Page 76 of Those Heartbreak Scars

I turn around to climb into the shower while he removes his boxer briefs. He has his own hair care and body products on the shelf. They’re all lined up and equal distance apart. I grab the body wash, flip the lid, and squeeze so much into my palm that it runs off the sides.

I rub the whole lot between my legs until the suds make it look like I have a long, soapy merkin. It helps me feel better. It even makes me smile a bit. I’m about to spin around and show Gray when he growls.

“That asshole.” His fingers brush over the back of my hip.

The flesh is tender. My shoulders sag as I realize what this fresh burst of anger is about. Everett’s thumbs are imprinted on my skin on the front of my hips too. Just when I was starting to shake him off. “He bruised me.”

Gray falls to his knees. His fingers move to and fro over my flesh. “It’s going to take a while for these to fade. I’m so sorry I didn’t move quicker. I should have hit him harder.”

So much for showering to remove the stain of this night. “They’ll fade.” Eventually.

I step under the spray and let it wash my happy little merkin away. I’m used to my moods changing on a dime. Often with an intensity that leaves me breathless. Tonight I’m on a rollercoaster with no end in sight. Gray brings the heights. Only for me to spiral back into the depths. Sad is truly the last thing I want to be.

I close my eyes and will myself not to shed another tear. I only want to be happy. I have the man I have loved forever in the shower with me. I don’t want to dwell on what we went through to get here.

He presses his lips to one of the bruises and then pulls back. “Will you let me try something that might make a difference?”

“What?”

He sweeps his thumb over the tender flesh. “I can give you something else to think about while I camouflage them. That way until they fade, you’ll see the marks my mouth left on your skin instead of his fingerprints. You’ll think of us instead of him. Will you let me cover them?”

“Please.” I nod fervently.

He sucks an angry oval into his mouth, holds onto it long enough that it hurts.

But the ache is sweet, and it makes my clit pulse. My thighs tingle.

He does it again. Bringing a blush to my skin and changing what I’ll see when I catch glimpses of them in the mirror for the next few days.

He covers all eight of them on my back, before he turns me to face him. He presses his lips to my belly, breathes against my skin. “I’m so sorry.”

I tangle my fingers in his hair while he finishes bringing new color to my flesh. “Gray, I need you to touch me. I need your touch to be the only thing I can feel.”

He strokes his fingers up and down the inside of my thigh.

He turns his attention to the wetness between my legs. Puts his face so close to my pussy that I almost swoon when he doesn’t touch the tip of his tongue to my clit. “You can tell me no.”

“I’m the one who told you to touch me. Gray, I want you. This. Us.”

“I know, but if you change your mind—”

“I won’t.” I shake my head, eyes burning. He’s so sweet. So considerate.

Not many people would understand how caged I felt tonight. How I couldn’t see another way forward while we were in the moment. How my agreement was a wall I put up to protect myself because for some damn reason I don’t have the ability to say no, though I wish like hell that I did.

Gray saw it. He saw me. With him I get to feel seen. That’s always been something I love about him.

He keeps his gaze locked on mine as he leans in and licks me from entrance to clit. When I widen my stance without thinking about it, he says, “Good girl.”

I smile up into the spray, letting it pummel my face while he laps at every inch of my pussy. I could get used to his praise. It hits somewhere inside me that craves to be told that I’m not a complete screw up.

I go back to watching him as he adds two fingers to the mix. His blue eyes are heated as he finds my G-spot. His brow creased with concentration while he massages the sensitive area until an orgasm wells up inside me.

Continuing to massage, he flicks and sucks my clit at the same time. A secondary orgasm throbs through the sensitive little bundle. My knees wobble and I thrust out both hands to keep my balance as he makes me scream.

He laps at me until the pleasure dissipates. Turns his lips to each thigh and bites me gently before he rises to his full height. “Let’s finish getting you cleaned up so that I can take you to bed.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

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