Page 38 of Defending Casey

Hers had been broken too.

His father had gone after her, preying on her fears. Putting his future square on her shoulders had been a weight that was cruel and unfair to a young woman still in high school.

Casey still carried the guilt with her, both for hurting him and for bowing to his father’s wishes.

Things would have been different if she’d talked to him first, but she’d been caught between his father’s determination to control his life and her love for him. Had he been told, badgered, bullied into choosing his own happiness or what he’d been told was the best thing for her… there really wasn’t a choice that he could make except for the one that was better for her.

Could he fault her for making that impossible decision?

Why would he? What was done was done and now that they knew what they had to fight for. And he knew, without a doubt, that he was going to fight and fight like his life depended on it.

Because it was.

Turning off the water, Hale stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, roughly removing the water from his skin before dropping onto the bed in the dark.

Staring up at the ceiling, he couldn’t help but think about what he’d learned that night.

When Casey had broken up with him, he’d known something was wrong, but she’d been adamant about it.

And really, he’d been so hurt, cut to the quick, that he’d lashed out with his words.

He’d called her a liar saying she had never really loved him at all.

He’d known, on some level, that she was lying, but the way she’d reacted seemed to confirm his thoughts. He just didn’t realize that she was lying when she said she didn’t love him.

That thought was the one that split his heart open in his chest. The thought that her previous declarations of love had been a lie.

For nearly a decade he’d thought that he’d been alone, loving her, but every time he thought back over their relationship, the memories made him wonder if he’d been wrong, or if he’d just fooled himself. Now, he knew.

Hindsight wasn’t just 20/20. It hurt like hell.

His anger had made him blind to the real reason behind her tears.

Blowing out a breath, Hale dropped his forearm over his eyes and called up a better memory to soothe him to sleep.

The image that appeared in his head was one that had haunted him for years.

The way she’d looked perched on the edge of his bed.

Her knees and her feet primly held together as he reached out to touch her breasts. Just the sight of them, freed from her athletic bra was a revelation.

Held tight against her chest, even when he’d pulled her close to dance, he hadn’t known what to expect.

Trailing the fingers of one hand against the gentle slope of her breast made him impossibly hard.

When her nipple pebbled at his gentle touch, his dick twitched against his stomach.

Hale repeated the gesture against her other breast, and he heard her soft gasp in his ears.

Drawing his thumbs across her nipples made her eyes darken and her breaths shorter, shallower.

And he’d done that.

He did.

Repeating those caresses, he felt her sway and laid her back against the blankets. On his side beside her, he took time touching her, watching, and listening to her reactions.

The tiniest changes of her skin, the flush of color, the way her nipples tightened and seemed to swell at his touch, mesmerized him.

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