Page 17 of Daddies’ Little Cubs (Ivory Mountain Daddies #3)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DESTINY
I t had been several days since Destiny had seen Jackson in person, but they had been texting back and forth every day since their date. She was waiting for him to pick her up today so that she could go with him to the college.
It was going to be strange being on campus when school wasn’t in session, but she wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to spend one on one time with him. He promised her pizza and Twix if she promised to help prevent him from dying of boredom while he worked.
She wasn’t going to tell him that she would have done it for free, especially since he promised her pizza from the bistro that she and Jessa went to at the beginning of the semester. Their pizza was to die for and it had been a while since she had it.
Destiny heard the knock at her bedroom door as she was sliding her arms through her backpack.
A grin crossed her face as she noticed it was Jackson standing there.
Dashing over to where he stood leaning against the door frame, Destiny bounced on her toes as he slid his arms around and pulled her into his embrace.
“Hi, Little Wolf.”
“Why do you call me that?”
“Well hello to you, too, baby girl.”
Destiny blushed, “Oops, sorry Jackson. Hi! Now, why do you call me that?”
“You told me that your favorite movie is The Jungle Book and that your favorite character was Leela. I might be old, but not too old to remember that Leela was a wolf. So it only seemed fitting to call you that.”
Destiny thought about his response. Her heart warmed knowing that he was paying attention to her and picking up on the little things that she mentioned she enjoyed. It showed that he cared about her and Destiny wasn’t used to being treated that way.
“Do you have everything you need?” Jackson asked her as he grabbed her hand and directed her towards the front of the house.
Destiny nodded her head as she responded “I do! I have my Kindle, iPad, and some art supplies in my bag to keep me busy while you work. If I get bored of that, I can always help you.”
“I don’t expect you to help me, Little one. I just want you there so I’m not so lonely. Plus, it’s a bonus to be able to look over and see your pretty face sitting there.”
Blushing, Destiny yelled a quick goodbye to the rest of the house as they headed out the door.
A quick drive later and they were walking hand in hand into the library.
After getting Destiny settled at the table that she sat at all semester, she watched Jackson saunter over to his desk and get to work.
Ten minutes had passed before Destiny realized that she hadn’t moved a muscle since sitting down.
Quickly pulling something out of her bag, she tried to focus on something that isn’t her Papa.
Smiling at the name she called him, Destiny picked out a book to read on her Kindle and dove into the imaginary world filled with her favorite characters.
Destiny didn’t realize how much time had passed when the smell of pizza pulled her attention from the Little in her story. It was just getting to a good part, but the distraction of good food made her put the book down.
“You were focused on your book and I didn’t want to interrupt. So I went ahead and called for a delivery order.”
“Oh, I didn’t know they delivered.” Destiny replied, making a note in her mind to remember that in the future.
“They don’t, but I know the owners well and so they made an exception.”
Destiny giggled at his reply. There were perks to being with someone who seemed to know everyone in their small little town. She whispered out a thank you as Jackson placed a plate in front of her with pepperoni deep dish on it.
She let out a moan as the first bite hit her taste buds. This was the best pizza that D has had in a long time. If she could marry pizza, it would be this one.
“Little girl, unless you want to cut our date short, I suggest you don’t make those delicious sounds any more.” Jackson growled out just as she let another moan escape.
Destiny waited for the feeling that Jessa always describes, but it never came.
This wasn’t the first time it’s happened.
Destiny was starting to wonder if she was broken because she didn’t feel the heat that Jessa says happens in her knickers.
Shouldn’t she feel the same thing? She was attracted to Jackson, so why doesn’t her body physically respond like it should?
She didn’t deny that butterflies would settle in her stomach when he kissed her, but nothing like Jessa said happened. Deciding to push those thoughts to the back of her mind before she sent herself into a spiral, Destiny took another bite of pizza and settled in for a lovely lunch with Jackson.
“Could you use some help, Jackson?” Des asked a while later. She had finished her book, played a few games on her iPad, and got bored of the art that she brought. Papa wasn’t kidding when he explained that this would be a long afternoon. She just didn’t expect it to take this long.
“Hey, Little Wolf. Got bored did you?” Destiny nodded her head. “Sure, I would love some help. I promise we won’t be here much longer.”
“Okay, what can I do?”
“See those stickers over there?” Jackson said, pointing to the stack of stickers to her right. “Take those and put them on the bottom of the spine, overlapping them across the sides. Then we can slide them into the clear protective sleeve.”
Destiny picked up the sticker and found the matching book settling into the chair to get to work. The repetitive task gave her something to do with her hands, but sadly didn’t quiet the thoughts that were running around in her mind again.
She still couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong with her. Destiny knew she should probably talk to Jessa about it all, but she was embarrassed to voice that there was something broken with her.
No no no, she would keep this to herself. No need to mention it to anyone. It would only make things awkward and she already did that enough. Instead she would research it on her own. Maybe if she could figure it out on her own, she could fix it without anyone needing to find out.
Before Destiny knew it, all the stickers had been applied to the books. The stack of books sat beside Jackson and Des held back her sigh. She didn’t know how much longer she would last sitting here.
“Are you ready to go, Little Wolf?”
Destiny perked up at his question. “Wait, it’s time to go? But what about the rest of the books? Don’t they need to be put on the shelves?”
“That can wait until another day or one of the other staff members can handle that. I have a little girl who has been more than patient while I worked.”
Guess she didn’t hide the boredom that well from Jackson.
She smiled sweetly at him before quickly walking over to pack up her things to go.
Sliding her hand into his, they walked back out to the car and slid inside.
Jackson explained to her when she asked about the car earlier that it was Eli’s car.
The fancy car was a dream to sit in and Destiny enjoyed how smooth it drove.
Not paying attention to where they were going, she was surprised when they made a stop. Looking out the window, Destiny was confused. They were sitting outside the ice cream shop that was on main street. “What are we doing here, Jackson?”
“Well since I had such a great helper who didn’t complain about how long she had to sit and wait for us to be done, I figured that you earned a little treat.”
Destiny bounced in the seat unable to contain her excitement. Ice cream was her favorite sweet treat and she hadn’t been able to come to this shop yet. After making their way inside, Des stood there and debated the options in front of her. There were so many, however would she choose?
“Do you know what you want yet, baby girl?” She shook her head.
Becoming quickly overwhelmed with the choice she needs to make, Destiny turned to Jackson for help.
“Would you like me to just pick something for you?” Quickly nodding her head, Jackson gave her a kiss and stepped up to place their order.
“Let’s go sit down while we wait.”
It didn’t take long for the teenager who was working to place their ice cream on the table.
Mummering a thank you, Jackson slid the cup in front of her that held rainbow looking ice cream.
Dipping the spoon in for a small bite, Destiny’s anxiety eased.
Papa had ordered her plain vanilla ice cream that had been dyed fun colors.
“Did I make a good choice? If you don’t like it, we can order you something else.”
“No! It’s perfect! Thank you for helping me.”
“It’s my pleasure. Plus that’s what Papas are for.”
Destiny and Jessa had started referring to the guys by their new names, but had yet to call them that. She wanted it to be at the perfect time, but she didn’t know if that moment would ever come.
Tossing their trash away, Jackson once again helped her into the car and turned the direction back to Rae’s house. It didn’t take long for them to get there and Destiny was sad their time together was coming to an end.
“I had fun today, Little Wolf. I know that it was boring, but it made my heart swell to look over and see you sitting there engrossed in the book you were reading. It gave me motivation to work faster so I could spend more time with you.”
“I really liked being with you today Jackson, even though you’re right. It was totally boring. But you made up for it with ice cream so that gives you a gold star in my book.”
“Well, maybe this will help me earn another one,” Jackson said before she felt his lips press against hers.
She felt his hands slip into her hair as he angled her mouth to deepen the kiss.
What seemed like hours, but was only seconds, Jackson pulled away, pressed a quick kiss against her forehead, said a sweet goodbye, and turned and walked back to the car.
Destiny headed back inside the house, drifting towards the room she shared with Jessa feeling more confused than ever. She really needed to figure out what was wrong with her.