Chapter Twenty-Nine
“You should get some sleep.” Jaxon looked at Ginny and nodded toward his bed. He’d been the last of the Guardians to head into the Compound. He had hung around outside after they’d arrived as all the other Guardians had introduced themselves to Ginny. He was glad that they all seemed to welcome her into their Pack and didn’t judge her for who her father was.
“The Arkansas Guardians are different from the Louisiana Guardians.” She eased onto the bed and looked at him under her lashes.
“How’s that?” He sat in the chair by the TV and pulled off his boots.
“They spoke to me.”
He stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “The Louisiana Guardians don’t speak to you?”
“No, they’re not allowed.” She shrugged. “Apparently, my father and husband didn’t want them associating with me.” She looked at the ground. “But I wonder if it’s because they hate me simply because of who my father is.”
“But the Louisiana Guardians are loyal to him.”
“They are loyal out of fear. Not out of undying love or commitment.” She licked her lips. “I didn’t realize that a Pack could be welcoming.” She rested her hand on her stomach.
“How are you feeling?” He walked over to her and sat next to her on the bed. His gaze drifted to her stomach.
“My stomach feels a little crampy, but I’m fine.”
“Crampy?” He frowned. “We have a doctor here at the Compound. I can send for him so he can check you out and make sure you’re okay.”
“No, I’m fine. I’ve had these cramps before.” She shook her head. “It usually happens after John gets angry and…” Her voice trailed off.
“He hit you knowing you’re pregnant.” He tried to keep the anger out of his voice, but the bitterness was still there.
“I never told him I was pregnant. He made it clear early on that he didn’t want children. He saw a baby as a threat to his opportunity to be next in line for Pack Master.” She looked at him. “I didn’t even tell my father I was pregnant.”
“Boudier doesn’t know about the baby?”
“No.” She stood and walked over to the window.
“Can I ask you something?” He stood and waited until she turned around and faced him. “How do you feel about the baby?”
She folded her arms across her chest and took a deep breath. “At first I was horrified, knowing that I was carrying part of John inside me. I worried the baby would turn out like him. I didn’t want him at first.” She glanced down at the floor. “But as the weeks went by and the baby survived despite the beatings, I began to see her—or him—as a survivor. Like me.” She looked up at him.
He nodded. He could understand that.
“Do you hate me because I’m carrying another male’s child?” She asked, the tone of her soft voice uncertain.
“What?” His chest clenched at her question. “I could never hate you. I love you.”
Silent tears slid down her cheek. She didn’t bother wiping them away but let them find their course to her clasped hands in her lap.
“After everything that I’ve done to you, leaving you without telling you why, marrying another male, and now carrying his baby, I don’t understand how you could still love me.” She shook her head and looked at the floor. “I’m not the perfect girl you fell in love with. I’m ruined.”
“Listen to me.” He tilted her chin up with his fingertip, forcing her to look into his eyes. “I want you to hear what I’m going to say because I’m only going to say this once.”
She blinked, her attention on him.
“You’re not ruined. You are perfect. And you are perfect for me. I will love that baby inside of you because it’s part of you. I could never hate you or the child you are carrying. That child is going to need a father and, Ginny, I want to be that for her or him. I want a life with you and that child and the many other children who will fill our home. That’s what I want. But I need to know if you want the same things.” His swallowed back the emotion in his throat. He spoke the words without hesitation, and he meant them with all his heart.
“Jaxon, I love you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his chest.
He held her tight, her body snug against his own. He could feel her heart beating against his like they were one. His chest swelled with emotion, and a sense of complete joy washed over him.
The struggle they were going to face over the next twenty-four hours would determine their fate forever. But in this moment, he pushed those thoughts away, determined to stay in this moment with her.
He bent his head, pressing her lips to hers. She relaxed in his arms, melding her curves to his edges. She sighed and opened under his lips. He dipped his tongue into the sweetness of her mouth, teasing her tongue with his and eliciting a moan.
Her hands slid down his chest. Her fingers found the bottom of his T-shirt and she tugged it up. He broke the kiss long enough to pull his shirt over his head and toss it on the floor.
Her fingers were everywhere, touching and caressing and teasing.
His stomach burned with desire to have her underneath him and to make her his in every possible way.
He lifted her shirt over her head and then stood, pulling her up with him. She reached up on tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his in a heated kiss.
Her fingertips fumbled with the zipper of his jeans before she managed to shove them down his hips. Her cool hand wrapped around the length of his hard cock and squeezed.
“Easy,” he groaned and thrust into her palm. He wanted this to last, to make love to her until daylight. He wanted this seared into his memory forever.
She moved her hand and shimmied out of the rest of her clothes leaving them in a pile on the floor. She stood there before him, naked, with only her blonde hair flowing across her shoulders.
She looked like an angel. His angel.
He couldn’t wait any longer. He took her in his arms and kissed her. He picked her up and carried her to the bed. Laying her in the middle, he hovered over her. She caressed his face and pulled him down for a slow, sensual kiss.
He sheathed himself in her body, melding them together as one. He moved slowly against her as they made love in the shadows of the darkened room. Time seemed to be suspended, and reality only consisted of them in their own little world.
His fingertips memorized the soft curve of her hip and the shape of her soft breasts. He dipped his head and captured her nipple in his mouth. She moaned as he sucked the hard bud, teasing her with his tongue.
How had he lived all these years without her? How had he existed?
She moved under him, arching her body and straining toward him. She hooked her ankles around his thighs, forcing him to drive himself hard and deep inside her willing body.
Urgency boiled in his blood as pleasure soaked through every cell of his body. He forced his body into submission, to hold off his own pleasure until she found hers.
She arched and dug her nails into his back as she climaxed. He thrust faster, matching her pleasure with his own and spilling his seed into her body.
He continued to move until they’d ridden out their orgasms together. Exhausted, he pulled her trembling body against his and cradled her in his arms.
He held her close and forced his racing mind to shut down. He needed to find his own rest. Even if it was for a few hours. He needed his strength, and he needed to be prepared for whatever Boudier was about to throw their way.