He lifts her high while making airplane sounds and then drops her onto the seat. She laughs and I’m relieved to see her sunshine smile again.
“Now do Aunt Melody,” she orders.
“No! Really, I’m too—” That’s all I have time to say before Jonas swoops me up.
He puts one arm around my waist, the other behind my legs.
“I want you so badly,” he whispers as he sets me on the seat. My heart beats a crazy jig and I remain unsettled through the pizza and the ice cream evening.
Even later, after we arrive home and get the kids down for the evening, I still feel skittish—caught between desire and something far more dangerous. I don’t know if I like this new normal between Jonas and me. But I’m not sure I dislike it either.
He’s outside sitting on the porch swing, and I decide to join him.
The night is clear, the kind that makes the stars seem larger and brighter.
A warm breeze stirs the leaves on the big oak tree in the center of the front yard.
I sit beside him with our thighs brushing. I’ve begun to realize he’s not the villain I thought he was. Maybe he’s even the kind of man who could be a hero. And that possibility is what unsettles me the most.
“You handled today well,” I say softly. “When I was a kid, I wore my hair long and I was so proud of it. But the principle’s kid kept putting gum in it. I’d cry and try to get it out. After months of that, I cut my hair myself. I cut it so short that I nearly balded myself.”
I laugh but the sound holds no humor. “My mother was livid. She said I was an embarrassment to the family and should never forget I had a duty to uphold the family name.”
I don’t turn my head to check, but I sense his gaze on me.
“You were just a kid,” Jonas says. “And kids do things that are silly or funny or unwise. But it doesn’t make any kid an embarrassment. Even if you had cut off every inch of your hair, the only duty you have as a kid is to be a kid.”
I glance at him. The light from the window by the swing casts across his face, highlighting his rugged good looks.
* * *
gives me a clear view of his handsome face. “I always embarrass my family. I feel like I’m constantly messing up. My grandfather used to joke and call me his little screw up.”
He reaches for a strand of my hair and tucks it behind my ear. His fingers graze my cheek. “I don’t think you’re a screw up and if he thinks that’s a joke, I don’t find him funny at all.”
“That’s just the way my family is,” I say. “I should have tried harder.”
“This isn’t your issue and frankly, I don’t like the thought of anyone treating you with less than you deserve.”
“What is it you think I deserve?”
Chapter 7
Jonas
“You deserve everything good.” I look deep into her eyes and the urge to protect her rises, settles painfully in my chest. It hurts knowing that she was hurt. Anger flares too over how her family treated her.
The Richfords taught me that family isn’t blood alone. It’s the people who show up, the ones who run toward you offering a helping hand or a hug, or a shoulder when you need it.
“I accepted a long time ago that to them I’ll always be the odd one out in my family. The underachiever. They’ll never see me as successful as or as beautiful as my siblings.”
I stop the swing and gently cup her chin, tipping her face up. “Do you know why I’m always aware of you?” I ask quietly. “Because when you walk into a room you always draw my attention. You’re so beautiful that you’re all I see.”
“You think I’m beautiful? But you hate me.”
I don’t really want to share this but I think she needs to hear it. “You get under my skin. Whatever I’m doing when you show up, I can’t think straight. You came to Raven and Marshall’s summer party last year in a bikini and I stayed hard all day.”
Recalling that hot Saturday under the sun trying not to look at her wakes my cock up, turning the front of my jeans into an uncomfortable pressure.
