Page 100 of My Fiancé's Brother
“I wonder if they’re coming out with a second edition, Wet owners giving their dog a bath.”
I laughed. “Next time we'll be pros.”
“Next time we can go for coffee while Chloe gets dropped off at the groomers.”
I glanced up at him, loving the way the word “we” so easily rolled off his tongue. I knew that there was no “we”. I knew that this was a temporary fantasy world in which he disappeared in seven weeks. I also knew that I had no place in his future and he had no place in mine.
He was watching me. “Why are you sad?”
I smiled and shook my head. “I’m not.”
“I could see the emotion cross your face. What are you thinking?”
I was thinking that I had finally found the kind of love that my granny used to talk about. The type of love that threw you off a bridge without wings, but at the last moment, he swoops beneath you and catches you in his arms. The kind of love that was so big, so realand so alive, it seemed to fill every single cell in your body. And unlike other people, my love had an expiration date on it. It was fleeting and would only last less than two months before it would disappear. I already missed him. This was real. This was happening. And it would never last. Like the day my granny told me she was dying, I felt the same sense of panic over the idea of saying goodbye to this man.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“More cake please,” I said, watching as he loaded the fork and fed me a bite. He watched me chew and then reached out and used his thumb to brush it across my bottom lip.
“Icing,” he said, before sticking his thumb in his mouth.
We stared at each other for a long moment and then I launched myself at him. He hauled me up into his lap so that my legs wrapped around his waist. His mouth devoured me. Left me breathless.
And then, I was suddenly being hauled up and tossed over his shoulder.
“Jackson,” I gasped laughing.
He was running up the stairs, taking them two at a time. And then he flipped me back on the bed and made short work of kicking off his shorts. His arousal was huge, hard and intimidatingly big. I gave a half scream-laugh when he pounced on the bed, landing on all fours, on either side of me. He reminded me of some crazy wild jungle animal about to devour his prey.
He looked down at me with an intensity that made my entire body shiver.
“You scared?” he growled in a low voice.
“No,” I said, my breath catching. Loving every dangerous second.
“You would be,” he said, as he dipped his head down and nuzzled my neck roughly. “If you knew what I was going to do to you.”
A loud pounding of someone knocking on the door sounded from below followed by the frantic barking of Chloe. I blinked as Jackson moved with speed off the bed and pulled on his shorts.
“Who would knock at this time of night?” I couldn’t keep the fear out of my voice.
His eyes traveled down my body, “Don’t move. I'll be right back.”
I sat up in bed as Jackson disappeared down to the door. I heard the loft door slide open and then the sound of voices. I listened, my heart pounding. I couldn’t hear words, but I listened to the tone. Something bad happened.
A moment later, Jackson pushed into the room. He took a deep breath. “Get dressed. Matt’s been in a car accident.”
“What? Who was that?”
He pulled a t-shirt over his head. “The police.”
I scrambled off the bed, unsure what was happening. I found my underwear on the floor beside the bed. My entire body was trembling. “What did they say? Is he okay?”
Jackson stopped moving and turned to look at me. “They said it wasn’t good. They told us that we needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible.”
CHAPTER 35
