Page 148 of Devilish Ink

Liam brushed his hand along the side of my naked breast.

I flinched.

He stopped kissing me and instead just rested his forehead against mine.

I sucked in lungsful of breath, trying not to hyperventilate. I hated myself. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. He’d always been so understanding when I pulled away. But we still hadn’t had sex since…

I wasn’t sure how much longer it could go on. How much longer he could take only having half a woman.

A tear fell straight from my eye onto the carpet between our bare feet. “I’m sorry. It’s not you. It’s—”

“Shh, baby, shh. I know.”

His gentleness with me almost made it worse. At least if he got frustrated, I would know what he was really feeling. He couldn’t possibly be this understanding, could he? There was no wayIcould have ended up with someone like that.

“I know it’s been a long time since…and I know I should be better by now—”

“Ry.”

“No, but Liam. I—”

Liam pulled me into a hug, cutting off my protests. My arms were caught up against his chest over my breasts and I hated how much I wanted to curl into my myself instead of curling around him.

Even having my nipples against Liam’s skin felt like too much, no matter how desperately I didn’t want it to be like that.

Burying my face against Liam’s shoulder, I shook hard as I cried.

“It’s okay,” Liam said as he smoothed down my hair. “We can take all the time in the world.”

He rested his cheek against the top of my head and held me even tighter.

“We have it, baby,” he said. “All the time in the world.”

But I couldn’t believe him. What if I never got better? What if I could never stand for him to touch me? What if I could never have sex with him again?

Hewould leave.

Balor would win. From the grave, he will have finished what he started.

He would have destroyed me.

“Can you see anything?” Liam asked behind me, clearly an accusation, even though his hands covered my eyes. “No peeking.”

I laughed. “Baby, your hands are the size of billboards. I can’t see a thing.”

He wouldn’t tell me where he was taking me for date night.

Liam wore a nice cologne and I’d taken the time to curl my hair while the baby napped before Auntie Aurnia and Grumpy Uncle arrived.

The evening summer air was balmy and fragrant. Only when a cooling breeze swept over us did my spirits drop slightly as I longed to feel it on my skin instead of my jeans and long t-shirt.

“I just don’t want to ruin the surprise,” Liam said and then a moment later, “We’re going in here.”

Liam was worried about me seeing, but he should have been worried about mehearing. The little ring of the bell told meimmediately where we were. Though I had no idea in the world why we’d be at Dublin Ink.

“Ta-da!” Liam announced, pulling his hands away.

Rian, standing beside his tattoo bed, added a more self-conscious, “Ta-da...?” of his own as he smiled at me from across the empty parlour.

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