“Shit. I got a thumbs up?”
“You certainly did.”
“We'll have to celebrate. You're, uh, staying the night, right?”
“I wouldn't be anywhere else,” he answered with a grin.
~
The buzzing of Liam's cell shook them out of their lover's coil, bent and twisted up in one another's limbs as they were, and when Jackie stole a glance at him, her heart melted at the brilliant smile on his face.
“What is it?”
He looked up a moment before returning his attention to the phone.
“My agent. I'm cast for the show.”
“Show?”
“National Ink.”
“Shit. That's fucking excellent.”
“Monumentally so.”
His eyes rested on her, then he lowered his head to steal a kiss.
“I have to meet with him to get the papers signed, though. You gonna be around tonight?”
“Uh, yeah. Around 9. I have a pre-class seminar today. Extra anal chef teaching it.”
Liam chuckled at that.
“I know the type.”
He grinned and pulled her close, holding her, just holding her. Radiating a belonging she didn't ever think she'd felt so palpably. Not even with her mom. Pulling into it, Jackie basked in its glow, opening to him in a way that terrified and thrilled her in the same turn. Nipping her lip, he pulled back slightly and eyed her a long time.
“I don't want to leave you.”
She laughed softly at that.
“For a handful of hours? What's a handful of hours?”
“An eternity.”
Grinning, she dragged a finger down his cheek.
“Go. Go show the world how amazing you are.”
“They already know that.”
“Humble, much?”
Smiling, he brushed his thumb gently over her lips.
“Never.”
They lay together an extra hour before he finally resolved himself to the task at hand, the one he'd been working for a ridiculous amount of time. And this time, when they parted, neither of them were left with a hollow feeling, or anger, or self-doubt. Instead, they were filled with something neither of them had known intimately before they'd met. A wholeness, maybe? It plumed inside of them and radiated without, connecting them so deeply, they knew the other felt it just as keenly.
When Jackie finally dressed and made her way to her pre-class, she did it with a lightness she hadn't felt a day in her time at Shoreline before that. It affirmed what she'd been ignoring since she'd met Liam, and she tucked herself into the security of it, hiking her backup higher up on her shoulder, eager to get through her class and put the day behind her.
Sweeping into the front hall, she made a beeline for the class board, scanning it for Chef Beakman's name. Shit. There were so many classes today. So many names, and mid-day traffic had only left her five minutes to get to class.
She couldn't be late.
“Hey beautiful.”
Snapping her head up with a creased brow, Jackie's eyes fell on Colin, and a pit instantly formed in her stomach. He was the very last person she wanted to see right now. Managing a shrug, she turned her attention back to the hall sheet.
“What class you looking for?”
“Is there something you need, Colin?”
“Whoa, whoa.”
Raising his hands like he'd stolen something, and she was the cop sent to take him in, he tried and failed to win a smile with that charming grin of his. Only, it didn't come off even a third as enchanting as it had when she was a month younger, and far more stupid.
“You okay, beautiful?”
Leaning close, he tilted his head, a mock-depth of overdone concern in his eyes.
“Fine. Just checking off the next item on my to do list. Nice running into you.”
Her words were monotone and clearly disinterested, but assholes like Colin are resistant to the obvious, and he leaned a little too far into her space even so.
“Want to take the edge off later?”
“I have to go, Colin.”
She'd go up to the next floor and look at that board if it meant getting his creep vibes off of her. What the hell was wrong with him?
Shooting an arm in front of her when she made to leave, he leaned in so close she could smell what he had for lunch. Eew.
“Back up, Colin.”
“You haven't returned my calls. How come?”
“Maybe, learn to take a hint.”
“Feisty.” He laughed. “I like this side of you.”
“Back off, Colin.”
“We were good together. We should-”
“Back. The. Fuck. Off. Colin.”
Shoving him off, Jackie made her way quickly down the hall, not stopping for a second to take a look back. When she did finally make her way to the pre-class, it was all she could do to concentrate. Her skin was crawling the entire time, and the minute she got home, she couldn't get out of her clothes fast enough to shower.
She knew Colin was a creep, but she never thought he'd stalk out on her like that. For a second there... Pushing past her thoughts, she immersed herself in the best standing spa she could simulate. Thankfully, it helped, and after a half an hour or so, she was ready to emerge with a clearer mind. Things were going far too well to let some jilted ex-lay get under her skin because he felt like he couldn't enchant some attention out of her whenever he took a notion to.
Fuck him.
She had better things to focus on. Much happier, hotter, gorgeous things. Slipping into her robe, her head snapped up at the sound of her buzzer, and she quickly shrugged her feet into her slippers, half-hopping her way over to it. Exhaling all of the tension left in her, she checked the peephole before looking out.
Quirking a brow, she opened the door to the deliveryman waiting there.
“Package for Miss Rhodes.”
“That's me.”
“Sign here, please.”
Extending an electronic box, with a stylus dangling off from it, the delivery man waited for her to give him her signature, looking about as enthused with his job as a Vegan at an all-you-can-eat-meat buffet.
“That oughtta do it,” he told her when she passed the digital contraption back, bending to lift a box and handing it over to her.
“Have a good night.”
“You, too,” she answered with a far off, preoccupation ringing her tone as she backed into her apartment and closed the door with a nudge of her hip.
She hadn't sent for anything, but the moment she saw the sender's address, all of the butterflies came alive in her belly again. He was sending her gifts now. Because he was just that awesome. Nipping her lip, she hurried into the living room and plopped down on the rug, tearing into the paper to get to the expensive-looking, black box within. There was a card attached to it, but she never read those first.
She was too much of a kid where gifts were concerned.
Gingerly lifting the lid, she gasped when her eyes fell on the dress folded in gold, tissue paper. Squeaking, she lifted it out, standing to let it fall against her, like a kid in a candy store. Sexy, inky, and svelte. It must have cost a fortune. Reaching down for the card envelope, she fumbled to open it:
Keystone Plaza
National Ink Casting Party
Friday at 8
Be my +1
-Liam
Hugging the dress close, a twinge took her gut. A casting party meant cameras. Cameras meant publicity. And God, this dress.