Page 112 of A Bond Beyond Blood

Time and distance hadnothingon me and Jackie Fiorino.

The scent of her arousal made me dizzy with lust.I slid one hand up to grip the base of her skull and tilted her head away so I could kiss along the line of her jaw, then down her throat.When I felt the thrum of her pulse beneath my lips, heart beating fast and firm, my tongue slipped out to taste that pulsation—

And she stilled in my arms.Her heart stuttered with fear, but I ignored the way that made my chest tighten with regret and kept moving downward.

With one hand still wrapped around the base of her head I tugged the scarf free, then yanked the zipper of her jacket down, exposing the deep V of her shirt and the soft skin beneath.

“Fuck, Jackie,” I groaned as I continued to kiss and lick my way down her chest.“I miss you.”

She sucked in a breath and her hands slammed against my shoulders, stopping my momentum.

When I looked up, her eyes were wide with alarm.“I don’t want to do this.”

My heart plummeted at those words, and the meaning behind them, because she didn’t say shecan’t.

Or that weshouldn’t.

She said she doesn’twantto.

She doesn’t wantme.

I closed my eyes and held my breath because I wouldn’t be able to control myself if I continued to breathe in the decadent aroma of that heaven between her thighs, the home I wanted so badly to bury myself inside of again, to feel that closeness with her that I’d missed for so fucking long.

But I hadn’tearnedthat right.Not yet.

After a moment, I nodded and opened my eyes again, hoping the redness that piggybacks desire had seeped from my eyes.“I haven’t earned your forgiveness yet,” I stated with a curt nod.“I understand.I have a long way to go, but Iamgoing to get there.I promise you that.”

Jackie shivered as she nodded, pulling her arms around herself against the cold.“I can’t promise that we’ll get there again, Gannon.”She shook her head and the lamplight above glinted off the wetness in her eyes.“I’m not...”She swallowed hard and stood.“I’m not the same girl you knew.”With a deep breath that straightened her shoulders and sank mine, she looked around, taking in the deserted docks.“I think it’s time for me to go home.”

“I’ll walk you.”

She zipped her jacket back up and arranged her scarf against her neck.“I think I’m okay—”

I raised my hand to stop her.“Please let me walk you home so your boyfriend doesn’t kick my ass.”Vinny might be cool about her seeing me and figuring out where we stand, but he would not be cool about me allowing Jackie to make her way through the city completely unprotected.He was a possessive asshole, for sure, but being protective of this girl was something we had in common.

She smiled as she nodded, then turned away from me to begin the walk back.

With a deep breath, I followed her.

We were okay.Wewould beokay.

She just needed a little more time, and I could give her that.I owed her that much and more for the way I’d left her—and Iwouldearn her love again.

Because I had every intention of becoming the kind of man whodeservedsuch a gift.

---