Page 68 of Release Me

“Us?” Sebastian asks. His unwavering gaze a grounding weight on my face that makes me want to elaborate even though I know I shouldn’t. I want to give him names, dates, locations, every detail that would allow him to truly know me, but I can’t.

“Me, my guardian and his son.”

My voice doesn’t change when I refer to Beau even in the vaguest of terms, but somehow Sebastian still knows. When I say ‘his son’, his eyes turn dark and stormy and I shiver as an image of the two of them meeting flits through my mind. The thought makes me sad. Sebastian is the only man I know who would put himself between me and Beau, but I would never ask him to. I would have to leave him before it ever came to that.

“By the time I got started at a new school, I was coming up with a plan to get away from them,” I continue, smiling a little when Sebastian pulls me closer, like the mere mention of me planning to leave makes him want to hold me tighter.

“What was your plan?”

“To keep my head down and focus on school, so I could get everything my guardian sold out from under me back. I worked my ass off, graduating high school early, earning two Bachelor’s at once.”

Surprise etches itself into his features, quickly followed by pride. “I knew that resume was bullshit.”

I laugh, grateful for the levity he’s just infused into the moment because things are about to take a turn for the worse. Sebastian catches on as soon as my mood turns somber again, and he reaches back to grab my hand, threading our fingers together and bringing them to rest between our bodies.

“I kept telling myself I would have time for a relationship and everything that came along with it after I graduated college and got away from them, but that never happened.”

“What did happen?”

“I went to dinner with my guardian and his son to celebrate my graduation and woke up in a stranger’s house.” Sebastian curses, and I close my eyes, unable to look him in the eyes as I say the rest. “They sold me. They sold me to him to pay off gambling or drug debt, I’m not sure. I don’t remember. I guess it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that when I went into that man’s house, drugged, gagged and bound, I was a virgin, and when he carried me out, I wasn’t anymore. What matters is that every sexual encounter I’ve had before today has happened with everyone’s consent but mine, which is why I didn’t know it could be that way.” My eyes are still closed, but that doesn’t stop the tears from rushing down my cheeks. Their appearance sets Sebastian in motion, and he goes from laying beside me to hovering over me with his hips notched between my open legs.

“Look at me, Nadia.”

I follow his order even though I know the moment I gaze into those turbulent champagne pools, I’m going to break wide open.

“I didn’t get the chance to find out,” I gasp. “I ran out of time, and no one told me it could be this way.”

“No, you didn’t run out of time, baby,” he says. His hand goes to my cheek, and his thumb smooths the tears into my skin. “You didn’t run out of time. It was stolen from you, but you have time now. We have time, and I’ll show you how good it can be, okay? Do you hear me, precious? I’ll show you that it can be so much better.”

Hiccups mixed with shuddered breaths tear through me, ripping me apart at the seams until Sebastian’s lips cover mine. He murmurs reassurances into my mouth, literally speaking them into me, and I feel my soul go quiet in observance of his promises. The pain subsides, retreating to make space for the quiet bloom of desire.

I wrap my arms around Sebastian’s neck and my legs around his hips, pulling him down. He’s already hard, but his face is conflicted as he gazes down at me.

“Nadia, we don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to.” I pull him down further and kiss him, slow and sweet. “Show me how much better it can be.”

24

SEBASTIAN

Ispend the whole night showing Nadia.

Teaching her, pleasing her, making my body a slave to hers.

We don’t fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning, which is why it pisses me off exponentially to hear my phone ringing from the pocket of my jeans that are somewhere on Nadia’s bedroom floor. With aching muscles and an empty stomach, I sort through the mess of clothes we left at the foot of the bed and dig it out, grimacing when I see who’s calling.

“What the fuck do you want, Luc?” I whisper, throwing myself back on to the pillows next to Nadia’s sleeping form.

She’s naked and her bonnet is halfway off her head, and my fucking chest swells with pride because the scarf I insisted she put on is still in place. She wanted to throw the bonnet on and call it a night because it was the closest thing to her, but I wasn’t having it. I went to the bathroom and grabbed her scarf off of the sink and a brush before coming back to bed. She was half asleep when I made her sit up, but she moaned her appreciation when I ran the brush through her tangled strands and placed the black, satin fabric around her edges, securing it with a bow I had to retie several times because she said it was too tight. Once I was done, she slapped the bonnet on her head and curled up under the covers, ordering me to turn off the lights and come back to bed to hold her.

Cuddling has never been a part of my post-sex routine. Talia and I never bothered with it because we were both always so eager to get to the next thing. There was no desire to pause, to connect physically without the goal of an orgasm. And with every other woman I’ve slept with, I’ve never stuck around long enough after sex for them to ask me for anything let alone more of my time.

But when Nadia asked, well, technically, ordered, me back to her bed to hold her, I didn’t hesitate because there was no where else I wanted to be. As soon as I put away the abandoned groceries, armed the security system and turned off all the lights, I climbed into bed and hauled her onto my chest, planting a kiss to the top of her head while she breathed a sigh of content and passed out. We stayed that way all night, neither of us moving, and as soon as I’m laying down again, Nadia curls herself back around me, resting her head over my heart.

“Why are you whispering?” Luca asks, loud as all hell. “Is Nadia still sleeping?”

My hand tightens around the phone that I wish was his neck. “Don’t say another word.”

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