeps his lips just over mine until my body comes down from its high. And it was a definite high. I’m glad we skipped the walk in the woods. This was way more fun.

“Not exactly like our first time, huh?” I say as we lie there, still out of breath.

“Did you want it to be?”

“No. That time was good. But this time was even better.”