AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I go pink at her words.“I would deny you if you ever breathe a word of this to anyone,”I growl lowly into herearand feel her shiver with satisfaction.
“I’mstill waiting for your story. Any time now.”
I sigh and look at her. I’m not sure if I want to let her in when tomorrow looks so uncertain. Soon we will go back to avoiding each other and bickering once again. But I don’t want to kill the hope in those beautiful eyes.
“I’ve been at life’s whims for as long as Ican remember,” I start slowly. “I lost my dad at a young age and when my mom remarried; my stepfather didn’t exactly make me feel like awelcome addition to the family. He wasn’t a drunk, wife beating asshole, though I would have preferred that. One of the reasons I joined the military is to get away from my family, terrible as it sounds.”
Jessica is the product of my mother and stepfather’s marriage and while I love my sister to pieces, her father is my least favorite person. Right at the bottom. Despite my mother’s attempt, he always made sure to let me know I did not belong in his perfect, picturesque family. So I rebelled. I got into so much trouble he was definitely on the verge of kicking me out of his house, but I beat him to it by joining the armyimmediately after getting out of the juvenile institution.
She looks at me with rapt attention and I sigh. I really don’t want this moment to end. “I hold life on such a tight leash because I’m afraid if I let go it would screw me over worse than it already has.”
Shecups mycheek and strokes it with her thumb,and then shemoves her hand to myhair andstarts massaging myscalp.Ihumin appreciation, closing my eyes. “Ever thought of starting your own agency?”I say out of the blue and her hand stops.
“That’s a lot of money.” Iopen my eyes to see her looking at me unsure.
“There are loans you could take or you can find investors,”I start but she places her finger on my lips, halting my words. She pecks my lips and smiles.
“Who is deflecting now?” I ask her, raising my brow at her. She looks away. “We will talk about it,” I tell her with finality and the slightest frown crosses her face. She definitely has something to say about my tone.
“What about you? No exes?” She attempts to change the topic.
I oblige her. “None that were ever consequential.”
She snuggles closer to me and I feel myself twitch as her breast rubs against my chest. My hold tightens around her waist.
“I do have the dream of starting my own agency, but I guess I’m just scared. Leading has never been my strongest suit and the thought of failing scares the shit out of me.” She doesn’t look at me as she talks.
“I was scared shitless when I threw every single dime I had into this resort but that didn’t stop me from doing it. I can show you the ropes as you start up.”
“You sure are one heck of a courageous guy.” Her sarcasm doesn’t escape me and I let her lift herself off my chest. She sits on the couch and starts scanning the office for her clothes.
I quickly get up and hold her hand. “What’s really going on?”
She pulls her hand from mine. “Maybe diving headlong into things is how you do things Jake, but for some people we can’t just throw caution to the wind.” I refrain from pointing outour current situation. “Some of us are not worth the risk,” she says the final part quietly but I heard it. My vision darkens.Who hurt her? This is not the spirited woman I used to know ten years ago.
“Did he do this?” I ask before I can stop myself and take her chin in my hands so she would look at me. “Did your ex put out the fire in you? Because the Bella I knew never used to care what direction the wind was blowing. She always did what was on her mind.”
She yanks her face from my hold. “Stop acting like you care.” She looks at the clock on my wall and smiles sadly. “An hour until the resort opens. We will be going back to our default settings soon.”
Her words strike me, but I ignore it. Attacking her would only make the situation worse. “Fine, I’ll drop it.” I raise my hands in surrender.
I turn around to look for my clothes too. I pick up my shirt and grimace at the missing buttons.Maybe I should keep spare shirts in the office just in case. That is, if this ever happens again.
I hear her sigh behind me and it takes every ounce of strength in me to stop myself from turning around and wrapping her tightly in my arms.
“I feel like I’m not enough most of the time.” I definitely turn around at those words. “And according to the therapist I was seeing in Los Angeles, that is what happens when the most important people in your life abandon you.” She bends down and picks up her gown before continuing. “My dad gets terminal cancer and rather than fight it, he chooses to let it eat away at him. I watched my father slowly deteriorate and die and like that’s not traumatic enough, my mom completely shuts down on me and has to be taken away to get special treatment.” She walks past me and picks up her panties. “Being used by an ex doesn’t even scratch the surface when it comes to my baggage.”
Completely ignoring the fact that we are both butt naked, I take her hands. “I’m sorry. I got ahead of myself.” I bring her hand to my lips and kiss it. “But you should know that you fascinate me, Bella. Your beauty can’t even compare to how smart you are. It was actually quite intimidating back then; you were this six year old with the mind of an eighty year old woman and with the mouth to let everyone know about it.” I kiss inside her palm and she flushes red.
Looking at the clock, I say, “I have about fifty minutes to worship every part of you and I’m going to make every minute count.” She blushes more at my words but I can see her bare nipples already responding. I growl deeply and reach for her.
CHAPTER13
BELLA
Jake helps me zipmy dress and I feel his hand linger on my back. “Carefulor we’ll never leave here,” I tell him.
I turn around and touch hisshirt;it hangs loose without the buttons. “What are you going to do about this?”
