Page 140 of The Promise Of Rain

I was spinning out of control, the pain of the past tearing me apart.

Leaving me bleeding out on the floor.

Then he was there.

Pulling me into his arms, he wrapped around me like a tourniquet.Bowing me back, he gathered me to his wide chest.“Nobody.God.Fuck.Nobody.I swear, baby.I went from you straight to training camp.There was nobody.”

Wrapped in his arms, his big body warm and solid and present, I cried now the way I never cried then, deep, guttural sobs that rose from the depths of my soul.

“I needed you,” I cried thickly, grief raking her long nails through my chest in her bid to escape.“And I wanted our baby.”

“I know,” he rasped, holding me tighter.“Jenny, baby, I’d do anything to change everything.”

He rocked me back and forth, his rough cheek pressed to mine, his big hands cradling the back of my head and splaying across my back as all the hurt and anger I’d buried broke away and shattered like glass.

There was no containing, hiding, or burying it.

It was messy, and ugly, and dark.

But this time, I had Deacon.

He took us down to the floor, folding me into his lap like a child, his arms bands of steel holding me together.

Giving me now, what I needed then.

It wasn’t too late.

I turned my face into his neck and exhaled the last of it with a deep shudder.

I wrapped my hand around the back of his strong neck.

And breathed deep, something deep inside beginning to heal.

Then I gave myself over.“I love you.”

“You’re going to live soft,” he chanted, his heart pounding under my ear as he rocked us back and forth.“I swear to God, baby, you’re going to live soft.”

27

Sugar Mama

Deacon

“I’d like to leave the door open,” I murmured softly, gauging her reaction.Was it even fair to ask?

We’d seen them in passing the day before but hadn’t talked about it.In truth, after Ansel’s revelation, and that farce of a dinner two weeks ago, I didn’t have much to say to them.

I feared if I opened my mouth, all the rage I’d kept bottled up would spew all over them both.

I feared, period.

Everything fell apart once already, and it had fallen apart so effortlessly.

Instead, I took Jenny to bed and worked through the heartache buried inside her, assuring myself she was here with me.And neither of us was going anywhere.

I cuddled her soft, curvy body against mine as the morning sun shone through the cracks in the blinds and warmed her fair skin.

With her back to my chest, I trailed the fingers of my free hand through the velvet strands of her hair.