Page 134 of Finding His Redemption

He rocked into her, slow at first, letting her adjust to the stretch of him. She clung to his shoulders, her nails digging crescent moons into his skin. He could smell the salt of her sweat, the sweetness of her hair, the faint ghost of flour and sugar that never quite left her skin. She lifted her hips to meet him, and he picked up the pace, slamming into her with deep, rolling thrusts that shook the whole bed.

“Jax,” she gasped. “Oh, God?—”

He caught her mouth with his, kissing her so hard their teeth knocked together. He wanted to merge with her, erase every boundary.

“You love me, Nessie?” His hips snapped forward, punctuating each word. “Say it again. Say you love me while my cock’s inside you.”

She moaned so loud and long that he was sure it would wake the entire ranch.

Well, let them hear.

Let the whole goddamn world know she was his.

“I love you, Jax. I love—” Her words broke off in a whimper as he shifted his angle and drove in, deep and relentless. She writhed under him, sweaty and wild and begging for more.

“That’s it, sweetness. Take it. Take all of me.” He reached down and thumbed her clit, and she nearly bucked him off with the force of her orgasm. Her pussy clamped down, spasming around his cock so hard he saw stars. “Jesus, Nessie?—”

She was sobbing now from the pleasure, from the intensity of it, and he couldn’t hold back any longer. He buried his face in her neck, breathing in the vanilla and cinnamon scent of her as she wrung him dry.

chapter

thirty-nine

Time hada way of healing wounds, even when the scars remained visible.

The bakery remained wrapped in yellow tape, its broken windows and smoke-stained walls a constant reminder of how close they’d come to losing everything. But life at Valor Ridge had settled into a rhythm that felt surprisingly natural.

The mornings started with coffee on the cabin porch with Jax while Oliver fed his rescued cats—the real ones, anyway. Trouble had already claimed the sunny spot by the chicken coop door, Princess Jellybean preferred the shade under the old oak, and Socks had appointed himself Oliver’s personal shadow. Watching her son croon to them, seeing him take responsibility for their care, made something warm unfurl in her chest.

She’d found herself spending most days with Lila Garrison, the ranch vet, and Johanna Perrin, therapist, housekeeper, and an unofficial mother figure to the men who lived here. She’d grown fond of both women, though they couldn’t be more different. Lila was all quiet competence and gentle humor, while Johanna was a force of nature who could organize a last-minute dinner party for a hundred, help deliver a breached calf, or gently talk a veteran through his nightmares.

But what fascinated Nessie most was watching Lila whenever Boone was around—the way her eyes would soften, how she’d find excuses to linger near wherever he was working. The poor woman was completely gone for the gruff ranch foreman, and he seemed utterly oblivious to her feelings.

“You should just tell him,” Nessie suggested one afternoon as they watched Boone repair a fence post, his shirt clinging to his broad shoulders in the heat.

Lila turned pink to the roots of her golden brown hair. “Tell him what?”

“That you’re in love with him.”

“I am not—” Lila sputtered, then caught the knowing look in Nessie’s eyes. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only to those of us with a vagina,” Johanna said.

Lila choked on her iced tea.

“The men are hopeless,” Johanna continued, settling back in her chair. “Every last one of them. They can track a wounded animal for miles, fix anything with an engine, and face down armed criminals without blinking. But put a woman who cares about them in front of their faces?” She made a dismissive sound. “Blind as newborn kittens.”

Nessie thought about Jax, how long it had taken him to believe she could actually love him. How he still sometimes looked at her like he expected her to disappear. “Maybe they just don’t think they deserve to be loved.”

“Exactly.” Johanna pointed a weathered finger at her. “These boys have been told they’re broken for so long, they can’t imagine anyone seeing past the damage.”

Out in the pasture, Boone straightened and wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm. Even from this distance, Nessie could see the play of muscle across his shoulders, the easy competence in his movements. She glanced at Lila, who was watching him with naked longing.

“He’s not going to figure it out on his own,” Nessie said gently.

“I know,” Lila sighed. “But what if I tell him and it ruins everything? What if he doesn’t feel the same way? I’d have to leave, find another job, and this place...” She gestured around them. “This is home.”

Nessie understood that fear intimately. The terror of risking everything for the possibility of something better. She’d felt it every time she’d let herself get closer to Jax, every wall she’d let him tear down.

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