Rookie Playing For Keeps #Wattys2015 #NewAdult

Chapter 1 Part 2

One Year Ago

January 2013

The quick beeps of someone setting their car alarm tell me we are not the first to arrive, but I'm so nervous I can't convince myself to get out of the truck. Jackson has assured me that this is going to go smoothly, but I still have my doubts. It's one thing to bring someone new to a dinner at my father's house; it's another to bring the man that has stolen me away from the match my family hand-picked for me. Jackson has already asked my father for my hand in marriage and received his blessing, but I was there for some of the harsh words that were spoken between Ben and Jackson in the past, and I can't imagine that there would be no hard feelings.

Caleb, another of my brothers, taps on my window and I roll it down so that I can hear him. "Come on sis, let's get inside and get this thing started. I have somewhere I want to be." He pats the side of the pickup and rolls his eyes as if I've kept him waiting for hours already.

"I've been trying to tell her," Jackson calls over me and I give both of them my angriest face. Since when have they become allies? When my eyes land back on Jackson, his lips curl up in that amazing smile of his, and I practically melt beside him. He reaches across the seat and squeezes my hand, then leans closer and presses a chaste kiss to my cheek. An insistent desire to keep kissing him springs to life, even though that's clearly not his intention.

"Caleb is a gentle puppy compared to what Ben can dish out. You have no idea what we're walking into." I bite my lip and swallow down the million butterflies that take flight in my stomach at the thought of sharing a table with these two men who love me so fiercely they no doubt are capable of coming to blows over it.

"I'm not afraid of your brother, Rookie. We're cool. Let's go inside and sit down with your family. I've earned it," I wonder if I'll ever grow tired of his nickname for me. He moves in for another kiss, this one soft on my lips, and I feel myself grow warm. "You've earned it." His lips leave mine only briefly as he speaks. The scratchy feeling of his jaw against my skin sends delicate shivers down my back.

"Geesh, you two. For fuck's sake, are you trying to stir Ben up? Let the poor guy get used to you holding hands before he has to endure the sucking face," Caleb jokes, adding a few gagging noises for our entertainment.

"Okay, okay," I giggle, but Jackson adds a few more pecks and a sly swipe of his tongue before moving away from me. My cheeks are flushed and I feel a sudden awareness of Jackson's strong fingers lingering intimately against my ribs before he draws them back. As he jumps down from his seat and makes his way around to open my door I fan myself quickly, hoping to cool down the heat of my skin and the forcefulness with which my pulse is pumping, rushing blood so quickly away from my extremities that my head has begun to swim.

I'm wearing my favorite jeans and a delicate, free-flowing blouse, but I've pulled my hair back off of my face and applied a small amount of make-up. Jackson has also dressed up a bit for dinner. He's in a pair of dark, slim fitting jeans that hug his firm butt and strong thighs. If they could sell sex in the department store, it would come dressed in those jeans. His snug polo shirt encases the perfection of his sculpted chest in all the right places and I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps we should have worked out our nerves a little back at my place before coming here. I watch him take me in as I slide from the high seat and know just from the smirk of his lips and the hungry way he's looking at me that he's thinking the same thing.

His tattoo is just visible under his sleeve where it stretches across his broad bicep and his hair is still damp from a recent shower, secretly calling to me to run my fingers through it. Maybe it's not the dynamics of the evening I should be most nervous about-maybe it's my ability to keep my hands off of Jackson at the dinner table. Caleb takes off towards the house, giving us a minute to calm down. I think Jackson might have other plans, though.