Page 26 of Captive Heart

Was that a good thing, or did it mean he was angry?

She didn't really know, but the trust she had in Micah made her bold. She'd find out soon enough if it was misplaced, and even though the thought made her sorrowful, at least then she would know.

"This is not something you need to do." He tried to peel her hand away, but she resisted.

"But I want to repay you for your kindness," she told him without guile, her eyes wide and her expression sincere.

"No payment is needed, Melody. Everything I’ve done has been because I want to help you. I have no expectation for any kind of reparation."

"I know." Melody nodded, bringing her naked body even closer to his. "That's why I want to do this for you."

Micah shook his head, but she could tell he was fighting against the response of his own body, which was all too aware that there was a naked and willing woman close by.

"It isn't necessary, sweetheart."

She suspected the endearment slipped out unintentionally since he’d been careful to avoid them so far, but she couldn’t deny the squishy, melty effect that small flattery had on her insides.

But Micah seemed doggedly determined. "I don't want to take advantage of you, Melody. And that's what this would be."

"No!" she stated with a surprising defiance that rarely ever surfaced, but he was confusing her now. "That doesn't make any sense. How can you take advantage of something that is freely given?"

"You don't understand, Melody. I don't want to abuse your trust," he asserted, his voice gentle.

Ducking her head, she realised she’d miscalculated. This was a man who could have any woman. Women who were healthy, and whole, and beautiful. But she still wanted him to understand her appreciation.

"I know I'm not desirable," she stated sadly. "I am thin, and flawed, and used. But your body still responds to me. I can feel the life in your cock, so I know it hungers," she whispered, squeezing her fingers around the bulge in the thin covering that stood between them. "And it's because I trust you that I want to give you this, as a gift."

Micah grasped hold of her shoulders, and for a moment, she thought she had pushed too far, but as soon as he saw the instinctive flinch, he gentled his touch, though he still shook her lightly.

"Don't ever say that about yourself!" he commanded intensely. "Don't even think it. You mustn't allow another person to undermine your belief in yourself, no matter how hard it seems not to. You do that, and he wins, and I know you don't want that."

Melody nodded, acknowledging the truth in his words. The thought that the brute might still have the power to take anything more from her reinforced the resolve she had felt when she'd made her frantic bid for freedom just a few days before.

Micah was right. Where was the good in taking those steps, those risks, if she still let his evil subjugate her from a distance?

Of course, contrary to his intention, it served to strengthen her resolve with Micah, too, and she manoeuvred herself between his outstretched legs where he still held her hand snuggly between the two of them.

"I understand what you are saying, but I don't think it applies. You are not asking this from me or taking it without my consent. It's something I want to give because you told me I had a choice. Is that not true then?”

18

“Do I not get to choose after all?" Melody asked quietly, looking him directly in the eye, her expression sombre as if disappointment was expected.

Micah knew right then that he had been trapped in a web of his own good intentions. His subsequent decision had the ability to destroy something precious and fragile.

This wouldn't be about refusing to take advantage. It would be about denying her something vital; the knowledge that she truly did have the choices he was trying so hard to convince her of.

Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.

In all his years, Micah didn't think he'd ever faced a dilemma as difficult and as sensitive as this.

In the end, no matter how much it pained him, he couldn't bring himself to shatter her tenuous trust by taking away the choice he'd assured her that she absolutely had.

"Just know that you don't have to do this," he reminded her finally, keeping his eyes locked with hers as he let the hand that had captured her own slip away to his side and allowed her the freedom to do as she would.

Melody felt empowered. Micah had given her something beyond her normal sphere of comprehension. She wondered if he knew that, but some sixth sense told her that indeed he did. He was a man of deep feeling. She could tell that for herself. A man of uncommon depths of morality and integrity. She had the sense she was testing his boundaries, though she didn't fully understand why. But she understood enough to know that he somehow did this for her benefit and not his own.

He didn't move a muscle as she touched him, tentatively, once again. If it wasn't for the feeling of his body quickening underneath her questing touch, Melody would have believed that he was unmoved, he stayed so still, but she came to realise it was because he didn't want to coerce her in any way.

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