Page 115 of All Our Secrets

“You can’t say stuff like that.”

“Becky wanted me to marry her, you know that? How would that have made you feel?”

The idea was so upsetting I swayed. The twisted thoughts I’d kept hidden for so long threatened to spill out. I tried to shake it off. “You mean if my husband were still alive? I would have been happy if you married her.”

T.J. squeezed his little fists against Silas’s shirt as Silas grabbed the back of my neck, looming over me possessively. “Really, baby?”

“Why do you keep trying to claim all of the past too?” I whispered. Running from the truth was the only way I could be with Silas.

“Because maybe it was supposed to be mine,” he dared to say.

______

The day faded to night. T.J. slept in the bassinet in the bedroom. In the dark living room, Silas and I laid on a pile of blankets and watched a movie. He’d asked why we didn’t sit on the couch instead of the floor. I hadn’t answered, but the things he was doing now were answer enough. On my belly, with my chin propped on my palms, I tried—unsuccessfully—to focus on the TV instead of the man beside me, touching me,stealingmy breath. He trailed his fingers down my back, then up, across my neck, to trace the edge of my ear. Desire prickled my skin.

A sigh escaped my lips, and Silas’s hand retreated. I looked over in time to see him stand, walk over, and flick on the floor lamp near the couch. “What are you doing?”

“I think it’s about time I see you and you see me.” He straddled my legs and grabbed the edges of my pajama pants.

My breath hitched as he tugged the material down. The cool air caressed my bare ass. A zing of desire flooded my pussy. I dropped my forehead onto my arms as Silas leaned in and kissed the back of my shirt.

“You’ve seen me plenty of times in my classroom,” I whispered.

“You bent over a desk with our clothes on is hardly seeing you, baby.” His breath heated my back as he went down. “I want to see everything. All of you. You’re not afraid of that anymore, right? You know who holds you? Who your body responds to?”

“Yes.”I gasped when he finally placed a featherlight touch on one of my ass cheeks.

“Raise your hips,” he instructed.

In one tug, he had my bottoms and panties off. Fingers roamed my backside before sliding through the slickness between my thighs. “Been wet like this the entire movie, haven’t you, baby?”

Hands slid up my shirt. I raised slightly so he could fondle my breasts.

Moving me until I faced him, Silas yanked off my shirt while I pulled at his. Soon, there was nothing between our bodies. I saw all of him. He saw all of me. His chest rose and fell in giant pants. I’d never seen a man so purely male. His chest and arms were covered in hair, except for where scars took over a good portion of his right side. He wasn’t ripped from the gym. The strength in his body came from years of back-breaking labor. He was glorious. A man built on survival.

How had I ever thought hiding in the shadows to love him would work? To never see him, the possessiveness, the sheerneedin his brown eyes. I loved his stare. The way he devoured me relentlessly with it.

The love expanding inside my chest for Silas was terrifying. I couldn’t go another second without him. Not anymore. I’d been starved for far too long.

“See?” Silas panted. “You think it would have been right to never have let me see you? When I’ve pictured you a thousand times over?”

Tears threatened to spill. My need for him wastearingthrough me. Cupping his face, I kissed him with a passion that burned all the way to my toes. He groaned and took my body in ecstasy slowly, worshipping and loving me with his eyes as much as his touch.

I came harder each time, as he caressed my chin and made our eyes meet. Silas King ravished me that night with nothing more than his lovemaking.

Even as I freshened up in the bathroom, my body and mind were in a dazed state. When I opened the door, Silas scooped me up and carried me to his bed. He played with my hair while we lay there, and I made circles across his chest with my finger. When I felt the marred part of his body, I paused. “Silas.”

“Hmm?” His tone was drowsy.

“The house fire… Will you tell me about it?” I whispered.

He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “There’s nothing to say. My mom left me alone that night, and I was lucky enough to wake to the smoke. But not so lucky to get out without having to run through the fire. I didn’t have a choice. I knew staying meant dying. I draped a blanket over myself. It burned through the right side first. I was able to get it off before it got the rest of me.”

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. My eyes watered. There was no way I’d be able to stop myself from getting emotional after hearing what he had gone through as a child. How painful it must have been healing from those burns.

I buried my face in his armpit. “So you’ve always been tough. Even as a child.”

He twisted around to hug me. “I can hear it in your voice. Don’t cry. It’s the past.”

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