Page 7 of Something Borrowed

Jaxon’s laugh was loud and boisterous, everything he’d always been. Only, when he sniggered as the man before her, there was something sensual about the way it traveled through his body, making his every muscle appear toflex.

“Because we’re standing here in fancy outfits with good music, great weather and because I asked.”

Tentatively, she slipped her hand into his and allowed him to tug her toward him, stopping with just enough space between their bodies for the spring sunlight to shine through. A pleasant hum seemed to race through her body at the contact, but she did her best to ignore it, knowing this was nothing more than his way of finding something to do for the afternoon. Yet, as her arms went around his neck, she was acutely aware of the difference to their relationship this actwas.

Letting herself move to the music she did nothing save for feel the beat of it coursing through her. She’d always loved dancing and had often been teased for joining the school’s dance team because aesthetically, she didn’t fit in. That was the thing growing up in New Orleans, everyone was sunshine and daisies down in the quarter, but politics and race backgrounds were more than present in Algiers where she’d lived – she wasn’t fortunate enough to have parents with a cushy uptown near-mansion sized home, but she’d tested into Academy of the Sacred Hearts young and had met the Donovan’s.

“I’d forgotten how carefree you looked when you danced,” Jaxon’s words cut through the serenity of the music.

Her eyes popped open, and she hadn’t even realized they’d been closed. “You’ve watchedme?”

“I’ve always watched you – and watched out for you.” His voice was deep as he spoke, his eyes intensely focused onher.

Her nipples pebbled with excitement as she observed him looking at her. Hunger shone from the depths of his eyes, with a look she’d only dreamed he would have forher.

“Thank you.” She whispered, wanting to ask him something else, but not daring to open thatdoor.

“It was my pleasure.” He practically growled the words.

They slipped into a rather awkward silence as their bodies continued to sway effortlessly together. Her heart continued its rapid beating, mocking a drum-line battle with every second that passed. She wanted to look away, to break whatever spell Jaxon was casting over her, but she couldn’t, or rather, she didn’t wanttoo.

“You’ve changed,” the words slippedout.

He nodded, his eyes closing briefly as he did. “You don’t see the things I’ve seen and remain a cocky richkid.”

“Has it been difficult?”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Instead, he took her arms from around his neck and placed one on his shoulder and took the other in his hand. A classic dance position, and yet, it thrilled her in ways she couldn’t understand.

“That’s not proper weddingtalk.”

“Humor me. I want to know what changed my best friend’s big brother.”

He blew out a breath, and she could practically feel a blanket of sadness fall over them as hedid.

“They’re right you know, when they say death has a way of changing a person. My first mission I watched a family – four kids and a father – trigger on an IED meant for us, for the Americans.”

His voice cracked as he spoke and the faraway look could only mean he was back there, reliving some private moment as he spoke. Guilt wracked through her, knowing she was the reason he was trapped in some memory battlefield, but she wanted to knowmore.

“I’m sorry.” She murmured, gasping as he twirled her, likely spinning her away so she couldn’t see the pain in hiseyes.

“Most people are.” He hadn’t snapped at her, but he might as well have. He pulled her tighter, pressing their bodies together as he spoke next. “I lost almost everyone in my unit. We had a liberty day – sorry a day off of sorts – I wanted to stay behind, so I did with my company commander. They drove over an IED, just right fucking over the thing. Blew the hummer sky high, killed them all. Six of them, gone without so much as second of time passing between when the tire connected with the fucking thing, and it went off. I wasn’t even there to help, just heard the news from someone who sawit.”

The pain in his words was like a knife passing through her. Tears sprang into her eyes, slowly falling down her cheeks. She’d heard the utter devastation in his words, even though she’d been too afraid to look him in the eyes as he spoke.

“Sorry. I’m betting you haven’t had too much contact with people like me – people that wake up screaming in the middle of the night from what their jobs have forced them to do and made them witnesstoo.”

She blew out a deep breath and flinched as his hands gently held her face while his thumbs tenderly wiped away the tears from her cheeks. Everything ceased to exist saved for the man touching her. The music and backyard melted away, seeming to leave them in a blank space meant just forthem.

Their gazes held as his thumbs continued to stroke over her face, even though the tears were long gone. Every fantasy from her youth slammed into her, and before she knew it, she was on her tiptoes, slanting her mouth overhis.

The moment their lips touched she felt a spark, unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Call it years of anticipation or fireworks, both applied as their mouths gingerly glided together. One hand slipped away from her face only to land on the small of her back and tug her against him. He was like a wall – a solid, but warm, wall that held her safe from anything on the other side of it. Heat from his body seemed to jump to hers, warming her with every second that passed.

When his tongue traced along the seam of her lips, she nearly pulled away. As her mouth opened and their kiss deepened all she could think about was how much more amazing actually kissing him was than in her teenage dreams. It was clumsy at first, but they learned one another quickly as their tongues danced together the way their bodies had been doing moments prior. She quivered with bliss and moaned as the hand still gently holding her face, shifted around to the back of her head and sunk into her hair, cradling her head againstit.

She was falling into nothingness as sensations – desire, warmth, lust – began to curl around her, dragging her deeper and deeper into an abyss that was Jaxon Donovan.

“Aid!”

Someone shouted, drawing her slightly from the cocoon of theirkiss.

“Aid, no! Not youtoo.”

Kailey’s voice pierced through the void she shared with only Jaxon, and she pulled break, breaking the intimate contact. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she looked around, seeing Kailey staring at her, hands on her hips and her lips pressed into a smallline.

Jaxon ignored his sister completely, rubbing his thumb once more over Adrianna’s cheek before stepping back from her all together. “I’ve wanted to do that since high school,” the words rushed out on an exhale, and he didn’t take his eyes off ofher.

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