Okay, so we’re doing this right here? Jesse swallowed and pivoted his focus to the group standing on the porch. Everyone except Beckett and McKenna.
“Ella,” Savanna cried out, running with open arms, and Griffin strode behind her and tipped his head Jesse’s way in hello.
How would he face the rest of her family? Look Ella’s dad, Rick, in the eyes after what he’d put the man’s only daughter through? And then there was the marriage lie.
“Jesse, a word.” The sound of his father’s voice was like another knife to the gut. Jesse slowly turned his gaze toward the man. Time hadn’t changed the fact that Jesse resembled the bastard more than a little, something he’d always hated. “Over here.”
Jesse glanced at Ella, finding her now surrounded by her family and barely visible as they went in for hugs.
He avoided making eye contact with his mom on his way to his dad, who now stood off to the side of the house for privacy.
“I knew you were a fuckup, but this, this is beyond anything I could ever imagine.” His dad crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Jesse.
Jesse bowed his head. He was now taller than his dad though only by an inch, but Sean McAdams, even in his late sixties, was still strong and fairly jacked. Not that Jesse doubted he’d win in a matchup with him. And he’d be lying if he said that over the years he hadn’t envisioned such a fight. But it was time for him to put the past behind him so he could start fresh with Ella.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Jesse remarked, unwilling to offer his father an apology or any excuses. Hell no.
“Boy, look at me when I’m talking to you.”
Jesse bit down on his back teeth and hissed between his barely parted lips as he slowly forced his eyes on his dad’s, not because he’d ordered him to, but because he was no longer the boy who had to stand there and take it. He was a man whose days of putting up with this bastard were long over.
“I’m so pissed at you I can barely see straight,” his father went on, just like back in the day. Jesse shook his head when he glanced down and saw his dad’s palm twitch. Would he really try to hit him out here in front of everyone? Expose himself as the asshole he was? All that talk of redemption . . . his mother deserved better if he was still the same man he’d been all those years ago.
“Walk away,” Jesse slowly said. “I advise you to leave before you make a scene, or I promise you, the only one who will end up flat on his back will be you.”
“You don’t deserve that girl. You know that, right?” His dad leaned in closer, and Jesse smelled the alcohol he’d supposedly given up on his breath.
“Jesse,” Ella said from behind just before she sidled up next to him and secured a hand around his arm. “You should do what he says,” she boldly stated, lifting her chin, eyes dead set on his dad. “In fact, you should get off our property before I tell everyone about the kind of man you really are.”
Jesse’s focus remained riveted on the firecracker trying to protect him once again.
“What nonsense did he peddle to you?” his dad asked.
“Just the truth,” Ella calmly said. “And if you don’t walk away right now, I will punch you. You can count on that,” she added, her tone grittier this time, and heaven help him, he was going to kiss her right there.
“You two belong together, then.” His father huffed out a deep breath and hip-checked him like an immature ass while walking past.
Ella guided Jesse’s focus to her, an attempt to calm him down. “Some people don’t deserve forgiveness. I’m sorry, but I won’t ever forgive him for what he did.”
He angled his head and studied her, unsure what to say. He had so many emotions flying through him right now.
“Your mom and sister should know though. They need to know what he did to you,” she whispered.
“We’ll see. But first, I need to face your family.” Chills coated his arms when he saw Beckett and McKenna circling the house from the back, striding side by side, and Ella turned to follow his gaze.
“Ella!” McKenna called out, breaking free from her father’s side to race their way. Ella dropped to her knees and wrapped McKenna in a tight hug while Jesse stared at them and set a hand to his chest at what felt like a fist pumping there. But it was just his heart working double time.
“Jesse,” Beckett said in a clipped tone on approach, which had Ella quickly untangling herself from McKenna and turning their way, looking ready to do battle with her brother if necessary.
But in this case, Jesse didn’t want any barriers between him and Beckett.
“Thank you for safely returning her home,” Beckett said, his tone low and deep. “Now get the hell off our property before I remove you myself.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“You shouldn’t have left with me,” Jesse murmured while he held Ella in his arms as they lay in his bed later that night. “You should have stayed at the ranch.”
Ella quietly lifted her palm and smoothed the back of her hand over his cheek.
“I never want to come between you and your family.” He repeated what he’d said to her multiple times since they’d left her parents’ house three hours ago.
After he’d made a quick round of apologies to her family, as well as to his mother . . . he’d done as Beckett had demanded and gotten the hell out of there, but Ella had run after him, jumped into his truck, and refused to get out. “Where you go, I go,” she’d stubbornly said while fastening her seat belt.
“Beckett is fiercely protective of his daughter. He’s still mad. But unlike your dad, you deserve forgiveness. The chance to patch things up. And honestly, when it comes to my parents, I think they’re more upset that the marriage is fake.”
Not married. Shit. That made him sad too.
Ella lowered her palm to his chest. “Right now, I just want to be in your arms. Maybe make love?”
“You’re trying to distract me. You wouldn’t have sex with me in Austria, but you will now?” He almost laughed. “You must really be worried about Beckett, then.”
She shook her head. “Yes, I’m a little stressed. But you know how I get when I’m tense.”
Yeah, he did. His woman needed some relief, and he’d be more than willing to give it to her if that’d help.
Ella eased free of his embrace and stood from the bed. “You know how many times over the years I thought about coming into your bedroom and us making love?”
He rolled flat to his back and folded his arms behind his head, propping himself up to put eyes on her. She peeled off her blouse and tossed it, then went for the snap of her bra.
Yeah, his brain would turn to mush in 1.5 seconds if she continued stripping.
“I was thinking maybe you could teach me martial arts. Some karate?” she casually mentioned while undressing. “Or, ohhh, how to use a bow.” She unzipped her jeans and shoved them down. “I’d like to be a badass like Sydney.”
He smiled, cocking his head as he watched her slowly drag her black satin panties down her thighs, exposing her smooth center. “You’re an original. And God willing, you’ll never need to defend yourself again for any reason, but I can teach you some stuff.”