One Night - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 1

30. Some R'n'R

I let out a long breath as I waited in Jackson's truck outside of the Inn at Gothic Eve's. I asked him to take me out of the city and he did without question. You looked up some places online for us to crash and found the inn about four hours away a little outside of Ithaca.

I was a little nervous when he said he was going to make a call to Ryan to let him know what we were doing. I was sure it wasn't going to raise suspicion, but he told me that, since I broke my phone, Ryan wouldn't be able to get a hold of me and he would get worried.

As I listened to Jackson make the call, I was surprised. He seemed to be able to word it the right way so Ryan didn't get the wrong idea. Apparently, Jackson was with Ryan when he had spoken to me on the phone. Ryan told him to come and make sure I was okay while he tried to go talk to his dad.

So, Jackson explained that I broke my phone and I wanted to get out of the city for a while. He told Ryan where we would be going and that we would be getting two rooms for the weekend since I had to be back for my meeting at the school on Monday.

Ryan was cool with it and said he would probably drive up tomorrow and let me know how things went with his dad. I was honestly dreading that. If he didn't have good news, I didn't know what I was going to do.

Jackson and I didn't talk much on the ride up here. It was more of a comfortable silence as I looked out of the window and listened to the music he put on.

I thought about what happened at the bar and I was a little surprised. I wasn't expecting Jackson to show up there and I definitely wasn't expecting him to be so comforting.

I knew he was a good man, but that just seemed out of character for him. He seemed to always keep me right at arm's length, and I completely understood why he did that. He was trying to keep himself from making the mistake that I did when I fell in love with him.

I didn't see Jackson as the falling in love type, but then again, everything Everly told me is never too far from my mind. Maybe I didn't know Jackson as much as I thought I did.

The truck door opened, drawing my thoughts back to the present. I looked over as Jackson slid inside and handed me a room key.

"Here's your key. Our rooms are next to each other, so that's good. I'll drive around to the back so it's closer."

"Thanks," I said as I took the key from him. He drove us around to the back and we parked by the rear entrance. The Inn was very nice and looked expensive.

When I walked into my room, I noticed it had a large champagne-colored four-poster bed and was set up beautifully. There were two nice chaises by a large window and the bathroom was also a decent size with a large claw foot tub.

Jackson was staying in the room next to mine and I noticed we had adjoining doors. How coincidental. I set my purse down on the bed before I decided to take a hot bath. I filled the tub with hot water and soap before I stripped out of my clothes and climbed in.

I sighed as my body adjusted to the hot temperature. This is just what I needed. I could literally feel the tension and stress slowly release from my body. I sighed as my eyes slid shut and I tried to clear my mind.

I'm not sure how much time had passed, but I must have fallen asleep. One second, I was taking in the relaxation the hot water was providing, then the next, Jackson was at the bathroom door. "Princess? You okay?"

I shook my head a little to wake myself up before I answered, "Yeah, I'm fine. You can come in."

He opened the door and paused when he saw me in the tub. My hair was in a messy ponytail on top of my head and I was leaning back against a towel.