Layover (Open Skies #1) - Becca Jameson Page 0,35
his insistence that she would not date other men. She understood. Perfectly. Of course, he wouldn’t want her to date other people. The two of them had skipped casual and gone straight to extremely intimate.
But Libby had never had to juggle a secret boyfriend against her mother’s constant string of blind dates. This situation was new, and it made Libby uncomfortable.
On top of everything else, Libby knew she’d pissed Jason off with her refusal to confront her mother. He didn’t like it. They’d ridden to the restaurant mostly in silence. It wasn’t until he parked and came around to open her door that he met her gaze again and smiled. His ire was gone. “You look amazing, by the way. I don’t think I told you that.”
Her cheeks heated. “Thank you. You look damn good yourself.” He did. He was wearing black slacks and a black button-down shirt. The sleeves were rolled up. He’d shaved recently, and he smelled fantastic.
He filled the entire car door with his frame while he waited for her to remove her seatbelt, and then his hand landed on her thigh. Her breath hitched when he slid his fingers under her dress and eased them up between her legs. When he reached her sex, he nudged her thighs apart and stroked through her folds. “Good girl.” He removed his hand far too soon and then sucked her arousal from his fingers.
She watched him, her heart racing at how damn hot this was. Fuck dinner. She would rather just go back to his place and have more wild kinky sex. They were good at that. So far, she couldn’t be sure how good they were at dating. After the way he’d just teased her, and considering the promising look in his eyes, she imagined she would be squirming in her seat all through dinner.
Jason stepped back, offering her no assistance exiting his SUV, which earned him brownie points. The fact that he set his hand on the small of her back on the way into the restaurant pleased her even more.
After they were seated and had placed their order, he finally seemed to relax.
Libby blew out a breath. “I’m sorry I let my mother get to me earlier. I know it frustrates you.” That much was obvious.
Jason sighed. “I’m confused is all. Why do you let your mother bother you so much? You’re obviously self-sufficient and in control in most other aspects of your life. Why let her push you around?”
Libby nodded as she glanced down at the table, trying to figure out how to answer the burning question she herself didn’t fully understand. “She’s always been bossy. My entire life. She’s a matriarch. Even my father lets her run the show. She dictated a lot of what everyone in the house did while I was growing up. At some point, I knew I wanted something different for myself when I moved out on my own.”
“And did you accomplish that?”
“Yes. I worked my ass off to put myself through college even though I had no idea at the time what I wanted to do with my life. I coveted that degree mostly because my mother thought it was frivolous and unnecessary. She refused to pay for it.”
Jason frowned. “You paid for everything on your own?”
“Mostly. My father slipped me money as often as he could, but I worked a lot of hours waiting tables to cover most of my expenses. I’m proud of my accomplishment, and I have a nice diploma from UT Dallas to show for it, but along the way, I met Christa and Destiny through mutual friends and grew more interested in becoming a flight attendant.”
“Nothing wrong with that. I hear it’s decent money.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay. More importantly, it allows me to travel a lot. I get to see so many places, and being out of town often keeps my mother off my back.”
The waitress arrived with their meals. After she wandered away, Jason spoke again. “You can’t live your entire life letting her dictate your every move.” His expression was one of concern, probably more for himself than her. Understandable. What did it say about her that she let her mother get under her skin?
“I know,” she murmured. “Christa tells me the same thing often. And I get it. I’m just not ready to confront her.”
“Look, I’m trying to understand. Not going to lie; it bothers me. On the other hand, we haven’t been seeing each other very long. If I’m reading