Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jared was of the opinion that the truth about Kylie's dad being revealed was the best thing to ever happen to him. There was actually quite a simple basis for this idea: Mr. Lahote was doing everything he could to make up for the time he'd missed with his daughter and that meant less time Kim had to watch Kylie, because the little girl now spent half the time her mom was at work with her dad. And Jared thought not having Kylie around all the time was great.
The kid was cute, and actually pretty funny, don't get him wrong. But he really liked being able to spend so much time with just his amazing imprint.
Life was basically perfect, in Jared's opinion.
Or, rather, almost perfect. Because as he spent more time with Kim and without Kylie, he began to recognize the fatal flaw in their relationship. Ever since the mess with Sam and Emily, ever since Kylie broke her leg and had to come home, ever since Jared told Kim everything about wolves and imprinting and asked her to be his girlfriend, they hadn't gone on a single date. Sure, they were together almost all the time—just the two of them, with Kylie, with the pack, sometimes even for family dinners, basically any time Jared wasn't patrolling. But their last official date was technically when Jared stood Kim up to be with Emily in the hospital more than a month ago.
In Jared's opinion, this was the very opposite of perfect.
But that was okay. Because now that he knew there was a problem, he had a plan to fix it…
"Kim," Jared hissed, attempting to get her attention and failing horribly when she didn't look up. Good thing he had a back-up plan. Raising his hand swiftly, he tapped lightly three times on the glass separating him from his imprint.
The results were immediate. Kim jumped in surprise at the unexpected noise, looking up at the window with a start as the book she'd been immersed in went flying from her hands. There was a moment of remorse on Jared's part as Kim's expression was a mix of shock and fright. But then a smile crossed her face as she recognized the shadow at her window as Jared, causing him to let out a relieved sigh—scaring her had been the exact opposite of his intentions, after all.
Scrambling to get off her bed, Kim was at the window in a matter of seconds.
"Hey," She greeted him softly after opening her window, likely keeping her voice down because the other two occupants of the house were sleeping, as most normal people would be at midnight. "What are you doing here?"
"It's been three whole hours. I missed you," Jared replied instantly. Shouldn't that be obvious?
Kim smiled, even as her cheeks grew pink. God, he hoped her tendency to blush never went away.
"You could have called me," She pointed out, leaning casually against the window frame.
"This is true," Jared acquiesced. "But I can't do this over the phone."
He grabbed her hand and pulled her as close to him as the wall of the house separating them would allow. His free hand slid up to cup her neck as he pressed his lips firmly to hers. Perfection. Everything about this girl was perfection.
When the need for oxygen became too great and Jared finally allowed a few inches of separation between their faces, he was pleased to see her cheeks were now stained a deep red. Complete and utter perfection.
"I agree, phone calls are the worst," Kim murmured, her breathlessness giving Jared an even deeper sense of satisfaction. He loved absolutely everything about this girl.
"Do you want to come in?" Kim asked then, pulling just a fraction further away from him with a hopeful expression on her face. "Mom and Kylie are both sleeping, so they won't know. And…and you can even stay the rest of the night, if-if you want."
Even as she hesitated, her expression remained hopeful. Damn, she made it so hard not to resist and just give in to whatever she asked of him.
"I can't," Jared admitted reluctantly. "I'm potentially actually in the middle of patrol right now."
And to Jared's immense relief Kim grinned at him rather than look disappointed.
"Slacker," She accused, leaning closer to him and ghosting a kiss across his lips.
"Only for you," He replied easily, capturing her lips in another heart-stopping kiss.
When they separated again, Kim was smiling up at him.
"So what's the real reason you're here right now?" She questioned.
Jared narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "Clearly I'm not doing my job right if I haven't yet convinced you that I'm here because I miss you."
"Oh, I'm definitely convinced," Kim reassured him. "I'm just not convinced you'd risk Sam's wrath just to skip out on patrol to come…see me."
"Although it's true that stick hasn't been quite so far up his ass ever since Emily moved in with him, you're probably right," Jared admitted. "If he knew I was here, he'd probably be pissed. Luckily, though, I'm here basically because Paul forced me to come see you after being stuck in my head for the past hour; he wanted a break. So Sam can't argue with that…much."
"Thinking about me non-stop again?"
"Always," Jared stated. "But that's a good thing, because tonight I finally realized how awful of a boyfriend I am."
A frown immediately marred Kim's features. "What? No, you're not! Why would you ever think that?"
"It's like this," Jared began slowly, "We basically haven't gone out since our disastrous fifth date. How am I supposed to make everyone jealous of me if I never take you out and show you off?"
"You're ridiculous," Kim muttered, her blush returning as she rolled her eyes at him.
"Ridiculous and yet somehow you know you want to agree with me," Jared said. "So, anyway, clearly this is a mistake that needs to be rectified as soon as possible. And that brings me to the second reason why I'm here."
Kim merely quirked an eyebrow at him; he could easily read her amused expression.
"Tomorrow I am taking you out on the best date ever," He announced. Then he rapidly back-tracked. "Well actually, putting it like that is getting us off to a bad start. What I meant to say is, Kim—wonderful, amazing Kim, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a date tomorrow evening? Disclaimer: it will quite potentially be the best date ever."
As expected, Kim giggled in response.
"I'd love to," She told him.
"Awesome," Jared replied happily. "I'll pick you up at five."
Jared knocked on Kim's front door promptly at five p.m. the next day. The door was yanked open so quickly in response that he didn't even have time to fully lower his hand. That was okay, though, because Kim was the one standing in the doorway, and she was a vision. Jared needed to find more occasions to get Kim into a dress; she was even more beautiful today than she was last night lounging in her pajamas. Well, really he was pretty sure that she just became more beautiful every time he saw her, but he digressed.
"When you said you would pick me up at five," Kim began immediately, "I didn't know that meant we wouldn't see each other at all the rest of the day."
"It's bad luck to see you before our date," Jared stated cheerfully.
"That's only for weddings," Kim deadpanned, though he could tell she was amused. Success.
"Oh well, too late now," Jared shrugged carelessly. "You look nice, by the way. Well, actually, 'nice' doesn't even begin to cover it. You look completely gorgeous. Of course, I might be biased because I basically think that every single time I see you—not that it isn't true every time! Honestly, sometimes I think you're so pretty that I wish I could just stare at you all day long and—"
"Jared, are you nervous?" Kim interrupted suddenly, a smile on her lips and that adorable blush going strong on her cheeks.
"Quite possibly," Jared nodded rapidly. And he really was. It had been so long since he took Kim out. What if he forgot how to impress her? What is she was completely bored? What if she hated it?
Kim rolled her eyes at him in response. "I'm sure whatever you have planned will be great, Jare. You don't need to panic quite so much."
"So there still needs to be some panic?" Jared verified.
"Of course," Kim said simply, stepping out onto the porch and pulling the door closed behind herself. "I can't make things too easy for you."
From there, Jared escorted Kim down the steps and to the car, holding out a hand to help her step up into the truck (and perhaps letting his gaze linger a bit on all of the leg her dress showed off).
"So where are we headed?" Kim asked once Jared was seated beside her, the customary arm thrown over her shoulders.
"You'll see when we get there," Jared said, purposefully putting an air of mystery into his tone.
Kim sighed heavily. "Must everything be a surprise with you?"
Jared merely grinned. "It's only a surprise until we get there."
"And how long will that be?" Kim asked.
"Oh, we're basically here now," Jared told her, pulling the car to a stop.
"Where—" Kim turned to look out the window. "This is First Beach. Jared, we could have walked here; we didn't need to drive such a short distance."
"I'm just keeping all my bases covered," Jared smirked at Kim's confused expression. He elaborated, "I'd say a good date ends with a nice make-out session in the back of the car. We can't do that if I don't have it with me."
"You're ridiculous," Kim rolled her eyes at him, but she couldn't hide her grin.
"I know," Jared replied cheekily. "Someone may have mentioned that to me once or twice before." He opened the car door and gently tugged Kim out after him. "C'mon, let's go."
At this time of day, the beach was already basically deserted, but Jared still led Kim across the sand on a good five minute walk before they reach the stretch of sand that he had in mind. Reaching behind some nearby driftwood, Jared produced the picnic basket he'd stashed there before going to pick Kim up.
"Are we having a picnic?" Kim's face lit up as she spoke. "I love picnics!"
Jared smiled. He should have known Kim would like whatever he planned; she always got excited over the little things he did for her. It was just one of the many things he loved about her.
Once he spread the blanket on the sand and they settled down on it next to each other, Jared began pulling containers of food out of the picnic basket.
"Hey, Jared?" Jared's head immediately shot up at the tentative tone in Kim's voice. Why did she suddenly sound worried?!
"What is it?" He questioned, his eyes automatically scanning her for injury and then, upon finding none had appeared in the five seconds he hadn't been looking at her, began scanning the area for any potential threats even though all he could smell was the ocean and Kim's delicious scent.
"It's just…" Kim bit her lip, then continued on sheepishly, "You didn't make all of this food…did you?"
Jared couldn't help the bark of laughter that he let out at her question, relaxing immediately. That was definitely a valid concern for her to have; he couldn't cook anything to save his life. It was a fact Kim was well aware of, and also something he frequently found to be quite unfortunate due to his wolf-sized appetite.
"No, I didn't."
Kim narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously then.
"Did you sweet-talk Emily into making this food for you, then?"
"Surprisingly, no—though the thought did cross my mind," he admitted. "It was actually a bribe from my mom when she found out what I was planning, so that I would invite you over for dinner sometime soon so she can see you again."
"I love your mom."
"I had a feeling you were going to say that," Jared sighed theatrically. "Now, let's eat."
Kim let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like 'one-track mind' but Jared chose to ignore her, because, hey, it was true. Food was definitely his favorite thing, second only to Kim, of course.
When they each had a plate of food in their laps and had begun eating, Jared turned to face Kim.
"So," he began slowly, "I have a confession to make."
"Oh?" Kim questioned shortly, one eyebrow arched in clear curiosity.
"I lied to you last night," Jared stated. Then, when her eyes widened in surprise, he continued rapidly, "Well maybe 'lied' isn't necessarily the right word for it. But I did tell you something that was completely true and then I went and did the exact opposite of what I told you I would."
"I'm pretty sure I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Kim admitted.
"I told you that part of the reason I wanted to take you out was so that I could show you off," Jared told her, "And clearly we are currently in the exact opposite of a public place—"
"First Beach is a public place," Kim cut him off immediately.
"True, but I chose it because I knew it would be secluded right now," Jared admitted. "Because even though I like showing you off, I really think having you all to myself is even better."
Kim smiled at him. "You are definitely the sweetest boyfriend ever."
"Sweet? Really?" Jared made a face.
"Really," Kim stated firmly. "You're stuck with it this time. Besides, I thought there wasn't anyone here but us right now; that means no one around to overhear me call you my completely sweet and adorable boyfriend, which you definitely are no matter how much you protest.
And Jared found himself unable to argue with her further when she paired her words with a simple kiss on his cheek. He was so head over heels for this girl, it wasn't even funny.
"And, while we're on the subject of confessions, maybe there's something I should tell you," Kim bit her lip when she finished speaking, her playful expression instantly reassuring Jared that this was definitely going to be the good kind of confession.
"Oh?" He questioned, parroting her exactly.
"I went shopping this morning," Kim told him.
"Okay…" Jared wasn't quite sure what exactly she was trying to tell him, although he was always happy to hear about her day when they weren't together for it.
"You're adorably clueless, too," Kim informed him.
"Thanks…I think."
"Anyway, mom had the morning off and Mr. Lahote wasn't picking Kylie up until later, so she decided we should go shopping in Port Angeles once I told her you and I had a date tonight. And so I decided…" She trailed off suddenly, apparently choosing that moment to let her embarrassment overcome her briefly as her cheeks turned pink.
Jared was patient, though. He would wait forever if Kim said she had something to tell him.
"I decided," She continued finally, "To buy this dress," She spread a hand over the fabric draped across her lap in a nervous fashion, "Because…because I noticed how much you like it when I wear dresses."
The end of her sentence came out all in a rush, but Jared understood her perfectly. He grinned at her and set his late to the side, taking hers from her hands and doing the same. And then, in a flash, he pounced so that Kim was lying across half the blanket on her back and Jared was hovering above her.
"I think you're the sweetest girlfriend ever," he announced, punctuating each word with alternating kisses to her cheeks, her forehead, her nose, and finally her lips. "Actually, you're the best girlfriend ever."
"This doesn't mean I'm going to start wearing dresses all the time," She warned him breathlessly, smiling slightly as she looked up at him.
"I don't need all the time," Jared told her resolutely. "Especially since I definitely have right now."