Come to Me Softly (Closer to You #2)(57)
Author: A.L. Jackson

And really, I was, because Aly was at my side.

“You know that’s not what I meant. Everything that Megan was asking about.” She chewed at the inside of her lip. Cautiously, she eyed me from where she had her head nestled on my chest. “Don’t think I didn’t feel you cringe when she started talking about wedding plans.” Those eyes narrowed as she searched, waiting for my reaction.

Laughing low, I gathered her hand, twisted it up between us, and brushed the same kind of kiss I’d just adorned her forehead with on her ring. “I don’t question this . . . not at all. But you have to know all the rest of that shit is going to make me nervous . . . I’m not exactly a dress-up kinda guy.”

Her bottom lip blanched when she clamped down on it.

Damn, this girl was too much. I tugged her a little closer.

“I was surprised by this,” she said honestly. For a second, she buried her face in my shirt, before she turned her gaze up to me. Trust and devotion and all this love glimmered in her eyes. “But I was hoping. I wanted it so much.”

I exhaled softly. “Ever since I came back, I knew you were my life, Aly.” I cupped her cheek. “You shouldn’t have questioned this was going to happen.”

She rocked up on her toes and pressed her mouth to mine. “I know . . . but it doesn’t mean I’m not completely thankful for it.” She settled down with a smile. “Best New Year’s resolution ever.”

Amusement twitched my mouth into a smirk. “Resolution?”

She stepped back, keeping hold of my hand as she pulled us deeper into the party filling up the walls of this tiny house. She glanced back. All the heaviness was gone and a sweet sexy grin that did crazy insane things to my heart was set firmly in its place. “Yep. You and me . . . It’s going to be difficult but it’s going to be worth it. Only the best resolutions are.”

I struggled to keep up with her, tugging her back against me as she wove through the suffocating crowd. I let my hands wander down her front, knowing it was too dark for anyone to see much of anything. And hell, anything Aly and I had going didn’t come close to touching on the brazen debauchery half the people in the house were partaking in.

“You think we’re going to be difficult, huh?” My palms pressed flat into the top of her thighs, my fingers wandering for a flash in between.

Aly’s breath caught.

“I thought things had been going pretty damn easy,” I said.

“Oh, things are definitely good, Jared,” she purred back with her face pressed all the way up under my jaw. “I’m just committed to seeing it through.”

I was feeling playful, set free in the ease of Aly’s touch, in the strength of her words that together were about the most powerful thing I’d ever experienced.

And a whole lot aroused.

I groaned, wishing we’d skipped stopping by after all.

“You need to stop,” I warned, because while Aly might not expect it, I wasn’t better than dragging her down the hall and finding a place to hide us behind a closed door.

A husky giggle wobbled up her throat and passed through those full lips. Aly let her hands do a little wandering of their own.

“You are evil,” I accused, burrowing my face in her neck.

“I’m evil?” she mumbled through mock offense. Demanding fingers made their way up to scrape over my head, twisting and tugging at my short hair.

“In the sweetest possible way,” I promised.

Aly stopped to chat with a few people she knew.

And did the girl ever like showing off her ring. She was damn near giddy, flicking her fingers around, catching the cut of the diamonds in the faint shimmers of light.

I tossed out some pleasantries when she gave introductions, doing my best not to feel uncomfortable under all the scrutiny.

Most everyone had heard about us, had heard about the baby, knew Aly’s life was heading in an entirely different direction than the rest of her friends. It was kind of strange having her here, too. Most of us were about the same age. Now there was something that separated us, defined us as different, set us apart.

One choice had changed everything. My decision to come back to Phoenix had shifted the course of Aly’s life and granted me a new one. That one action changed it all.

If I hadn’t have come, Aly would still be just like the rest of her friends, focused on college, getting her degree, instead of working on making a family.

Was it wrong?

I wasn’t blind. I caught the looks, the outright shock when we ran into a few of Aly’s acquaintances who’d somehow missed the gossip and hadn’t heard she was pregnant. The eyes that scoured my skin, then turned back to Aly like she’d lost her mind. But Aly wasn’t ashamed, not for a second, and I knew without a doubt she wanted all of this, too.

She leaned in for a quick kiss, patted me on the chest. “I think you’ve earned yourself a beer.”

“Thank God.”

She grinned, leading me by the hand into the kitchen, where the music wasn’t so loud, where the secrets we whispered didn’t have to be delivered on a shout.

“See, this wasn’t so bad, was it?”

I roughed my hand over my face. “Nah . . . I love all your friends wondering what the f**k you’re doing with an ass**le like me.” Sarcasm dripped from my tongue.

Playfully, Aly smacked me on the arm. “Ha . . . all those girls were wondering what you were doing with a girl like me. I don’t know how we didn’t slip on all the drool as we made our rounds. I think our announcement broke half the hearts in the room.”

I shook my head, because sometimes my girl was ridiculous. “You are completely blind.”

Soft fingers touched my face. “Twenty-twenty.”

I grabbed those fingers, brushed my lips across the tips. “Love you.”

“Love you back,” she said.

Smiling, she turned away, leaned over to dig into an ice chest, giving me a good look at that sweet little ass.

Not a soul here could blame me.

Aly was just exquisite. Her ass and those legs were wrapped up in a pair of dark jeans. Jeans that were progressively getting tighter by the day, and goddamn, for Aly, pregnancy had managed some really f**king miraculous things.

I didn’t think it was possible for this girl to get any more appealing, but each day, I only wanted her more.

Beer in hand, Aly spun back around. Her brow shot up when she caught my expression.

There was no denying the need stamped plainly on my face.

She sauntered up, pressed the beer into my hand. “Twenty minutes.” She murmured the promise, knowing full well I was about to toss her over my shoulder and drag her the hell out of there.