Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(10)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Regardless of the circumstances, I loved him and I knew he loved me.

Still, I knew my announcement to my parents wouldn’t escape being greeted with anger and disappointment.

No doubt, my parents would be feeling all of it. Anger at the situation. Disappointment in me for what could only be construed as irresponsibility.

But I knew most of the anger would be directed at Jared.

My father kept me on a pedestal, and to him, I’d always been in the white. Without blame. Pure. Innocent in his mind, which only saw right and wrong.

And I had no doubt that he would hold Jared in the wrong.

Now that Jared was back, I was counting on time proving my father wrong.

And tomorrow Jared and I had the chance to begin making this right.

“I’m going to spend it with my family,” I said, intention seeping into my tone.

Grief flashed across Jared’s face.

A knot of pain twisted in my stomach. Pain for him. I always promised if he let me bear some of his burden, I would. I hoped I was bearing some of it now.

Taking a chance, I took a small step forward. “You’re that now, you know.” My voice dropped to a whisper with the declaration, and both my hands cinched tightly in his shirt as I drew him closer to me. “My family. Come with me tomorrow. Share it with me.”

His throat bobbed heavily when he swallowed. “They know?”

I barely shook my head, my nose so close to his they brushed. I clung to him a little tighter. “I planned on telling them I’m pregnant tomorrow.” Emotion pushed at my chest. “I want you to be there, Jared, for you to stand beside me when I do.”

“What about me? Do they even know about me? About us?”

The words lodged at the base of my throat. I forced them around the lump. “Just my mom. I finally told her about us just this last Saturday.”

Jared jerked his head away, and he gripped the back of his neck as he turned his attention to the sky. “Goddamn it.” It came as a wheeze, as fear and another challenge that we had to conquer. He dropped his gaze back to me. “This is all wrong, Aly. I did this all wrong.”

“What are you talking about?”

Humorless laughter rolled from him, and he lifted his mouth in a sneer. One directed at himself. “It’s backward, Aly. Fucking backward. Because I should have stayed and told them how I feel about you. I should have told them I love you, rather than showing up with your dad knowing nothing about us and announcing to them I got you pregnant. I’m sure that’s going to go over really f**king well.”

Bitterness bled, and he flung his arms out to the side. Disgust poured from him. “I mean, f**k . . . look at me.”

I cupped his face, taking in the sorrow that haunted the warmth I saw so vividly in his eyes.

“Hey . . . don’t do this, okay? What matters is what I see when I look at you and what you see when you look at me. Don’t you understand that? I know it’s going to be rough telling my parents . . . for both of us.”

For Jared, just going back to the old neighborhood would be a trial. Three months ago when Jared had left me and run to Vegas, all it’d taken was seeing my mother. She’d shown up at my apartment, unannounced, and just her being there had thrown him over the edge, broken down the walls he hid behind, and brought the words he kept buried inside himself flooding from his mouth.

And all of it had sent him running out my door.

It was like everything had been building and my mother was the boiling point.

I wasn’t fool enough to believe any of this would be easy for him.

But I knew it was something we had to do if we were going to make it, if Jared and I were to have a chance to make a life out of the wreckage of his past.

“I need you to be there with me, Jared. Even if you don’t say a word, your presence will say everything.”

Dropping his forehead to mine, his lids slipped closed, and his hands dug into my hips. He tugged me closer. “I never wanted to ruin you.” I could barely make out the words, he uttered them so low. Still, I felt them all the way to my soul.

“You really believe that?” Hurt bled into my incredulous words. “That you ruined me? Do you know the joy you’ve brought me? I never thought I’d find love, Jared . . . because my heart always belonged to you. And even though it broke me when you were away, never once did I regret us.”

A breath of surrender flowed from him. He pulled me fully into his arms, buried his face in my neck. He inhaled and held me closer. “I just want to make you happy, baby. Do right by you.” His hand went to my stomach. His palm trembled there. “Do right by this.”

“You already have,” I promised.

He chuckled a little. The storm from moments before passed, and the traces of joy I’d witnessed so often in Jared’s expression made a reappearance on his face. “At least I got my job back.”

“Really?”

“Went to see my old boss before I came over here today. I figured he was going to tell me to take a hike, but I walked through his door and he said he’d never been so happy to see anyone in his life. He was in a bind, needed me. He hooked me up with something similar to what I was doing back in Jersey. I’ll be the supervisor at a few of the construction sites, plus he wants me to do some custom carving, trims and designs. I start back on Monday.”

Weaving my fingers through his, I tucked our connection between our chests. “See . . . we’re going to make this work.”

He nodded and kissed my nose. “Yeah. We are.” He smiled. “Come on, let’s get you home.”

“’Kay.” I stepped back, swinging our clasped hands between us. Was it ridiculous I didn’t want to let him go?

A grin quirked up on one side of that full mouth. He seemed as reluctant as I was to let go. Then he released me, swung his leg over to straddle his bike, and kicked it to start.

The engine warbled deep.

Jared stretched his legs out, his booted feet holding up the bulk of metal between his thighs. He teased at the throttle and let his gaze drift over me.

I stood there, breathless. Emotion tumbled through me, pitched through my consciousness and spilled into my stomach as desire and devotion.

I loved this man, the beauty and the heart, and every single flaw.

Forcing myself to turn away, I climbed into my car and started the ignition while Jared rolled out. Backing out, I followed him to the road. He revved the throttle and wound out onto the street. His shirt flapped against his back, his hair striking blond in the rays of sun gleaming down at him, the ridges and lines of his arms flexing as he powered the bike.