Unafraid (Amber Ridge #1)

Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

“ H e’s never going to allow you to go to the reopening.”

Aspen’s back straightened, her fingers around the phone tightening. “Allow? Callie, I am a fully grown, independent woman. I decide what I do and don’t do.”

Her best friend scoffed. “Not when you’re with an uber-protective, knows-fifty-ways-to-kill-a-man guy who is aware that your psycho ex is in town.”

“Humph.” She dropped back onto the couch. “When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound great, but I’m going to that opening. I want to be there for Mrs. Gerald.”

She glanced at the door. Holden was out there doing a perimeter check. If it wasn’t for Callie on the phone, the house would feel entirely too quiet.

“She really means that much to you?”

Aspen fiddled with a loose thread on her jeans. “I see her every day. And she tells me about her grandson in Ohio. And her life in Manchester before The Tea House. And she always asks me about my life too. And when I speak, she listens. Not like those people who ask but their gaze is barely on you. She focuses on me and what I’m saying and, I don’t know, I just really like her and her shop.”

Callie was silent for a moment, and when she spoke again, her voice softened. “That town, and the people in it, have become your family.”

Huh. She hadn’t thought about it that way, but it was true. “Yeah.”

“I’m happy for you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Do I miss you? Like crazy. Do I selfishly wish my best friend still lived in Misty Peak? Absolutely. But I love you so much that your happiness comes first. And if Amber Ridge has become your home, then I just have to accept you’re not coming back.”

“But we’re still visiting each other, right?”

“Of course! If Mr. Overprotective would let me go there right now, we’d be having this conversation on Jesse’s couch.”

Nope. That was not happening, and not just because her best friend was pregnant.

“Jesse’s not home yet?” Callie asked.

She shot a glance at the door. “Not yet. Holden’s still outside checking that we’re safe, but I’m not allowed to open the door for anyone, even if I know them.”

“So, no takeout?”

“No takeout. Holden and I made some pasta bake, and we left some for Jesse in case he doesn’t eat at work.” She hated when Jesse did a night shift, and after Margot’s death, he didn’t want her working at the station anymore.

Her heart gave a little squeeze in her chest like it did anytime she thought about Margot.

Aspen sucked in a long breath. “I’m going to tell him I love him.” Her heart gave a big, giant thump just saying the words to her friend.

Callie gasped. “Wow, Aspen, that’s huge.”

“It is huge. Do you think it’s too soon?”

“No such thing. We don’t decide when we love someone. Our heart does that for us, and we have absolutely no control over that organ.”

She chuckled before quickly sobering. “What if he doesn’t say it back?”

“Are you serious? I think that man fell in love with you the day he first laid eyes on you.”

She scoffed. “You mean the night in the bar when Dylan dragged me outside—”

“And Jesse went after you and hit him? Yeah, that night.”

She nibbled her bottom lip, that night still so fresh in her mind it was like it had happened yesterday. “I wish I’d pressed charges right then and there. Maybe then he’d know I was stronger and braver, and he wouldn’t have thought he could follow me here.”

“Aspen…everything he’s done has everything to do with him, and nothing to do with you.”

“Jesse’s different.” It had taken her time to trust that, but she was finally there.

“Jesse is Dylan’s polar opposite, and he would never hurt you.”

The click of the front door opening had her gaze shooting up. “Holden’s back.”

But it wasn’t just Holden who stepped inside; Jesse was right behind him.

And man, he always looked so good in a uniform, with his broad shoulders and thick chest.

“I’ll let you go,” Callie said. “Good luck.”

She watched as the two men spoke before Holden waved goodbye to her and stepped out.

“Thanks,” Aspen said quietly to Callie. “I’m gonna need it.”

She hung up as Jesse closed and locked the door. Then his gaze immediately went to her, moving up and down her body as if he needed the visual confirmation that she was okay.

“Hey. Have you been okay?”

“I’ve been great. Holden was a great babysitter.”

“Not babysitter—protector.” He dropped his bag, moved over to the couch and sat beside her. “I missed you.” He leaned forward and kissed her.

Oh, God, his kisses…they softened every muscle in her body and made her want to melt into him.

No . She had things to talk to him about.

She pressed her hands to his chest and pushed.

He lifted his head and frowned, grazing a lock of hair from her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just…I need to ask you something. No , not ask, tell. I need to tell you something.”

His lips twitched. “Okay.”

“I’m going to The Tea House’s reopening.”

The smile dropped. “No.”

“Yes.”

“ No .”

“Jesse—”

“You’ve invited the entire damn town to that thing. The place will be crawling with people, and it will be too hard to maintain a visual on you.”

“But it won’t. You’ll be there, and so will your brother and Holden. And you all know what Dylan looks like.”

“No.”

Goddammit .

“Fine.” She pushed to her feet and got two steps away before strong fingers wrapped around her wrist and tugged her down on top of him.

She gasped, straddling his hips.

“Aspen.” He cupped her cheek. “I need to keep you safe. That need is so strong, even the thought of having you near crowds makes me want to drag you back here and lock the door. Is that healthy? Probably not. Do I care? Hell no. Dylan almost killed the last woman he was obsessed with.”

“I know that. I think about it every day. I think about Margot’s body every time I close my eyes. But I also don’t want to hide. We don’t know how long this will go on. I need to live my life.” And hiding meant he won, right?

Jesse’s jaw clicked. He wasn’t happy, and dammit, she didn’t want to make him unhappy. But this was important.

She skimmed her hands down his shirt. “What about a compromise? We stay for an hour. I help Mrs. Gerald, make sure the event’s going well, hand out some cakes. And you don’t take your eyes off me.”

His brows slashed together, something akin to pain in his eyes.

This time she cupped his cheek, his day-old stubble scratching her palm. “Please. One hour.”

His forehead lowered to hers, his eyes closing. His chest rose and fell before he said, “Okay.”

“Really?”

His head lifted. “I’d do anything for you. You know that, right?”

His brown eyes beamed into hers, the gold specks standing out like stars in a dark sky. God, he was beautiful. And this beautiful man cared about her. Wanted to protect her.

“I love you.” The words fell from her lips. It was like the fear just vanished. She loved him. She loved him so much that she needed those words out in the world. She needed to give them to him.

His fingers tightened on her hips, his eyes darkening. “Say it again.”

“I love you, Jesse Hayes. For a while, I stopped believing in love. I stopped believing in the goodness of men. But you…you are all good, and you reminded me that love exists.” She shifted her gaze between his eyes. “You don’t need to say it back, I just—”

“I love you too.”

Her body seized and the air in her lungs got stuck. He loved her. This beautiful, selfless man, who’d entered her life when she’d needed him most, loved her. “Really?”

“I love everything about you, Aspen. Even the things you think are unlovable.” Then his mouth crashed to hers.

Jesse lost himself in the kiss. In Aspen’s warmth…her softness.

She loved him. Hearing her say those words was the closest he’d ever come to that feeling. The one where everything felt so right and perfect, he knew if he even blinked everything would be different.

He slid his hand up her side, gently pushing her shirt up as he went. She lifted her arms, and he tugged the top over her head and dropped it to the floor.

His was next. Then her mouth returned to his, but this time her lips parted, and he slipped his tongue inside, touching hers. Tasting her.

He cupped her breast, his thumb finding her hard nipple through the material and swiping it back and forth.

She sighed, her head tilting back, and the sound weaved its way inside him.

God, he loved every sound she made.

He trailed kisses down her neck, then chest. Her skin was warm and soft, and it called to him. Made him want to touch and taste every inch of her. Learn her…memorize her body.

He wrapped his lips around her nipple, only the thin material of her bra separating them, and sucked. The sound that tore from her lips was something between a cry and a whimper, and he wanted to bottle it up.

He switched to her other breast, flicking the tight bud with his tongue, rolling it in a circle. But soon, it wasn’t enough. He needed more of her. He needed skin against skin.

He reached behind her and unclasped her bra. It dropped to the floor with a delicate thud, and the second her breasts were free, he was cupping them. Holding their soft weight in the palms of his hands.

“You drive me crazy, Aspen.” He lowered his head, wrapped his lips around her nipple and swirled that beautiful bud with his tongue.

She grabbed strands of his hair and pulled as she groaned. “God, Jesse.”

He grazed her nipple with his teeth, blood roaring through his veins at those cries she made. He fucking burned for her.

He turned them and laid her on the couch. He held her gaze, getting lost in her blue eyes as he removed her jeans and panties. Then she was naked beneath him.

“Perfect,” he whispered, unable to keep the word inside. “You’re perfect.”

He ran kisses down her neck, her chest, her stomach, before dipping his head between her legs. She went quiet under him. Then he ran his tongue over her clit. Her entire body jolted, and he gripped her hips, steadying her. He licked her again, but this time in a circular motion.

Every swipe made her body tremble beneath him, had her releasing sweet moans into the room.

He wrapped his mouth around her and sucked.

He wanted more tastes. To take everything she had to give. But she gripped his shoulders and tugged. “Jesse…please.”

He kissed a path back up her stomach, then wrapped his lips around her nipple and sucked before returning to her mouth.

Almost desperately, she reached between them and unzipped his pants. He pushed them and his briefs down, then stood to shove them off completely. The second he was back with her, she reached between them and wrapped her fingers around his cock.

His entire body froze. He went so fucking still, he wasn’t even sure he was breathing.

She slid her hand up and circled her thumb over his tip. He buried his head in the crook of her neck. He was so hard it hurt. Jesus .

She explored him, changing the pace of her strokes, her hold on him growing firmer. It was fucking torture. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he gripped her wrist.

“Aspen…I need you.”

“You have me.”

He reached down to his pants on the floor and pulled his wallet from the pocket. He took out the condom he’d only recently started keeping there and tore it open with his teeth. The second it was on, he positioned himself at her entrance. But he didn’t move right away.

Instead, he got lost in her eyes again. Eyes that would forever see into his soul. “Say it one more time.”

She cupped both his cheeks. “I love you, Jesse.”

His chest contracted and he lowered himself. Once he was seated deep inside her, every muscle in his body tightened again, and for a moment he couldn’t move.

She lifted her head and nibbled his bottom lip. Her hips rotated in a little circle, and it fucking killed him.

He bit back a curse before lifting his hips and pushing back inside her.

Air whooshed from her chest, whispering over his face. He continued to move, lifting up and thrusting back down as he cupped her breast, once again pulsing her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

She groaned and arched, her fingers sliding into his hair and tugging.

When he lifted his head, the world narrowed to only her. To her head flung back, eyes closed.

“Fucking gorgeous.” The words had no sooner left his lips than he was kissing her again. Tasting her sweetness as his tongue tangled with hers.

Quickly, he spun them so she was on top. She gasped but didn’t miss a beat, lifting her hips and lowering back down.

He ran his thumb over her clit, and she groaned, her movement growing faster. Her breasts bounced as her thrusts became more desperate. He continued to swipe and stroke her clit, and he knew the exact moment she was on the edge. Her muscles tensed, her breaths shortening. Then she cried out as she broke.

Jesse kept rubbing his thumb over her clit, his eyes never leaving her. But when her walls clenched one last time around him, he couldn’t stop himself. His entire body stiffened, then broke. He growled as he gripped her hips and thrust up inside her. Three thrusts…it was all he had left. Then he dropped to the couch, his chest pumping as the air barely made it into his lungs.

Aspen dropped onto his chest, and his arms wrapped around her. And suddenly he knew, this was his new favorite place, the only place he wanted to be—wherever this woman was.