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She sounds so defeated, and I hate it. Abigail is a ballbuster, not someone who runs away from a fight.
“Red, I couldn’t care less what Davis did to me. I handled it.” I flex my hand, still tender from the blow to his nose I landed. “What I care about is what this is doing to you. He’s a piece of shit, and what he put you through is horrible, but you have to know I’m not him. Was I an idiot for most of my life up until a year ago? One thousand percent, but I have never cheated on a girlfriend. Shit, until you, I never really had a girlfriend.”
She scoffs, rolling her eyes. “We were pretending for the sake of keeping my family off my back. It wasn’t real.”
“If you think that, then you haven’t been paying attention. I didn’t offer to be your fake boyfriend out of some altruistic side I don’t have. I did it to get closer to you, hoping if I showed you what being with me could look like, you would give me a shot.” I lower my voice and take a step closer to her. “All I’ve ever wanted from you was a chance to prove to you I’m not the same person I was last year and that we have more than just great chemistry. That all men aren’t like Davis. And somewhere in the middle of that, I fell in love with you.”
Abigail’s eyes go wide as saucers. “What?” she asks softly.
I smile and finally work up the courage to reach for her hand without fear of her pulling it away and smacking me.
“I love you, Abigail. I love your fire and the way you go to bat for your family. Not the family you were born with, because honestly, they really suck.” She lets out a small chuckle. “But the one you’ve made. You’re magnetic. People are drawn to you because they see the fierceness of your heart.” I touch my hand to her chest. “All I want to do is protect that fierce heart.”
Tears stream down her cheeks like the rain pouring down around us. I bring my hand to her face and wipe my thumb under her eye. “Don’t cry, Red. Just let me love you.”
Abigail chokes out a sob, and the sound breaks my fucking heart.
“God, Jackson, I love you. I tried so hard not to. I fought so hard to protect myself from ever being hurt again, but I’m tired.” She leans her body into mine and looks up at me with watery eyes. “I need someone who protects me for once. I wanted so badly to believe that was going to be you.” The pain in her voice caused by what she saw at her sister’s wedding is gutting me.
I hold both sides of her face in the palms of my hands, looking her in the eye. “I swear to you I will protect and fucking cherish the heart you share with me. Just like you protect everyone else. I don’t expect you to jump in without reservation, I know you too well for that.” I give her a small smile. “But please, give me a chance to prove it to you. Make me work for it. Do whatever you have to do but know whatever challenge you throw or how hard you push me away because you’re scared of being vulnerable, I’m not going anywhere. I don’t care how many ranches you run away to.”
Abigail groans out a laugh. The thunder booms again, and she moves in closer to me. I take it as an invitation to wrap my arms around her and hold her to me. The days of not having Abigail in my arms every day are over.
“I’m ready to give this a shot, Jackson,” she starts, looking up at me. “For real this time.”
“Red, it wasnevernot real, at least for me. And we shared some very real moments. One of my favorites was on this ranch actually,“ I say, giving her a wicked wink.
“You would bring up a blow job when we’re in the middle of a heart-to-heart,” she says, smacking me in the chest.
“Who said I was talking about that? I was talking about when you said you loved me back,” I say, pretending to be offended by her assumption.
She raises a brow and purses her lips. “Really?” she asks, tilting her head to the side.
“No, not really. That was hot as fuck, Red.”
Her laugh this time is open and light, causing the knot that’s been tied tight in my chest to finally loosen and fall away.
“Can I please kiss you now? I’ve been dying to since I saw you walk onto this porch.” I don’t care that I’m begging at this point. I need to feel this woman’s soft lips on mine.
Without missing a beat, she crashes her lips to mine, and it’s everything desperate and messy and passionate that we are. I grab her by the back of her thighs and wrap them around my hips as another crack of lightning illuminates the sky. She moans into my mouth so loudly it almost drowns out the thunder booming around us.
Tearing my mouth from hers, I start moving my lips down the sweet skin of her neck.
“I don’t want to be rude to Julia, but if I don’t get inside you as soon as humanly possible, we’re going to have an embarrassing situation on our hands,” I say, rubbing my stiff cock between her legs that are still wrapped around me.
Abigail laughs at the predicament I’m in and climbs down. Not what I meant for her to do, but before I say anything, she grabs my hand and starts toward the stairs.
“Well, let’s make use of the back seat of that fancy car you rented,” she says, leading me toward the Mercedes.
“Shouldn’t you let her know we’re leaving?” I ask, nodding my head toward the front door.
“Good point.”
Abigail opens the front door and leans her head in. “Julia,” she calls out. “Jackson and I are going for a drive.”
I hear Julia’s laughter from somewhere in the house. “See you tomorrow, lovebirds.”
Abigail shuts the door, grabs my hand and pulls me down the steps, running through the rain before she jumps in the car.
