Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“Sure.”
“Whew,” I said as she went away. “That was close.”
Jackson put his hand on my wrist. “Your pulse is racing. That kind of thing isn’t that big of a deal, Penny. You handled it, and if you hadn’t, I would have.”
That was easy for him to say. He was used to pretending to be one of his brothers. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. And Jeff’s presence wasn’t helping. “What would you have said?”
“That I was just being polite when I said I liked the mushroom risotto before.”
That probably would’ve been simpler. “But couldn’t you have pretended to like mushrooms since Reid does?”
He shuddered. “They’re gross. But you’re right, I should have asked myself what Reid would do.” He wrapped his arm around my waist. “But really, Penny, people around us aren’t keeping score. They aren’t analyzing everything we do. Trust me.”
For a moment, I rested my head against his shoulder. His body was hard and warm, and it made me feel safe. But my pulse was still elevated… I could feel it. There was just no way I could relax in a situation like this.
Plus I had conflicting feelings about the triplets. For two days now, I’d wished it was Jackson accompanying me to one of the wedding week events, and now that he was here, I kept thinking about his brothers. About the way that Hunter had kissed me—and the sexy way he winked whenever we ran into each other at the house.
And then there was Reid. I couldn’t stop thinking about seeing his sculpted muscles at the massage yesterday. It was funny because I’d actually seen more of Jackson, since he’d been nude at the art class. Though I’d only seen Reid half naked, it had felt more intimate since he was inches away from me. At various points during the massage, I could smell the clean scent of his skin and feel the heat radiating from his body.
The man giving me the massage was talented, but half the time my moans were because Reid was so close by.
Jackson squeezed my shoulders. “I wish you could just have a relaxing, fun evening.”
I gave a weak laugh. “I’m not sure I remember what those are like.”
He scanned the room. “We don’t have to do trivia. Do any of these games look like fun?”
Maybe they would be if it wasn’t so loud and crowded. Or if it was just Jackson and me here. Actually, Jackson, Reid, and Hunter. I bet if it was just the four of us, it would be a ton of fun. “Not really,” I said.
“Then tell me what does sound good. We could ditch this place and go out for ice cream.”
“How about you take me home?”
Jackson’s face fell, but he nodded. “Of course.”
It took me a moment to understand his reaction. “I don’t mean to my home—I meant to the house, with the others.”
“Ah, gotcha. Sure, we can do that.”
“But wouldn’t it be rude to just leave? What will we tell Claire?”
He grinned. “I can say that I’m afraid she’ll try to force feed me mushrooms.”
“Be serious.” I smacked his stomach, and was momentarily mesmerized by the hard, flat panes of his abs.
“I’ll be more serious if you’ll be less so. Really, Penny, this isn’t school. No one’s taking attendance. Claire’s not going to care.”
“What about Jeff? If we leave now, won’t he think that we had a fight or something?” I really didn’t want my ex to think that we were leaving because of him.
Jackson studied me. “Do you care what he thinks that much?”
Did I? Sort of, but it was just because he’d hurt me so much. But it wasn’t like before, when I spent hours thinking of how to make him happy. Or at least of what to say to not upset him. “I guess I don’t.”
“Good.” Jackson leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. “Let’s go tell Claire we’re leaving.”
Later, back at the house, we found Hunter and Reid in the kitchen, going over some notes at Reid’s makeshift desk.
“Didn’t expect to see you two here this soon. Everything okay?” Reid asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m just tired. But I’d like to shoot one more video of you guys tonight. Maybe you can talk strategy and pretend I’m not here?”
Hunter scoffed. “That last part is impossible.” He shot me a grin that made my thighs clench.
“I’ve got a better idea,” Jackson said. “Why don’t you take the video when we’re in our sleeping bags, ready for bed? Chris always makes a video or two like that, and our fans seem to really like it for some reason.”
I bit back a smile. I was pretty sure I knew the reason for why people liked the footage of the three of them shirtless, lying in their sleeping bags. “Okay, I’ll go get set up.”