Page 118 of Wicked Sins

But it’s okay for Mr. Bale to put his hands on you? It’s okay for him to drug you, and then use you, over and over—?

“Morning, darlin’.”

I squirm, my mouth curling up at the edges at the sound of Joah’s deep purr. “Hey.”

His fingers graze my skin, trailing up to cup my breast.

He makes a happy sound, his lips brushing my neck and giving me goosebumps. “Could stay here forever,” he says quietly, tracing the outline of my hip bone. “Like this, with you.”

But we can’t, because this is a fantasy. Out there? Out there, we’d have to face reality.

A harsh, terrifying reality I haven’t even begun to figure out yet. That vision—

memory

—that came to me last night shattered my world. But now it feels like it just as easily could have been a nightmarish prank pulled by my imagination. A strange mixture of past and present.

Maybe I just thought I recognized Wayne’s tattoo.

I could have seen his briefs in the wash.

Maybe we swam together once, and I can’t remember—

Why do you lie to yourself like this?

Nausea coils deep in my stomach.

“Joah—”

“Just a few more minutes,” he whispers. “Let’s just pretend…” his voice fades before strengthening again. “That it could always be like this.”

There’s something different to his voice. I twist a little, reaching up to lay my palm on the side of his face.

He’s right, though. It’s as if we’re cocooned in our own little world, wrapped in this quilt on his bed. Here, it’s only us. It doesn’t matter who we are—only how much we mean to each other.

“If you could go anywhere in the world, where’d you go?” he asks.

“Like…on holiday?”

“Like forever.”

“Uh…” I laugh softly. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.” I shift a little, relishing the touch of his skin against mine. “You?”

His sigh washes against my neck, giving me goosebumps.

“Our beach house in Sandbridge,” he says.

“Really? Why there?”

“Because it’s beautiful. Because no one there knows me…or you.”

Joah watches me intently with shadows for eyes. Then he leans closer and touches his lips to my cheek. My jaw.

We’re both naked. I’m still aching from his dick in me. But at the same time, my toes curl at the thought that he’s going to kiss me.

Because what we did—that was sinful and raw.

A kiss? That’s not lust…it’s…

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