Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(12)
Author: A.L. Jackson

There was no putting an amount to it, no counting it up or figuring out how much this girl meant to me. Because it was beyond anything calculable. Beyond the rational. Tripping, tumbling, crashing through all sensibilities.

Fear lashed. A rush of bitter bile curled in the pit of my stomach. Because I didn’t know what I would do if I lost her.

When I lost her.

The thought knotted my gut and sent a wave of nausea ripping through me. Struggling for a breath, I swallowed it down and buried my face in the haven of her hair. Didn’t want to go there. Couldn’t.

“Hey, baby,” I said, the affection coarse as I forced all that worry back down deep inside where it belonged. Because I was going to be better.

I was going to be better for her.

“Hi,” she mumbled into my neck, her lips a tender caress as she kissed along my jaw.

A shot of greedy lust hit me, and I crushed her to me and let my free hand wander up the leg of her shorts. She was always doing this to me, clouding my senses. I cupped her sweet little ass. “You know exactly what these shorts do to me, don’t you?”

Aly giggled more, all self-conscious and sweet, and she folded her arms in between us as I wrapped mine around her, like she wanted me to take her whole. Embarrassment colored her voice when she admitted quietly into my chest, “I like what your eyes look like when you see me in them.” She risked peeking up at me, her chin digging into my breastbone. “I remember always craving your attention, even when I was just a little girl. But by the time I was thirteen, I wanted you to look at me.” Redness blossomed on her face, her cheeks blazing with it, yet her voice was completely serious. “I know it was stupid . . . ridiculous to think you’d notice me. But I always wanted you to.”

I chuckled a little, gripped her by the back of the head with my free hand and pressed the rest of her tight against my body. “Would’ve been pretty messed up had I noticed you like that then.”

I felt the smile that took over my mouth, all gentle, one that could only be given to her. Because it was her hand that soothed me, her heart the only thing that had ever calmed the rage that would forever simmer within my soul. I hooked my finger under her chin so she couldn’t hide that gorgeous face. “But this has been a long time coming, hasn’t it?”

Aly wiggled one arm free. Softly, she traced her fingers along my lashes before she pressed them to my lips.

Affection welled at the base of my throat, right where that bitter rock of unspent emotion lay with my corruption, like Aly’s touch was chipping away at it.

Fuck, this girl had a hold on me.

“Maybe it hasn’t just been coming, Jared. Maybe it was just always supposed to be. Maybe Christopher running into you that night he found you at the bar, found you back in Phoenix for the first time . . . maybe that was supposed to set it all into motion. Because one way or another, you and I are right. Maybe our situation is messed up. But who is to say it’s wrong?”

She wrestled out of my hold, and before I could make sense of it, I was subject to hers. Fierce fingers gripped the flesh of my shoulders. “I won’t believe anything but the fact that you’re supposed to be here, with me. Whatever we have to go through, whatever we have to face, I’ve never believed anything so strongly.”

Her green eyes flared with worry, with passion as she looked all over my face, searching for something. What, I didn’t know.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” she said. “You know that, don’t you?” Sharp, blunt nails deepened their hold in my skin, cutting, demanding my attention. Fear latched onto her words. “Promise me you won’t run when it gets ugly, Jared. Because life always does, and I can’t bear the thought of living without you in mine.”

“Hey,” I said softly, hoping to calm her. “I know that, Aly. Coming back wasn’t easy. But I’m here.”

I didn’t think she really understood what it took for me to mount her stairs yesterday afternoon, the clash of commitments it caused—my loyalty to my mom and my love for Aly. Those two forces created an all-out war between the demons that owned my soul and that place in my heart Aly had exposed.

A soft breath left her, spread across my face. “Here is where I need you,” she said.

I ran my hand down her neck and drew her to me so I could whisper in her ear. “I know, baby.”

Aly hummed.

I swore, this girl brought me to edge of sanity. Pushed me off it, really. Straight into a free fall. No doubt that crash back in Vegas had been when I finally hit the bottom, when I’d been slammed with a realization I never thought I’d gain.

That maybe . . . just maybe . . . there was something in this f**ked-up world I was supposed to be living for. Last night had only confirmed it.

I was living for her.

Her fingers curled in the neck of my T-shirt. Clinging to me, she lifted her head enough to peer up at me. “Here,” she whispered on a throaty sigh.

Groaning, I palmed her bottom, squeezed a little more. “Here,” rumbled from my chest as I took over her mouth. The kiss came hard. Demanding. Aly f**king moaned and opened to me, her tongue all inviting as I swept mine across hers. My hands got lost in the mass of her hair, before they stroked down her spine and came to rest on her glorious ass, which had gotten me started in the first place.

A key rattled in the lock and the front door flew open.

I froze.

Heavy footsteps thudded on the floor as Christopher barreled in. I couldn’t see him. My vision was obstructed by everything that was Aly, hair and hands and every inch of her perfect body. Still, I could feel him stumble to a standstill at the end of the couch where Aly was sprawled across my body.

“Ah . . . f**k. Are you kidding me?”

Sure as hell could hear him, too.

I tried to nudge Aly off of me, but she just laughed and held me closer, refusing to allow me to push her away.

Instead she lifted herself enough to look at him over her shoulder, her hair falling all around me as she tossed her brother an amused smirk. “Now you know what it feels like,” she said. “At least you didn’t have to find my ass on the couch buck naked with some random hookup.”

I shifted and pushed Aly’s hair back so I could see around her. Christopher cracked a smile and ran an easy hand through his unruly hair. He lifted a nonchalant shoulder, but I could tell he was doing his best to keep his laughter at bay. “Hey now, that’s hardly fair, Aly. You know that only happened once, and I was nice enough to introduce you to her.”