It was like my tear ducts suddenly decided they had a lifetime to make up for, and I was fighting a losing battle as I tried to stop them. But I’d meant what I’d said, and admitting it made me realize it on a whole new level.
Jack was good for me. He didn’t let me get away with anything, and he challenged me constantly and… I loved it.
The words started tumbling out of me. “I love that you’ve always expected more from me, that you saw the best in me. That you didn’t buy any of the acts that had gotten me through life prior to Pinedale.”
He kissed the corners of the mouth as I whispered. He trailed those kisses over my jaw and kissed away my tears.
“I love that knowing you made me want to be better. To do better. To be the kind of person you’d be proud of. Someone as kind and genuine and brave as… as you are.”
I stumbled over the words because me and honesty? We’d never been great friends. But Jack deserved to hear the truth. Because that was the thing. Jack was good. He was loyal and honest, and while he might have kept secrets from Brandon, I knew without a doubt that he had good reasons.
Also?
He was the best kisser on the planet.
I could have drowned in his kisses, in the way they wiped my mind clean and seemed to heal every wound. When he kissed me, I felt cherished. When he pulled back, I nearly cried out to stop him. But he wasn’t going anywhere.
He lifted one hand and brushed his thumb over my lower lip. “No more secrets.”
His gaze was dark, his jaw set in that stubborn way I loved.
I nodded. “No more secrets.”
It was a promise. A vow.
And I meant to keep it.
His lips quirked up in a sexy, lopsided grin. “Have I mentioned how much I missed you, Princess?”
I grinned. I didn’t even mind the nickname when he was using it. With him it felt sweet. Like an inside joke. “Hopefully as much as I missed you, Ho-down Jack.”
His laugh was low and soft as he leaned down once more. And then there was no more talking. No more laughing. Just kissing and touching and then some more kissing.
It was heaven.
I was moaning when he tilted his head and slanted his lips over mine, deepening the kiss into something so intimate it made me warm all the way through.
“Ahem.” The loud and obviously fake throat clearing from behind Jack had us jumping apart like we’d been electrocuted.
We both turned to see Tess smirking at us from the entrance to the cabana. “Well, well… good to see you two lovebirds have made up.”
“Good to see you again, Tess,” Jack said. His smile was friendly and unreserved. He’d always been partial to Tess and her goody-two-shoes ways.
I rolled my eyes. This guy might have still bought into that routine, but I was no longer convinced. “Did you need something, or are you just here to ruin the moment?”
“Ignore her,” Jack said, but he was still grinning as he wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me close so we stood side by side.
Kind of like a couple.
I had to bite my lip to squelch a goofy grin of my own.
“I always do,” Tess said in a sing-song voice, but she was wearing a little smile too. All of the heat that normally filled our bickering had been fading, and these days, it sometimes felt like we were just going through the motions. One day… Tess and I might actually admit that we liked each other.
I know, right? Ew.
“Seriously, though…” I arched my brows. “Did you need something?”
Tess’s gaze darted to Jack before she said way too quickly, “It can wait.”
My sister radar went off in a big way, and as she started to turn, I stopped her. “What’s going on, Tess?”
She looked to Jack and then back to me. “Daddy left for the night, so I thought we might… talk. You, me, and Vivien.”
My eyes widened at the mention of our stepmother, her meaning clear. She was finally going to let me in to her little cloak-and-dagger secret society.
“But, like I said…” She started to back away. “It can wait.”
Jack was watching me. Waiting. I didn’t have to look at him to know what he was thinking. No more secrets.
“Tess, wait,” I called out.
She paused in the entrance.
I glanced over at Jack and then back to her. “Whatever you wanted to say to me… you can say it in front of Jack.”
Tess’s brows snapped down, but she eyed us both consideringly. Then, she met my gaze evenly and spoke to me like an adult for quite possibly the first time in my life. “You sure?”
I felt it like a jolt. Her respect. That’s what this was. She was letting me decide if I trusted Jack enough with her prized secrets. With our secrets.
I swallowed down a thick lump. Damn these stupid emotions, they were turning me into a giant wuss. I took a deep breath and looked at her gaze point blank. “I’m sure.”
Jack’s arm tightened around me in response.
“Okay, then,” Tess said with a sigh. She gestured toward the lounge chairs behind us. “Make yourself comfortable and hold your questions until the end.”
Ten
Jack
“You know,” I said to Lila and Brandon as we hung out at one of the few non-crowded standing tables surrounding Lila’s father’s pool. “I’d thought I’d discovered hell when I first got to this town and found myself on the set of Love on the Range.”
Lila laughed across from me as Brandon toyed with her hair. “And now?”
I leaned back to watch the two of them be all cozy for the crowd. “Now I know I was wrong. That was nothing compared to this.”
“You hate canapés and champagne that much, huh?” Brandon joked.
I waved a hand in their direction. “Watching my best friend hang all over my girl,” I spelled out. “This is some kind of torture you two worked up to pay me back for keeping secrets, right?”
Brandon laughed. Lila’s grin was adorably shy and totally uncharacteristic. What was even crazier? She blushed. “Your girl, huh?” she said.
I arched a brow. “Too much?” I mean, it hadn’t even been a week since we’d officially gotten together as a couple, and between schoolwork, filming, and her need to keep up appearances with Brandon, we hadn’t had much time to ourselves.
All the same, I’d never been more certain of anything in my life. So it was with relief that I watched Lila shake her head. “Not too much. I’ll get used to having an alphahole for a boyfriend at some point.”
“And until then you have me,” Brandon teased.
“Exactly. You’re the total opposite. So really, I can have my cake and eat it too.” Lila wagged her eyebrows teasingly. “I’m a lucky lady.”
I rolled my eyes. I’d been kidding about this being hell. Kind of. I mean, I totally got that nothing was really going on here. That it was all for show.
But that didn’t make it any more fun to watch. Especially when I was stuck on the sidelines thinking about how I wanted it to be me playing with that hair. Maybe sneaking kisses when no one was looking…
But that was the thing. At this party for the cast and crew of Love on the Range, everyone was watching.