Page 215 of Choosing You

“They weren’t from me,” he says, trying to play innocent.

After we eat a big Christmas dinner, Garret and I watch a kid movie with Lilly in the theater room. In the middle of the movie, she runs out.

“What was that about?” I ask Garret.

“Kids that age have a short attention span. She’s probably in her room playing with her new dollhouse.”

When we’re finished watching the movie, she runs back in, comes over and hugs me, then drops a piece of paper on my lap.

“What did she give you?” Garret asks as he turns on the lights.

I look at the paper. It’s a drawing of Lilly and me. My hair is in two braids and I’m in the red dress I wore earlier in the day. I’m holding her hand and the words “Lilly’s Big Sister” are written above my head.

“Garret, did you put her up to this?”

“Why? What is it?” He takes the paper, then laughs. “I swear I had nothing to do with this.” He gives it back to me. “But you know what this means.”

“No. What does it mean?’

“It means that someday when I ask you to marry me you’ll have to say yes. Lilly wants you to be her big sister. You can’t disappoint her. She’d be crushed.”

“Okay, now I totally think you put her up to this.”

“Sorry, but I didn’t. Although that’s a good idea, using Lilly to get you to do something.”

CHAPTERFIFTY-SIX

At midnightI meet Garret in his room, hoping and praying that everyone is sound asleep. At least his room is at the end of the hall, far from Lilly’s room and his parents’ room.

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” I say as I crawl into his bed. The blue lights are on, filling the room with their soft glow. “We’re totally going to get caught.”

“I’m not making you do anything. If you want, we’ll just go to sleep. Is that what you want to do?”

“Yes. I can’t do this with your family down the hall.”

Or can I? Now that I’m here next to him, I’m finding him hard to resist. He’s shirtless and has on the cologne that I love. I kiss his chest, breathing in his scent.

“I thought we were just sleeping,” he says, a hint of laughter in his voice.

“We are. I’m just kissing you goodnight.” I work my way up to his lips. As I scoot my body up against his I notice that he’s wearing nothing. Nothing! I thought he was just shirtless. There’s no way I can turn him down now! I don’t have that kind of self-control, especially not when I’m this close to his naked body.

“Garret, where are your clothes?”

“I was hot.” He runs his hand down my stomach and slides it under my pajama pants. “You seem a little hot, too. You should take yours off.”

“Damn, you! At least let me lock the door first.” I hear him laughing as I get out of bed and lock the door, ditching my clothes on the way back.

“Nobody’s coming in, Jade. They’re asleep.”

“So how are we going to do this?” I ask, seeing his bandaged chest.

“You’regoing to do this. Get on top, like you did before.”

“What if I hurt you?”

“You won’t hurt me. And I’m going to be like this for weeks, so you’ll have to get used to it.”

I straddle him and he reaches up and brings my mouth down to his for a long, slow, deep kiss. Damn, he’s a good kisser. Like seriously, he could win a contest.

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