Page 33 of Promising You
Later, we go back to the room and I try on my new lingerie, which leads to where lingerie always leads.
“Okay, Garret. I believe you,” I say out of breath. “You can do it several times a day. Although technically I did all the work.”
“Hey, I still had to perform.” He shoves another pillow behind his head, propping himself up more. “We have another hour until midnight. What do you want to do?”
“Let’s check out the New Year’s Eve stuff on TV.” I toss him the remote and slip my lingerie back on.
His eyes drift over me. “Um, you probably shouldn’t wear that.”
“Oh, please. We’re not doing it again.”
His brows raise like I’ve challenged him.
“Fine.” I take it off and put on one of his t-shirts. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to grab some drinks.”
At 11:50, we go into the living room and look out the wall of windows at the crystal-covered ball. Garret grabs the bottles of real and fake champagne.
“Which one?” He holds them up.
“The real one.”
He pops the cork like he’s done this a million times before. He pours the champagne in the glasses, then sets them next to us on the table.
He holds me close in front of him as the countdown begins. The ball drops much faster in real life than on TV. It’s cool to see, but not worth standing outside in the freezing cold all day.
At midnight, Garret turns me toward him and gives me a kiss. Sweet, loving, hot, sexy. It’s all those things. My first New Year’s Eve kiss. And it just happened to be with the person I love most in the world.
“Happy New Year, Jade.” He lets me go, then hands me a glass of champagne and holds up his own to toast. We clink glasses and I take a tiny sip.
The last and only time I drank was at a party a couple months ago. I was angry, panicked, confused—basically an emotional mess—and I swallowed the vodka without even feeling it in my mouth. I let the fiery liquid go straight down my throat as deafening music blasted all around me and that asshole, Blake, stood beside me. It was awful. The whole scene was awful.
But this time is different. So much different. I take another sip of champagne. It doesn’t burn. Instead it tickles my mouth and throat. It has a slightly sweet taste that’s a little fruity.
“It’s good. A lot better than vodka.”
“Yeah. It is.” Garret slips his hand in mine and we sit down. His eyes linger on my face and it makes me glance away.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
He sets his glass down. “I was just thinking that last year at this very moment I was somewhere else. Somewhere completely different from where I am now. I don’t even know how I ended up in that place, but I never want to go back there.”
I set my glass down. “You won’t go back there, Garret.”
“I won’t, because of you.”
“You’rethe one who decided to stop drinking so much. I just asked you to.”
“But I wanted to because of you. And now I can have a glass of champagne without needing to finish the whole bottle. I don’t have to drink until I pass out. It’s just hard to believe I used to be that way. I don’t even feel like the same person.”
“I don’t either. Last New Year’s Eve I was asleep in my room at Frank’s house. I didn’t care about New Year’s, or anything, really. Thinking back, I was pretty miserable a year ago. I just wanted to go to college and get as far away as possible from my old life.”
“This will be a better year for both of us.” He leans over to kiss me. “I love you, Jade.”
“I love you, too.” I take one last sip of the champagne. “Let’s grab some snacks and watch a movie in bed.”
We get into bed, but there isn’t much to watch on TV at this hour, so we end up doing it again. What can I say? That kiss got me going. And sex with Garret is a great way to ring in the New Year.
CHAPTERNINE
