When her eyes meet mine, I watch her take a deep breath before moving to the door.
“Hi,” she whispers, opening the door.
“You look beautiful.”
“I… Thanks,” she whispers shyly then looks over her shoulder at the blonde. “Jax, this is Kimberly. Kim this is Jax; I don’t know if you’ve met.”
“Nice to meet you,” I mutter, giving her a chin lift as I take Ellie’s hand in mine and tug her closer to me.
“You too,” Kim says, and I hear her laugh, but I can’t take my eyes off Ellie and how amazing she looks. Not that she doesn’t always look good, but right now, she looks good enough to eat, which is going to make it difficult to share her with anyone tonight.
“Are you going to be okay locking up by yourself?” Ellie asks Kim, picking up her bag from the couch near the door.
“Yep, go have fun and I’ll see you on Sunday.”
“See you Sunday,” Ellie replies quietly then looks up at me and bites her bottom lip, causing my chest to vibrate with a growl. Opening the door for her, I let her walk out before me, just so I can watch her ass, then take her hand again and lead her to my truck, opening the passenger side door for her.
“Thanks,” she murmurs, ducking her head again.
Spinning her around to face me, I press her against the side of my truck and dip my head to the side, covering her mouth with mine, fisting one hand into her hair, and pulling her closer to me with the other. Nipping her bottom lip, her gasp of surprise allows me to lick into her mouth, tasting her and mint.
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.”
Watching as silent tears fall from her eyes, I know how hard that must have been for her, how devastated she must have been.
“I was just nineteen. I didn’t know anything about raising a kid, but I knew I wouldn’t let Edward or Bonnie down. I knew they would want me to take care of her, to raise her, so after I rocked Hope to sleep in the ICU, I went in search of a social worker, and they told me what I needed to do in order to gain custody of her.”
“You’re so strong, baby.” I kiss the side of her head and breathe her in.
“Hope didn’t come from me, but she’s a part of me.”
“She’s your daughter,” I tell her softly, wondering how I could have thought otherwise before. My mom was right; you don’t have to give birth to a child to love it like your own.
“She knows about her dad and mom, but to her, they are nothing but pictures and stories I tell her. When she’s older, I hope I can make her understand Bonnie and Edward loved her more then they loved anything in this world, that they would have given up anything to stay here with her. But until she’s old enough to understand that, I’m all she knows.”
“I get that,” I tell her softly, pressing a kiss to her temple.
“I was jealous she wanted you today instead of me,” she says, and I hear her take a breath.
“I know,” I say gently then add, “I don’t want to take her from you, baby. I just want to be a part of your lives. I want to be one more person she knows who loves her, and I want us to have something solid, so one day we can all be a family.”
“Family,” she whispers, dropping her eyes again.
“I don’t know if you know this,” I say, running my fingers along her cheek until her eyes meet mine once again. “Lilly isn’t my mother. She didn’t give birth to me. My dad dated her when she was in college. Around the time my dad was going to ask her to move in with him, my birth mom, who my dad had a one-night stand with months before, told him she was pregnant. My dad believed he was doing the right thing, and he broke up with Lilly. He didn’t want her to be dragged through everything that was happening at the time. He and my birth mother got married, and my dad didn’t know he had also gotten Lilly pregnant. My birth mom, who is the definition of crazy, got a message from Lilly that was meant for my dad, telling him she was pregnant, and she replied back that she should have an abortion.”
“Oh, my God,” Ellie breathes.
“My birth mom and dad eventually divorced, and when I was three, my dad took me to this trampoline place, and Lilly was there with Ashlyn. He knew right away Ashlyn was his daughter, and he thought Lilly tried to keep her from him.”