Never Too Late by Alyssia Leon

Author:Alyssia Leon [Leon, Alyssia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781911519010
Publisher: Sagewood Publishing Ltd
Published: 2016-08-04T14:00:00+00:00

13

Much later, they were huddled up in Jake’s bed finishing the sandwiches Nan had made. He wore nothing but a pair of grey jogging bottoms he’d pulled on before going to fetch the sandwiches from the other room, and she nestled deeper into the soft folds of the dark blue robe he’d wrapped around her, studiously avoiding staring at the naked expanse of his sculpted chest for fear of unconsciously reaching out to touch. They’d made love again and again, yet in many ways, she still couldn’t make that first move.

“Cold?” He placed their empty plate on the bedside table and reaching out, wrapped an arm around her waist and hauled her to him. A quick shift and she found herself between his legs, backed up against his solid body, both his arms around her. “Better?” he murmured in her ear.

“Mmm.” She relaxed back into him, savouring the solid protection of his hold.

He buried his face in her hair. “Why do you hide away in this little village, Molly? You should be out in the world, turning heads.”

“Really?” She glanced back at him with a chuckle. “I’m here because Nan is. But seriously, you don’t have to flatter me, Jake.”

Grinning, he pressed a kiss to her upturned lips. “I’ll flatter you as much as I want.” He settled her against him again. “But I want to know more about you. What happened to your parents, Molly?”

She let out a breath. Her parents had died young, when she was a baby. That was as far as anyone in Appleby knew. Nan didn’t talk beyond that, saying her son Ricky wasn’t gossip fodder. But Jake didn’t feel like just anyone. “They died in a house fire in France.” His arms tightened around her and she tried to shrug off the familiar sense of loss. “It’s strange. I’ve only ever seen photos of them, but It’s like a piece of me was lost. Nan says they loved each other very much, so in some ways, I’m glad they were together in the end.”

“It was a terrible accident.” He kissed her hair again.

She hesitated, but she wanted him to know the truth. “It wasn’t an accident.”

If he was shocked, he gave nothing away, merely continuing to hold her tight. “What happened?”

“My mother’s mother, she wasn’t well… mentally. She never liked my father. Said an Englishman wasn’t good enough for her only daughter. After I was born, she tried to kill herself, but it was just a trick to bring my mother back to France. My father went to bring my mother back, and my grandmother set fire to the house the first night he was there. All three of them died. The police later told Nan and Grandad it had been deliberate. She’d planned it down to the last detail.”

He whistled. “Hell. And I thought I’d drawn the short straw in the family stakes.” He moved her so she was cradled in his lap, her cheek resting against his shoulder.

“Is your story happier than mine?” she asked, running gentle fingers over the short golden hairs on his chest.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.