Page 74 of Corrupt Obsession

He glanced at the closed door before he decided to climb in beside her. Violet’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

“Are you crazy?” she hissed.

As he stretched out, she rolled to the other side and would have escaped if he hadn’t dragged her back where she belonged.

“Let me go!”

“Hush,” he said as he gathered her against him and pressed her face against his throat.

“What are you doing?” she demanded, voice muffled.

“Giving both of us what we need.”

“I don’t want this,” she said, wriggling, until he tightened his arms around her.

She let out an angry huff and muttered under her breath. The feel of her lips brushing against his skin made his blood sing. He ignored his body’s reaction and focused on giving her the comfort that he hadn’t been able to earlier in the day. He stroked her back, shoulders, and sides as he tried to soothe the physical trauma he wrought. For long minutes, she was completely rigid. Nearly fifteen minutes passed before she quivered and unwillingly collapsed against him.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he murmured.

“But you did.”

Her voice, thick with tears and tainted with fear, made him place kisses along her hairline.

“I’m sorry, baby.”

“I’ve never seen that side of you before.”

“Me either.”

“You’ve changed.”

“So have you.”

She didn’t deny it. More time passed before the last of her tension dissolved, leaving her boneless in his arms, just as he intended. He heard the distant clink of silverware and plates as Mom and Dad cleared the table, accurately deducing he wasn’t coming back. He cuddled Violet against him, imagining a future where he could hold her like this without fear of beingreprimanded for doing what felt like the most natural thing in the world to him. He thought she’d fallen asleep until her hand twisted in his shirt.

“I know this is special,” she whispered.

His heart leapt at her acknowledgement.

She eased back so she could see his face. Her wide, beseeching gaze made his stomach twist.

“I don’t want to ruin what we have with sex,” she said in a rush.

He bit back a groan. “It won’t,” he began.

“Please, Jesse. Can we try to keep sex out of it and just see if…?”

Despite all he’d said, she was still in denial and trying to reverse the clock to a time they could never return to. She wanted to keep him at arm’s length and was instinctively trying to loosen the bonds that sex fortified and strengthened every time he took her. He wouldn’t allow it. He had every intention of exploiting their connection until they were so interlocked that she was a part of him.

As he tried to think of the easiest way to let her down, she cupped his cheek with a trembling hand.

Eyes sparkling with earnest tears, she said, “I don’t want to lose you.”

Nothing he said would reassure her that they were on the right path. She believed God would punish her for continuing their relationship by breaking them and the family apart. He had no intention of allowing either of those things to happen, but only time would prove him right.

“You’ll never lose me,” he promised.

“You’ll try?” she pushed.

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