Page 87 of When Hearts Awaken

Taylor moans, her body trembling, and she snuggles deeper into my hold. My heart fucking breaks. She looks so vulnerable.

“I kicked his ass, didn’t I?” she whispers.

My lips twitch up, a spark lighting inside me. My feral little kitten. No, she’s not vulnerable or fragile. She’s a fucking fighter.

“Damn right you did.” I press a kiss on her hair and carry her away.

“I’m safe,” she mumbles. “I’m always safe with you.”

A heady warmth floods my chest, my heart racing, pulsing, coming alive inside me.

Mine.

And it’s then I know, I’m already in too deep.

Chapter 36

I wake up tothe darkness, a sultry ache pulsing through me, lingering on my nipples and pussy. Everything is so sensitive, my body hovering at the edge of ecstasy, like I just had a sexy dream I can’t remember.

Sitting up, I feel the cool air of the air conditioning graze my skin, goosebumps forming soon afterward. My senses are heightened, my skin hot to the touch. I glance around, finding the dark shape of a man sleeping soundly next to me.

Startling, I swallow my scream as fear slams into my chest, but then I recognize his form—the light hair, the strong build, his muscular arm slung over his eyes.

Charles.

The events of the night come rushing in like a slide show. Clubbing with Lisa and Dev. Arguing with Charles. A nice looking guy striking up a conversation at the bar.

The guy chasing me, and me fighting back. The terror I felt thinking I’d go through what I experienced at sixteen again.

A thought niggles my mind. I gasp.I fought back. I kicked his ass.

The worst didn’t happen because I. Kicked. His. Ass. I controlled the situation with my body and my power and turned it around.

A blistering energy flows through me—a laser burning through chains I’ve felt around my rib cage ever since that night. My fingers tingle, my lips curving into…a smile?

Looking at the slumbering man next to me, memories of the rest of the night flood in. Charles came, no questions asked, even after I picked a fight with him because I was terrified of my feelings for him.

Always. I’ll always be here for you.

My heart doubles in size, the warmth spreading, joining the ache blossoming in my pussy.

I had an adrenaline crash in the car and barely remember him tucking me into bed.

But now, I’m wide awake, my mind crystal clear, blissfully empty of dark memories and fear.

In this quiet moment, in a dark hotel room in Prague, staring at Charles, the man I once thought I hated, but now realize that was probably never the case, I know one thing.

As opposed to giving myself to another man who doesn’t make me feel so much, why can’t I have sex with him? He’d take care of me. It wouldn’t be painful with him.

Roses are more beautiful with thorns.

My clit throbs and I clench my thighs together, biting back a moan threatening to escape.

My clothes are too restrictive, too rough on my sensitive skin. The scent of bergamot and cedarwood wafts to my nose and I shiver, desperation burgeoning inside me.

It’s him all along.

My mind made up, I slowly slip out of my pants and shirt. I swallow a whimper at the pleasurable sensations lighting up my nerves. Wetness seeps through my panties as I stare at Charles’s slumbering form again. I take in the sexy map of veins on his arms and hands, the well-defined pecs and abs, the trail of hair leading to the sizable bulge in the sweatpants slung low on his hips.

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