Intimacy was rare, and usually resulted in Joe getting significantly hostile with her… blaming her for his ‘problems’. She knew better now – because the problem hadn’t been her.
The problem was Joe.
That was not the case in this marriage this time around. Jax couldn’t keep his hands from her – and she couldn’t help but return his love and affection that he so easily gave.
She treasured the way Jax looked at her, touched her, and made her feel so special.
He was always holding her hand, touching her hip, kissing her shoulder… and those soft little touches were because he wanted to be closer somehow. Even when they first met, Jax tried to reach across the table to touch her hand, and she had finally responded, because she wanted to be touched and treated gently.
His kindness opened the doorway between them. The positivity and joy he radiated made her feel welcome, included, and like she actually belonged.
… But his love?
Jax’s heart made her soul whole.
She was now craving a future that she’d only dreamed of… and when Jax had told her, ‘If you want to escape to paradise, then I’m the man who’s going to take you’. That single sentence made her feel free, treasured, protected, valued, loved beyond measure… and she knew anything was possible with the right person.
Glory had been so right.
It wasn’t the popular guy, the rich guy, the sexy man, that would win her heart… but rather the shy, quiet one that just wanted a chance to love someone.
Her Jax.
Her sweet, romantic husband who wanted someone to love him for who he was – and just to be loved back. The man that wanted a romance that would last for all eternity, taking his call sign from a sappy movie about love transcending death… oh yes, her husband was a sweet and tender man.
… And she was a very lucky girl.
Even on their wedding night, in the stillness of the room… she would never forget how much he trembled and how careful he was holding her, like he was afraid it was some beautiful dream.
“I don’t deserve you… but I can never let you go. I love you so much, Mary,” he’d breathed – and she’d melted at the hoarse passion in his voice whispered straight from his soul, speaking directly to hers.
His heart was tethered to hers, his soul melded with hers as one.
This was forever between them, and she knew it with every fiber in her being, because she would never tire of the way Jax treated her like she was vital to him. He promised her everything… and it was actually happening.
His heart.
His soul.
… And their child.
“I wish you were here so I could hold you when I tell you the news,” she whispered into the darkness, putting her arm behind her head.
CHAPTER23
GHOST
Ghazni, Afghanistan
Jax laythere with his arm behind his head, staring up at the ceiling above him in dismay.
He could hear Sparky mumbling something in his sleep, and Ricochet was snoring in the distance. Maestro was out like a light, breathing heavily with his mouth wide open, and his arm was dangling off the bed, his hand on the floor.
This wasn’t home, no matter how hard he tried to get back in the routine of things.
He wished that it was the stars above that little tent that he and Mary had shared on the beach, listening to the surf in the distance. He would even be thrilled with the textured ceiling at her apartment – just anything to be closer to his wife right now.
Closing his eyes, he tried to hear her laughter as she opened the package of sheets that he’d mailed her. She was so sweetly romantic, waiting until their ‘phone date’to open the package – and he did the same. She had sent him some brownies she made, a package of socks, and some Tattoo Goo.