Page 19 of Finding Emotion

He immediately did. “Oh, sorry.” A shadow spilled over her as he leaned to try to see her face. “I should go call someone. The way you look, you must have fallen hard.”

“No!” She grabbed his arm before he rose. His skin was warm under her chilled hand. “Just give me a minute.”

“Sure,” he murmured, but his face looked uncertain.

She needed to sit up. The panting had slowed, but her heart still skittered inside as she tried to force her body to move.

“Hey, whoa,” Damon shifted closer, touching her again to stop her. “Don’t move yet.”

The panting returned. “Let go!” Skylar shouted.

Damon did, hands raised in front of him as he backed up. “Yeah, okay. I’m sorry. But you should rest for a while longer.”

Her treacherous body wanted to listen. Then the nightmare would take her again to remind her of her idiocy and flay her open so she could see exactly how low she could sink.

“I’m fine,” she muttered, shifting up enough that the wall supported her back as her body shook in its usual post-attack reaction.

“Skylar, there’s no way I’m believing you’re fine.” His hands shifted closer, but pulled back when she tensed. “Should I get Mandy, maybe?” he asked.

She shook her head, laying it on her knees as she pulled in a deeper breath. She let it out slowly as some of the panic faded. “I don’t want her here.” Mandy had only walked in while she’d been having a panic attack once. That time had led to counseling all over again, and a return of the nightmare for longer than ever.

Damon settled beside her as he sighed. He didn’t try to touch her again.

Her mind was relieved, her body not so much. She hated the clenching down there that said it was raring to go. Her body remembered how many orgasms the fuckers had given her, despite her pleading to stop and the pain and humiliation. The whole thing created a snarl in her gut that made her want to scream.

Damon nodded toward her shirt hem where the clip dangled. “At least you were wearing the safety cord.”

“Sure,” she said. Any other details would be pointless.

His head bent as he tried to see her face. “Did you scrape anything?”

She stretched her legs out. They felt like Jell-O, all wobbly and shit. Her hands moved to her chest to keep his attention away from her weakness, making certain she didn’t brush her nipples. “I fell tits first. Plenty of cushion there.”

He blinked, his eyes lifting from her chest to study her expression again.

She tried to smirk, but it felt lopsided. “You’re supposed to laugh. If you had seen my windmilling arms, you would have.”

“Nothing about you getting hurt is funny,” Damon said.

The firmness of his tone added an irritating lick to the interest her body already had for him. He was a sweet idiot, she reminded herself. Rolling on top of him would just confuse the poor guy. The slight shaking of her limbs faded at the idea of taking control of him like that.

“The whole world is fucking funny,” she muttered—though funny wasn’t the right word. More like ridiculous. Everything was so goddamn pointless that she sometimes wanted to laugh. Like her letting fucking Jack get to her. She’d been lucky to get rid of him. Now if only he’d stay gone.

“You’re not really laughing, Skylar.” His eyes moved to her lips. “I’m not sure I’ve seen an honest smile from you yet. Even when you poked me in the cheek and called me adorable, there was something else there. You don’t have to pretend with me if you’re sick of it, like I think.”

Skylar’s heart started pounding again as the bit of control she’d felt slipped.

“Something else is going on here.” Damon leaned back against the wall, staring over at the treadmill. “I’ll listen, if you want.”

The pounding reached her ears. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Skylar muttered. She shoved at him to knock him over, crawling on top of him as she glared down into his startled eyes. “You talk too much.” Her lower body was happy to wriggle against him even if he was soft, and she took his mouth for all she was worth to see if she could change that and shut him up at the same time.

Chapter 11

Damon didn’t know what to do with his hands when Skylar climbed on top of him. She’d acted like being touched would freak her out. Actually, she’d been freaked out already. So why in the world was her tongue in his mouth?

He tried to gentle the kiss. His lips tested the softness of hers as he licked along the bottom one. Her own tongue retreated as she lifted to stare down at him.

“Can you just give up control to me, sweet face?” She shifted her hips against him down below. “I promise you’ll like it.”

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