“Heaven”—KaneBrown
My fingers were clinging to the leather of Nico’s cut as he traced the seam of my lips, seeking entrance. Eager, I opened, and he plundered. We’d probably kissed hundreds of times, but something had shifted. This one was… more.
He slowly trailed his kisses along my jaw, then his lips grazed my neck, each touch soft and sensual. “God, I missed you, Jazz. You have no idea. You’re so fucking beautiful and you’re all mine,” he murmured against the sensitive skin. Wetness pooled between my legs at his words, yet I held back. With my body changing daily, I was self-conscious and thought he wouldn’t find me attractive anymore.
I needn’t have worried.
He returned to my mouth and feathered kisses on the corners and a last chaste one to the center that lingered.
“So how bad does your brother hate me now?” he whispered against my lips when we separated.
I sighed. “He doesn’t hate you. He’s just angry with us.” I paused and cringed. “Because we weren’t honest with him.”
He snorted in satisfaction because he’d been right. “So should I be expecting an ass whooping?”
My teeth raked over my bottom lip, and I winced as I shrugged. “I hope not, because I like this face,” I said as I cupped his cheek. The bristle of his inky, short beard was coarse against my hand, and I tugged on the longer strands at his chin.
“You do, huh?” he said with a crooked smile, and my heart thumped madly. In the months he’d been gone, I had worked on a lot of things with my therapist, one of which was owning my feelings—both good and bad. When it came to Nico, there were things I regretted, but I had been working on accepting things I couldn’t change.
Most of all, I realized one thing for certain—that I had fallen for him harder than I ever thought possible.
“Yeah. But more than that, I love what’s in here,” I said as I placed my spread hand under his cut and over his heart. The strong beat thrummed under my palm.
“Well, I love everything about you, Jasmine. There’s so much goodness and light in you that I don’t know how you’ll handle my darkness, but I can’t stay away.”
A surprised inhale was all I could manage. He’d caught me so off-guard. If he noticed I didn’t reply, he didn’t say anything. Not that I didn’t want to, but I didn’t want him feeling like I was only saying it because he did.
His gaze fell to my small baby bump, and he dropped a hand to splay over it. “Fuck, I never thought I’d see this day. Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?” he asked with a hint of awe.
I shook my head. “I decided to wait until I could tell you. I was hoping you’d want to be there.”
“Hell, yes.” He nodded with the hint of a smile. Then he gave his head a slight shake as his brow furrowed. “Damn, I’m a little scared.”
“You? I didn’t know if I’d be raising a baby by myself,” I said with a watery laugh. Then I sobered. “I also didn’t want to tell you right away because I’ve been getting help. I have a therapist.”
“That makes me so happy, but I would’ve been here for you. I would’ve supported you, Jazz.” He gripped the hair at the base of skull again and tipped my head back to gain my full attention. I stared up into his dark mahogany eyes.
“I know, but at that time I wasn’t in the right headspace. If it didn’t help or I fucked it up, I didn’t want you to see that. I didn’t want you to know if I failed. It was important to me to work on myself before I tried to work on anything with us.” My lids lowered, and I centered myself the best I could. Telling him all of that had been painful, yet cathartic.
“Well, I’m here now. I want to be here with you and the baby. I don’t want to miss a thing if I can help it.”
“Did you guys get your shit straight?” I heard my brother say from the patio door.
I gave Nico a questioning glance. He looked over his shoulder to Angel. “We’re figuring it out.”
“Good. Korrie needs your help, and I need to have a word with mybrother.”
With a glare, I cocked my head in warning at Angel. He’d made me several promises when I admitted who the father was. One of those was that he wouldn’t beat the shit out of Nico. The other was that he wouldn’t tell anyone Nico was the father of my baby until I could tell Nico. The last promise was that he would let us try to figure things out without losing his shit.
“I’ll say goodbye before I go,” Nico promised me as he drew his thumb over my lip.
One last parting glare at my brother, and I went inside. But I wasn’t going far. If I needed to intervene, I would. Not that Nico would appreciate that, but Angel had given me his word.
“He’s not going to kill him, I promise,” Korrie said, and I jumped. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw her sitting on the chaise lounge in their sunken family room. A smirk curled her lips.
“I think I love him, Korrie,” I admitted.
“I’ve no doubt. But you need to let them work shit out or it’s always going to come between them. The club is a powerful thing with them. Not that our relationships with our men aren’t as important, but they have a bond that is difficult to explain. Angel told me a little about Chains’s past, and I can promise you, the club is vital to him. Theyarehis family—the only one he knows. I just want you to understand that it’s not fair to make him choose between you and the club.” She took a sip of her water.
“I would never!” I said, upset at the mere thought of making him choose. But if they tried to make him stay away from me, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Never again was someone else making my life choices.