Page 68 of Dash

Just as I go to speak again, she pulls away and wipes the tears off her face. “My father raised me to always say what I feel. He would say, ‘Sweet pea, people can’t read your mind. In order for them to understand what you want, you have to tell them.’” She chuckles to herself. “Rodger took that part of me away. To him, women weren’t allowed to have opinions or wants.” She looks up at me. “I was afraid to tell you how I felt, but you weren’t. You were much stronger than I was. But if you just give me the chance, I will show that I can be just as strong as you.”

Her words are like a knife to my heart. I didn’t realize how much she was hurting. When I was with her, she seemed so happy. How was I supposed to know what she felt when she was alone?

I reach up and place my hands on her soft face. My fingers run across her cheeks, wiping away the tears. “I don’t want you to be afraid of what you feel,” I tell her. “I want you to feel safe.” My eyes scan her forehead. You can barely see the scar where her stitches were. “I would never want you to lose yourself in order to love me.” I love a strong-willed woman who has a mind of her own. That’s what made me fall in love with her in the first place. She was so free.

She reaches up and grabs a hold of my shirt. Her hands tightly grip it, and she buries her face into my chest once again. “I’ve missed you so much,” she cries.

I lean down and kiss her hair. “Not as much as I’ve missed you,” I admit.

We stand there in her parents’ kitchen for a good ten minutes as we hold each other. Her cries start to subside, and her grip on me loosens. She eventually pulls back and looks up at me. “I do love you.” She licks her lips. “I’ve wanted to tell you that ever since you told me that night.”

I smile down at her. “I love you. But you already know that.” She chuckles to herself and nods her head.

“So you say.”

“I’ll prove it,” I say, and her smile widens.

She pushes her chest into mine and whispers, “Kiss me.”

I grab her face and lower my lips to hers. I kiss her desperately. As if she’s air and I’ve been drowning. Because that is what she does for me. She helps me survive. Her body presses into mine and her lips work with mine as if they know what I’m gonna do next.

She sighs as she pulls away. “I have to leave,” she says, and I grip her tighter.

“Please. Stay,” I beg her as I look around and realize that I am still at her parents’ house and her father is probably going to walk in any minute.

She actually gives me a small smile. “I have to get home. But I wouldn’t mind a little company when you’re done here,” she suggests. “That is if you don’t already have plans.” She nibbles on her lower lip nervously.

“Even if I did, I would cancel them,” I say in all honesty.

She giggles, and God, does it sounds amazing. It’s crazy how only minutes ago, I hated her for turning me away. How low I felt that she broke my heart. And now…now, I feel high and drunk at the same time. All because I now know that she loves me. She reaches up and gives me a soft kiss. “I’ll see you soon.” And then she pushes away from me and leaves me standing in the kitchen alone.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

TABATHA

I can’t explain what kind of high Dash’s kiss has put me on. I was not expecting him to show up there. I knew he was up at the track with my father. My mother and I had lunch and then she had to leave when we returned to their place. I was just about to leave when he walked into the kitchen. I thought I was gonna have a heart attack. I hadn’t seen or heard from him in so long. But that didn’t matter. The time apart wasn’t helping the slow ache that I had in my chest for him. Just smelling him had my knees weak. His arms wrapped around me had me coming undone. It was all too much yet not enough at the same time. And that kiss…God, it tilted my world upside down in a good way. Took my breath away. That man has a lot of power over me, and I don’t think that either one of us understands what that means, but I’m tired of questioning it. My father raised me to say what I feel when I feel it. Rodger made me keep those feelings inside. But I finally realize that it’s okay to love. To be vulnerable. So I’m gonna cut myself open and lay it all out on the table for Dash to see. He said he loves me and I love him. Now I’m gonna show it.

I get home and run up to my room. I had stayed the first few days at my parents’ after the Rodger incident. I was afraid to come home. The smell of blood. The memory of what had happened. Little did I know that my mother had hired a team to come in and rip up the carpet and the floors. She had most of the entryway and stairs redone for me. And oddly enough, it helped.

I just get out of my shower when I hear my doorbell ring. “Coming,” I yell, running down the stairs and wrapping the towel tighter around me. As soon as I open the door, two arms wrap tightly around me. “You took a shower without me.” Dash frowns.

I wrinkle my nose as I sniff just joking around with him. I know he’s been sweating at the track with my dad all day, but to me, he smells amazing. “I can take another one.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” he says as he buries his face in my neck. And then I feel his hands on my thighs and he lifts me up in the air, causing me to lose my towel. His lips land on mine, and he kisses me the entire way up the stairs and to my bathroom. He sets me down on my feet long enough to reach over to turn the water on and then I’m pulling him into me again. He lifts me and places me on the counter as I yank his shirt up over his head. Then I get to work on his jeans and he shakes them off along with his boxers. His hardness presses up against my thigh, and I start panting. It’s been too long.

His hands grab my face and force me to look up at him as he stands between my legs. “I just want you to know that I don’t expect this…”

“I do!” I say interrupting him, and I go to reach down to grab his hard dick. But he reaches down and grabs my wrists before I can get to it.

“I’m being serious.”

“Me, too,” I say looking into his eyes. “You’re all I’ve thought about. You’re all I’ve dreamed about. I need you, Dash. I need you to fuck me. Please.” I’m to that point of begging. I want him! I need him! I’m tired of pretending like I don’t.

He releases my wrist and his hands find their way into my hair. I close my eyes when he tightens them, making my skin break out in goosebumps. “Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you sound when you say that?” he asks against my lips. “Tell me again. Tell me how much you need me.”

“I need you,” I say immediately. “Quit making me wait and fuck me.”

He lets go of my hair and grabs my right arm. He yanks me off the counter and my legs threaten to give out on me, but he grabs a hold and spins me around.

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