Merged And Married

Episode Five

Her grandfather was right. A table at Jethro's costs a f*****g fortune. She couldn't turn back now, though. Hell, she didn't want to. She pulls out her card and hands it to the cashier. A few minutes later, she was being led to her table. It wasn't the same place as the other day when she'd been sitting with Fergman. Part of her thinks she would've thrown a giant fit if it was.

She settles into the table and makes her order. Soon the waiter leaves with her notepad and Jackie is left to her thoughts. She'd just left the office and decided to skip the short drive home and take the scenic route instead. Her parents were home with her grandfather, and she knows exactly what that means. Endless talk about her upcoming wedding with Ethan. It still feels unreal, like they weren't listening to her for some reason. She feels like she'd been screaming into a black hole.

She wasn't going to marry Ethan. No one's going to make her. Not even Frederick.

Her mind goes to the first meeting she had with Ethan after the news was dropped on her.

"What, you think I want to marry you either? of course not." Ethan had voiced out when she instantly showed her disagreement to the whole thing. "I don't care how much it elevates both companies, we're not compatible with each other. We both know that."

"This seat taken?" A deep and slightly friendly voice calls, jolting Jackie out of her reverie.

A tall man in a leather coat that barely reached the top of his knee is looking down on her, a light smirk on his face.

"Well, I just paid thousands of dollars for it, so I'd say it's taken." Jackie replies, her voice monotonous.

The smirk on the man's face vanishes and an apologetic expression replaces it. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I don't mean to—"

"It's fine." Jackie repeats, breaking into a smile. "You can take a seat."

"Cool." The man replies, pulling out the chair right in front of Jackie. "I'm Aiden."

"Jackie. It's nice to meet you." Jackie replies.

Soon, they got started with their conversation. Aiden is smooth, and she'll give him that. He knows how to hold a conversation, he's incredibly charming and looks like a model turned movie star. His square had the perfect amount of stubble. His hair instantly falls back into place whenever he runs his hands through them. It's insane."

"What do you say we get out of here after dinner?" Aiden asks, thirty minutes into their conversations about everything and nothing at the same time.

A warm and approving smile creeps up on Jackie's face.

***************

Jackie pushes him against the door and reaches for the key; before he can grab her and turn her around, she twists the key and hears the subtle click sound indicating the door is locked. Aiden's hands snakes up her white shirt, grazing her bra. She grabs his coat and pulls it off of him like a layer of onion. He looks well-built. She could tell from the restaurant that he was fit, she didn't know just how much and it pleased her, what she saw.

"You wanna take a picture?" Aiden comments after noticing she'd paused for almost a minute.

Jackie smiles, resumes the heated kiss and reaches for his belt buckle. In one swift move, she yanks it off and pulls Aiden away from the door and towards the queen-sized bed in the hotel room. Aiden gently undoes her buttons and takes her shirt off, revealing her dark and lacy inner lingerie.

"Oh my God, you're so hot." Aiden whispers, staring at her as she reaches for her pants and takes it off.

Jackie stifles a smile. She'd always been one who took great care of her body and her skin so she received the compliment all the time. Still, it meant a lot coming from this complete stranger she is about to sleep with.

"Thanks." She says.

"No, I mean…. Yeah, you're hot, I'm not blind. But I meant it literally. Your skin is way too warm. You think we should turn up the AC?" Aiden asks.

Jackie nods. "Why not?"

Soon after the AC had been turned up, they resume their kiss, with Jackie taking off Aiden's pants, revealing his dark boxer briefs. She lowers her hands in his briefs and hears a jagged exhale escape Aiden's mouth.

"How are your hands cold?" He asks.

Jackie smiles. Yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun.

*************"*

Jackie wakes up to the shrill, loud noise coming from her phone. At first, she looks around her bedside, wondering if she'd dropped it somewhere, but soon realizes where the noise is coming from. Her pants, which were at the foot of the bed, a few feet away from her. Aiden is on the other side, snoring gently. She didn't want to wake him and at this rate, her phone will. She steps off the bed and tiptoes to her pants to pull out her phone. The cold blast of the air conditioning hit her bare skin like ice on leather, so she hurries back to the bed, and the warmth of the heavy bed sheets.

Her phone rings again. It's her mother.

"Mom?" Jackie calls in a low voice, placing her phone on her ear.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been calling you non-stop."

"I'm sorry I had a thing. What's up?"

A slight pause ensues between them.

"It's your grandfather." Jackie's mother finally continues, the shakiness in her voice evident.

"What? What happened to him?" Jackie asks, feeling her heart skip a beat.

"He had an accident." her mother announces. Jackie feels her ears still at that moment, which is surprising because she still manages to hear what her mother says next.

"You need to get to the hospital now. The doctors say he may not make it."