Million Dollar Christmas Bride - Holly Rayner Page 0,37
they walked toward his Ferrari. He opened the passenger side door for her. She hitched up her skirt as she got in, and he caught a tantalizing peek of the curve of her calf.
When he was settled into his seat and had said hello to the dogs, who were snoozing in the back, he started up the car. “Hey, how about taking a drive before I drop you off at your car? I could take you out to my old childhood home…”
“The house behind this whole thing?” Bianca said, looking over at him. “Of course I want to see it! Maybe then I’ll understand what all the fuss is about. But will your mom be upset if we stop by unannounced?”
Jackson accelerated as he merged with oncoming traffic. Then he depressed his blinker, signaling a right turn.
Bianca went on. “I only met her once, but she didn’t strike me as the type to enjoy unexpected visits.”
Jackson steered right, onto the interstate’s onramp. “Actually, I have something else in mind,” he said. “We’ll be able to see the house, but we won’t intrude on my mom.”
Twenty minutes later, he took another right, this time exiting the highway. The paved roads he steered down became narrower as he drove, and soon he saw the turnoff that used to be so well-known to him. “Here it is,” he said, his voice hushed. The road curved dramatically and swept up and to the left.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bianca grip the door for support as the road banked around the bend. He slowed his speed. There was no need to drive at the speed limit. He wasn’t in a rush, and they were the only car on the road.
Bianca relaxed and rolled down her window. She breathed in the night air, and he saw her smile. “It smells nice out here,” she said. “No more of that smog from the city.”
“Isn’t it wild?” Jackson said with a grin. “The land I grew up on is only twenty miles from the Memphis border, but it’s elevated. Smog settles into valleys. Out here, we’re up high enough to escape it.”
“I love it,” Bianca said. “The sky looks different. And these trees! They look ancient.”
“Just wait until we get to the top of this rise,” Jackson said. “The view is incredible. There’s a wildlife preserve adjacent to the property, with this massive wetland area and all kinds of animals. Maybe we’ll catch sight of something.”
When they finally reached the pinnacle of the winding road, he pulled off onto the overlook he’d had in mind. It was a place he used to visit in high school, back when he’d first obtained his license and was in love with the freedom of cruising around on his own.
“I used to park here when I wanted to get away,” he told Bianca, once the car was still.
He’d rolled down his window a crack to let in the sounds of the night. An owl hooted in the distance; the trees and grasses were alive with buzzing and chirping insects. The sounds hummed and thrummed through his body, like a familiar melody from his childhood.
“Dad was pretty strict about my grades, and once I hit my junior year, he had me work ten hours a week at his office on top of everything else. Sometimes I couldn’t stand the pressure. This was my escape.”
“I can see why,” Bianca said. She looked out through her window. “This is beautiful. I had no idea that it was like this out here. So peaceful. So quiet.”
Jackson gestured in front of him, to a section of the valley below. “See that rooftop down there? That’s the house.”
“Where?” Bianca asked, peering out into the darkness.
Jackson shifted in his seat, so he could see the layout of the valley floor from her perspective. Then he pointed again. “Right there. That silvery patch of moonlight is the pond out in the backyard.”
He breathed in the scent of Bianca’s shampoo. She was so close that he could feel the heat emanating from her body. The soft cashmere blend of her sweater brushed against his hand.
“Yes, I see it,” Bianca said happily. She was still peering out into the darkness. “Jackson, it’s beautiful. Not just the house, but everything out here. I can see why you love it so much. Why you don’t want to lose it.”
She turned, and her face was only inches from his.
Words tumbled from his lips before he could stop them. “Bianca, you’re beautiful,”