True for You(45)

“Oh God.”

He smiles against my sensitive skin. “I prefer Jackson.”

“With a mouth like that, who wouldn’t prefer you?” I gasp.

Then he licks me again, and I forget everything.



***



Jackson and I, after a few hours of make-up sex and cuddling, are shopping. So far, he’s bought me a new backpack, school supplies, back to school clothes, and quite a few outfits that will never see the light of day because they’re so short and tight.

Now we’re in a snooty lingerie shop. Okay, so the shop isn’t snooty, but the sales girl that shadows our every step sure is.

“What’s your good news?” I ask, trying to distract him from the table of bras. “You never told me.”

“I have a new agent and a new record label.” He flashes me a grin and holds up a pair of thongs. “What do you think of these?”

The salesgirl gives him the eye. “I know what she thinks of them.”

“I don’t care what she thinks.”

The salesgirl sashays over, pale hair perfectly smooth. My hair will never be that straight and smooth. Ever. Then she runs a hand down the front of her outfit, outlining how toned she is. I’ll also never be that skinny. Ever.

Funny how the best friend I ever had was tiny and blond, everything Jackson wanted and yet, I never felt a tenth of the jealousy this salesgirl inspires. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.

“Can I help you?” she asks, looking directly at Jackson.

“Yeah, you can convince this sexy woman to try on these for me.” Jackson winks at me, and I want to die. In a good way.

She smiles. “I can start a dressing room for you, and bring you whatever size you need.”

While she waits out here, flirting with my husband. I don’t think so. “No, thank you.”

“If you don’t, then I’ll pick out everything I like, and you’ll be stuck modeling it for me at home.” Jackson holds up a barely there teddy, in black. “This will be outfit number one.”

The salesgirl crosses her arms and casts a glance at me. “You better try something on. Or else you’ll end up looking like slutty Barbie’s equally slutty brunette friend that no one can ever remember her name.”

But I can, because in a sea of pale skin and blond hair, she actually looked like me. Well, now that I’m older, she looks like me, but when I was little, she looked like my mami.

“Her name is Teresa, and she’s not slutty. She’s classy and likes to look good for her man.”

I march over to the table, grabbing about ten pairs of panties and matching bras, each more transparent than the next, and practically throw them in her arms while she stares at me, at a loss for words.

“We’ll take these and anything else my husband wants me to wear.” Then I toss my head and march over the sofa usually reserved for the guys that come in here and sit down, crossing my arms and my legs.

Jackson doesn’t miss a beat. He hands her a see-through teddy and starts going to all the tables, picking up everything. “I want her to wear this and this.” He actually bites his knuckles at one point, groaning, and I stifle a giggle. “Definitely this one. Do you have another one like it in pink? And where in the hell are the matching thigh highs?”

Obviously realizing that Jackson doesn’t give a rat’s tail about what she thinks, and I’m sure the money he was about to drop doesn’t hurt, she starts gathering everything he points at. Pretty soon, another sales girl joins us, then the manager comes by and offers me something to drink and eat.

I sink into the cushions, eating shortbread cookies and drinking hot tea, while feeling exactly like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.





Chapter Twenty-Two





Jackson

After the best shopping trip of my life, I’m heading to the one place I’d rather not go. In fact, I’d rather be back at that lingerie shop, making sure I didn’t miss anything for Bliss to wear.

However, I have to get this over with. I have to take control of my life back from my dad. There’s no way in hell I can do to Bliss what I did to Violet. I’m not that guy anymore, and I’m praying Bliss is right about my mother.

“Wait in the car,” I say to Bliss as we pull up to my parents’ house. “This won’t take long at all.”

“Are you sure about this?” she asks, leaning toward me. Her lemony scent steals over me, simultaneously calming me and giving me courage to be the man I so desperately want to be.

“I’m sure about you.” I kiss her, wanting a few more minutes before I go inside and make all hell break loose.

“I can come inside with you, be your backup?”