"Okay, ladies, clothes off and bathing suits on!"

Danielle, Karma, and I stared at the very large, very random, hot tub in Lanie's backyard.

"Where the hell did this come from?" I asked my best friend.

"Yeah," Danielle interjected, "and when? This wasn't here a few days ago."

"It looks expensive," Karma muttered.

Lanie put her hands on her hips. "What's with all the negativity? We need this. It's been a rough few days for everyone, and we need some girl time. Some good, old-fashioned girl time."

The three of us continued to stare at the ginormous hot tub. It had been so long since I'd been in a hot tub. The last time was when we were in Hawaii. When Jackson and I were seeing each other in secret and my mother had slapped me across the face. Because I wouldn't bend to her will and quit my job as a teacher.

"Hey, princess."

My eyes slid closed at the sound of his voice. I'd been hoping to hear from him this afternoon. So many emotions rolled over me as I opened my eyes to look at him.

"Hey."

He was still in his swim trunks, but he had a shirt on now also. He sat across from me and let his legs dangle on the hot water. "What are you doing out here?"

"I needed some air. You?"

"Same. And I was...worried. About you. When you didn't come back earlier."

"I'm fine," I lied, even though I knew he saw right through me.

"You aren't fine, Harper. I wanted to come to your room, or at least text you to see if—"

"Why didn't you?" The question was out before I could stop myself. The truth was, when I was laying in my bed crying my eyes out, all I wanted was to seek comfort from this man.

"I didn't know if you wanted me to. Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"

I gave him a half shrug. "What good would it do? It won't change anything."

"You wouldn't have to bear it alone."

I thought about what he said for a minute. Besides Lanie, he was the only one I felt comfortable talking to about this stuff. He was one of the few people who saw this whole arranged marriage thing as a fucking mistake.

"We can't talk here," I said regretfully.

"Meet me on the beach," he whispered as he got to his feet.

I would never forget what happened when we talked to on the beach that night. It was when I finally agreed to his offer about sleeping only with each other. It was the decision that changed my life forever.

Jackson was waiting for me by the surf. As if he sensed my presence, he turned to look at me.

I frowned when I noticed his expression went from concerned to angry. "What is it?" I asked.

He walked up to me, gripping my chin gently to tilt my head to the side. "Who did this?"

The anger in his voice surprised me. I turned my face away—too ashamed by what my mom had done.

"Tell me, Harper."

"My mother."

He cursed under his breath and ran his hand over his face. "Your mother? She struck you? Why?"

I gave him a sad smile. "Why do you think, Jackson? She knows I don't want to get married. She's saying that, by bringing my friends and wanting to have my bachelorette party, that I'm trying to plot some way to ruin it. Never mind the fact that she's demanding that I quit my job and work for your father."

"That doesn't give her the right to fucking hit you."

He took great care when he cupped my face with his hands. He wiped my tears away with his thumbs. "No one is worth your tears, princess. No one."

I wrapped my arms around him and sighed into his chest. I allowed myself to consume the comfort he was offering. This...this is what I wanted earlier. This is what I needed.

"I'm sorry for what I did," he said quietly.

I pulled away with a frown. I had no idea why he was apologizing. "For what?"

He ran his hand over the back of his neck. "Your friend..."

"Danielle?" My heart sped up a little at the possibility of... "Did you sleep with her?"

"No, I didn't," he answered immediately. "I'm sorry for what happened at the pool."

I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was telling the truth. "Jackson, we were both trying to make each other jealous. You have nothing to apologize for."

He let out a short laugh. "I got so worked up, you had me almost punching my brother in the face."

I giggled. "Really?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Princess, two more minutes of seeing your tongue down my brother's throat and I would have thrown you over my shoulder and taken you to my room. Sod anyone who would have seen."

I bit my lip and smiled. I loved this side of him. The possessive side of him that made my body hot and aching. "Oh, would you have?"

"You know what you do to me." His voice was deep and throaty, making me shiver.

Truth was, besides lust and passion, I didn't know what I did to him. Not really. "What do I do to you?"

He closed the short distance between us and traced the strings of my bikini with his finger. "I've never met someone like you. You're witty and funny. You've definitely got a mouth on you."

I couldn't hold back my laugh as he continued, "If I'm being honest, I've never gotten jealous over a girl before."

He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. It started out slow at first. Then when I traced my tongue along the seam of his lips, he groaned and opened his mouth to me. My hands gripped his waist as the kiss turned heated.

He trailed a line of kisses to my neck and I tilted my head to give him better access. "Jackson?"

"Hm?"

"I have an answer to your offer."

He pulled away and looked in my eyes. "And?"

I couldn't hold back my smile. "Yes."

He let out a long breath—like he had been holding it in for the past two weeks. "Its about fucking time, princess..."

"Harp? Harp, you coming?"

I turned towards Lanie. She was watching me closely with a frown. "Yeah. I'll go change." 

I went into Lanie's guest bedroom—formally Nate's bedroom—and changed into the bathing suit Lanie had bought for me. Apparently, she put a lot of thought into tonight and bought bathing suits for all of us. I wasn't complaining. I needed a girl's night. After the misunderstanding at Down the Rabbit Hole with Jackson and Danielle's cousin, I'd been feeling a little crazed lately. 

I hadn't even told the rest of the girls what happened. Danielle tried urging me to confide in Lanie and Karma, but I made her promise not to say anything. She was also the only one who knew about my upcoming date night with Jackson. Okay, maybe it wasn't a date night. Hookup? Booty-call? Romp in the sheets? Breakup-sex? I didn't fucking know. I just knew that nothing was going to keep me from see Jackson on Friday.  

"Harp, you almost ready?"

I jumped when I heard Lanie's concerned tone. "Yeah. Coming!" If she came in here and saw Mt expression, she would know I was hiding something. I sat my clothes on the bed next to my purse and rushed to the door.

"There she is!" Lanie took me by the hand and led me to the kitchen. "The girls are already in there. It's time for margaritas! Help me bring them outside."

I followed my best friend to the kitchen and immediately spotted the four glasses of margaritas with umbrellas in them on the counter. "These look delicious, Lanie."

"Thanks, Harp." Lanie had a cheerful smile on her face as she passed me two of the margs. "I thought this would be a good time for us girls to relax in the hot tub while the boys are enjoying their manly time together."

I really hoped Lanie didn't notice how my hands shook when I reached for the drinks. "The boys? All four of them?" 

Lanie started headed towards the back door. "Yeah. Ayden found coverage for the bar and I thought it would be good for everyone to spend some time together. Well," she glanced over her shoulder at me, "you know, boys with the boys and girls with the girls." Her face softened and she lowered her voice. "After everything that happened with Karma, I thought she could use it." 

Wait... "You know? About what happened with her?" 

Lanie arched a brow. "Honey, I'm Lanie Jenkins. Soon-to-be Sawyer. What don't I know?"

"That's true," I laughed and followed Lanie outside. We made our way across her porch until we got to the large hot tub. Lanie handed Karma her drink, and I handed Danielle hers. 

I climbed into the hot tub and, I had to say, the hot water felt amazing. I sat on the little step between Karma and Lanie. Danielle was sitting on the side of the hot tub with just her legs and feet in the water. 

"So," Lanie said and looked to each of us, "it's girl time. Let's start gossiping, ladies."