Page 128 of Beautifully Wounded

Fuck, she’s beautiful like this, her blonde hair tied high, yet a little dishevelled with flyaways, the colour in her cheeks scaring away the deathly pale pallor she typically wears. I bet if I press my fingers to her skin, it’d be searing.

“And you admitted how annoyed you were that our last nearly kiss got interrupted.” I tug on her ankles, dragging her arse across the bed and closer to me as I kneel between her legs. “And what about that ache, Angel?” I rasp as I release her ankles and press my hands to the mattress on each side of her head, hovering over her. “Is it the same ache that had you pressing your hand between your legs while you watched me sleep the other day?”

An intelligible squeak flies from her lips right before she curls onto her side and slips out from under me, scurrying off the bed.

“Hey!” I mutter, frowning as I twist to sit on my bed and watch her practically press herself into the wall to pass by.

Is she scared of me?

“What’s happening right now?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head as she moves past the bed and gives me her back, but what she doesn’t know is that I can see her reflection in the old stained mirror in the corner of the room.

She doesn’t look scared, but what she does look is torn.

There’s a battle raging in that head of hers, and fuck. What I’d give to be able to hear her thoughts and have the power to silence her chaos.

That thought stuns me momentarily.

I used to feel that way a long time ago about Kylie. About the demons she fought daily that no one could see.

She once told me no one had the ability to quieten the storm inside her head. Unfortunately, there was one thing that silenced it, and in the end, it’s what killed her.

“I’m sorry I shot you. I didn’t even know it was you coming through the door.” Her voice is small. Timid. Filled with shame. “I just knew I couldn’t let them take me.”

In an instant, I’m up off the bed and standing behind her, my hands gripping her upper arms as I lean in close to her ear.

“Angel, I’m glad you fired that gun. I don’t want you to ever stop fighting for your freedom.”

Releasing a shuddering breath, Abbey relaxes back against me, and in the mirror, I watch as her lids flutter closed.

She clearly feels safe with me, but she’s obviously not ready for a big brute like me to take things further.

Even as I think this, I’m reminded of her admission to wanting to kiss me, and the ache she can’t fix.

“I still feel awful about shooting you,” she whispers. “What if you didn’t have that vest thing on?” Spinning to face me, her glassy, pained gaze falls to the welt on my chest where the bullet hit the Kevlar.

“It’s okay,” I rasp, loving how close she is to my bare chest.

Fuck, have I ever loved a woman being this close before?

“It’s not.” She shakes her head, this time her gaze shifting from the welt to the ink on my chest.

“Yeah, it is, Angel. Think of it as foreplay.”

Her caramel pools dart up to meet mine, and a small grin tugs at the corners of her lips.

“That wasn’t foreplay.” She remarks, and fuuuck me, her voice is husky, her gaze is lustful, and even though she’s in the fucking huge hoodie, I can still see the rise and fall of her chest with the way her tits press against the fabric as if they want to burst free.

“Fuck, Angel, I need to do something,” I admit, my gaze dropping to her plump lips.

“What?” she breathes, almost on a whisper, and fuck it. I’m going in.

Closing the distance, I nip at her lips, feeling the fan of her breath, almost like she sighs in relief to feel my lips on hers.

Darting my tongue out, I glide it over the seam of her parted lips, testing to see how pliable she is, and fuck me, she responds, opening for me to take the kiss deeper as I fist one hand around her ponytail and cup her cheek with the other.

As I moan into her mouth, she responds with a needy whimper that has my cock practically battering at my jeans to be set free and claim her. And fuck, as much as I want to do that, I hold back, knowing she’s not ready for that, but knowing she’s ready for something by the way she starts squirming on the spot.

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