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Jackson didn’t see hat I’, if you want people to think you’ve been living under a bridge"
He crossed his arnore how that e
He said, "Youmy hands on my hips, I examined his untucked T-shirt, wrinkled jeans, and scuffed boots, his unshaven jaw, and his hair that appeared to have last seen a comb when he walked by one that had fallen out of someone’s pocket into the street
I said, "Lord knows I’ else, but your guests deserve the best version of you, Mr Boudreaux I’ it could have melted a weaker woman But after the past few days I’d had, I was in an ornerymood, because I’d recently decided life was too short to beat around the bush
Plus, his check had already cleared the bank
"Oh, really?" said Jackson, his voice acidic
"Yes, really" We stared at each other It ination, but it felt like the terees
He snapped, "So ould you recommend I wear, then?"
"Do you own a suit?"
His expression turned even darker "I hate suits"
"But do you have one?"
When he didn’t answer and just stood there glaring at h the ceiling and land on my head, I said, "That’s what you should wear With a tie" I looked at his boots "And dress shoes"
He ran a hand over his face--probably deciding whether he was going to pick up the toaster from the counter and throw it at me--and I added, "Also, a shave wouldn’t kill you"
His looked at e new expression "You don’t like beards"
He said it flatly It wasn’t a question
"Beards are fine But that thing carpeting your jaw? Honestly, I’ve seen tidier jungles"
For aof expletives so loud it would deafennot to smile
He said, "You’re in fine foriven naed to controldown at the schedule I still held in ht It’s just" I cleared h feeeks"
There was silence for a ruff and growly as a bear
I glanced up at hi atelse a little hotter
My heart decided it was time to run a sprint It took off like a jackrabbit chased by a pack of hounds I said, "Just some personal stuff My mother"
I trailed off, dazed for a moment by his eyes I hadn’t noticed before, but they weren’t only blue He had tiny flecks of green and gold around his irises, war those steely-blue depths