Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ada sat on the edge of her seat, intensely watching the back-and-forth play on the field.
“This is an FA Cup game, is it not?” Lily said, and Ada had to stifle a laugh as Emmaline didn’t hide rolling her eyes.
“Lily. Of course it is. How could you not know?”
“I try to keep up, but it’s been hard,” she said, throwing her hands up in the air. “Susan is almost a year old, and…” her cheeks turned bright red.
“And…” Emmaline said with a sly grin, turning her gaze on her.
“And there might be another one on the way,” Lily finished, placing her hands over her face as she grinned.
“Oh, Lily!” Ada said as the four of them celebrated for a moment. “That’s wonderful.”
They spoke about their family lives for a few minutes before settling in to watch the match, the shouts of the players and the roar of the crowd filling their ears.
Ada tried to focus on the action on the pitch, especially as Jonny sprinted down the sideline, his powerful legs carrying him down the field as he maneuvered the ball. Two defenders closed in, but with a burst of speed, Jonny broke free and sent a perfect cross to Tommy, who headed it into the net.
As the crowd erupted around her, Ada held her hands tightly together, excited and impressed, yet still with so much on her mind — between the game's outcome and the danger that surrounded them.
She couldn’t help but continue to scan the people around them with an anxious gaze as she tried to determine if anyone was a risk.
“Everything all right?” Lily asked Ada in a low voice, and she turned, finding her friend watching her.
Ada started slightly, quickly plastering a smile on her face, one that she didn’t feel in her heart, but she didn’t want to worry her friends any more than she had to.
“Yes, of course,” she said. “I’m just… keeping an eye out.”
Lily followed her gaze toward a few rough-looking men who seemed more interested in observing the spectators than the match itself. A shiver ran down Ada’s spine as she couldn’t help but wonder if Sharpe’s men were here, keeping an eye on Jonny.
Lily reached over and squeezed her hand. “I know you must be worried, especially after what happened at the wedding.”
“If he was willing to make such a bold confrontation, what else is he capable of?” Ada asked, finally voicing her worries aloud.
“Did you feel safe with Jonny last night?” Lily asked, tilting her head with the question.
“Yes,” Ada said, her lips curling into a small smile as she remembered their late-night conversation and the way he had held her. “Despite all that we are facing… I’m not sure I have ever felt so safe before.”
“That’s good,” Lily said, squeezing the hand she still clasped within hers.
“How was staying with him?” Emmaline asked, leaning in with interest after apparently hearing some of their conversation.
“It was just fine, actually,” Ada said. “I felt like I was something of an inconvenience at first, but I think Jonny was nearly as shaken as I was about everything that had happened, and he didn’t know how to say what he was feeling. We figured things out.”
“Together?”
Ada laughed at the insinuation in Emmaline’s tone.
“He was a comfort to me.”
“I see,” Emmaline said, giving her one last suspicious glance before returning her attention to the pitch.
The two teams battled back and forth, Manchester Central clinging to its narrow lead. Jonny seemed to be everywhere – winning tackles, starting attacks, rallying his teammates. As the final whistle blew, Manchester Central had held on for a hard-fought 1-0 victory.
"Well done, lads!" Emmaline called out as the players walked past them after the game, flush with triumph and dripping with sweat.
Jonny lifted a hand to wave at Ada as he walked to the changing area, his eyes intense upon her until the door closed behind him.
As the stands began to clear out, Ada turned to her friends with a worried look.
"What do you think will happen now? With Sharpe and the plan to take him down? It's so dangerous..."
"I don't know," Minnie said, biting her lip. "But the men seem determined to see it through. We'll have to trust them."
"And help however we can," Emmaline added. "They may need us before it's over."
As they were finishing the conversation, the teams had reached the stands and Jonny immediately came to Ada, tugging her close. She didn’t miss the way her friends all watched Jonny’s arm hook around her hip, most of them smiling at the action.
“That was quite the game,” Ada said.
“It was,” he said, letting out a breath as the other men joined him. “A little too close.”
“Doesn’t matter how close you are,” Rhys said confidently. “A win is a win, and we are moving on to the final.”
“When is that?” Ada asked.
“Two weeks.”
Two weeks. It would be interesting to see how much would change in that time.
Jonny had played as hard as he could, despite being unable to prevent his eyes from continually drifting over to where he knew Ada was sitting for the entire game.
She was wearing a maroon dress that Maggie had loaned her, the same color that Manchester Central wore, and his heart warmed with pride that she was choosing the team, choosing him, even though he hadn’t provided her with any reassurances.
She was a better woman than he deserved.
“Have your parents reached out?” he asked as they walked home together, both of them quiet, although he sensed that Ada was more contemplative than concerned.
He had to admit that playing tonight had helped him overcome some of the desperation he had felt the day before, both at the danger Ada had faced and at his inability to make everything right in that moment, at having to wait to see what could come of this.
“They have not,” she said with a resigned sigh. “They probably don’t know where to find me, although they could try through one of my friends’ parents. That they haven’t says a lot. If they can’t use me to merge the companies, am I any use to them at all?”
Jonny had never been one to provide any false reassurances, so he answered her as best he could. “I don’t know your parents well, so I couldn’t say,” he said, releasing a breath. “But I still cannot get the scene out of my head in which they were all just going to let Sharpe take you.”
“He would have killed them if they had tried to stop him.”
“I would risk that for you,” he said, stopping and facing her. They were outside of his home, their breath frosty in the cool night air, lit by the gas lamps.
She took a swift intake of breath as she stepped forward, taking his hands in hers and interlacing their fingers together.
“You’re a good man, Jonny Tate.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “I am not.”
“You are,” she insisted. “You have proven it to me time and again, no matter what I first thought of you.” She tugged at his hands. “Come inside.”
He couldn’t help but follow her in, enjoying the feeling of them coming home together.
“Ada,” he said as they climbed the stairs to the second story. "I cannot sleep with you again. Not without… without touching you the way I want to.”
She turned around, her lips curled into a smile that caused a joy that he had never known before to race straight to his heart. She placed her hands on his shoulders, the stairs making them the exact same height.
“I want you to,” she said.
“To… what?” he had to clarify before he got ahead of himself.
“To touch me,” she said, her voice and her head dropping for a moment as though she was embarrassed by her words. “In any and every way you’d like.”
It was all the invitation Jonny needed as he took her mouth with his, kissing her like he was a man starved.
Which he was. He had known that. He just hadn’t realized how much he had needed this — needed her.
He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, delving in and taking, wrapping her in his arms, with his body, pulling her in close, shielding her from everything else but what was within this room, between the two of them.
She was all he had been missing from his life and more, and he would show her with his actions, even if he couldn’t yet tell her with his words.
She let out a breathy moan that shot straight to his groin as he kissed her deeper, demonstrating with his tongue what he’d like to do to her if he could — when he could.
He laid her out on the bed, not taking any time to fully undress her as he lifted her skirts, providing him with access to that beautiful, responsive body beneath.
He cursed as he pushed up the voluminous layers, finally stopping his fight and sliding underneath them, taking a minute to get used to the lack of air around him.
Letting the fabric settle about his shoulders, he took her drawers in two hands and pulled them down until he found what he was looking for — his own personal treasure.
He took her thighs in his thick hands, ordering her to relax. She listened, allowing her legs to fall to the side, before he bent his head and began to feast.
She cried out as his tongue found her slit. She was the best thing he had ever tasted. He ran his tongue over her, swirling that tight bud of nerves before he pressed it flat against her, moving up and down in a rhythm she seemed to enjoy as she moved restlessly against him.
They found the pace together, back and forth, up and down — and while Ada was receiving, she was certainly as much an active participant as he was.
She was restless in her movements, and Jonny gave her more, reaching two fingers inside and crooking them against her inside wall — causing a keening cry that had her coming apart around his fingers, and he continued to work her until she sank into the mattress, her legs completely falling open as she breathed hard, sated.
Jonny made his way out of the tunnel of her skirts, lying on the bed beside her, until she recovered enough to turn to him.
“Jonny,” she said breathlessly, her eyes glassy, her cheeks pink, as beautiful as she had ever been. “That was incredible.”
“I’m glad,” he said, unable to stop staring at her. When she moved to slide over top of him, he stopped her.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to,” she said before unfastening his trousers, pulling them down, and, with almost the same intensity that he had taken her with, she leaned down and wrapped her mouth around him.
Jonny groaned as he let his head fall back, her mouth slick and wet over him as she moved up and down, fisting him below her lips.
Her movements were unpracticed, but with her eagerness and what he felt for her, it was better than anything he had ever felt before. He never wanted her to stop.
She seemed to deny his wishes, however, for she lifted her head, only to ask, “Is this all right?”
“Oh, Ada,” he groaned. “There’s never been anything better.”
She moved over him, up and down, her tongue swirling around his crown, and it wasn’t long until he was coming into her mouth, and she gripped him hard, taking in every last drop.
When she finished, Jonny grabbed her and tucked her into the crook of his arms, raining kisses over her head.
“You are incredible, you know that?”
“That’s how you make me feel,” she admitted, and he sighed contentedly. If there was one thing he hoped, it was that he would be able to continue to do so for the rest of their lives.
Time would tell.