AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jill smiled whenever she thought of the young Andrew Walsh that watched her so many summers ago. Perhaps it was fate or kismet that neither had found lasting love with anyone else. Perhaps they always belonged to each other.
“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Andrew asked, dipping his head to the nape of her neck to bury his face in her hair.
She was used to hearing this question quite frequently now, but she knew he meant well. He didn’t mean to be overbearing. She turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’m perfect, now. Just perfect,” she said as she stood on tiptoes and raised her lips to his. Andrew’s response was instant and she felt the familiar thrill at being able to arouse him so quickly and thoroughly.
He scooped her up, causing a shriek and a laugh to fall from her lips.
“I bet I can make you even better,” he said as he strode toward the stairs with Jill in his arms.
“You’d mess with perfection?” Jill laughed.
He growled and claimed her lips as he brought Jill down on the bed. And within minutes, she was very, very glad that Andrew had been bold enough to mess with perfection.
Nine months later …
Andrew hadn’t wanted to leave the house. Not once he’d seen Jill in the deep red dress she was wearing. There was probably a name for it. Burgundy or ruby or something. He couldn’t care less what the name was.
He’d wanted to fall to his knees when he saw her and then convince her they should stay home instead.
He would have made a convincing argument, too, were it not for the fact Jack and Kelly had picked them up. They had agreed to drive together to the fund raiser.
Now, Jack and Andrew stood off to one side of the room. It was a fundraising event for a charity he’d gladly write a check for so they could leave, but the women said they needed to spend at least an hour making the rounds first.
“Waiting for something or just checking the time?” Andrew asked when Jack checked his phone for the tenth time. It was possible his friend was just as eager to bail as he was.
It was a miracle they’d gotten a quiet few minutes to themselves without people wanting to talk to them.
“No, checking to see if Zach called. He said he’d call when he finished with a job.”
Andrew raised a brow. Zach was the bodyguard who helped Kelly out after she was kidnapped. He ran a private security firm and had done a lot of work for Jack in the past.
“Everything all right?”
Jack rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, a trademark Jack Sutton stress signal. Andrew hadn’t seen it nearly as much lately, but it was clear Jack was tense about something.
“No. Kelly’s mom came to see me today. Jesse is having trouble.” Jesse was Kelly’s sister.
“What kind of trouble? Is someone threatening her?” Andrew saw Jill and Kelly working their way toward them from across the room.
“I haven’t told Kelly about it yet,” Jack said, turning his body slightly so he faced more toward Andrew and less toward the two women approaching them. “I’ll fill you in later. She’s safe, but she’s going to need Zach’s help.”
Andrew frowned but then felt Jill’s hand on his arm. She leaned toward him, smiling as she raised a hand and brushed at the furrow between his brows.
“The fundraiser’s not that bad,” Jill said, laughter lacing her words. She grinned at Kelly. “I guess we’ve hit our hour mark.”
Andrew put his arm around Jill’s waist and pulled her to him. He wanted to get her home. Wanted to take her to bed.
He looked to Jack. “Fill me in tomorrow?”
Jack nodded and Andrew kissed Kelly on the cheek and watched as she and Jill hugged goodbye.
And then he had her moving toward the exit.
There wasn’t an ounce of annoyance in Jill’s eyes or tone when she chastised him. “You realize it took me an hour and a half to get ready for this thing. This makeup and hair didn’t do itself.”
He leaned in, putting his mouth close to her ear. “And I appreciate every last bit of it. Those smoky eyes are going to look gorgeous beneath me when I make you scream my name.”
She turned and batted at him with her hand, but she was laughing.
Still, when he got her out to the car and got her settled into the passenger seat, he saw passion burning in her eyes for him. She was just as eager to get home as he was. She murmured something about his tux before pulling him toward her for a kiss.
There was nothing about life with Jill he didn’t love. Nothing at all. And it was time he took her home and proved it to her.
Showing her how much he loved her would never get old. It wasn’t something he’d ever tire of.
He knew life wouldn’t be perfect. Love was something you worked at. Had to work at if you wanted to keep it. But it was a job he was willing to take on. It was a life he was willing to fight for, for the rest of his life.
