Page 110 of Filthy Savage

“I’m serious.” She shakes her head playfully. “I have nothing here. I swear you planned this.”

“Of course I did.” I chuckle. “Why do you think Fia was the only one I bought clothes for?”

She gasps, smacking me on the chest.

“Wanted you in my clothes until you get yours tomorrow.”

“Is that so?” She pops a brow. “I’m supposed to walk around the house with your clothes on until they get here?”

“Mm-hmm. Pretty sure my shirts would be long enough to cover you.” My fingers slink up and down her spine, not wanting to stop touching her for as long as I live.

“You’re probably the craziest man—no, not man, person—I’ve ever known.”

“Ah, here we go. The insults that are not really insults.” Grabbing a fistful of her ass, I press her closer, kissing her nose. “Promise to have your clothes tomorrow after breakfast.”

She sighs. “Fine.”

Looking away from me, she runs a circle on my chest. Minutes pass, and she remains silent.

“What is it?” With a finger, I pop her chin.

“I don’t know if I can do this. I—” Her brows tug. “I wanted you for so long. Wanted to see you again. Wanted to know if you’d still want me. Want Fia. But now, seeing this, how you live… I—I can’t…” She swallows harshly. “My life hasn’t been pleasant.” Tears form in her eyes, and that makes me want to erase all the hurt she’s been carrying. “My father left when I was around two, or so my mother says. And her? Well…” She snickers. “She was no more a mother than a stranger.”

Her lashes flutter, her gaze distant like she’s thinking about the more painful times.

“I had to raise myself because she was too busy fucking a new guy every month or getting high to care about me.”

Another pained laugh escapes while every part of me wants to rip out her parents’ goddamn throats. How fucking dare they hurt my wife?

“I wanted so badly for her to be my mother, but she never was.”

Moisture builds in her eyes, until it overflows. I’m there to wipe her tears away, thumbs rolling under her lashes as she sighs.

“That day I came back home, after I left you, I found out my dog, Max, was gone.”

“What?” My mind starts coming up with ways I can help.

She nods. “You would’ve loved him.” Pain fills her eyes and it completely unravels me. “He was a golden. She said he escaped from the hole in the fence but I never thought that was true.” Her voice breaks while anger builds in my chest.

“I think she did something to him.” She sniffles, completely broken. “Every day, I keep hoping he’s alive and happy somewhere. But I’d do anything…” She pants. “I’d do anything to have him back.”

She curls around my chest and cries, shuddering against me.

“Hey, hey, baby. I’ve got you.”

I can just imagine how much this hurts.

Minutes drift until she’s pulling back, wiping under her eyes.

“Anyway, I don’t know why I just told you all this, except to say my life has been shit and I don’t want more of it. And you doing what you do, it scares me.” She places a hand over my cheek, and it’s like with every touch, she makes me fall even deeper. “I can’t go back to that kind of life. I don’t want Fia to have that either. It’s what I fought like hell to escape from.”

Her courage makes me proud. “I’m not your parents. I’d never leave you or hurt you. It won’t be that way.”

“You can’t promise me that.”

“I can.”

My lips lower to hers, kissing her softly, and I’ve never been this way—soft and nurturing—except with her. “Let’s get some sleep. We can talk more tomorrow if you’d like.”

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