Sunshine's Kiss Read Online Free Page A

his, but there was no way he could leave Sam until the knot receded.
    Jesse pulled Sam back against his chest then reached back behind him and grabbed the blanket, pulling it over the both of them. Sam whimpered for a moment as he snuggled into Jesse’s chest then stilled as his body gave in to exhaustion.
    Jesse lay there with Sam in his arms and watched the sun set through the window, wondering how he had been so lucky to have Sam finally come home. He had a lot of questions for the man, the least of which was why in the hell had he left in the first place?
    Jesse had thought things were going perfectly between them. He had been slowly wooing Sam, bringing the man around to the fact that they would one day be mates. That first kiss on the porch had given him such hope that he had been making headway.
    And the next day, Sam was simply gone.
    Jesse had kept track of Sam over the years through Sarah Bishop, his housekeeper and Sam’s mother. Every time he heard of Sam dating someone, he had wanted to track the offender down and kill him. The man Sam was dating, not Sam. Jesse would never hurt a single hair on Sam’s head.
    The same did not hold true for anyone that touched his mate. He’d start with whoever had marked up his mate’s beautiful face. Jesse growled as he glanced down and spotted the fading bruises on Sam’s cheek.
    Someone needed to die.
    “Sshhh.” Jesse’s eyebrows shot up when Sam reached up in his sleep and gently patted the arm Jesse had wrapped around him. Sam was trying to comfort him.
    When his anger faded away to be replaced with a peaceful calm he hadn’t felt since that fateful kiss on the porch five years ago, Jesse knew he had made the right decision in claiming Sam. The man had the innate ability to calm both Jesse and the beast inside of him.
    Jesse laid his head on the pillow next to Sam and pushed his nose into the man’s light brown curls. He inhaled deeply and the natural scent of his mate flowed over him. Honeysuckle. That was the only thing Jesse could liken the sweet scent to. Sam smelled like wild honeysuckle.
    It had been Jesse’s favorite scent since the day he met the man when they were just kids. He hadn’t known then that Sam would be his mate. Hell, he hadn’t known until Sam was twenty-one that they would be mates. They had been friends, but that was about it.
    And then one day Jesse had lost himself in the man’s sweet smile. It had felt like getting hit by a freight train. One moment, Sam had simply been a friend of the family, the housekeeper’s annoying son. And then Sam had tossed his head back and laughed at something Gabe had said, and the whole course of Jesse’s life had changed.
    Jesse had never been able to figure out if it was Sam’s beauty that had drawn him in or the joy in his laughter. Jesse didn’t much care as long as Sam was his. But he certainly wanted to hear more of it. Every time Jesse heard Sam laugh, he felt like the sun shined just for him.
    Jesse bit his lips to keep his groan locked behind his teeth when he felt the knot finally recede. He was saddened by the fact that the knot was a onetime deal. Now that he had claimed Sam, it would never happen again. But that also meant that Sam was now fully claimed.
    He carefully extracted his arm from under Sam’s head and rolled to the side of the bed. Jesse made a quick trip to the bathroom to grab a clean cloth and then came back into the bedroom to clean his mate up.
    As of now, Sam’s care would be entirely in his hands. Even Sam’s mother understood that now that Sam was claimed, he belonged to Jesse. Everyone would understand it.
    Jesse finished cleaning his mate up then tucked the blankets around him. He leaned over to plant a small kiss on Sam’s temple then quickly dressed and headed out. Even though he had claimed his mate, he still had work to do. He just hoped he could get it done and get back before Sam woke up. The man had a lot of explaining to do.

Chapter 3

    Sam groaned as he