Free Wrong Side Girl (The Girl Series Book 1) by Julia Goda Page B

and it wasn’t surprising that so many kids preferred living on the streets because most of the time they couldn’t get the support they needed. I had given Jesse my word that I would make them safe and I intended to keep it. Foster care was the other option. With Jesse being sixteen, it was still a long way until he was legal and could take responsibility for Chloe, so foster care was our best bet. Finding a good one was the tricky part. Another flaw in the system. Most foster parents didn’t care about the kids much, but were only interested in the money they got from the government for taking them in. So I needed to make some phone calls to see where we could place them. But for now, they were safe and sound. They were staying at the shelter and had agreed to meet with a counselor and start tutoring sessions next week.
    When Cole had knocked on my door to pick me up, I had been on the phone with Jimmy to make sure they were both there and hadn’t taken off. Jimmy had checked on them while I stayed on the line and assured me he would keep an eye out for me over the weekend and call me with updates every night. Rainey, one of my full-time colleagues, and Marie had promised to do the same thing during the day shift. So everything was under control. But for some reason, I was anxious, as if somehow I knew something was going to happen, as if there was something I had overlooked. On our way down here, I had told Cole the whole story. He knew how much I cared about my kids, how much of myself I involved into their fight for a better life. He understood why I did it. Why it was my calling. He hated it when some cases didn’t work out that great, when kids disappeared, or I couldn’t gain their trust, or I couldn’t help as much as I wanted, because he knew how much it took out of me. When that happened, he never complained, though. He always supported me when I needed to talk things out or needed him to get my mind off things. And I loved him for it, for being such a good friend. Now it felt even better when I told him how worried I was about Jesse and Chloe, how much it had hurt when they had told me their story, and he took my hand in his to softly brush his lips over my knuckles or squeeze my hand in reassurance. It felt natural and familiar.
    On that thought, I felt arms snaking around my waist from behind and lips at my ear softly tracing the shell. That felt natural, too. It was odd that even though neither one of us were used to being in a relationship, these little displays of affection came to us naturally. It didn’t feel awkward, but instead felt easy and almost instinctive. Maybe it had to do with the fact that we had known and trusted each other for so long. I didn’t want to overthink it, though. I wanted to enjoy it.
    “What are you thinking about?” Cole whispered as he was nibbling my ear.
    “You actually,” I said on a giggle.
    “Yeah? What about me?” His hands started moving on me over my shirt, stroking my belly, one hand going up my side almost to my breast, the other going down to the edge of my shirt then lifting it just enough for him to touch the skin there. I tipped my head back to rest it on his shoulder and reveled in the full-body shiver his touches caused.
    “How natural it feels when you touch me. How easy it is to touch you back,” I breathed on an exhale.
    “You’re damn right it is. Now that we broke the seal, all I wanna do is touch you, all I can think of is kissing you.” I lifted my head a little and reached for his mouth. When our lips connected, we both groaned in relief. His hands were getting serious, exploring, touching, feeling, gently groping. Both were under my shirt now. The skin-to-skin contact there for the first time jolted me into action and I opened my mouth to him, snaking my tongue out to touch his. His hand had found my breast and squeezed lightly, his thumb caressing my hard nipple, causing me to moan against his tongue.
    That’s when things got out of