The moment my tongue touches hers, her hands fist into my shirt and her breasts press hard against my chest. As my hat falls to the ground, she pulls my lip between hers and bites hard enough to sting. Moving my hand down over her ass, I rock her into my erection, needing her to feel what she does to me.
“Jax,” she whimpers into my mouth as her hands travel up, wrapping around the back of my neck. Tearing my mouth from hers, I rest my forehead against hers, willing myself to stop, when all I want to do is pick her up, place her on the seat of my truck, rip her dress up around her waist and swing her legs over my shoulders so I can feast.
Lifting her mouth closer to mine once more, I shake my head, giving her a squeeze when I see hurt enter her gaze.
“We’re going to dinner, and if we keep going, the only thing I’ll be eating is you.”
“Jax,” she moans my name.
“Fuck,” I grunt, picking her up, placing her on the seat, and giving her one last kiss before pulling from her grasp and shutting the door.
Picking my hat up off the ground, I shake it out and place it back on my head then take my time walking around the truck, so I can will my erection down enough that I can drive.
Opening the door, I get behind the wheel shutting the door and Ellie’s soft voice breaks through the silence, causing my chest to ache. “My brother’s name was Edward. You would have liked him,” she says with a sad smile. “He was always doing crazy stuff. He was the guy everyone wanted to be friends with, the guy all the girls wished would take a second look at them.”
She pauses, and her voice is barely above a whisper as she says, “He was my best friend.” Hating seeing her look so alone, I reach over and unhook her belt then drag her into my lap. Settling herself against me, her eyes search my face then drop to her lap before she continues, “When he met Bonnie and I saw how in love he was with her, I remember thinking everything was going to change. I was going to lose him. He was all I had for so long that I was scared and jealous. I wanted to hate her.”
Her eyes meet mine and a soft smile forms on her mouth as she whispers, “Trying to hate her was like trying to hate air. Bonnie became like a sister to me. Her dad was a drunk and her mom was dead. She needed us as badly as we needed her.
She, Edward, and I became a family of our own,” she reminisces, and I watch as tears fill her eyes. “When Bonnie found out she was pregnant, Edward was so excited he would tell absolutely anyone. All he talked about was making a better life for his girls.”
Her lips press together and her chin wobbles. “Hope was born on July twenty-forth at seven-twenty in the morning, She came into the world screaming at the top of her lungs. She’s still screaming,” she whispers the last part, leaning her body into mine. “I loved her from the first moment I held her in my arms, but she wasn’t mine,” she says then lets that hang before continuing.
“On August twenty-seventh, that changed. I was at work when I got a call from the highway patrol. They said Edward, Bonnie, and their daughter had been in an accident and I needed to get to the hospital. I don’t even remember getting in my car, or the drive to the hospital. I don’t even remember the police telling me Bonnie and Edward were dead. Everything was a blur. None of it felt real, and then they took me to the ICU.” She shakes her head. “The doctors and the police both said Hope shouldn’t have lived. They said she was lucky to be alive, but because she was so young, her body was still soft, and that saved her life.”
“Jesus,” I hiss, thinking about a life without Hope and how sad that life would be.
“She had small cuts and bruises on her face and hands, but she was okay. She was awake, and when I walked towards her, I could tell she knew exactly who I was. She knew me, and she was so small and all alone. We were both alone.”