Fighting for Flight by JB Salsbury (best books for students to read .txt) 📗

feel like I should feel something, ya know? Guilt or . . . remorse. I just don’t.” I huff out a breath. “The cops said this morning that no charges are being filed. Justifiable homicide and all that.”

“You want to talk about what happened with Vince?” His muscles tense against my body.

“Not much to tell. He tried to—”

A deep growl rumbles in Jonah’s chest.

Yeah, probably best to skip to the end. “You told me to break his arm. So I did.” I hear the words, and even I think they sound crazy. But it’s the truth.

“I told you?”

I circle his belly button with my finger. “Yeah. In my head. You told me to fight. You said arm bar.” I shrug. “You weren’t even there yet, and you were protecting me.”

“I’ll always protect you.” He hugs me to him. “Not that you need it. My girl’s tough as nails. I’m proud of you.”

Inwardly, I smile. I’m proud of myself.

“Fuck, I wish I’d killed that son of a bitch.”

“Nah. He deserves to live the rest of his life behind bars. Death is too easy.”

He laughs in a quick burst then groans. “Ugh, remind me not to do that again.”

Starting at his neck, I trail soft kisses to his jaw. “Poor baby.” I push up to meet his eyes. “I love you.”

His hand slides up my back into my hair. “I love you too. So much.”

He takes my lips in a brutal kiss that I feel in my toes. I moan into his mouth as our tongues glide against each other. Desire floods my veins as I explore his mouth. His strong lips dominate mine, molding them to his will. I roll his nipple between my thumb and forefinger. He groans and his hips flex off the bed.

Pushing up, I press my breasts into his chest, tilting my head and delving deeper into the kiss.

He breaks away with a hiss. “Fuck.”

The whispered curse sends me back and sitting up. “Shoot, did I hurt you?” I touch him and jerk my hand away, afraid of hurting him again.

“No, but if we don’t take this home, I’m afraid I’ll be forced to give the good doctor and his unsuspecting nurses a visual aid in sex education.” He shifts and adjusts the blankets to camouflage his arousal. It doesn’t work.

A giggle bubbles up from my chest, and my hand covers my mouth. Something rough on my finger rubs against my lips. What the heck?

My mood sobers as I examine my hand, palm down, fingers splayed. It’s on my ring finger. A gold band composed of tiny diamonds with one large round diamond in the center. The setting is old-fashioned, understated, and absolutely perfect. I stare in awe.

The cool air burns my eyes. I’m unable to blink. I force my eyes to Jonah who’s smiling his thousand-watt smile: all teeth, two dimples, and shining eyes.

“Jonah?” I whisper, my eyes asking the question my words can’t form.

“The ring was my mom’s. My dad gave it to her when they got engaged, and she wore it every day, until this morning. She brought it by when you were sleeping.” He pulls my hand to his chest and nimbly spins the ring on my finger.

“Raven, I fell in love with you the second I saw you. I thought I had my life mapped out, thought I had it together. Then you came along and flipped my world on its head. You make me want things I never knew I needed. This ring is more than a symbol of my love. It represents family. Our family. The one we’ll build together. You said you didn’t want to talk about our future until you knew we had a future to talk about. Well, now we do. So? Will you marry me?”

Our family. Our future. Now that we have one.

He stares at me, his eyebrows raised. I taste the salty tears as my lips curl at the edges. A slow smile creeps across his face.

I study the perfect ring then lock eyes with him. “Okay.”

His face splits into a smile. “Okay.” He kisses me deep and hard, possessive.

My insides turn to liquid. I explore every curve of his rippled stomach, and his muscles flex beneath my touch. My nails dig into his skin and drag down lower, until they’re under the blankets that lie across his hips. He flexes into my touch, showing me what he wants. Me.

“Oh, one more thing.” He breaks the kiss enough to speak, but his words are said against my lips.

An embarrassing whimper escapes at the loss of his mouth. “Yeah?” I lean into him.

He rubs his thumb across my aching lower lip. “Happy birthday, baby.”

The words are barely out before I’m on him again. Desperation takes over my rational mind and I pull at his gown. Too many clothes.

A voice clears from the end of the bed, popping the love-driven sex bubble we’d created. I curl into Jonah’s body, hoping to disappear from whoever caught me making out with my injured boyfriend. Fiancé.

“Well, well, well. Looks like someone’s feeling better,” Blake says from the foot of the bed, motioning to the pile of thin hospital blankets at Jonah’s crotch.

I say a quick prayer of thanks that it’s Blake and not Katherine. “Hey, Blake.”

“What’s up?” Jonah acts unaffected as he twirls a strand of my hair.

“Just came back from the police station. Dominick’s operation is under intense investigation. Thought you two would like to know Vince and Candy are going to be looking at the inside of a jail cell for the foreseeable future.”

Jonah and I take a collective breath.

Blake grimaces. “Vinnie should be the most popular guy in his cell block. They couldn’t save his dick so they gave him a pussy. Boys in prison should love that.”

“Blake!” I attempt to sound offended, my hysterical laughter ruining any chance I have of being taken seriously. Besides, that’s the least he deserves for what he did to Eve, me, and probably loads of other women who weren’t lucky