Page 114 of His Pretty Little Duet

"Because I'm dumb."

"Because you'rebrave."

His front touches my back as his fingers coast down my arms to where my hands dangle by my sides. "It takes courage to trust what you feel inside despite what the world shows you. You could have tried to escape. Tried to get away from me. But you know why I did it. You know.

"I was being your thorns, little deer. And I'm not going to pretend to understand what you're going through. For once, I need you to tell me what you need, sweet girl." His fingers entwine with mine, and he guides them slowly across my stomach, the tips brushing my skin. I feel it...

My breath hitches.

The gentle touch scolds. Hot. Prickling. Unnatural. I squeeze my eyes together harder, forcing them to stay like that, fending off the sensation.

"This isyourbody," he states, his timbre twisted and rough. Covering mine, his fingers cup between my thighs. "I want to worship you. Every day. Let me show you your pretty body." When he pushes my middle finger between my lips, he uses his to work it against the internal soft flesh. I expel a soft sob. "Clay."Nausea hits me when the walls grasp at our fingers. They seem to overwhelm me, muscles working without conscious effort. It's not my body. "Clay."I groan his name, the tone a desperate plea to stop or not to. I don’t know which. "Clay, please."

"This isyourbody. I'm here."

I drop my head back on his chest, staring at the black abyss of my eyelids. I try to breathe. To concentrate on him. Not me. Notmybody. "You're wet because your body is begging for pleasure. It's looking after you, sweet girl. There is nothing prettier than when you come, than when you enjoy your body. When you live in it. When you accept it."

I lick my lips as they grow drier with each inhalation. Our fingers slip in and out of my pussy easily, and the sensation is heightened with no visual stimulation to draw me from the feeling. My mind homes in on two things.

His voice filling my head.

Our fingers working inside me.

I suddenly want more, balancing on the cusp, on a teasing edge. My finger is so short and small. I pull it out and place my wet hand over his, pushing his in further. I take control, scooping my finger against his.

"Now, open your eyes," he says, his breath cascading along the skin on my throat, tussling my hair. I open my eyes to my reflection. My man is behind me. His fingers are inside me with mine over them. "Do you see what I see?" He kisses my hair. "Tell me what you want, Fawn. I'll give it to you. Anything. Everything. Just name it. Do you want more revenge? The cop? Your foster mother? Do you want the world to fear you?"

I stare blankly at the naked blonde in the mirror with her skin flushed from arousal. Feel his fingers working my muscles gently. Hear his heavy passionate breathing.

Then I whisper, "I want someone to love her."

I watch as my eyes well up, blurring the edges of my vision, making the girl in the mirror dissolve within the pools. Dissolve and appear more visually accurate to the life she has lived; the one she has barely existed in.

Like nothing.

No one's choice.

Is it too much to ask?

Fuck!It's too much to ask!

There isn't enough moisture left in her eyes, the need to cry a throbbing sensation. She has cried too much. "I want someone to love her!" I say again, bursting bright red and shaking. He pulls his fingers from inside me and turns me to face him, cupping my cheeks.

I sob those soundless noises and shed those dry tears. "No one loves her." My voice wobbles, emotions forcing my feet backwards, desperate for space. His hands slip from my face. He would have never allowed me this wide breadth before, but he is now. "No one haseverloved her, Clay. I pretended for so longthat Benji did. That my mum might have. That maybe if my dad just saw me, just spoke to me, I mean. I can be funny, right? I can be interesting? I'm?—"

"I love her."

My eyes fly open. I slap my hand over my mouth, shaking my head against the tight grip, my mind and body and soul unable to process what he said. Unable to accept it. Not now. Not after all the lies and betrayal, a perpetual downpour of deceit.

The words play in my mind."I love her."Has anyone ever said that to me? Ever? My mum must have... surely? "What did you say?"

My reaction causes his jaw to pulse, causes torment to fill his dark, dangerous eyes. "I love you," he says again. "And I want to love you so fucking hard there is no room for the past. Or the pain. And I will, sweet girl. I won't stand by and allow you not to like yourself when what I see is...spectacular."

No. I crane my neck, searching his eyes for the truth lying below the surface. The truth.But there is too much emotion filling me right now. My heart strains to balloon for this broken soul, petrified to stone, unable to pump hard within a crushed body. It wants to.God,it wants to believe him. "You love her?"

"I loveyou."

Someone loves you, Fawn.

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