AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She doesn’t pull away when I brush her cheek with my knuckles. Her skin’s so soft, silky and lovely, and I want to explore lower, feel more exposed inches of heaven. I want to kiss her, but I don’t want to scare her away. Not when I can tell I’ve got her hooked.
“And you need me to marry you?” she asks, sounding dubious.
“That’s right.”
“You realize normal people don’t get married like this. You’re insane.”
“From your perspective.” I move my hand down her shoulder, down to her hip. She shivers and chews on her mouth. I lick my lips, cock aching for her. The girl drives me wild with pure physical need every time she’s around. It hurts my head like a pent-up release.
“Maybe,” she says, which is the best answer I’ve gotten so far. “I still don’t know you.”
“Then get to know me.”
“How?”
“Tell me what else your family needs. I’ll get it and bring it over tomorrow morning.”
She takes a long breath through her nose. Then blows it out. “Nana smokes Marlboro Lights. Get her two cartons.”
“Enabling your grandmother’s smoking? Naughty girl.”
“She’s seventy-three. If she wants to smoke, she can smoke. You want to fight me on it?”
“Not at all, baby.” I lean down before she can pull away and kiss her cheek. Fuck, it’s like electricity. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Don’t forget to pay your bill.” She skitters away from me like a terrified crab. “And leave a good tip.”
“My pleasure.”
Chapter 11
Molly
Nana squints at me, takes a long drag, blows it into the fan, and goes back to staring. Jason’s sitting at the table, looking pale. I hate the way he keeps fidgeting and not quite meeting my gaze like he’s afraid or ashamed of everything I just said.
I try not to keep secrets from my family. I protect Jason as much as I can—but this decision is too big to hide him from. Besides, it’d be hard to explain why I’m suddenly marrying a total stranger.
“I can’t believe you’re pregnant,” he says and somehow makes it sound like I have a terminal disease.
“That’s not really the big issue at hand, dear,” Nana says. She waves her cigarette. “Right now, the more pressing problem is whether your sister is going to marry that very attractive gangster.”
“Nana,” I scold.
“What? He’s handsome. That’s a consideration.”
“He’s a stranger,” Jason says, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’re really considering this.”
I lean back against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. Jason’s a good little brother, but he feels so young sometimes. I think it’s because Nana and I have always gone out of our way to take care of him. He was diagnosed with epilepsy a few years after Mom passed, and things have been really hard on him ever since then. Grieving for a parent plus dealing with a life-threatening disorder isn’t exactly easy for a little kid. Nana and I got used to going out of our way to make sure Jason’s as comfortable and stress-free as possible, because it became pretty obvious to everyone that stress is his main trigger.
He’s not soft, but he’s as close to it as anyone in our family could ever be. I love him for it, but sometimes, it pisses me off.
“I don’t have a lot of choices,” I say as if he’s going to understand it, but I know he doesn’t. I want to tell him all about how expensive his medicine is and how hard I’ve worked to make sure he doesn’t have to, but that would only pile more guilt on him, and that guilt itself would be a trigger for more seizures. And that would go against everything I’ve worked for.
“I can drop out of school,” he offers, glancing up. “I can pitch in, watch the baby while you’re at work, or I can get my own job?—”
“No,” I say, and it sounds harsher than I expected. Nana gives me a reproving look and I soften. “No, you’re close to graduating, and your grades are really good. I think you’ve got a shot at an academic scholarship somewhere close if we’re really lucky. Then once you have a full degree, you can get a real job in an office or somewhere comfortable that won’t trigger any seizures.”
He nods slowly. “Then where’s that leave you?”
