Mine for a Day (Finding Love Book 8)

by Delaney Cameron

  “Thanks.”

  With a sigh of relief, Jackson went to find Violet. The catering truck was gone which meant she was most likely waiting for him at her car. He could have done without the meeting with Laurel. It was always awkward running into former girlfriends. The only thing that really mattered was what he’d tried to tell Violet on the phone last night. None of those previous relationships meant anything to him. That wasn’t the case with her.

  * * * * *

  Violet had never thought of herself as a jealous person, but then again, she’d never been in love before. Along with all the euphoria came a corresponding loss of perspective and a tendency to make judgements based on very little evidence. Case in point: she automatically assumed the woman Jackson was talking to was someone he’d dated. She didn’t even consider the possibility that she was a business acquaintance or a client.

  Instead of giving Jackson a chance to introduce her to the woman, she’d taken off like a scalded cat. When Cory and Rachel left, so did her only valid reason for not rejoining him. This was when she made her second bad choice of the day. Not wanting to look as if she was obviously waiting on him, she escaped to her car.

  When the high profile of the Land Rover came into view, she felt even more ashamed of her behavior. What must Jackson be thinking about her just walking away like that? Tears of frustration formed in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away. The last thing she needed to be doing when he found her was balling her eyes out like a baby.

  Opening Leonie’s driver’s side door, she sat down in the seat and checked her phone for any messages she missed during the catering event. The only thing on there was a text from April asking if she could babysit Micah tomorrow afternoon. She was caught between wanting to help her sister and not wanting to make any plans without talking to Jackson first. Duty to family won out. She sent back a text saying she could do it.

  There was a sudden darkening as if something had blocked out the sun. She looked up to see Jackson standing beside her.

  “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I didn’t mean to leave you hanging.”

  Why was he apologizing? He wasn’t the one acting like a child. “It’s me who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have bailed on you without saying anything.”

  He smiled faintly. “I wish I could have gone with you. It seems to be my day for almost and then actually running into old girlfriends. Not to worry, though. I don’t have that many more. You’ve almost seen them all.”

  “They all have something in common. They’re very pretty.”

  “None of them are as pretty as you.”

  Words of denial formed on her lips, but he didn’t give her time to utter them. He leaned into the car and kissed her gently.

  “Just so you know,” he said, caressing the skin under her chin with his thumb, “they’ll be more where that came from. Are you ready to go to my place?”

  Very conscious of their closeness, Violet made an effort to concentrate on answering his question. Her silence seemed to amuse him.

  “You want to come, don’t you? I didn’t imagine a conversation about us spending the evening together, did I?”

  “Of course I want to come. I just need to run by my parents’ house and get out of these clothes. I also need to feed Bluebell and Jeeves. You go ahead, and I’ll be over as soon as I can.”

  All the way home she scolded herself. She’d wanted someone to think she was beautiful. She’d wanted someone to like her. She finally had someone who did both those things and still she continued to give way to her doubts. Leah was right. She couldn’t expect someone else to love her if she didn’t love and accept herself. Continuing to question Jackson was doing him an injustice and perpetuating her own insecurities. It was time to grow up and stop this nonsense.

  Bluebell and Jeeves were waiting for her in the living room window. They didn’t seem to mind getting their dinner a little early. After taking off her catering uniform, she took a quick shower, ran a comb through her hair and pulled on a lime-green t-shirt and a pair of black yoga pants. Then she picked up the framed Abbott and Costello prints. Michael’s had done a great job with them. She hoped Jackson would think so, too.

  As she pulled up to his house, the front door opened and there he was. The smile on his face sent a wave of happiness all the way to her toes.

  “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long,” she said, getting out of the car.

  “You didn’t.”

  She opened the back door. “This is going to sound strange, but can you wait for me in the kitchen? There’s something in here I don’t want you to see yet.”

  He laughed. “This sounds promising.”

  Once he disappeared inside the house, she lifted the two prints out of the car and closed the door. She could hear him whistling when she walked in. After putting the framed prints in the living room, she went to join him.

  “Something smells delicious.”

  “It’s the sweet potatoes. Abbott and Costello are in their kennel. I gave them a bath this afternoon, and they’re still a little damp. You can see them later.”

  She noticed the distinctively-shaped items on the counter. “I see you wrap your corn in foil for grilling. That’s how Rachel does it. She says it’s more work for the server, but makes the corn easier to eat. My dad disagrees. According to him, grilled corn isn’t grilled corn unless it’s done in the husk over live coals. I wouldn’t say so to him, but I can’t tell the difference.”

  “Me, either, which is why I do them this way. I guess our taste buds aren’t refined enough. I was going to grill the shrimp, too, if that’s all right with you.”

  “I’ll eat shrimp boiled, fried, or grilled.”

  “The sweet potato casserole has about thirty minutes left.” He reached into the refrigerator and removed a vegetable tray with a bowl of ranch dip in the middle. “This is to hold us over until dinner.”

  Violet picked up a baby carrot and took a bite. “Have you ever had parsnips?”

  Jackson looked up from dunking broccoli into the dip. “Are those the things that look like white carrots?”

  “Yes. I was watching the cooking channel the other night, and one of the chefs made French fries out of them. I’d heard of sweet potato fries, but that was new to me.”

  “I’ve never heard of that, either. Of course, I don’t watch the cooking channel very often. Can I get you something to drink? I’ve got tea, Coke, and coffee.”

  “I’ll take Coke.”

  “Do you like it out of the bottle or in a glass?”

  “Definitely a glass with lots of ice.”

  He filled two glasses with ice and reached into the fridge for the soda. “What are you doing tomorrow?”

  “I’m babysitting Micah in the afternoon.”

  “Would you like company while you’re babysitting?”

  Violet grinned. “Micah would love that.”

  Jackson handed her a glass. “That’s great, but what about you?”

  “You must know that I’d love it, too.”

  “I thought you would; it’s nice to have it confirmed. The people who cancelled on me today asked if I could meet with them at noon tomorrow. They’re a young couple with a new baby looking to get out of an apartment and into their first house. It shouldn’t take more than a few hours. I can come over to your parents’ house after that.”

  “That would work out good. April and Barry are dropping off Micah around one-thirty.”

  He picked up the vegetable tray and led the way into the family room. “Let’s get off our feet. We’ve earned a break.”

  As she sat down on the couch, she noticed a chess board set up on a table in the corner. She didn’t remember seeing it during her previous visits to Jackson’s house. “I didn’t realize you played chess.”

  * * * * *

  Jackson hadn’t played chess since his breakup with Carmen. The set Violet was referring to had been hidden away in the back of his closet until three days ago when he came across it looking fo
r something else. Its discovery had provoked a host of unpleasant memories, but the swarm of angry feelings he’d been expecting didn’t happen. There had only been sadness tinged with regret.

  Instead of leaving it in the closet, he brought it to the family room. A few weeks ago, having the chess set in plain view wouldn’t have been possible. What was the reason for such a profound change in attitude? Jackson didn’t have to look far to find the answer. She was sitting next to him.

  “I was in a chess club in high school. Do you play?”

  “When Lance left home, my father needed someone else to beat, so he taught me.”

  “And does he beat you?”

  A small smile appeared. “Not all the time, but I’m not sure if that’s because I’m any good, or because he figures I won’t keep playing if I don’t win every now and then.”

  “Playing against me won’t tell you that, but it would be fun to see how well the two of us match up.”

  “I’m not sure I’m ready to take on a high school chess champion.”

  “I didn’t say I was a champion. I said I was in the club. There’s a big difference.”

  “Another thing to keep in mind. I have a somewhat reckless style.”

  Jackson laughed as he stood up and then reached down to pull her to her feet. “There goes that line in the sand again. You’ve thrown down a challenge I can’t resist. Let’s see how far we can get before dinner.”

  She sat down in the chair opposite him. “This is a beautiful set.”

  “Thank you.” He hesitated a few seconds and then went on. “Carmen gave it to me.”

  Violet stopped examining one of the pieces to look at him. “She played chess, too?”

  He shook his head. “Not at all. She said it was a game for brainiacs.” Jackson could almost feel Violet’s relief. Her sentiments were understandable. No one wants to walk in another’s footsteps and be forced to constantly compete with memories.

  “I’m definitely not one of those.”

  He switched on the wall lamp. “Neither am I. You can go first.”

  She hadn’t been bluffing about her playing style. She definitely favored a more attacking approach. Figuring she would get impatient with a slower game, he played his usual positional strategy and let her try to outmaneuver him. For the next fifteen minutes, he parried her moves, but made none of his own.

  “You’re sneaky,” she said, sitting back in the chair.

  “How am I sneaky?” he asked, laughing at her disgruntled expression.

  She pointed to the board. “You set a trap like the spider did to the fly, and I fell right into it.”

  “All I did was wait for you to run out of moves.”

  “Which I have. I have a lowering feeling my father has been letting me win.” She began to replace the pieces on the board, not looking at him.

  “You’re not mad because I won, are you?”

  “I’m upset with myself. I didn’t play very well.”

  “Why is that?”

  Her mouth curved into a smile. “Because I couldn’t stay focused. Every time I looked up, you were staring at me with your hypnotic eyes. It totally took me out of my game.”

  “Welcome to my world. I have to deal with that all the time when I’m with you.” The timer he’d set on his watch went off. “We’ll have to put aside our chess differences for the moment. It’s time to grill some food.”

  “I’ll set the table while you do that.”

  As they walked into the kitchen, he asked, “Do you want to eat on the deck? It’ll cool off as soon as the sun goes behind the trees.”

  “Yes, let’s eat outside.” She picked up the box of golden raisins sitting on the counter. “Vegetable trays and now raisins. You’re one of those healthy snackers, aren’t you?”

  “I didn’t get those to snack on. I put them in the sweet potato casserole.”

  “Raisins in sweet potatoes?”

  “It’s another one of those things you’re gonna have to trust me on.”

  “There seem to be a lot of those.”

  He drained the shrimp and put them in a foil lined pan. “In order to get close to someone there has to be mutual trust and honesty.”

  “I agree. Without those two things, there isn’t a relationship at all.”

  “Or it’s a very superficial one. I should know. That’s the kind I specialized in until you came along. That’s not what I want to have with you.”

  There was a pause and then, “What kind of relationship do you want to have with me?”

  Jackson walked over and cupped her chin. “Something meaningful and real.” Then he ran his hand through her hair, down the back of her head, and gently pulled her close. Her body melded perfectly with his. “Violet, I…” he stopped short of saying ‘I love you.’ Those words had passed through his lips before, but he’d never thought to say them to anyone else. The fact that he wanted to say them now was a little scary.

  Her lips skimmed his cheek, and he shuddered inside. Violet’s compassionate, ardent nature spoke to something deep inside him. Something he was finding more and more difficult to resist. His mouth sought and found hers, and then everything else disappeared. The world shrank to just the two of them.

  * * * * *

  Violet inhaled, breathing in Jackson’s masculine scent. Her hands came to his chest, resting against the solid muscles underneath. His lips left hers to explore her neck, her ear, and the sensitive skin of her collarbone. The tingling spreading through her body left her breathless. Her hands moved to encircle his neck, pulling him closer still. He was inches away from her mouth when the oven timer went off.

  Jackson groaned under his breath as he pulled away. His fingers slid around to stroke the side of her face. “If we’d done that during the chess game, you definitely would have won.”

  She smiled. “You never should have told me that.”

  “All part of the plan, Harley girl,” he told her as he removed the sweet potatoes from the oven. “Our next match should prove to be awesome. I’m going to light the grill.”

  He’d certainly heated her up nicely. Smiling at the thought, she reached for her soda and took a drink.

  It didn’t take long to cook the shrimp and the corn. As they ate in the glow of a beautiful sunset, Violet could never remember food tasting so good or conversation being so interesting. Jackson refused to let her do the dishes, pointing out that she’d already done enough of that earlier at the wedding reception. While he was occupied in the kitchen, she played with Abbott and Costello. She didn’t realize he’d come out of the house until she heard his voice.

  “How does it feel to have three males competing for your attention?”

  “I have to say it’s pretty cool.”

  “Let’s go relax in the egg chair.”

  “The what?”

  “The egg chair,” he said, urging her forward. “Didn’t you see it the other day?”

  “I was too busy spying on everyone with your binoculars.”

  “Jetta’s husband gave her one for their anniversary. When she showed it to me, I decided it was just the thing for my deck. It’ll be nice to sit in it with someone.”

  They turned the corner of the house, and she saw why he referred to it that way. The chair looked like a massive egg made out of wicker. Cut out of one side was an opening lined with cushions. “I doubt you’re in it alone very often.”

  He held it still while they sat down and then he set it in motion with his feet. “Well, Harmon’s daughter has sat in it with me a few times. She’s only four years old so it wasn’t exactly a relaxing experience. I was so afraid she was going to fall out.”

  “What about Myrna?”

  “I never asked her. I’m not sure she even knows it’s here.”

  She turned to look at him. “Why didn’t you ask her?”

  He shrugged. “She didn’t strike me as the sitting-in-an-egg-chair type.”

  “Do only certain types of people sit in swings?”

  Jacks
on settled her in his arms. “Anyone can sit in a swing, but not everyone can appreciate the experience. You can’t be in a hurry or worried about what you’re going to do next.” His fingers began to move slowly back and forth against her bare arm. “You have to be willing to empty your mind and immerse yourself in your surroundings.”

  “Is this where you do your bird watching?”

  “This is one of the places. There’s a family of cardinals living in those sweet gum trees to your right. I’ve also seen brown thrashers, finches, eastern blue jays, and mockingbirds. But what I really like to do when I sit here is close my eyes and just listen. I’m always surprised by all the sounds I can hear when I’m not being influenced by what I see.”

  “If I close my eyes, I’ll probably fall asleep.”

  “Having you fall asleep in my arms would be a great way to end the evening.”

  “You’re easy to please.”

  “I like being with you. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing.” His lips moved through her hair. “I wasn’t wrong when I compared you to a summer rain. You’ve made me feel new again.” Then he leaned down and kissed her, his lips caressing the corners of her mouth and gliding along the curve of her cheek to her ear. Violet’s hands left her lap and wound their way around his neck and into his hair. His lips returned to hers, the warmth of his kisses sending shivers of delight down her spine. When he finally drew away, they were both out of breath.

  He shifted slightly and drew her across his lap. “You kiss like you do everything else: sincerely and unselfishly. It’s the kind of thing that tears down a man’s defenses and leaves him wanting more.”

  Did wanting more include her heart? He didn’t know it, but it was already his. Haunted as she was by the shadow of Carmen, Violet found his words encouraging. Maybe in time, he could come to love her. “I’m not sure whether I should apologize or say ‘thank you’.”

  The sudden ringing of his phone sounded loud in the quiet of the evening. “That figures,” he muttered under his breath as he dug his phone out of his pocket. “Things were just getting interesting.” He glanced at the screen. “It’s Austin. The information he wants is in the house. You can come with me or stay here. I shouldn’t be too long.”