Page 104 of Clean Point

My hand pulled her face to mine again so I could kiss her, happiness warming in the centre of my chest.

She was mine, all mine. I’d never felt this way about anyone, never meeting anyone worth the hassle of opening up to.

But Scottie Sinclair had pried me open like a knife at an oyster. At first, she got under my skin – an irritation and an unwanted reminder of my weakness. But as the weeks went by, she became the reason I grew stronger, my recovery every bit a credit to her own resolve in training as it was mine. And then there were all the moments she allowed me to see past her facade, the forced confidence, and slowly she let me in, trusting me enough to be vulnerable.

She let me feel worthy around her. Whether I was old and broken and used up, I knew she’d never look at me any different for that.

And it was one of the many reasons I loved her as much as one person could love another.

Why she was a reason I’d changed my goals. Because what was it all for if she wasn’t by my side while I did it?

We stayed there, foreheads pressed together as I held her to my body. I needed her alone, craved to feel her soft skin against mine, to ink her words into my skin and make them permanent.

My hand found hers again, and this time, I gripped almost too tightly, certain that if I didn’t fuse our palms together, she might lose her nerve when we stepped outside and let me go. But I wouldn’t let go, not unless she asked, and certainly not out of fear.

The pack of paps was ravenous by the time we stepped out again, the lightning storm of camera flashes blinding.

‘Stay close, keep your head down,’ I murmured to her as we stepped outside into the summer air. We were swarmed immediately, the security outside just able to keep them clear of us. Making a beeline straight for the town car, I only looked up to make sure she wasn’t being hassled. I pulled open the car door, stepping aside and allowing her to slip in first, before closing the door and going around to the other side.

As soon as my door slammed shut, the car took off, the hum of the engine bursting into life.

‘Back to the hotel?’ the driver asked, and Scottie confirmed, her voice still light despite the crowd.

‘Is it normally like that for you?’ I asked, watching as she relaxed into the leather seats, the executive car long enough for her to stretch her long legs out comfortably. The white skirt of her summer dress rose up against the pale skin of her thigh.

Her blue gaze caught mine, wisps of blonde hair escaping her ponytail and trailing across her face. She shrugged. ‘It comes and goes. I suppose I got used to it.’

My jaw locked with irritation, a grinding anger growing in my gut. I hated that for her, that she was followed like that by strange, pestering men. Even when you thought you were alone, like I thought it was in the airport in Rhodes our first day, you never truly were. Privacy was a privilege that had been taken from her.

And then, I realized, by extension, it could be denied to me, too. For simply being with her.

My eyes met hers again, and I found my uncertainty mirrored back in her shade of deep blue, dark iris lines of worry. I knew she had realized the same thing. The need to erase that worry from her face consumed me.

The car came to a slow stop, our attention pulled to the driver.

‘Sorry guys, looks like this is going to take a while to clear,’ he said, backlit by a line of brake lights in front. The roads were blocked, traffic bumper to bumper in the streets ahead.

‘No worries, just do what you can,’ I said, before finding the control for the partition and raising it. Scottie raised an eyebrow at me, trying to read my next move.

I unclipped her seatbelt, before stretching over to her furthest leg, easing her over to me. Her body relented, letting me guide her from her seated position so she was straddling me instead. Face to face, I could still see the concern in her eyes. My left hand slid across her jaw, while my right found the exposed skin of her thigh, her skirt pushed up revealing inches of soft milky skin, tempting driving my hand higher than it should’ve in the back of a car.

‘There is nothing that could drive me away from you, Scottie.’ Her gaze dipped as I spoke, forcing me to lower my head to keep her attention. ‘If being with you means giving up pieces of my life, it’s worth it.’

‘This is your privacy.’ Her voice was quiet. ‘I know that’s important to you.’

I shook my head, my resolve as firm as my jaw. ‘It’s not nearly as important to me as you are.’

The hand on her leg shifted, the delicate feel of her skin against my calloused hand intoxicating.

‘You don’t know what you’d be giving up.’

‘I think the last few weeks have been a crash course in exactly what I’d be giving up,’ I replied softly. ‘But more importantly, it’s who I’m gaining that’s far more tempting to me.’

Her lips slowly curve into a smile, the band of anxiety around my heart loosening at the sight. ‘Tempting, eh?’

I groaned against her, lips meeting hers for a simple kiss, all the while my hand slid further up her thigh, finding her ass. ‘You have no idea.’

‘I think I have some ideas.’ She pushed her hips forward, grinding against my cock that was already hard for her. Always hard for her. Wearing shorts around her was a living nightmare. My fingers dug into her perfect ass, taking a handful as I helped guide her back and forth.

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