Safeguarding Kelly(25)
Author: Zoe Dawson

“Jason, please…”

 

He looked at her, his expression somber, the cramp in his chest getting worse. “She’s mine. Isn’t she?”

 

Her expression startled, she stared at him, remorse flickering in her eyes. She swallowed hard, her expression starkly contained. There was way too much here to fly off the handle and start throwing around accusations and feeling resentment for what he had lost. He’d found her in a world that was always turning on a dime. He’d found her again. And, he’d just discovered that he had a child. There would be time to work on those other, less positive emotions.

 

She tried to smile because even though this was difficult, there was so much joy to embrace. “Yes,” she said, her voice very soft. “She is yours.”

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

 

 

 

 

He’d considered so many different options on the drive over here, but nothing seemed to gel. He was just going to wing it and pray that he got it right.

 

He left the room and Kelly followed him. He closed the door softly. “Jason, can we talk about this? Can I explain?”

 

The interior of the house was wrapped in silence, but the light from her room cast a faint glow, bathing her face in shadow and sorrow. With a knot in his gut the size of Texas, Jason stood in the hall, that silence like a weight around him. The tension that had been riding him since he left the complex let go in a rush, and he rested his hands on his hips. He met her gaze, a sudden ache jamming up his throat. He might be suffering, but she was suffering, too, with her choices.

 

“I’m so sorry.”

 

One hand still on his hip, he looked away, trying to handle the sudden stinging in his eyes. God, but she could turn him inside out. Finally managing to get a shaky breath past the lump in his throat, he looked at her, aware of how she was huddled in the warmth of her own arms, aware of the dark uncertainty in her eyes. That uncertainty stripped him to the quick.

 

“Come here, babe,” he responded, his voice gruff.

 

With a choked sound, she came into his arms, and he gathered her up in a tight embrace, roughly tucking her face against the curve of his neck. Jason felt her take a deep breath, then she pressed her face tighter against him as she slid her arms around his waist. He could feel her trembling as if her world was crashing down, not while he was able to help her hold it up. “Yes, Kelly. You can explain. You need to do that for you. I’m listening.”

 

He pressed a kiss to her temple, then slid his fingers along her scalp, cradling her head in his firm grip. The heavy, silky weight of her hair tangled around his fingers, the loose fall like satin down her back, and Jason closed his eyes and hugged her hard, a swell of emotion making his chest tighten. This woman filled him up like no other.

 

He felt her take another tremulous breath and he smoothed one hand across her hips and up her back, molding her tightly against him. Easing in a tight breath of his own, he brushed a kiss against her jaw, then waited for her to talk.

 

“I did it to protect us both. It all seemed so impossible back then, and I thought leaving would be the easiest way to get you what you wanted, protect us from exposure. But I have to be honest, too. I was afraid of losing everything, including my honor. I should have been the better person and I wasn’t. I was an officer and I failed in my duty to you and the Coast Guard. I’m so very sorry about that.” She shifted against him, her hand clutching at the fabric of his shirt. “I see what I did was also without honor. I never gave you a chance to make your own decision. I robbed you of your parental right. I will always regret that, Jason.”

 

He nodded and that seemed to give her the courage she needed to continue. “I knew in my heart you would do the right thing. I thought that would be a disaster. Now I’m not sure about anything, except how much I missed you. I’m glad you’re here.”

 

A tremor coursed through her, and Kelly dragged her arms free and slipped them around his neck, the shift intimately and fully aligning her body against his. Jason drew an unsteady breath and angled her head back, making a low, indistinguishable sound as he covered her mouth in a kiss that was raw with regret, governed by his need to comfort and reassure. Kelly went still. Then, with a soft cry, she clutched at him and yielded to his deep, comforting kiss. Jason slid his hand along her jaw, his callused fingers snagging in the long silky strands of her hair as he altered the angle of her head. She moved against him, and Jason shuddered and tightened his hold, a fever of emotions sluicing through him. He wished he had the right to protect this woman forever.

 

Dragging his mouth away, he trailed a string of kisses down her neck, then caught her head again and gave her another hot, wet kiss. His breathing ragged, he tightened his hold on her face and drew back, holding her against his chest. He held her like that, his hand cupping the back of her neck, until his breathing evened out; then he turned, tucking her against him as he headed for the bedroom.

 

She was shaking hard by the time they made it to the bedroom, and he paused by the foot of the bed and drew her into a fierce embrace. Roughly pressing his face against the curve of her neck, he held on to her like she was his next breath, trying to get a grip on the wild clamor rising up inside him. Forcing her head against him, he gritted his teeth and tipped his own head back, taking several deep breaths; then somehow, he got her clothes off without letting her go, and managed to tear open the small foil packet and sheath himself.

 

He was shaking nearly as badly as she was when he lifted her onto the bed, then followed her down, pulling his T-shirt off before dragging her beneath him. He felt as if his heart would explode, as if his lungs would seize up if he didn’t get inside her, if he didn’t get as close to her as he could possibly get. She made a small, desperate sound and drew up her knees, urging him forward with urgent hands and Jason clenched his jaw and closed his eyes, burying himself deep inside her. God, so deep. So tight and deep.

 

He locked his arms around her, a shudder coursing through him, and he ground his teeth together the sensory onslaught nearly ripping him apart. It wasn’t the act; it was the closeness, the culmination of so much need fusing them into one unified whole. Braced against the mind-shattering sensation, Jason remained rigid in her arms, waiting for the heated, electrifying rush to ease. Releasing a shaky sigh, he braced his weight on his forearms and bracketed her face in his hands, his heart trapped in his chest as he covered her mouth in a slow, wet, softly searching kiss.

 

Kelly sobbed into his mouth, her hands clutching at him, and she lifted her hips, rolling her pelvis hard against him. Jason roughly slid his hand under her head and locked his other arm around her buttocks, working his mouth hungrily against hers as he lifted her higher, then rolled his hips against hers. Kelly made a choked sound, and Jason drank it in, his mind blurring with a red haze when Kelly countered his thrust, her body moving convulsively beneath him. Aware of how desperately she needed this kind of comfort, Jason dragged his mouth away and gritted his teeth, a fine sheen of sweat dampening his skin as he moved against her, trying to give her the maximum contact, trying to exert the right amount of pressure where she needed it most, trying to hang on until she came apart in his arms. She made another wild sound, and her counterthrusts turned desperate and erratic, and Jason tightened his hold. His senses on overdrive, he roughly buried his face against her neck and thrust into her, fighting to go the distance, the red haze governing him.