Free Jake by Rian Kelley Page A
Authors: Rian Kelley
eighteen.”
“Sounds like you were trying to run away from something.”
“Or someone,” Ivy said. “I think I was trying so hard to rise above my circumstances…to not become my mother…to not become stuck in that life…that marriage became my only way out. Or so I thought.” And she’d wanted someone to love her. She’d had Holly, of course, but she’d needed more than that. “I was looking for someone else to make me feel like I had value. That was a big mistake.” And not something that ever worked. “I paid for it and it taught me a lot. I grew up. I went to college. I became my own woman. Somewhere along the way I realized we all have value, just by virtue of being human beings. That we have all hurt and hurt others, that we’re this collective mass moving towards the same thing—to love and be loved—and that our many paths give us individuality but also familiarity. Kinship.” She realized she was speaking of things she never had before. They were the thoughts that kept her going, that improved her understanding of herself and others, that lit her compassion and made her approach life—hers and others—with a gentleness she wasn’t capable of even four years ago. She felt her face heat and she shrugged her discomfort.
“I bet you didn’t know I was a closet philosopher,” she said.
He tugged on her hand to stop them and turned her so that they stood toe to toe on the sidewalk. “You put into words things I’ve been thinking for a long time. Our experiences shape us but are also our connect points.”
He lowered his head and his lips brushed over hers. It was a short kiss. Just a caress really. But it was warm and sparked an electrical current that flowed through her.
“That was one of the first things I thought about you. That you’ve been close enough to break point to know your own resilience. It’s a real draw.”
Beauty from ashes, she thought. We can rise up, like the phoenix. A rebirth and, from what she understood, new life always rose from a bloody mess.
“You haven’t heard the worst part yet,” she said. “I sacrificed my relationship with my sister in order to wallow in my misery.”
“You can fix that,” he said and she loved that about him. He was always positive. Always saw the possibilities. He didn’t look at circumstances but at potential. It seemed like it came
naturally to him, where she had had to work at getting there. But she knew that wasn’t true. And it wasn’t fair—he’d earned his maturity just as she had.
“I already did,” she told him, then pulled on his hand to continue their walk to the car.
Chapter Seven
Jake watched Ivy place her foot on the railing and then fold her body over the long, supple length of her leg. She was wearing short-shorts that hiked up her thigh and bared the soft curve of her buttocks. The sneak peak throbbed in his cock. He wanted to reach over and tug at the material—there were other guys around, jogging or biking along the path, and he didn’t want them to have what every atom in his body screamed was his. Not even a glimpse of it.
He told himself to turn around. To look at the ocean. To follow the wheeling of the sea gulls overhead. Anything but focus on the way her clothes—or lack of them—sheathed her body.
Damn. There was no way he could run with a hard-on and he was more than half way there.
She brought her foot down and turned, lifting her face so that she could deliver a cheeky smile.
Jake felt a growl rumble through
“Sounds like you were trying to run away from something.”
“Or someone,” Ivy said. “I think I was trying so hard to rise above my circumstances…to not become my mother…to not become stuck in that life…that marriage became my only way out. Or so I thought.” And she’d wanted someone to love her. She’d had Holly, of course, but she’d needed more than that. “I was looking for someone else to make me feel like I had value. That was a big mistake.” And not something that ever worked. “I paid for it and it taught me a lot. I grew up. I went to college. I became my own woman. Somewhere along the way I realized we all have value, just by virtue of being human beings. That we have all hurt and hurt others, that we’re this collective mass moving towards the same thing—to love and be loved—and that our many paths give us individuality but also familiarity. Kinship.” She realized she was speaking of things she never had before. They were the thoughts that kept her going, that improved her understanding of herself and others, that lit her compassion and made her approach life—hers and others—with a gentleness she wasn’t capable of even four years ago. She felt her face heat and she shrugged her discomfort.
“I bet you didn’t know I was a closet philosopher,” she said.
He tugged on her hand to stop them and turned her so that they stood toe to toe on the sidewalk. “You put into words things I’ve been thinking for a long time. Our experiences shape us but are also our connect points.”
He lowered his head and his lips brushed over hers. It was a short kiss. Just a caress really. But it was warm and sparked an electrical current that flowed through her.
“That was one of the first things I thought about you. That you’ve been close enough to break point to know your own resilience. It’s a real draw.”
Beauty from ashes, she thought. We can rise up, like the phoenix. A rebirth and, from what she understood, new life always rose from a bloody mess.
“You haven’t heard the worst part yet,” she said. “I sacrificed my relationship with my sister in order to wallow in my misery.”
“You can fix that,” he said and she loved that about him. He was always positive. Always saw the possibilities. He didn’t look at circumstances but at potential. It seemed like it came
naturally to him, where she had had to work at getting there. But she knew that wasn’t true. And it wasn’t fair—he’d earned his maturity just as she had.
“I already did,” she told him, then pulled on his hand to continue their walk to the car.
Chapter Seven
Jake watched Ivy place her foot on the railing and then fold her body over the long, supple length of her leg. She was wearing short-shorts that hiked up her thigh and bared the soft curve of her buttocks. The sneak peak throbbed in his cock. He wanted to reach over and tug at the material—there were other guys around, jogging or biking along the path, and he didn’t want them to have what every atom in his body screamed was his. Not even a glimpse of it.
He told himself to turn around. To look at the ocean. To follow the wheeling of the sea gulls overhead. Anything but focus on the way her clothes—or lack of them—sheathed her body.
Damn. There was no way he could run with a hard-on and he was more than half way there.
She brought her foot down and turned, lifting her face so that she could deliver a cheeky smile.
Jake felt a growl rumble through