Drowning to Breathe by A. L. Jackson Read Free Book Online Page A

we’re too late?”
    “No…he won’t. He’s not that stupid.”
    Even with my promise, rage boiled beneath the surface. Ready to be unleashed. Because if he did? That rage would come like a destroyer.
    She snuggled a little closer, and her voice clogged with a restrained sob. “It’s an awful feeling being so thankful I don’t have to go through this alone and knowing Kallie has to.”
    “No, she’s not alone, baby. She feels you right here.” I placed my hand over Shea’s heart.
    Slowly, she rolled over to face me. “Earlier…you said you wanted to claim Kallie as your own.” The words became almost urgent. “What did you mean?”
    A pensive smile tugged at my mouth. I pulled my head back far enough to allow the subdued moonlight to illuminate Shea’s face. “I told you what I see when I look at you. I see a family. Always thought family to me would construe something fucked up and broken…just me and the boys and Austin. But I want it to include you. I want it to include Kallie. When she’s sad or scared or just needs someone to tell her she’s loved, I want to be that guy.”
    Something both brilliant and fractured passed through Shea’s expression. And I knew she was seeing it. The same thing I saw. And somehow I’d gotten lucky enough that this girl wanted it, too.
    Hard thing was, both of us were wondering how the fuck we were gonna get there.
    “You know…” My voice was rough. “Earlier tonight I took you bare.” I frowned. “Twice now, actually. You want to know the truth of what hit me? I was hoping that maybe…just maybe together you and I were making something beautiful.”
    Shea jerked back an inch. Bewilderment lit on her face. “You’d want that?”
    “I don’t know…probably would be a bad fucking idea right about now, but sometime, yeah.”
    Intense emotion held fast in her eyes. “Since the first night you took me out, I couldn’t help but think about experiencing those things with you, Sebastian. A life and a home. A family for Kallie.” A somber smile fluttered around her mouth. “You surprise me in really wonderful ways.”
    “Guess I’ve been surprising myself a lot lately.” Smiling softly, I brushed my thumb along her jaw. “Might have something to do with this amazing girl I met. After she came into my life? Don’t recognize myself anymore.”
    Shea cupped my cheek. Tenderly. Everything written on her face adoring and filled with all the love I didn’t think I’d ever deserve. She looked at me that way for the longest time, like I meant something, this girl seeing me in a way only she could.
    “I’m on the pill,” she finally said, obviously needing to set that straight.
    I gave a slight nod. “I figured as much. But it doesn’t mean the thought wasn’t there.”
    The desire.
    “I should’ve asked you though.” Regretfully, I shook my head. “That’s something I should have talked with you about first, and I’m sorry I let myself get lost in the moment.”
    I caught her around the wrist of the hand she had on my face, shifted forward, and pressed a kiss to the inside of her elbow.
    “You know I’d never purposefully put you at risk,” I murmured into the soft skin, and I wrapped her arm around my neck so I could get closer.
    All the possible consequences and scenarios I’d allowed my own needs and wants to obscure. But I guess I wasn’t coming close to thinking of it as a consequence . But instead something good and pure—a kind of gift I never thought I wanted until all of a sudden it was there—something profound inside me aching to be filled with every part of Shea.
    “I would have stopped you if I was worried. If I didn’t trust you,” she whispered. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”
    “You put so much faith in me.”
    “Yes,” she said simply.
    Affection tightened my chest.
    “We’re going to figure this out,” I promised. “We’re going to send Jennings straight to hell and then I’m gonna pack you and Kallie up and