Page 1 of Love You Like This

One

JADE

Fifteen years earlier

“Are you ready yet?” Mom calls from downstairs. “Jeremy just pulled up.”

“Yeah,” I call back down.

I think I am, at least. I give my body one last glance in the mirror propped against the wall. The long, beaded, pale yellow gown skims over my curves and falls to the top of my toes.

Mom presses her hands to her cheeks as I come down the curved staircase of my stepdad’s Bel Air mansion. Her green eyes, an identical match to my own, water as she pulls me into a hug. The scent of Chanel No. 5 wafts around us; I swear she’s worn it every single day of my life.

I extricate myself from her arms so as to avoid it mixing with my own perfume. Before I can go to the door, she whips a wand of lip gloss out and expertly coats my lips. She scans my makeup for a final time while my stepbrother, Xander, walks past us to answer the door.

While Mom smooths my eyebrows, I hear Xander say a tepid hello to my prom date. I bat her hands away and turn my attention to the two guys standing in the grand foyer looking at me. They couldn’t be more different.

Jeremy is broad shouldered and muscular from years of playing lacrosse. His dark hair is perfectly styled. The Tom Ford tuxedo he wears looks like it’s custom and honestly it probably is considering who his parents are. His bowtie is a perfect match to my dress. I feel the perusal of his striking blue eyes as they sweep down my body.

Goosebumps rise on my skin at the attention. He’s arguably one of the most popular guys at our school, and I was shocked when he asked me out a few months ago. I cross the marble floor to him and close my eyes as he envelops me in a tight hug.

“You look hot,” he says into my ear.

My cheeks flush. “Thank you.”

A rude scoff has me turning to meet the hard gaze of my stepbrother. “What’s your problem?”

He rolls his brown eyes and puts his hands up. “Nothing. You two look like a bumblebee though. Off to pollinate a field tonight?”

“That’s the plan,” Jeremy mumbles under his breath with a smirk.

“I wouldn’t be doling out fashion advice if I were you.” I give his baggy black jeans and ripped concert tee a pointed look. The conversation needs to quickly move on from Jeremy’s thinly veiled innuendo about our plans for the after-party. The last thing I need is Xander figuring out my plan to have sex for the first time tonight.

Unfortunately for me, I think that one statement from Jeremy was enough to tip him off because now he’s studying me with a keen eye. “You going to Amanda’s after-party?”

“Yeah.”

“No,” I say at the same time as Jeremy confirms the plan.

“I thought you told Suzette and Dad you were going to the school after prom party.” Xander looks to Mom for backup.

“Just have fun and don’t drink and drive.” Mom shrugs her shoulders, obviously not too worried about what we get up to tonight.

“You’re just going to let her go to a house party with no adult supervision and the biggest druggies at the Academy?” Xander’s eyes widen as he looks at Mom.

“Jade’s an adult. She knows how to make good choices.” Mom smiles at me.

It’s not that my mom doesn’t care or love me. It’s been her and I with a sprinkling of four different stepdads my entire life. She knows I’ve been more responsible than her half the time. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s worked on sets with both of Jeremy’s parents and knows them personally.

After letting her snap a few photos of us, we leave. I open the door to his Porsche and drop my purse onto the floorboard, so I can lift my skirt enough to slide inside. As I pull the door closed, I look back at the house and see a shadow receding from one of the windows. I don’t need to see him to know it was Xander. His resentment a meteor burning through the atmosphere between us.

Jeremy taps his thumb on the leather-covered steering wheel while I buckle the seat belt. He shoots me a grin as he pulls out onto the street and guns the engine. I smile back at him as he slips his hand inside the slit of my skirt. Butterflies dance low in my belly as he runs his fingertips up and down the smooth skin of my inner thigh.

“I can’t wait to take this dress off you tonight, baby.”

The butterflies die an instant death at his use of the pet name. I smile back at him, though, not wanting to ruin the night by reminding him how much that makes me cringe. Literally anything is better than a generic baby.

Prom is being held on the quad at our school. It’s my first year as a student at this academy, but apparently the planning committee always goes all out and has a tent erected along with walls of floral and balloon installations. I’m looking forward to experiencing it.