Read Online Finding Home by Ninette Swann - Free Book Online Page A

frenetic movement of passion, orgasm took Jessica without warning, pushing her over the edge of oblivion as she cried out in exquisite pleasure. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she came, and she clenched around the hot length inside of her. She didn’t see Ben’s surrender to the abyss. She felt his hands rake over her back and grab her buttocks as he rocked into her with force, shouting out, then reached up to run his fingers through her hair.
    They lay in silence for long moments before Jessica raised her head to look at the man who was so thoroughly leaving his mark. His dark eyes burned into hers with a million questions before a mask of placidity fell over his features.
    “I could get used to this,” he murmured, cupping her chin in his hand.
    She nodded, reluctantly rolling off him. As much as she wanted to stay in bed all day, the animals needed tending to, and their bout of lovemaking put them way behind schedule.
    “Hey, come back,” Ben said, reaching for her as she planted her feet on the floor.
    She smiled at him. “We’ve got all day to do this,” she said. “Right now, the cows need to be fed.” She laughed as she walked away. “And I know just the guy to do it.”
    Ben groaned, putting his hands over his face. “I knew there was a reason I left this farm,” he complained.
    “Buck up,” Jessica said with a smirk, tossing him a clean flannel from the closet. “At least, you’ve got your family.” Her voice nearly broke with unexpected emotion at that, and she turned quickly, shutting the door to the bedroom on the way out. Tears threatened as she thought of her parents, of how they’d never see another Christmas.
    * * * *
    With Ben being out at the barns, a lonely, nervous feeling overwhelmed Jessica. She felt a sudden urge to check her email, which she hadn’t done since she’d left Boston. She had wanted to start completely fresh, but after seeing Ben and his family together, she had started to worry about her own loose ties. She figured it couldn’t hurt to read a few messages. It was probably all junk mail anyway.
    She turned on the old desktop and waited. Taking a fortifying breath, Jessica tried to stem her anxiety. The worst that could be there was an angry note from her landlord, Shelby, about not paying rent, right?
    Wrong.
    There were several notes from him. The first annoyed, the second angry, and the subsequent communications worried and panicked. In the last one dated in early November, Shelby stated simply that he’d found her extended family after not hearing back from her and had left it in their hands.
    After that, she read email upon email, each more harried than the last from her uncle. He begged her to reply, said he was afraid the perpetrators had kidnapped her or worse. Subsequent emails got more and more hopeless. The last one, dated in early December, detailed a missing person report he’d filed.
    An odd sensation wrapped itself around her heart. Who was this person her mother had hated so? Why was he hated? Clearly, he cared deeply about his blood ties. Travis didn’t owe Jessica a thing. He had no obligation to her, no connection to her other than the rings, and yet money was not mentioned once in any of the communications.
    There must have been a misunderstanding all those years ago. She wondered if perhaps her uncle deserved a shot at knowing her. Sure, they could just go on as they had been. She could leave him in doubt and worry. She didn’t owe him anything, either. But could she turn her back on her own family? She didn’t have a reason like whatever her mother’s had been. And she was all alone. Could she ignore the chance to heal an age-old rift? Had her mother been so hurt and spiteful that she wouldn’t understand?
    Jessica went back and forth with herself. On the one hand, her mom had made it absolutely clear that Uncle Travis was a scumbag, unworthy of even a second thought. On the other hand, she had never told Jessica why, and she was now dead.