Chapter 47
FORTY-SEVEN
JJ
I can’t stop touching Adeline. Seeing Dirk’s fingers wrapped around her throat was the most terrifying experience of my life. Had I left the rink a minute later, I could have lost her forever.
The rage is there, of course, but the fear is what makes it hard to breathe. Makes it hard to keep my hands off her.
“I’m not going to disappear,” she teases, voice soft.
We’re lying in her bed. The perfect date I had planned didn’t happen.
I won’t tell her that I hired her favorite band to perform on a rooftop in Boston.
A private show just for the two of us. So we could dance beneath the stars.
I sent a text apologizing for the no-show, but there was no way we were making it there after what happened.
Adeline is too proud to voice what she’s feeling, but she’s spooked.
Of course she is. He had his hand wrapped around her throat. He violated her. Tonight and years ago.
I hate myself for the way I behaved when I found him in her room back then. Fuck, I was so damn weak. She thinks she’s the one who’s weak, but god, she’s the strongest person I know. How she got up that next morning and moved forward without telling a soul is inconceivable.
“Just let me hold you, please.” I press a kiss to her temple.
She shifts, those beautiful brown eyes of hers finding mine in the dark. “I’m sorry our date got ruined.”
I shake my head. “I’m exactly where I want to be.” Face buried in her hair, I inhale her, skating a hand down her arm, strumming again. Her warmth a comfort.
“What do you think happens now?” Her voice drips with uncertainty.
“With?”
“Us? Dirk?” She leans back, studying me. Cautious.
This girl. She still doesn’t get it.
“Us? We’re together. And I don’t ever want you to say that asshole’s name again. He doesn’t deserve another second of your time.”
“JJ,” she chides.
I shift onto my side, facing her. “I don’t care what we have to do to make this work. Nothing matters but us and Avery. I’m done worrying about everything else. I love you and I want this. It’s that simple.”
Her lips curve up. “Yeah?”
I press my mouth to hers in answer.
Her hands wander and dip beneath my shirt, then her palm is pressed against my chest.
I hiss at the sensation. I’ll never get enough of her.
She rakes her fingers down my abdomen and smiles against my mouth. “Need you.”
“I’m yours.” I lean back, allowing her to take control.
Her gaze roams over me like she’s soaking in those words.
They’ve always been true. I’ve been Adeline’s for as long as I’ve known that life outside of hockey exists.
Since the first night we lay down in this bed all those years ago and she offered me comfort in my darkest moment.
I think I fell in love with her right then and there.
I had a crush before that, but when my head hit that pillow, I was a goner.
She pushes my shirt over my head, and I tug hers off too. We undress quickly, silently knowing exactly what we both need. I’m already hard, and the second she straddles me I feel how wet she is for me. With a firm hand, she pumps me once, twice, and I hiss out her name. “Adeline, please.”
A wicked smile plays at her lips. “Love when you beg for me.”
“Then you’ll be a very happy woman for a long, long time, because I’ll be begging for you for the rest of my life.” I hold her hips, guiding her up to her knees.
When she shifts down, taking me completely, my whole world shifts. Everything is right.
“Fuck, Addie baby.”
“Yes, Jonathan?”
God. When she says my name like that—the sexy rasp of her voice, the teasing—I feel whole but also undone. She rewires my insides. Fixes it all.
“I love you so goddamn much.” I squeeze her soft hips.
In response, she rolls them over me, stealing my breath.
Then she leans down and presses her mouth to mine, her breasts settling against my chest. “I love you too. Now fuck me. Help me forget everything else.”
Arms looped around her, I hold her to me as we make love.
She puts on a good front most of the time. And she really is fucking strong. But that small admission that she’s not okay is everything to me. Because Adeline isn’t hiding from me anymore. And the two of us aren’t hiding from the world.
By some miracle, Adeline fell asleep in my arms relatively quickly. But my mind is still spinning. It only takes one minute of contemplation before I send the text.
Me: I need a favor.
Uncle Frank: Anything.
I slip out of bed and tap his contact, then bring the phone to my ear.
This conversation can’t be in writing. I’m Jonathan Francis for a reason.
I wasn’t lying when I said Dirk should have looked into my family.
Had he done just a little digging, he’d know about my family’s connection to the Irish Mafia.
And I know without a doubt that my uncle will handle Dirk in the only way the man deserves.