Page 24 of Shiner's Light

That’s what she wants to keep telling herself, but we both know it’s a lie. She wasn’t doing fine. She’s anything but fine, but soon, soon, she’ll be more than okay. I vow to her that I will do whatever it takes to make it so, even if I don’t say it outright.

“I need to know what he was saying to you.”Olive jerks in my arms and tries to shove away, but I don’t let her. I can’t. “Just tell me, honey, and once you tell me, I’ll help you forget about what happened so you’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

“How are you going to do that?” she asks, looking as if she didn’t believe me.

“Tell me, and I’ll show you.” I give her side a squeeze of encouragement to talk to me. “You can do this, and then I’ll make everything better again.”

Olive releases a shuddered breath and curls closer to me, sneaking the warmth of my body. “He kept mentioning how he couldn’t wait for another go-round with me. Said I was the sweetest he’d had in a while.” She pauses for a moment, visibly shivering. “He said . . . he said he wished it was him who got in me first to pop my cherry and he brought up how next time they were going to force you to watch. That Sasha had something in store for you, and soon we’d all find out what that is.”

Fuck. The bastard is a dead man walking. I’m going to kill him and do it slowly and with pleasure.

“Shiner,” Olive utters, lifting her head back enough for us to meet gazes.

“Right here, honey.”

Olive licks her lips and asks the one thing I didn’t expect her to ask of me. Not tonight. Not after having that bastard bring up what he’d done to her. “Make love to me, Wyatt. Please. Erase the touch of the men who touched me. Make it so I don’t feel dirty anymore.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

OLIVE

“You sure, honey?” Shiner asks, eyes watchful and suspicious but tinged with lustful desire.

“I’m more than sure, Wyatt.” Saying his name, his real name, has my stomach fluttering with butterflies. He doesn’t let just anyone call him by it. He might have let me years ago, but that changed. It changed again when he told me so earlier. . . I don’t want to think about what just happened. I simply want to feel. I want Shiner to take away the feeling that I’ve felt from the moment they first touched me. “Please, touch me, Wyatt. I want you and only you. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

I should probably be embarrassed by my admission, but I’m not. It’s the truth, and he needs to know. I might not be what he wanted then or even now, but he’s here with me at this moment.

Hopefully, he’s telling the truth when he says I’m his and that he wants me because it’ll destroy me if it turns out he doesn’t. If he pushes me away, then that’s it, I’ll be nothing more than a living shell, and I know it. Just as I know that it makes me feel weak, stupid because he’s my kryptonite.

Shiner rolls me to my back and hovers over me, eyes dark and assessing. “You trust me, Olive?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now, what you’re going to do is get off the bed, removed your clothes while I watch, then you’re gonna get back on this bed, arms over your head.” Leaning in, he brushes his lips against mine briefly and rolls back to his side. “Go ahead, honey, get up and do what I said.”

Swallowing my fear, I focus on him as I do as he says and slowly move to stand next to the bed. I grip the hem of my shirt and lift it over my head until it falls to the floor. My bra goes next. Shiner’s eyes drop to my chest for the briefest moment. The dark gleam in his eyes darkens further, encouraging me to keep going. Finally, I slide my leggings down until they clear my feet, leaving me completely exposed to him.

I place a knee on the bed, crawl back into the middle right next to him, and lift my arms over my head for him.

“Beautiful, so fuckin’ beautiful, Olive.” The deep gruff tone of his voice changes and becomes gravellier. Shiner strokes a finger over my torso but doesn’t touch me anywhere else. “I’m going to tie you to the bed. Once I do that, honey, I’m going to strip out of my clothes, then I’m going to touch every part of your body before I slide my cock inside you.”

My thighs clench, and moisture gathers between them. I want what he says, though being tied to the bed has me somewhat leery.

“Eyes on me. Don’t take them off me. No matter what. Just focus on me.” Shiner lifts up and grabs something from either side of the headboard. From the feel of the softness that touches my skin, I can only assume it’s a set of cuffs. Ones that are meant not to hurt. Ones that are strictly meant for pleasure.

With each cuff he secures, Shiner doesn’t look away to see what he’s doing. He keeps his eyes locked with mine. Even as he massages each of my arms, relaxing me all the more. His touch eases the tension away one stroke of his fingers at a time. By the time he works his way from my arms to my shoulders, I’m like putty in his hands.

Shiner pulls away, climbs off the bed, removes his cut and shirt, and bends to remove his boots. He removes the belt clench from around his waist. I find myself growing excited with each article of clothing he removes, though not once do I take my gaze away from him. Nor does he take his from mine.

My breath grows shallower as I clench my legs together. Shiner doesn’t miss me squeezing my thighs. From the smirk he gives me, he knows what he’s doing to me.

Ever so slowly, Shiner moves back onto the bed, taking up where he’d left off. “I’m gonna replace what those men did to you with something so much better, Olive. By the time I’m done with you tonight, they’ll only be a bleep on the radar. The only touch you’ll remember is mine.”

Is that even possible?

God, I sure hope so.

Shiner brushes his lips first over mine, not deepening the kiss more than a whisper of a touch. He takes his time peppering kisses along my jaw, down my neck, pausing to nip at the crease where my shoulder and neck meet.

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