Loving You (The Jade Series #3) (10 page)

“No, but maybe it’s just new and you’re one of the first to get it.”

“Think about it, Jade. It should take months for this to heal.” He points to the area on his chest where he was shot. “But the doctor said it should be back to normal in a week. I can’t compete in swim meets, but he said I’ll be able to swim during practice without any pain. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“Okay, now I wish I never asked. This is really messed up. But it’s just your theory, right? You don’t know this for sure.”

“I don’t have actual proof, but there’s no other way to explain this stuff.”

“Did you ask your dad about it?”

“No. He’d never tell me. Plus, I think you’ve figured out by now that you don’t ask questions in my family. It’s another one of those unspoken rules. Things just happen and you go with it. Things are explained on a need to know basis. And for most of the shit that goes on with my family, I really don’t want to know the truth.”

There’s a knock on the door and Garret gets up to answer it.

“Mr. Kensington,” I hear a man say. “I’m so sorry for the mixup. The champagne is on us, of course. And here’s the bottle you requested. No charge.”

“Thank you.” Garret takes the bottle, tips the guy, and closes the door. “There. Now you can pick what you want.” His serious tone is gone and he’s back in his cheery, holiday mood.

I consider asking him more about this secret medical group, but don’t. I’m not sure I want to know any more.
 

“What should we do now?” I take the bottle from him and place it next to the other one in the ice bucket.

He goes and looks out the window at the revelers down below. “Those people look like they’re freezing to death and they have 7 more hours to go.”

“I know what we could do.” I join him at the window. “Let’s take a bath and watch TV in the mirror.”

He turns to me and tucks my hair behind my ear. “I don’t take baths. That’s more of a girl thing. How about a shower instead?”

“But it’s not like a regular bath. That thing is huge. And it’s one of those bubbly tubs. It’s more like a hot tub. Come on.” I smile. “I’ll be naked.”
 

He laughs. “Yeah, I would hope so.”

“You get the bath going and I’ll grab some snacks and drinks.” I head back to the kitchen.

“We’re eating in the bathtub? That’s disgusting, Jade.”
 

“Just some chocolate.” I grab a fancy chocolate bar from the basket and a couple bottles of soda from the fridge.
 

Being together in the bubbly bath somehow lands us in bed. I’m pretty sure Garret is just trying to prove to me that he can do it several times a day.

“I guess that bath thing wasn’t so bad after all.” Garret gives me a quick kiss, then gets out of bed and goes over to his suitcase.

“What are you doing?” I take a swig of my soda. “You’re not supposed to get up right after sex. You could at least lie here a couple minutes.”

“We need to get ready for dinner.”

“I didn’t know we were going out. I thought you wanted to stay here.” I get out of bed and pick his t-shirt off the floor and slip it on. It’s soft and comfy and smells like him.

“We
are
staying here. We’re eating in the hotel restaurant. It has a great view. Not as good as the view from the other night but it’s still good.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

“I got the reservation but I wasn’t sure if we’d go or not. But I think we should go.”

“Aren’t you even going to ask me first? Maybe I don’t want to go.”

He walks over to me and holds both my hands. “Jade, would you like to have New Year’s Eve dinner with the guy who loves you with all his heart and would do absolutely anything for you?”

“Well, damn, if you’re going to put it that way, I don’t have a choice. But I’ll have to wear the same dress as the other night. I hope it’s not all wrinkled.” I go over and pull it out of my suitcase.

“Check the closet,” he says as he puts on his suit pants.

“Why? I didn’t put anything in the closet.”

“Just check it.”

I open the closet door. There’s a black dress hanging inside. “Whose is this?”

“It’s yours. I got it for you and had them leave it here for when we arrived.”

I take the dress out and hold it up. It’s a simple but elegant, black sleeveless dress, like one of those little black cocktail dresses everyone says you have to own. “Garret, why did you do this?”

“I wanted you to have it in case we went to dinner tonight. The shoes you brought should go with it, right?” He buttons up his white shirt, a tie hanging around his neck.

“Yeah, but I don’t need this. I could’ve just worn the dress I wore the other night.” It’s true, but this new dress looks a thousand times better than my old one.
 

“Like you said, it’s probably wrinkled. This way you have one that’s not wrinkled.”

I don’t know what to say to him. I love the dress, but I’m upset with him for buying it for me. It’s a designer dress and I’m sure it cost a lot and he’s already spent enough money on me this week. But I don’t want to ruin our evening with a fight. And maybe he knew that. Maybe that’s why he did this on New Year’s Eve.

I’m still holding the dress as I watch Garret knot his tie over his shirt. As much as I love him, I do worry he won’t be able to break away from the lifestyle he’s used to. The one in which people are always doing things for you and money is spent without even a thought. It’s a lifestyle I don’t want. Because as nice as it sounds, that lifestyle isn’t free. It comes weighted down with rules, and punishments for not following those rules.

Garret notices me standing there with the dress folded over my arm. He comes over and gently takes it from me. “I’m sorry, Jade. I shouldn’t have bought you the dress. I know how you feel about me buying you stuff. You’ve been really great this whole trip, not mentioning the money thing. And if it makes you feel any better, the dress really wasn’t that expensive. But I’ll just take it back.” He hangs the dress back in the closet.
 

It’s like he could read my mind. Now I feel bad, because I know he likes buying me things. That’s how his family shows love. Buying stuff for each other. That’s all he knows. And that concerns me, but I know deep down he understands that material stuff isn’t love. He’s proved that just now.
 

“Garret, I like the dress. It’s the type of dress I can wear a lot. Plus it’s black, which you know is my color. I’ll just keep it.”

“You don’t have to wear it to save my feelings. I don’t have a problem taking it back. Really, it’s not a big deal.”

“Did you pick it out or did someone else do it?”
 

“I kind of picked it out. I worked with the same woman who helped me with the dress I got you for the fundraiser. I described what I thought you’d like and she sent photos of some different options. Then I picked the one that looked most like you.”

The dress does look like something I would pick out. How does he know that about me? It’s not like we ever talk about clothing. He sees me in the same old boring clothes every day.
 

I get the dress back out of the closet. “I’ll keep the dress, but I need you to tell me next time. Ask me before you buy me any more dresses. Or any other clothing, okay? No more surprise purchases.”

I put the dress on. “Could you help me with the zipper?”

Garret’s dressed now, looking so freaking gorgeous with his dark suit, crisp white shirt, and silvery blue tie. He moves behind me, his hand on the zipper, pausing to kiss the back of my shoulder. “What about lingerie? Can I buy you that?”

“Yes. You can buy me that. I’m too embarrassed to buy it myself.”

He zips up my dress, then walks over to the dresser. He opens the top drawer, takes out a box, and hands it to me.
 

“Garret, seriously? When did you buy this?’

“Before we left. Open it.”

Inside the box is a cream-colored silk nightgown. Nightgown is not the right term but I don’t know lingerie terminology. It has thin straps and hits about mid-thigh. A pair of matching panties is also in the box, along with a matching robe. The whole set is very classy and elegant.

“Do you like it?”
 

“Yeah, I do.” I hold it up. “And I really like the color.”

“I almost got black, but then I changed my mind. I’ll get you black some other time.”

“You must’ve had someone else buy this. There’s no way you went in a store and shopped for lingerie.”

“Actually, I did. I went in this small shop a few towns over thinking nobody would be there and guess who walks in?”

“I don’t know. Ava?”

“Close. Sierra. She stands there wanting to talk, knowing I was trying to leave. But she didn’t see what I bought.”

“When did all this happen? We’ve been together since classes ended.”

“I went shopping the week of finals. I was going to give that to you when you got back from break. I was planning this whole welcome back night. But then you ended up staying here so I decided to save it for tonight.”

“I’m interested in what this welcome back night would’ve been like.”
 

“It was gonna be great.” He smiles. “But I guess you’ll never know. Now hurry up or we’ll be late and they’ll give our table away.”

As I put my makeup on, Garret goes in the other room and turns on the TV. I try my hair a bunch of different ways, but can’t decide what to do with it. “Garret, should I wear my hair up or down?”

“Up,” he calls back. “Down is for later.”

I smile, pulling my long, dark, wavy hair up into a loose and low knot at the nape of my neck, just like Harper showed me.

“I’m ready.” I slip my shoes on and meet him at the door.
 

“You’re more than ready. You’re beautiful.” He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it, then opens the door for me.
 

We go to the hotel restaurant and have another really great dinner with more amazing views of the city. Again, there are no prices on the menu, so I’m sure it cost a fortune.
 

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’re
the one who decided to stop drinking so much. I just asked you to.”