Page 154 of Awakened by Sin

“I’ll be right back. Don’t drown.”

She giggled weakly as he left her. She tipped her head back and spread her arms wide. She felt empty in the best way possible. No needs, compulsions, guilt. It had all been burned away. She had been cleansed. The purge had been successful, better than she could have imagined. She wasn’t sure how long she waited, but a sound made her eyes open. Marcus came toward her with a tray of appetizers in one hand and two bottled waters in the other. He was buck naked. She watched his muscles shift beautifully as he moved. He set the tray and waters near her before he jumped in. He waded toward her and took her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes.

“You’re all right?” he asked.

“Mmm.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

He sat on the underwater bench and maneuvered her to sit sideways on his lap. He snagged a bottled water and held it to her lips. She didn’t realize she was thirsty until the first cool drops hit her tongue. She drank half of it before she pulled back.

“Thanks,” she rasped.

“Here.”

He pressed something against her lips. She didn’t hesitate. She opened, and he placed something crunchy in her mouth. She hummed as the flavor burst on her tongue.

“Yum. What is it?”

“Lobster wonton.”

Something else touched her lips, and she opened. She chewed and swallowed.

“Amazing,” she said.

“Grilled artichoke with roasted garlic aioli dipping sauce,” Marcus said.

He fed her while she floated, utterly content and at peace with her world.

“Borsin breaded mushrooms.”

Marcus went on and on until she tucked her head under his chin in surrender. “I’m full. Thank you.”

She could hear the faint traces of a musical score playing for the Bellagio water fountain show. Between the warm water bubbling around her and Marcus’s body, she felt as if she was near a roaring fire. She was lax, lethargic, and for the first time in a long time, she knew everything would be okay. She would get past the pain, the relapses, the guilt. The battle with Marcus challenged her physically, mentally, emotionally. She had never felt better.

“You scare me.”

For a moment, she thought she was hearing things. She raised her head to see his face.

“What?” she slurred, so exhausted she was having a hard time thinking straight.

“You scare me,” he repeated as his eyes tracked over her face.

“Why?”

“You have no fear. I could have … If I had been a different man …” He shook his head and tightened his hold on her. “You bring out things in me. I don’t like the man I am with you.”

She chuckled. “I love him. He’s perfect for me.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You like the man who mouth fucked you? Pulled your hair? Almost broke your arm?”

Just the memory of it made her pussy tingle. “I loved that it was you doing it. I would have killed any other man who tried. I knew I was safe. I trust you.”

His silence was fraught with tension. She shifted to straddle him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed gentle kisses over his face.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

His grumpy, disgruntled tone made her smile. She sat back and looked straight into dissecting green eyes.

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