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“Shite,” I growled, trying to pull myself up on my elbows so I didn’t smother her. “Did I hurt you?”

“Don’t talk,” Shannon begged, wrapping herself around me like ivy and dragging my body back down on hers. “Don’t stop.”

I didn’t think I could stop if I wanted to, which I definitelydidn’t. “Are you sure?” I forced myself to ask anyway. My heart was racing so hard I was sure she could feel it. “We can stop—”

My words were cut off when she dragged my face down to hers and kissed me hard. “Or maybe not,” I murmured, falling deeper into our kiss—deeper intoher. I loved it when she clutched my neck with her small hands, like a kitten extending and then retracting her claws, leaving marks on me for days with her nails.

Shannon’s hands moved to my T-shirt and she yanked on the hem. Smiling against her lips, I rested my weight on one hand and used my free hand to reach over my shoulder. Catching ahold of the fabric of my T-shirt, I tugged it over my head, tearing my lips off hers for the millisecond it took to toss my shirt away before returning to her. And then her hands were on me, tugging and pulling on my bare skin, nails digging into my flesh as she rocked her body against mine almost fervently.

Hard as I’d ever been, I thrust myself against her, groaning every time I was met with her bucking hips meeting me halfway. Her skin was hot and flushed, her body trembling beneath mine, as she drove me half-demented with need.

“Johnny?” Shannon choked out, pressing her hands against my chest. “Can you get off me for a sec?”

“Shite.” I sprang back faster than a moving bullet. “Did I go too far?” I asked, panting as I knelt between her legs. “Do you want to stop?”

“No.” Shaking her head, Shannon sat up and reached for the hem of her shirt. “I don’t want to stop.”

My heart hammered violently and my dick strained against its constraints. “Shan, you don’t have to—”

She whipped her shirt over her head and my eyes instantly drifted to her chest. Adam’s apple bobbing in my throat, I watched as she reached behind her back and unhooked her bra. Achingly slowly, she slid her arms out of the straps and discarded her bra on the floor. “Hi,” she whispered, letting her hands fall to her sides, revealing her breasts.

“Hi.” I swallowed, desperately trying to keep eye contact with her and not let my gaze wander to her perfect fucking tits. Jesus, they were so perky, with little rosebud nipples all puckered and straining. “You’re so beautiful,” I told her, giving up the fight and taking my fill of the sight of her. “I don’t even know what to say.” The fresh-looking scar between her side and right breast caught my attention and I froze, feeling like I’d been doused in cold water.

“What?” Shannon asked, sensing my withdrawal. “What’s wrong?”

Battling down a tsunami of anger, I reached out and brushed my fingertips over the scar. “Is it sore?”

“Not anymore.” She shook her head. “I don’t even feel it now.”

Well, I felt it, deeper and harder than I’d thought possible. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. That’s how they saved her. How the doctors helped her breathe when that bastard almost beat the life out of her. “Johnny, don’t think about it,” Shannon croaked out. “Don’t look at me and see my dad.”

“I’m not,” I choked out, struggling to rein in my emotions.

“You are,” she countered shakily. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“I’m not doing it on purpose,” I admitted, shoulders sagging. “It’s just hard for me to know what he did to you, and that he’s getting out any day now, and I can’t fix it for you.”

“I’m not asking you to fix me,” she whispered, shivering. “I’m asking you to be with me.”

“I am,” I told her.

“Without feeling sorry for me,” she added, lip wobbling. “Or looking at me like I’m broken.”

“Shannon, that’s not what I’m doing,” I hurried to say, but it was too late; she was already off the bed and reaching for her shirt.

“It doesn’t matter,” she squeezed out.

Shite…

“Hey, hey, hey—” Springing off the bed after her, I intercepted her shirt before she could. “Just hear me out first, and then you can put your shirt back on,” I said, tone thick and gruff. “Please?”

Shivering, she covered her chest with her hands and nodded.

Sagging in relief, I continued, “I’m in love with you—”

“Johnny—”

“No, no, please just listen,” I coaxed before plowing ahead. “I’m inlovewith you, Shannon. I’m completely fucking hooked on you, so when you’re hurt, it affects me. Ithurtsme. I can’t pretend that it doesn’t.” She shuddered and stepped closer to me. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m with you because I feelsorryfor you…” I hooked an arm around her bare back and tugged her all the way until she was flush against me. “It just means that I’m going to get upset when you’re upset, and that when someone hurts you, I’m going to want to cause some serious harm to them in return. I’m all in, Shannon. Scars and all. Fucked-up father and all. One hundred and fifty percent.”

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