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I cupped her jaw and put my mouth to her hair. “Didn’t think I’d want to claim anyone after the bullshit she put me through.”
“You certainly had no plans to claim me that first night.”
“Nope. You were gonna be a pain in my ass. Knew it.”
She put her lips to my jaw. “And you were right.”
“But you’re worth the hassle,” I whispered.
“I hate that she did that to you. I hate that she could’ve made you so jaded you’d never even consider opening your heart to me. I’m so lucky it didn’t happen that way. That you worked overtime to convince me it was safe to love you.”
“It’s not luck, Gianna. I saw the pain in your eyes and needed to know what was behind it. You started off as a puzzle I wanted to work out. And I wanted to take the pain out of your eyes so I could see what else was in there.”
“Hope you aren’t too disappointed.”
“Far from it. I see a girl who gives and gives no matter if the person who’s takin’ deserves it or not. I see someone who got dealt a shitty hand in life but goes out of her way to help people instead of using it as an excuse to fuck the world right back. You could’ve turned out bad in a lot of ways. But instead, you like helping lonely old people. Go out of your way for our club, savin’ those girls despite that we’d turned our back on you. How you’ve been there for your bitchy aunt. How you never wanted to give up on your stepsister, how you hoped she’d pull her head out of her ass before it was too late. Besides…” I ran my hands through her hair, “You are so fuckin’ beautiful you take my breath away. A girl as beautiful as you could use that beauty as a weapon. You don’t. I don’t think you even know how fuckin’ beautiful you are. And that makes you even more gorgeous.”
“I love you, Jesse. I really hope I get to keep you forever.” She snuggled in.
“I love you, baby. I’m yours. Goin’ nowhere unless you’re there with me. Fuck; would’ve loved to see you escort Chelsea out. Though she’s got about half a foot of height on ya, and I know she goes to kickboxing classes. Still, in my head, you would’ve kicked her ass.”
“I hate her. If I see her again, I’m gonna wanna give her a knuckle sandwich. With week-old gluten-free bread.”
I snickered.
“In case you don’t know what that means, it’ll be rock hard.”
I laughed.
“Jesse?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you fuck me, please?”
I laughed harder.
She had unshed tears in her pretty eyes. But she was smiling.
And I felt unburdened about Chelsea. Seeing her, showing her no emotion, not even giving her my eyes, and to top it off seeing my girl hold her head high through it felt pretty fucking nice.
I was about to feel a whole lot fucking nicer as I rolled Gianna Jones to her belly and sank my teeth into her sweet ass cheek.
23
She slept on top of me on the couch in the Valentine cabin while I watched the movie.
She’d be getting shit from me later for being able to fall asleep in the middle of a John Wick movie on max volume with Deke’s high-end surround sound system. I had one hand on her ass, the other in a can of Pringles. Her phone lit up from the coffee table.
Aunt Francie calling.
My lip curled at the sight. My girl wasn’t moving, and no way was I answering it.
We had a good time with Ma and Arch. They had a barbecue and house party the night after we got there. We spent time around the fire with the usual suspects. When Duke’s guitar emerged, as it always did around the fire, he urged my girl to sing. I told him to leave her be, but she squeezed my knee and told everyone she’d do it if she wasn’t the only one singing. He did a few of his usual campfire songs, but then it was more of a duet when he began playing that old 70s song, Romeo’s Tune.
It was one of the more obscure songs Duke played, so not everyone knew the words. And besides, those who did couldn’t help but stop singing to listen. She later told me her father had her sing it at a bar when she was a kid. Though I wasn’t thrilled about that part, the way she sang it in that throaty voice laced with sex made my body break out in goosebumps.
Summer was not invited to the party where she would’ve normally been. Ma told me Summer had sent her a long, rambling text message stating Chelsea had ordered her to notify her of seeing me after finding out Summer had seen me on Easter. Chelsea just wanted a chance to explain herself to me. Ma admitted she’d shown at the bar a couple times after I got out, but the other staff had been given strict instructions to never let her in. There were new people on the door who didn’t know her. Ma was worried that’d piss me off, but I told her it was the right call, that I’d never wanted to see that bitch again in my life.
