Page 154 of Deacon

I snorted. “First of all, we were not disgusting.”

She gave me a look over the dish towel that made it clear she rejected both my version of events and my intelligence.

“Second,” I added, passing her another plate, “you are way too involved in my business.”

“I live here.”

“That does not make it your business.”

“It absolutely does when I have to see it.”

I laughed under my breath just as Jackson appeared in the doorway. He crossed the kitchen without a word, took the spoon from my hand, shut off the water, then reached for me.

I stared at our joined hands. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”

There was humor in my voice, but his face had gone unusually calm. No wicked grin. No spark warning me he was about to say something outrageous. Just that quiet certainty he wore when he had already made a decision and the rest of us were several steps behind.

“C’mere,” he said.

I looked up at him. “Jackson.”

“Just trust me for a minute, Princess.”

Behind us, Jade gagged theatrically. “Please don’t make me witness foreplay and dish soap at the same time.”

He didn’t even turn. “Dry the damn pan, baby girl.”

Her laugh followed us into the hall.

Jackson kept my hand in his as he led me toward the bathroom. Curiosity got me moving, but there was something else in the set of his shoulders, something too quiet for this to be another attempt to flirt me into losing my mind. When he opened the bathroom door and stepped aside, I stopped.

Candles flickered along the counter and tub, throwing soft gold over a room I had never once thought of as pretty. Steam lifted from the bath. The clean, warm scent of bath salts filled the air, and on the closed toilet lid sat a folded towel with my tablet resting on top.

For a moment, I couldn’t say anything.

Jackson leaned against the frame, hands in his pockets now. All that size and confidence, and somehow he looked almost uncertain. “Thought it was past time somebody spoiled you a little.”

I turned to him. “You did all this?”

His mouth tipped. “Yeah.” He glanced toward the tub. “Drew the bath. Got those salts a couple days ago. Brought your tablet in here too so you could read.” Then his eyes came back to mine. “Figured you deserved a minute where nobody needed anything from you.”

That was what got me.

The candles were sweet. The bath was thoughtful. But that sentence found the part of me that had spent years being the person everybody needed and asked nothing from.

Jackson pushed off the frame and came closer without crowding me. “I’m gonna go back and help Jade finish up,” he said. “Spend a little more time with her, then I’ll head out for the night.” His gaze stayed on mine. “I want you to relax, Princess. I know how much you work. I know how much has been on you lately. Me coming back into your life. Your dad. Matty. All of it.” He swallowed once. “I just want to take care of you.”

Nobody had ever said it to me quite like that, with no expectation attached.

I stepped into him before I could think better of it and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my forehead against his chest. His breath left him softly. Then his arms came around me, slow and careful, holding without squeezing too tight.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

His hand moved once up my back before he drew away enough to hook a finger under my chin. “You don’t have to thank me, Princess.” His thumb brushed my jaw. “I love you, and I want to take care of you. I’ve got a need to take care of you that runs bone deep, and I’ll find a way to prove it to you.” He held my gaze through the part that mattered most. “I’m sorry. And I promise we’ll work through this. We’ll work our way back to what we were starting.”

My eyes burned. I blinked hard and managed, “I’m beginning to hope so.”

Something softened in his face before he kissed me.