Every Rule Has an Exception

Every Rule Has An Exception - 2

"Jo, be careful!"

Jackson hastily pulled Jo by the waist to move her out of a careless bicycle's trajectory. His grasp was firm yet pleasant, and he held her close until all danger passed. And some seconds afterwards. Jo perked up at him.

"My knight in shining armor. You're making yourself irresistible."

He smirked and let her go. Jo settled closer by his side. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I would say I am extremely thoughtful, and my actions will not cause a scandal for you. We could at least take a selfie to celebrate our first almost-date."

As Jo was wiping the front camera of her phone, she could swear that a slight hue of pink colored Jackson's cheeks. Jo fit herself into the frame by leaning against Jackson's shoulder, her hair falling over his arm. He inched closer and displayed a small smile.

"Have I ever told you I absolutely hate the way you're taking casual pictures? You could slay a tiger with the looks you have in all those magazines, but for all others, I swear to God!"

Jackson's mouth widened in awe. "What would you have me do? I can't pose for these kinds of selfies. I want to be authentic in our pictures."

"I'm playing with you!"

Jackson stole the phone from Jo's hand. "No-uh, I'm not letting you get away so easily! If you're talking to me about magazines, then pose for the camera, little lady!"

Jo placed her hands on either side of her hips to accept his demand. The baggy jeans and the oversized leather jacket made her look decisively cute.

"Come on, right over there, the light of that building is gorgeous."

And Jo walked over to the indicated spot. It was the perfect time to practice all those poses she imagined for when she would appear on the Forbes 30 under 30 cover edition. As she played around, Jackson kept encouraging and hyping her up, up until she burst out laughing and she gave up the model act. She put up peace signs and enjoyed the moment to its fullest.

Jackson looked extremely pleased with the results. "I genuinely think that you would have ended all model careers if you went for modelling."

"You're exaggerating."

"I'm not, just look at yourself!"

Jo had to give him credit. Jackson swiped to the final photo: a candid shot of Jo smiling ear to ear, with her peace signs up in the air, and sheer joy filling the frame. He stopped his bickering to admire the picture and quickly airdropped it to his phone.

"What are you doing, Jackson?" Jo laughed and swiped her phone back from his hand.

"I wanted to have a memory with you like this forever."

Jo covered her spontaneous smile with the back of her hand and allowed him to watch her blushing cheeks. "You're a pro at this."

"At what?" Jackson questioned and felt the sudden desire to hold her hand. He allowed it to brush against hers to ask for permission.

"At making me want to kiss you."

Jo welcomed his invitation and rapidly intertwined her fingers with his. Being well aware that that was as much as he could offer in the obscenity of the open world, Jo matched her pace with his to resume the night stroll. Jackson approached Jo to whisper into her ear.

"I'll kiss you when I get you home."

The woman chuckled. "You'd better do tongue and all."

"It's been some time, so bear with me while I warm up."

In a fleeting 45 minutes, Jackson and Jo found themselves standing in front of Jo's porch. The full crown of the surrounding trees offered the two the privacy they needed, even if the front street was otherwise quiet.

"This is a nice change from the craziness of Gangnam," Jo spoke and turned her body to Jackson. From the moment they held hands, Jackson never let go. Jo adored that little gesture as much as she adored the way the moonlight painted his face.

"I like it better this way." He agreed and stepped in to look her in the eyes. "Remember that I told you I didn't really think it past this point? The two of us?"

"Loud and clear actually."

"It's true. You had me at your pinky the moment you winked at me during the concert."

Jo started laughing. "I've heard that before."

"I never doubted you knew what you were doing."

It was the first time in the past hour that Jackson let go of Jo's hand to put the flowers and her purse on the nearby grass. After relieving himself of the objects, he took both her hands in his.

"Look Jo, I don't know how this works for most people. I had a lot of come-and-go situations but all of them ended because of the same thing. I'm always one step ready to fly out in some other country and I don't want to keep you from meeting someone you'd get to love every day."

"Funny," Jo countered with a genuine smile. "I said the same thing to Sam. You and I are the same, Jackson. We're working our assess to chase all these dreams and quite frankly, I think we're going to stop when we're six feet under."

Jackson laughed but could not deny her words. She spoke further and he had the impression that her voice was lower, gentler than before.

"So what? You're not preventing me from doing anything. I am not preventing you from doing anything. But I want to try. It's like you said, if we're meant to live a life, we'll live it. We'll never know unless we try."

Jackson released one of his hands to cusp her cheek. He ran his thumb over the softness of her skin, taking in the sight of her eyes.

"Besides, you don't know if you'll actually like me. I'm quite feisty and stubborn."

"I can work with feisty and stubborn," he chuckled his eyes lowering to the plush of her lips. "I can think of some ways you can put out the fire."

Jo pressed her palm in the firmness of his chest. She noticed his drifting eyes and bit into her lower lip. "You'd better start, then. You said you needed to warm up?"

"Work me out, Jo."

Jackson sealed the remaining distance between their bodies and locked his lips with hers. A frisky kiss, their smiles melting into one another that provoked Jo to giggle. Jackson seized the moment to slide his tongue past her lower lip into an arousing chase. The hand on her cheek pulled her closer into him, and Jo arched her back to meet his demands. When they finally pulled away after what felt like an eternity, Jo observed the insatiable hunger lingering in his gaze.

"My, my, were you lying when you said you hadn't done this in a while?"

Jackson chuckled. "All sincere."

"You're a very good kisser."

Jackson pulled her into an embrace. There was no way he could hide his growing bulge, and he hoped he would cloak the shy expression he was wearing.

Of course Jo was not going to let that slide.

"Do you want to continue this inside?" Her hand was tracing lower from his chest but, to her surprise, Jackson stopped it to entwine their fingers once more.

"As tempting as it sounds, I think we should take this slow."

Jo had expected to feel more offended by his rejection. She was astonished to agree with him completely and fully respect his decision. Jo peeled herself from his chest to look up at him. "That's fair. I would not want to reveal all my aces from the get-go."

Jackson was delighted that him and Jo saw eye to eye on the proposition. "I'm really looking forward to meeting you in your entirety, Jo. Maybe we could start with full names?" He planted a kiss on her forehead and laughed.

Jo closed her eyes and allowed herself to be engulfed in his presence. If laughter was destined to be their strongest pillar, Jo would take it. "Maybe next time, Jackson."