Page 46 of Feel Me

“Only that I wish this happened sooner,” I admit.

The walls come crashing down. “Me, too,” she says, smiling gently.

My smile is a little wider. I didn’t like her pulling away or feeling guarded around me. Not after what we’ve shared the past few weeks and especially these past few hours.

Her hand slides down my shoulder to rest over my heart. It’s something I notice her do during sex and once we settled into bed. I glance down at her hand and cock a brow. “You like it there?”

She laughs. “Yeah.”

Her cheeks redden and she tries to pull away. I clasp her hand and keep it in place, perceiving there’s more to the gesture. “What are you doing?”

She knows what I’m asking her. “Feeling you.”

“There are better places to feel me.” I hold out a hand. “Just saying.”

Her blush turns deeper, not that it keeps her from laughing. “There are,” she agrees. “But this is my favorite.”

“Why? So you can push me away if I piss you off?”

“No,” she says, her sweet smile in place. “Because I can feel your heart.”

I don’t move, losing my smile.

She scans my face, a trickle of sadness shimmering her gaze. “Don’t be embarrassed,” she tells me. “It’s a good heart, strong and honest, but tender when it needs to be just like its owner.”

“You’re giving me too much credit,” I tell her. I sound annoyed though I don’t mean to. Maybe I expected the type of bullshit that follows sex with most other women, small talk, a brief thank you, followed by a quicker goodbye.

But this is Melissa. I should expect no less.

She adjusts her position, causing her heavy breast to glide along the one beneath, thankfully distracting me from a place I don’t want to go.

I was never one for curvy women, but as I remember how good those curves felt in my hands I realize I’ve missed out.

I press another kiss against her mouth. It’s only ten and we’ve already had sex three times. Not that it stops me from wanting more of her. I glide my hand along the sweep of her waist and carefully yank off the sheet, for a better look. Over the course of the past few hours, I’ve learned her body well. But I like looking at her. And I love that she lets me.

“Like what you see?” she teases.

“I do,” I admit. “You’re fucking beautiful.”

She drops her hand, her expression riddled with disbelief. I mean what I say. The sex was hot, the best I’ve had which says a lot. The intimacy we experienced, now that was something I wasn’t prepared for. But it was there, making the sex raw and somehow innocent. It’s a wild thought, seeing how hard we went at it.

I’m wondering if it’s because I’ve never held a woman this vulnerable in my arms. I want to say it has nothing to do with her being hearing impaired, but I can’t deny that played a part. She couldn’t hear me. She couldn’t hear anything. But she trusted me regardless of the fear that silence created. To have a woman give herself to me that way, I don’t know, it did something to me I never expected.

“What did you think about what we did?” I ask. I almost asked what she thought about the way we “fucked”. But “fuck” doesn’t feel like the right word. Not with her.

Her stare lingers over my naked form. I didn’t bother with the sheet. Like Melissa, I’m not shy when it comes to my body. “I liked it,” she says. Her voice is husky, like she’s remembering how good we made each other feel. “Did you?”

“I did.” Worry finds its way into my voice. “I just want to make sure I didn’t hurt you.”

“Not at all,” she says, her brown irises growing smoky. “You were more aggressive than the other men I’ve been with. But that’s what made it so good.”

She’s giving me one hell of a compliment, basically telling me I performed better than those other dipshits she’s had. It’s what I should fixate on. Instead, I turn away and reach for the half-empty bottle on the nightstand behind me, taking a moment to reign in my shit.

Her hand cups my shoulder. “What’s wrong?” she asks. I don’t move. “Declan, please look at me.”

That voice, and the concern behind it, has me turning back before I can finish pouring more wine.

“What’s wrong?” she asks again, delicately sweeping her fingers along my jaw.

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