Page 30 of See Her

“I’ve gathered that,” I say, smiling over at Jack who’s got his arms crossed and has his eyes fixed on the brownie in his sister’s hand.

“Thank you for this,” she says, taking a bite and looking at Jack. “Mmmm, it’sgood,” she says mockingly to him. “I’m going to let you guys get back to your thing. I hope I see more of you, Mayzie,” she says, turning and heading towards her gorgeous house.

“You too, Sarah.”

After Sarah disappears into her house, Jack gets the seasoned steaks on the grill and lets me choose from his impressive vinyl collection for background music.

We enjoy beer and each other’s company as Tom Petty serenades us, and Jack mans the grill.

“Your sister’s great,” I say as I start plating the salad.

“Yeah. I’m lucky to have her,” Jack nods, as he loads the two porterhouses onto a plate.

“Do you hear from Melanie often?” I ask, referring to his other sister.

“Not much, maybe once a month if we’re lucky.Last we heard she was in Vietnam, or maybe it’s Thailand now. She picks up a job wherever for a couple months, has her fun, and then moves on.”

“All the traveling and seeing new places sounds amazing, but I don’t think I could do it. Being away from my home and familyfor so long, I mean. Well, from Ian… maybe,” I joke, as I hold my plate out to receive my steak.

“She’s the free spirit of the family, and she’s been hell bent on it since we were kids,” he fills me in as we both sit.

“Oh my God,” I say, as I take my first bite of steak.

“Good?” he asks.

“Oh, yeah. I have to agree, you’re amazing with steaks,” I say. Seriously, this melts in my mouth.

After putting a good dent in our meals, we push our plates away and Jack grabs us another beer and swipes up the brownies, making a comic spectacle of keeping the container right in front of him.

“Excuse me? What do you think you’re doing?” I say around a laugh that bubbles up at the sight. “We are sharing these.” I reach across the table to grab one of the fudgy squares, but he wraps his arm around the container protectively and leans down, snapping his teeth like he’s going to bite my hand.

“You know what? Fine. I’ll just make more at home and keep them to myself.”

“You will do no such thing.Ever,” he growls, his mouth full of brownie.

“Aw, I found the hardcore rock star’s weakness. Or should I say sweet spot?” This love he has of brownies is kind of adorable.

“I’m not a rock star,” he corrects around the last bite of brownie in his mouth as he wipes his hands on a napkin and crumples it up into a ball, tossing it on his plate. The self-deprecation gives me a small pang deep inside, and while things have been blissful between us for days, a whisper of what happened last weekend floats up to the surface.

“Are you sure you still want me to come tonight?” I ask timidly, looking away. Under the cloud cover, the sun has dropped low in the sky, turning our atmosphere to a violet twilight.

Jack’s head snaps up in my periphery. “What? Of course I do.”He sets his beer down and scoots his chair away slightly, reaching for me. “Come here.”

I shift from my seat over into his lap, and he locks both arms securely around me. The sweet touches and gestures, the feel of his arms, the words, the looks… they all still feel so unreal. It’s all so exquisite, and I try to believe that that doesn’t have to mean it’s fragile.

“I want you there tonight,” Jack assures me. “With how beautiful it was to see that part of you when you dance, I’m not onlynotafraid of showing you the same anymore, but I can’twaitto.” He presses a kiss to my lips as if to seal his statement before looking back up at me. “Are you sure you want to come?” He quirks an eyebrow as he asks.

“Of course, I do, silly,” I tell him, and it earns me another kiss.

“I can be a little crazy when I’m playing,” he warns.

“Hey, you’ve seen me dance,” I remind him. He totally owes me for that one, too. “Bring it.”

Jack

I standbetween Mayzie’s knees as she sits on a high stool at The Cedar. The guys and I will be going up on the stage shortly, and she and Annie are settled in at one of our high tables.She looks fucking cute tonight in her jeans and black flowery tank top. Her hair is down and she’s wearing some dangly earrings that make me just want to kiss her neck. The last week has been incredible with her visiting me at work, me surprising her at the studio, and more midday phone calls. The affections we’ve shared in those small windows of time have more than sufficed to keep me going, but like I said before, I knew once I kissed her, I wasn’t going to be able to stop. We’ve both been busy these last few days though, not allowing me to take it very far.

I would have kissed her more at my house earlier, but then I can guarantee you we wouldn’t have made it here tonight.

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