Page 44 of Scarred Souls

A happy shiver rippled through me when Vaughn’s stubble tickled my shoulder and his breath ghosted my cheek. “So good.” A small moan slipped from my lips before I reined it in. “Better, I mean.”

Vaughn’s chest shook with a poorly suppressed chuckle.

Ugh. How humiliating.

And it was at that exact moment that I remembered the dream. The one where Vaughn and I had been getting hot and heavy in the water, causing me to wake with an incessant throbbing between my legs and a desperate need to snatch my favorite toy for relief.

My heart pounded. My face heated.

I needed to escape faster than Houdini chained underwater in a straitjacket.

Vaughn must’ve noticed me tense, because he asked, “What’s wrong now?”

“Nothing. I’m fine,” I answered brusquely.

“You’re not. Tell me what’s freaking you out.”

“It’s stupid. Please drop it.” I squirmed to break free, and he released me.

When I spun to face him, one of his brows lifted in amusement. “You’re embarrassed.” Not a question. “Now I really want to know what’s got you all worked up.”

“I’m not embarrassed,” I snapped.

“You are. I’ve seen fire trucks a milder shade of red than your face.” His full lips twitched as he looked down at me through thick dark lashes. “Tell me why, and I’ll drop it.”

“Vaughn, please.”

“There’s only one place begging will get you what you want, and it’s not out here.” His front teeth scraped over his lower lip, catching my attention and turning my stomach into a whirlpool. And now, all I could think about were the multitude of things I might beg this man to do to me in the bedroom if it got me what I wanted. “I won’t laugh, I promise.”

He really wasn’t going to let this go. New plan: give him a partial truth and skip the details.

“Fine.” I huffed out a breath and held my chin high. “I had a dream about you last night. It was very annoying, and now you need to back off.”

“You had a dream about me?” His forehead creased. “That’s not embarrassing. Not unless—” His eyes widened. “Noooo.” He drew the word out as though he’d just learned a juicy piece of gossip, then that goddamn wicked smile appeared. “Aw, Gatita. You had a sex dream about me?”

Someone, kill me now.

A shark attack.

A rogue lightning strike.

A brain embolism.

I’d take any of those quick deaths over the excruciatingly slow one I was currently enduring. I’d never been more mortified in my life.

“It wasn’t a sex dream,” I hissed. Regrettably, there’d been no P-in-V action, although it had been heading that way.

“Don’t torture me. Give me all the details. Was I good? Of course I was good. Tell me everything.”

“Grim, I swear to God if you don’t stop talking about this right now, that throat punch I threatened will be coming your way.”

Vaughn had kept his promise not to laugh, although amusement flashed in his eyes. “All right. I’ll stop teasing.” His gaze shifted to the scarred side of my face, and as it lingered there, his expression became unreadable.

It didn’t matter. I knew what was going through his mind. He was either feeling sorry for me, or he was repulsed by my disfigurement. I wasn’t prepared for how much that hurt. For some stupid reason, I didn’t want to feel different around Vaughn. I just wanted to be a girl talking to a guy.

When would I ever be able to just be me?

Not Carlos Espinoza’s daughter. Not a woman hiding from her past. Not a victim.

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