Page 106 of Losing Faith

He shakes his head, his eyes darting between mine, but he doesn’tsayanything; he just stands there.

“Why are you looking—”

His lips crash into mine and it only takes my brain one second to react as I melt into his touch. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kiss him back harsher andangrierfor confusing me and making me want him.

My tongue slips into his mouth as soon as he grants me access and I let out a moan as he pulls my hips to him, his fingers digging into my side like he’s holding me for dear life.

In a sudden rush, he lifts me and I wrap my legs around him. He carries me somewhere I don’t even care about because he starts pulling my shirt off and I can’t care about anything else but his lips on me.

He settles me onto a bed, his hand slipping into my pants. I suck in a breath before he’s pulling away. “Tell me you feel nothing else will come from this,” he says breathlessly, his hand still in my pants. “Tell me you don’t want to at leasttryto be a family with us.”

I feel my face heat as I lay on his bed shirtless and gasping for air. I keep my eyes low as I move his hand. Rising to my feet, I pull my shirt on.

“Seriously?” He soundsbroken,and I feel my face heat in embarrassment and anger.

I only shake my head, but as I try to walk past him, he steps in my way, leaning down to catch my eyes with his. “The only reason you don’t want tofigure this out right nowis because you’re scared and you’re stalling. You’re waiting for one of us to fuck up so you don’t have to try.”

I go still, a part of me hating how well he knows me.

He tucks a wet strand of hair behind my ear. “Just because you had a bad mom doesn’t mean you’ll be a bad mom.” His words nearly shake me to the bone. “You’re not her and you don’t need a good example of a good parent to be a great one.”

I blink my tears away, but he sees them and cups my face.

“Iknowyou want us. I wouldn’t be begging for you if I didn’t think you did.” He rests his forehead against mine. “Just say yes.”

I open my mouth, but he plants a quick kiss on my lips.

“Please don’t walk away from me again. Just say yes,” he begs, his lips brushing mine.

This man is going to drive me to insanity, but I’ll gladly give him the directions.

At the sound of a gasp, I turn and Isabelle stares back at us. Her brows furrow, but her dad pulls away, and then her jaw drops. She seems to be going through every emotion as her face morphs from her wide eyes to her jaw-dropping.

“Were you justkissing?”

I look over at Jackson for an answer, but he looks to me as if I was supposed to know what the hell to say.

“Are you boyfriend andgirlfriend?”

I glance over at Belle before looking at her dad who looks like a deer stuck in headlights.

“Oh my goodness.” She slaps her hand over her face before she smiles at us. “Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Daddy, you can just marry Lissy andshecan be my mom.” She smiles so damn big at us and you couldn’t hold a gun to my head and tell me to walk away from this little girl.

I shake my head at myself as I turn to Jackson.Say something,I mouth.

A forced smile grows on his face as he turns to his kid. “Can you wait for us downstairs, please?”

“But are you getting married?”

“I don’t think so,” he answers casually.

“Mom?”

I go still as I stare at Jackson and his eyes widen as he takes a step away from me. “Um, no.” He shakes his head gently. “Let’s call her Lissy. Remember what we said about needing to be married to have a second mom?”

Her brows furrow. “But why were you kissing if you’re not getting married?”

“We weren’t kissing,” he lies. “It only looked like that, but I was telling her a secret.”

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