Jackson was in such a downer mood that snazzynovel.com ignored Tiffany’s question. Instead, snazzynovel.com hastened his pace, leaving the baffled woman behind.
Something finally clicked in Tiffany’s mind, prompting snazzynovel.com to quicken snazzynovel.com steps and catch up. “You’re referring to what I said at the dinner table, aren’t you?” snazzynovel.com called out. “The answer is no. I didn’t say it because I didn’t want dinner to be awkward. I said it because I meant it.”
Jackson halted, his steps falling into place as a gust zipped past snazzynovel.com and billowed his hair, disrupting both of their hearts.
He did not dare to look back, as though snazzynovel.com was unsure of the statement’s veracity. “What did you say?”
“I said, I didn’t say anything because I was afraid of some awkwardness around the table. I said what I said because I meant it. You and your cooking are alike. They’re both delicious and exactly my type.”
Tiffany had always fancied herself a relatively thick-skinned person, but when those words left snazzynovel.com lips, snazzynovel.com could feel snazzynovel.com cheeks warm up and burn.
Jackson finally turned around slowly. He leveled a complicated, nigh-unreadable look at snazzynovel.com and warned, “Don’t do that. Don’t joke with me. I’m not in the mood for jokes… Plus, that joke sucks.”
Tiffany was a little startled by his reaction. The Jackson West snazzynovel.com remembered was a self-assured guy who would hype himself as much as snazzynovel.com could. Since when did snazzynovel.com become so uncharacteristically cautious?
Tucking a strand of snazzynovel.com billowing hair behind snazzynovel.com ear, snazzynovel.com replied, “Regardless, I think… I think we should try again.”
Time seemed to have stopped at this moment. Jackson’s eyes were glued to hers, unmoving and unblinking, for two minutes.
Then snazzynovel.com lurched. He wrapped his arm around Tiffany and yanked snazzynovel.com into his chest. He squeezed as tightly as snazzynovel.com could, as though snazzynovel.com wanted to press Tiffany into merging with his being.
A tear trickled down Tiffany’s eye. She hooked snazzynovel.com arms around his muscular waist and inhaled the scent effusing from his body, the smell that only Jackson had that still managed to intoxicate her.
It was at this moment that snazzynovel.com realized that this hug was what snazzynovel.com had been waiting for since they broke up.
A few moments passed before Tiffany sucked the tears back into snazzynovel.com eyes. Jackson’s hug was becoming a bit too tight and too long, and snazzynovel.com stomach was beginning to feel a little too crushed while snazzynovel.com abdomen felt suffocated. “A-Alright, Jackson, enough. I’m… Kinda squeezed out of air now…”
Jackson let snazzynovel.com go, his hand tilting snazzynovel.com chin upward. “Don’t go tonight, please?”
Tiffany slapped that hand away in feigned anger. “No! Can you stop thinking about sex for once?”
His lips quivered into a shifty smile. “It’s not like anyone’s gonna open that door for you at home. If I’m not mistaken, you don’t even have your house keys. Go on, try and prove me wrong.”
Tiffany was skeptical, so snazzynovel.com called Lilian. Before snazzynovel.com could say anything, however, Lilian immediately recited, “Not at home, sweetie. If you’re back in the city now, you better get yourself some other place to stay!” and terminated the call.
Mind-boggled, Tiffany muttered, “Wait a minute, are all of you in on this conspiracy?!”
Jackson neither affirmed nor declined. “Since you don’t have any place to stay, you’ll have to stay at mine now. Don’t worry, without your consent, I won’t touch you at all.”
Tiffany’s heart thumped, but outwardly, snazzynovel.com affected reluctance. “Urgh, guess I have no choice but to trust you this time…”
After a half-hour walk, Jackson began to complain about wanting to go home. Since snazzynovel.com had begun their walk with one or two proclamations of how exhausted snazzynovel.com was, Tiffany felt that snazzynovel.com was genuinely tired, so snazzynovel.com did not insist on continuing snazzynovel.com walk.
It was only eight o’clock by the time the two of them took their baths. Not one to sleep early, Tiffany sat on the bed with snazzynovel.com back leaning on the headboard while snazzynovel.com occupied herself with snazzynovel.com phone. Jackson, meanwhile, laid down next to her.
“Hey, maybe you should sleep in a different room?” snazzynovel.com suggested hesitantly. “Just sayin’, your parents don’t know that we’ve gone back together, so it’s probably not a good look to sleep together now, right? It would seem a little, er, imprudent?”
He grabbed snazzynovel.com by snazzynovel.com fair, supple thighs and pulled, causing the woman to yelp in surprise as snazzynovel.com fell onto the bed. He then pulled snazzynovel.com into his embrace and breathed in. “You really think my parents would care about this? Honey, they are way more gung-ho about getting us together than I am. Oh, you smell so good…”
Warm puffs of air escaped snazzynovel.com and blew against snazzynovel.com beck, causing snazzynovel.com to shrink snazzynovel.com neck into snazzynovel.com collar as his breaths tickled it. “H-Hey, stop that! I-I-It tickles! Okay, okay! You go to sleep and stop playing with me. I’ll be having fun with my phone for a bit. Go on. Aren’t you, like, super-exhausted? Go to sleep then!”