Strawberry Kisses (A Rocky Harbor Novel Book 2) by Marianne Rice

Author:Marianne Rice [Rice, Marianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Limitless Publishing LLC
Published: 2017-03-28T06:00:00+00:00

***

Jake

Jake collapsed on the bed, trying to catch his breath. He rolled onto his back and pulled Rachael to his side. Still breathing heavily as well, she draped a leg over his thigh and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Damn.” He didn’t have the strength to say much of anything else. Rachael’s fingers traced the tattoo on his left shoulder. Her caresses were not helping his breathing rate any.

“Tell me about your tattoo.”

“Give me a second. You damn near killed me, Blondie.”

“Me?” she laughed. “You’re the one who made our foreplay last so long.”

He had to stop thinking about the laughing and teasing and moaning that had happened in the shower, against his wall, and on his bed over the past hour or he’d never catch his breath. “Yeah. Well.” He slid his fingers along her side. “Like I said before. You’re hot.”

“I’m average.”

“This is one argument you’re not going to win.” He swept her hair out of her eyes and nipped at her shoulder. “I bet you were an adorable kid.”

“I don’t have any pictures from before I was adopted, so I suppose we can pretend.”

Jake hadn’t meant to bring up the past, determined to move on with the future, but since it was out there, he wanted to know more.

“You were eight when Doreen and Keith adopted you?”

“Yeah. They already had Luke and Graham. I thought they were so cool. They hated me.” She chuckled. “I don’t remember trying to be a pest, but I couldn’t help wanting to be with them. I’d been alone and bored my entire life.”

“Do you mind me asking about your birth parents?” When her body didn’t tense he figured he hadn’t crossed the line.

“Not much to tell. I really don’t remember much about them. I don’t remember my dad. He took off when I was young. My mom was poor and often didn’t feed me. I remember having an accident in kindergarten and having to go home. The next day I showed up at school with the same underwear and pants on. My mom hadn’t washed them. I can’t imagine what I smelled or looked like.”

“Sweetheart.” He hugged her close, unable to imagine sending a child to school that way.

“I hated school vacations and long weekends. I wasn’t sure when I’d eat next. A least at school I got free breakfast and lunch. I don’t remember my mom yelling at me or hitting me. I don’t really remember her at all. My bus dropped me off not far from our apartment in a rough section of Lewiston. I thought I was so mature having my own house key and staying home alone. I’d have tea parties with my dolls all afternoon and played with my imaginary friends until my mom got home. We didn’t talk much. I’d put myself to bed. Wake myself up. I guess I was a pretty responsible kid.”

Jake stroked her back and listened to her tell more stories of her loneliness. No wonder she latched on to Graham and Luke when she joined the Riley family.

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.