Free Surrender by June Gray Page B

lips. “Now I’ll just have to give you an even better one.”
    â€œI don’t know how that’s possible, but I’m game to try.”
    His chuckle was deep and satisfying, rumbling through his chest. “I knew you would be.”
    â€”
    Sleep proved elusive when there was a sexy man in bed with me who couldn’t control his thoughts or his hands.
    â€œSo tell me about your parents,” he said, palming my ass.
    I snuggled into the crook of his arm, running my fingernails through the hair on his chest. “They had what you’d call a tumultuous marriage. One minute they couldn’t stand each other, the next minute it was like they couldn’t breathe without each other. It was a constant ‘I hate you, I love you.’ It took me a long time to realize that their relationship was abusive in a way, not physically but emotionally, that they did horrible things to each other in the name of love. And I grew up thinking I’d never be like that. Never be so entrenched in someone else that I’d lose all sense of control over my emotions.”
    â€œAnd how’s that going for you?”
    â€œSo far so good.” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, how about you?”
    â€œMy dad, Patrick, lives in San Diego. He used to be Navy but got out a while ago and now he’s running a small business teaching people how to fly. He lives with my stepmom, Karen.”
    â€œAnd your mom?”
    â€œShe died when I was seventeen. Cancer.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œMe, too. Her name was Lori. She was the best person I knew.” He stared off into space, lost in his thoughts.
    â€œSo tell me more about your dad,” I said to steer him away from melancholy thoughts.
    He kissed my shoulder. “My parents married young, had me young. Mom was sick for years and my dad took care of her, even quit the Navy to be there for her. He was so wrapped up in my mom and her cancer that he gave up nearly everything else in his life. One night, about two weeks after she was buried, he confessed to me that he was a little relieved that she was gone, and it made me so angry with him. I hated him enough that I left home as soon as I graduated and stopped talking to him. It took me a long time to let go of my anger, to finally think about his words and try to understand where he was coming from.
    â€œOn his fortieth birthday, I finally went back home and we talked it all over. He said it was the best birthday gift of his life. And a few months later he met Karen. They fell in love, got married, popped out two more kids.”
    With his theory about things happening for a reason in mind, I asked, “Do you think your mom died in order for your dad to meet Karen?”
    â€œNo. My mom died because it was her time to go. Nothing more, nothing less.”
    â€œSomething tells me you won’t feel that way if it’s your life on the line.”
    â€œI do. We’re all going to die sometime. Why waste energy worrying about it?” He pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “Anyway . . . so why birds?”
    I took to the change in subject happily. “I’m not sure when it began, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to have the ability to fly. To leave everything behind and soar into the clouds, far removed from my life. Once, I climbed a tree to jump onto a trampoline.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œI broke my arm.”
    He lifted my arm straight out above us, skimming along its length with his rough palm. “This one?”
    â€œThe other. I was in a cast for eight weeks,” I said. “I guess that’s why I was drawn to dance. Leaping onstage, defying gravity, it’s how I’m able to fly. For those few seconds, time slows and I’m weightless.”
    â€œCome with me,” he said, getting out of bed. I followed him, enjoying the view of his firm ass as he led me toward the balcony door,