Jonny's Redemption (Gemini Group Book 7) by Riley Edwards (audio ebook reader TXT) 📕

“I needed to do it alone.” Jonny reached up and cupped her cheek, partly to take the sting out of his words but mostly because he just wanted to touch her soft skin. “I needed to forgive them and myself. I needed to let go. I needed to know if I had it in me, and when you’re by my side I believe anything’s possible. So I had to be alone to know I’m man enough to love you the way you deserve to be loved.”

Jonny felt her lips tip up and his thumb grazed the side of her smile, feeling that grin literally and figuratively.

“And now you know.”

It wasn’t a question, but Jonny still answered, “Now I know.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Jonny didn’t need to think about the offer. There was nothing to say, no need to hash out his feelings or process the emotions. It was what it was. Life was just life. Sinners sinned. People forgave. Redemption was found. Pasts were left in the past.

It was time to move on.

“No.”

“Jonny—”

“Straight up, baby, I got nothing to say. And not because I’m holding back or don’t want to share with you. It’s just gone and there’s nothing more to it.”

“What’s gone?”

“That knot in my gut. The poison that polluted my thoughts. The lies I held on to that told me I was a failure.”

Jonny paused thinking maybe he did have something to say, things Bobby needed to know, but before he said them he wanted her closer.

Much closer.

He stood and held out his hand and just like he knew she would Bobby wrapped her fingers around his. She didn’t ask where they were going when he led them through the house. She remained silent as Jonny undressed her. She said not a single word when he helped her onto the bed before he shed his clothes and joined her.

Trust.

“Do you know how much I love you?” Jonny asked and settled his hips between her legs.

“Of course.”

“Good.”

He dropped his mouth to her neck and took his time tasting every inch of her he could reach. When that was no longer enough, his hand glided from her hip, up her ribs, along the curve of her breast until his thumb found her nipple.

“Jonny,” she whimpered.

“When I ask you to marry me, are you going to say yes?”

“Yes.”

Jonny continued to toy with her nipple, pinching and rolling until her back arched and her breaths started coming out in tiny gasps.

“Are you gonna have my babies?”

“Yes.”

“I want that soon, baby, you up for that?”

“Yes.”

Jonny smiled and nipped her earlobe.

“You ready for me?”

“God, yes.”

His cock twitched and he shifted.

“Reach down and guide me in.”

Bobby’s hand snaked between their bodies, she fisted his cock, and did what he asked. In one hard thrust, Jonny sank deep.

Bliss.

Jonny stared down at her pretty eyes unfocused with desire, her sex tight and wet, her nails digging into his back, her knees clenching his sides, all of that so hot he fought against pounding into her.

Peaches and vanilla.

Soft gasps, raspy moans.

Jonny took it all in, the perfection of them coming together.

Two halves that fit.

United.

Then he told her the last of what he needed her to know.

“I was wrong, the future is not unknown. The future is you and me. It’s us making a family. It’s you by my side. It’s us bound together. It’s whatever we want it to be, Bobby. Unknown is not unknown when you find the person you were meant to spend your life with.”

Jonny didn’t need a response. Bobby’s smile said it all and his chest grew lighter at the same time it warmed.

The unknown looked bright.

The future beautiful.

So with nothing left to say, Jonny made love to his woman.

30

McKenna Swagger

“Micky?” my sister Mandy called.

“Yeah?”

“You know they’d be proud, right?”

My body jolted and I looked up from the picture I was holding.

“I know they’d be proud of you and Zack.”

So much had changed since my dad and stepmom had passed and I became the guardian of two teenagers. We had a rocky start, all of us grieving a huge loss. But since the waters had calmed and we’d come together as a family, things had smoothed. Over the years we’d hit rough patches, but lucky for us we had more ups than downs, and we always worked as a team. That was something Nixon had taught us.

“They’d be proud of you,” Mandy argued.

“Mandy—”

“They’d be proud.”

I glanced back down at the last family photo we’d all taken together. Sadness crept in like it always did on days like today. Special occasions, milestones, holidays, they would be missing. Days when I knew they’d be beaming with pride and excitement. Days like today hurt just a little more than normal.

“They’d be proud,” I conceded.

I placed the photo back on the mantel and looked around the room.

“Where’s Holly?”

Mandy rolled her pretty green eyes and shook her head.

“Where do you think she is? Zack took her out to see Goat.”

“Seriously, she’s dressed for the party.”

“Like Zack would care if she was dressed to meet the Queen. He never says no to her.” That was true, my brother loved his niece. “Besides, it’s Zack’s graduation party, if he doesn’t care about smelling like Goat what do you care?”

“When’d you get so smart?”

Mandy shrugged then smiled. “Nix taught me.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled.

“Micky?”

My eyes drifted closed. I knew that tone. I’d heard it a lot over the years.

“Right here, Mandy.”

“Yeah, you are. Always there. Always cheering us on. Always proud. Always giving us more. Being a mom, a sister, a friend, whatever we needed. You and Nixon.”

I was not going to cry. I was not going to break down when my house would be overrun with friends and family any minute.

“Thank you, big sister.”

Okay, so I was going to break down and that was how my husband found me. Nixon didn’t ask what was wrong, he didn’t ask Mandy why I was crying, he simply pulled me into his arms and held on tight.

That was Nixon Swagger.

My forever.

My partner