Page 63 of Scarred Souls

Well, well, well.

Definitely not a handgun.

Hope struggled to free her wrists while snarling threats about all the ways she’d hurt my manhood if I didn’t stop what I was doing.

“What do we have here?” I held the large purple vibrator between us for inspection. It had a bunch of buttons on its handle as well as a pronged clit stimulator. I shook my head. “Not exactly a beginner toy, Hope. You’ve been a very naughty girl.”

She bucked beneath me. “Put that down, or I swear to God, I will murder you.”

“With this?” I hit a button, and it buzzed to life. “You could probably bludgeon a man to death with this monster.”

Her lip curled. “Last chance, Grim. Put. It. Back.”

Oh man. This was too much fun, and Hope’s murderous glare only drove me to torment her further.

I switched the vibrator off and tossed it onto the bed. “Do you have any others? I wonder what I’ll find over here.”

I stretched across, opened the nightstand drawer, and?—

“Whoa.” I froze as I took in the veritable treasure trove of stimulation devices. Big ones, small ones. There were things in there even I hadn’t known existed. One shaped like a pink rose caught my interest. How did that pretty little contraption work? Maybe Hope would show me? The thought sent a rush of blood straight to my dick.

“I very much approve of this collection, but sweet Jesus, Gatita. Did you rob a sex-toy factory?”

“I warned you.” With an enraged growl, Hope kneed me in the ribs, sending me off-balance and forcing me to release my one-handed hold on her wrists. And then she was on me, straddling my hips and pummeling me with her fists. I let her get in a few blows since I’d earned them, and she clearly had some frustration to expel.

Fighting didn’t trigger my panic response like touch did, but Hope was playing a dangerous game, so I rolled her, putting me on top and in control again. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” Both of us breathed heavily from our wrestling session.

She looked fucking gorgeous beneath me. Tits heaving against my chest, dark hair splashed across the pillow, that fuckable mouth.

But when my gaze roamed her face, I realized I’d royally screwed up. Hope’s seething expression had morphed into something I never wanted to see in her. Defeat. She looked so forlorn that my cold, dead heart almost seized inside my chest.

“Hey.” My eyes met hers. “I was just joking around.”

Hope’s bottom lip wobbled, and unshed tears welled in her eyes.

Goddammit, I’d done this. I’d hurt her with my teasing, and I needed to fix it.

“Hit me again, Gatita. Be mad at me all you like, but don’t cry. Not over an asshole like me.”

When the first tear fell, she turned her head to the side.

I gripped her chin and gently brought her face back to mine. “I’m sorry if I upset you. Talk to me, please.”

Her brow pinched. “Why do you have to be so cruel to me?”

Fuck. I really was a piece of shit. “Because I’m an idiot. There’s no need to be embarrassed. Plenty of girls own toys. So what?”

“Yeah, but their reasons are different from mine.”

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head and sniffled. “It doesn’t matter.” Her eyes flickered with some emotion that filled me with dread. Pain or trauma? Someone had hurt Hope, either before or after she’d arrived in Playa de la Palmera, and since my mind was conjuring all kinds of horrors, I really needed to know what had happened and whom I needed to kill.

“It matters to me. And I’m not letting go of you until you tell me. Why are your reasons for owning toys different from other women’s?”

Hope drew in a ragged breath. “Because back in Jersey, I wasn’t allowed to date or hang out with guys. The only time I socialized was at school, and even then, I had to be careful.”

“To hide your identity?”

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