Page 33 of Always Right

His green eyes were dark, but oh so beautiful.

“You don’t have to thank me,” he whispered, brushing a strand of my hair away from my face. It was too familiar. Too right. “I told you, Hannah. I’m here. For whatever you need.”

My body heated.

There was an unspoken promise in his words, one I could feel in every cell in my body, but I shoved it away until he spoke again.

“I won’t let anyone lay a finger on you, Hannah. Not again.” His hand dropped to my abdomen, underneath my shirt and settled on the area of the bruise. His touch burned.

His jaw clenched as his dark gaze scanned my body but settled on my eyes again.

If he could feel my heart rate pick up, he didn’t show it.

“Does it hurt?”

“Only when I move.”

My voice was a mere whisper, and it became harder to breathe with him looking at me like he was about to set the world on fire for me. My hands held on to the counter because I needed something to ground me when his touch raised my shirt bit by bit.

I should have stopped him.

I should have pushed him away and told him no.

But the way he was looking at me left me speechless.

And despite the pain…his touch felt good.

He knelt in front of me, his thumb brushing over the bruise and the tip of his nose brushed the skin of my stomach.

I shuddered.

I was sure he could see the goosebumps forming on my body but I couldn’t move, not when his soft lips pressed against my ribcage. I sucked in a breath, watching him as his lips moved once again and I felt the warmth of his tongue on my abdomen.

“Fuck...Hannah…”

His green eyes, dark and full of desire and anger, met mine as he knelt in front of me, his lips leaving a trail of warmth as they traveled down, near the waistband of my sweatpants and oh…I was about to implode. My chest heaved…my heart raced, and it was all for the man that held me captive with his touch…and he hadn’t even touched me where I needed it yet.

My hands trembled again, but it was for a different reason, as they tangled in his soft brown hair. His hands tugged at my sweatpants gently…seeking for permission and I didn’t say yes…but I didn’t stop him.

I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

A quiet moan left my lips as his tongue licked the soft skin of my stomach and his hands held on to my legs, digging into my thighs as his nose brushed the most intimate part of my body, covered only by thin lace. He breathed me in and groaned, sending a wave of desire through my body that made me weak.

Until there was a knock at the door.

And then it opened.

Derek reacted quickly, pulling my pants up and letting my shirt cover me, all of it before I could even remember how to breathe. I looked away, the reality of what I’d let him do crashing into me.

I let him touch me.

I nearly let him taste me.

My eyes fell to the bulge in his pants, his desire for me evident as he turned around, running a hand through his hair as he quietly cursed.

“I brought you sweets!” Evie’s voice carried from the entrance to the kitchen and her footsteps followed. She appeared with a huge smile, one that would have lit up the room had it not been for what she had stopped. “Is everything okay?”

Her gaze flew from me to Derek, then back to me.