Nervous or not, I needed to go change so I could meet Jada downstairs.
I saw Jada before she saw me. She was sitting at a table in the mostly empty Caf, rolling a paper cup of coffee between her hands. A flowy blue and white floral skirt wrapped around her legs, cascading down the side of her chair. The white button shirt she had on was knotted under her full breasts, leading my mind to impure thoughts.
My footsteps staggered slightly with my mind, but luckily, she didn’t notice me until I was a few steps away. When she looked up and smiled vibrantly at me, it was like the fall sun peeking through color-changing leaves. Unexpected but so, so welcome.
“Beautiful,” I said as she stood up.
Reaching into her oversized purse, she said, “I got something for you.”
My eyebrows rose. “You got me a gift?” I couldn’t remember the last time someone had purchased something for me. I almost felt guilty accepting anything.
She nodded with a tentative smile. “Glamma and I were shopping at her favorite consignment shop, and I found this...” She pulled out a small wooden box. “It’s a jewelry box dated back to the 1800s. The hardwareisoriginal—I know that’s important to you. And it looks really good, I think. Better than I would at two hundred years old, and?—”
I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her lips. “Thank you,” I murmured in between kisses. “For seeing me.” I kissed her again, slowly. It didn’t matter who was watching, not with her hands winding around my neck. Not with her mouth opening softly for me to deepen the kiss.
Dom whistled loudly. “Get some!” he called.
I could have punched him. Seemed like everyone was interrupting my time with Jada lately. But she smiled against my lips and whispered, “I’m glad you like it.”
“I do,” I replied, twining our fingers together. Those words were getting easier and easier to say around her. I just hoped my friends liked her too.
35.Jada
I’d never beento The Greenhouse before.
Mostly because the cheapest drink on the menu was over twenty dollars—and that was a bottled water. From Portugal, but surely it couldn’t be all that different.
When I walked into the glass-encased building, with Bryce holding my hand, my jaw fell open.
Thousands of plants hung from the ceiling, placing us in this fairy-like world I’d never seen before. It was hard to believe we were in Dallas instead of ancient Ireland. Vines twisted their way up metal poles supporting the outer walls, and air plants rested on each table with raw wooden edges and flickering votive candles.
Glamma had helped pick my outfit for the date, and I was glad because dressy florals felt just right for this setting.
I could spend all day here if it wouldn’t cause me to overdraft my bank card.
Then it hit me—soon, that wouldn’t be a problem.
And yet that uneasy feeling swirled in my gut.
Seeing how Bryce reacted to a simple gift—it had cost me less than a bottled water here—made me realize how muchour relationship meant to him. I think he wanted this to be something real, and I was realizing... I wanted the same. I at least wanted a chance to discover what this could be, if he would allow me to.
While Bryce spoke to a host about seating us with his friends, I decided: I was telling Bryce the truth. Tonight.
Anxiety swirled in my gut at the idea, even as he took my hand and led me to his friends. I recognized the CFO I saw with Rei first. He sat amongst a group of guys at the bar-height table in a casual button-down and jeans. The sleeves were rolled up his arms, revealing swirling black tattoo ink that almost disappeared in his complexion.
Lifting his hand, he said, “Hi, I’m Quentin, but friends call me Q.”
I waved back. “Jada.”
He dipped his head and flicked his black eyes down in acknowledgement.
The guy next to him, with pale skin and blond hair pulled back in a bun, said, “I’m Aaric.” There was an accent to his voice that I didn’t quite recognize, and he had two glasses in front of him—a beer like his friends but also a glass of something green. Clearly, baby girl didn’t like vegetables much because my stomach turned at the sight.
Thankfully, the final friend there spoke up. “Cruz, the only name you’ll need to remember tonight.”
The other guys chuckled at his bravado while I said, “Is that so?”
He nodded, dark brown eyes squinting with mirth. “I’m the handsome one of the group. The smart one too.”
