Page 139 of A Bond Beyond Blood

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes.Time to focus onanythingelse.I breathed deeply and watched my reflection as I thought about the Yankees...and boats sinking into the Great Lakes...

Slowly, the redness faded from my eyes.

Like a good son, I’d slicked my messy hair back like Mama always hounded me about before, and in this button-down shirt and dark jeans I borrowed from Vinny, I wasn’t threatening in the slightest.

I could probably even convince people I was headed to mass instead of a terrifying meeting with the woman who raised me—then disowned me.

Shit.

Maybe mass wouldn’t be the worst idea.I could use the Big Guy on my side for this next tribulation.Of course, walking into a church after the threesome I just had would probably bring hellfire and brimstone down around me—

“You look good, G,” Jackie said as she stepped outside.She stopped beside me and turned to look at my reflection in the glass.“Yeah.I think she’ll like the hair.”

I chuckled, then ran my hand through it, messing up the style.“I hate it.”

Jackie grinned, then stepped in front of me, reaching up with both hands to mess it up more.“Me too.It’s not you.”

With her hands on my head and her body stretched out along the length of mine, I was propelled back to earlier, my thoughts once again returning to what we did in Vinny’s apartment just a short while ago.

“Jackie,” I murmured, pained by the force of my need for her.

“Kiss me,” she said.

I opened my eyes and dropped my head, searching her gaze as my pulse sped.

She tightened her hands in my hair and growled, “Don’t make me ask you twice, Gannon Hayes.”

I dove for her then, slamming my mouth against hers and wrapping my arms around her waist to haul her against me.We’d kissed a few times, had even gone a little further, but she hadn’t fully let me back in yet.And even after what we did today, I’d had this niggling of fear that it was a one-off, that maybe we only crossed that threshold because Vinny orchestrated it.

Because heallowedit.

Jackie moaned into my mouth and I drank down the sound, licking into her with fervor as my hunger burned up the back of my throat—a matching fire to the one tightening my groin and swelling my cock.

“Jackie, fuck.”I pulled back, panting.

“Sorry,” she said, breathless from the intensity of that kiss.She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth, then her gaze skittered away from me.“It’s just that...um...”

“You’re horny as fuck after what we did with Vinny?”

She barked out a laugh, then quickly covered her mouth.“Um...yeah.It was weird though, right?Are you...”She grimaced.“Are you freaked out?”

“Baby girl, nothing with you will ever freak me out.”

She frowned as her eyes searched mine.“Really?I don’t understand.”

“What?”When she ducked her head, I tucked my knuckle beneath her chin and lifted her face up so I could look into her eyes.“What don’t you understand?”

“How you’re both so cool...with...with sharing me.”She exhaled deeply and the pained fear in her eyes nearly broke me.

“Hey, listen, you don’t have to worry about scaring me away, okay?I’m in, Jackie.I’ve been yours since we were three years old.I’m sorry I fucked up, baby, so fucking sorry.I’d go back if I could, go back and never leave.I’d do anything to take away that doubt in your heart because IknowI’m the one who put it there.”I squeezed my eyes shut as my voice caught on the words.“I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you know that I’m in, Jackie.However you want me, for however long you’ll have me.”

Her lower lip trembled and my heart broke.“Even if Vinny...”She pursed her lips, considering her words.

So I saved her the trouble.“Yeah, baby, even if Vinny gets to love you, too.”

Her breath caught and I pulled her close, tucking her head beneath my chin.I caught movement inside the gym and my gaze landed on Vinny, standing in the shadows near the back of the weight room.When our eyes met, he gave a curt nod.Of course he’d been listening.That dude wouldn’t let her out of his sight on a good day, but after we’d crossed a line together like the line we crossed this afternoon?Of course he wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to break the delicate balance of whatever this was—or cause our girl any more pain.

“I love you, Jackie,” I said, still looking at the vampire inside.“I may have had your heart first, but I broke it, and I know I’m not the only one who has your heart now.He came in when I was too stupid to hold onto you, and I’m thankful,fuck, I’m so thankful he did.”

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