Jackson had imagined their eventual confrontation to be a severe one; however, the sight of jealousy pouring out of her mien was somehow a pretty enjoyable sight. “Well, what do you think?”
“What do I think?” Tiffany was on the verge of an eruption. “‘What do I think?’ I’ve been fuming at the idea for the entire evening, Buckaroo, and here you want me to think about it even more? I ain’t playing this game… You tell me yourself!”
Jackson could not stop himself from laughing. “Oh, Lord, what did that brain of yours cook up, huh? Alright, I admit, I used to swing around a lot, but! My escapade never involved people of my inner circles. Perhaps you should ask Aye about this; she would tell you that I only have relationships with women outside our company. Everyone knows that I’ve never slept with any of the female employees,” he explained. “Sure, Miss Lane is bodacious, and that body is pretty damned sexy, but too bad! She is my secretary, which according to my rul — ”
“Too f**king bad?” He had not finished his sentence before Tiffany launched a kung-fu chop to his face. “You bastard! And don’t crap with me about not involving your inner circle. What the hell was Lynn Brooks’ case, huh?”
Mentioning Lynn darkened his mood significantly. “That was the point. She broke my rule, and terrible things happened.”
Tiffany was still pretty peeved at heart, but watching storm clouds on his face daunted Tiffany from dishing out another playful wallop. “Hmph! Had I known about this, I wouldn’t have joined your goddamned company in the first place. Now it looks like I’m trying to snatch a slab of meat from a den of hungry female colleagues!”
Jackson tilted his body and helped Tiffany with her seatbelt. “Hey now, don’t be mad, alright? I’ll get myself a male secretary tomorrow. ‘Course, I can’t just fire Miss Lane for no reason, so I’ll probably move her to one of our branch companies. Either way,” he said assuringly. “These are small matters. I used to be a womanizer, yes, but the emphasis is on ‘used to.’ From now on, the only one I care about is you. Only you can stir my heart — and Little Jackson down there. How’s that?”
He was so eager to assure her that Tiffany felt a little ashamed for jumping to jealousy at the drop of a hat. Her stance softened significantly. “C-can you please stop connecting everything to sex? You may have the face of a prince, but damn, you have the appetite of a beast!… Which reminds me, I haven’t made you pay for last night! You tore my clothes off and flung them onto the couch, where your beloved mother found one of them just this morning and held it in her hand! Do you know how much I wanted to crawl into the deepest trench on Earth and never come out? Also, why didn’t you wake me up for work, huh? I really thought I was gonna get penalized by my superior!”
“C’mon, Tiffie. Ain’t nothing to be ashamed of. What’s so scary about being caught by my mom?” Jackson replied before planting a kiss on her cheek. “As for work — I’ve already notified your superior on your behalf, so you’re not skipping work, and no one knows you’re late. Don’t worry about your wage! I guarantee you, not a penny has been deducted. Now, let us do some grocery shopping, and I’ll make you something nice for dinner later.”
The revelation that he was going to play chef today turned Tiffany into a different woman. Her mouth watered so much that it was close to dribbling. “Ooh, I want risotto! Scallops! Chateaubriand!…”
Watching her dewy eyes widening in anticipation, Jackson could not help but pinch her cheek. “Alright. Your wish is my command,” he answered dotingly. “I’m yours to command in the day, but you’ll be mine when night falls. The price for a full-course meal is to be my company for the night. No backing out of payment now!”
It was such a bare-faced bait, but Tiffany bit it willingly, anyway. It was what it was — Tiffany was a slave to her man’s cooking.
Despite her reluctance, Tiffany terminated the call and threw herself onto the bed, tossing and turning.
She made such a racket that Lillian started nagging outside her room, “Oy, what are you doing in there, young lady? What, had your engagement been called off? It’s getting late. You should go to sleep right now!
“You’re an adult, Tiffie; you should know what’s good for yourself,” she added. “It will be terrible if you botch one of the biggest moments of your life because of a little sleeplessness tonight. Look, if you must, Mommy’s got Ambien to help.”
Tiffany gave a loud sigh. “Alright, alright, Mom! I don’t need it. I’m going to sleep, promise. You gotta’ go to sleep soon, too. Then tomorrow, you put on your most gorgeous look that the world’s ever seen and make your daughter proud!”
Honestly, Lillian herself was just as enthused as her daughter. Like Tiffany, she could not sleep, either. How could she, when the thought of the West family being so close to becoming their relatives after tomorrow galvanized her to no end?
Lillian used to zealously push her daughter into hooking up with sons of affluent families, but the only thing those efforts brought was a widening gulf between the mother and daughter pair. In the end, she stopped, and now the daughter — on her own accord — ended up making the mother proud by tying her knot with one of the nation’s most promising young lads.
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