Page 99 of Revenant

Instead of being reassured, her face falls and tears fill her eyes. She blinks them away, as if trying to hide them, before blindly reaching down for the robe and dragging it onto her lap to cover her nakedness. “Youdoblame me for what happened.”

Her expression is so heartbreaking that I rush to her side and drop to my knees in front of her. She glances away, refusing to look in my direction, and it feels like she just reached into my chest and ripped out my heart.

I capture her chin and gently force her to look at me. “I don’t mind the changes, I promise.”

I shrug and smile at her incredulous expression. “I’ve always been a large man, I just have to learn my new limits.” When she doesn’t appear convinced, I continue, “I love that I’m stronger. You need protectors, and I can do that now.”

I scrub the back of my neck and confess the truth. “Most girls find me intimidating. Some might see me as a conquest, but most flinch when I near them.”

“Girls are stupid.” Rue crosses her arms and huffs in annoyance. “They aren’t me.”

“No, they are not,” I admit, my insides softening at her anger on my behalf. “No one holds a candle to you.”

My confidence takes a boost when she practically glows under my praise. I shake off the effect she has on me and focus on the point I’m trying to make. “Even guys see me as a conquest—a challenge where they pit themselves against me to see if they can win a fight.”

I hold up my hand before she can protest. “Do you remember the beating I took at the quarry? Those men didn’t like me winning, and they especially didn’t like me taking their cash week after week. When their women began to pay too close attention to me, they had enough. It was time to teach me a lesson.”

“You have to know I’m not like that.” Rue scowls at me, annoyance shining in her teal eyes. “You are not a conquest.”

“Exactly,” I whisper, allowing myself one quick touch and running the backs of my fingers down her cheek. “You treat me like I matter. For the first time in a long time, someone sees the real me.”

“I don’t understand.” Rue tilts her head to the side, a questioning look on her face. “Then why…”

“Because I love you.” The confession is torn from the dark pits of my soul, something that I never thought I would say to another person after my sister died.

“I love you too,” she says so softly that her confession is only a breath of air.

My heart bobs drunkenly in my chest, and I stare down at her dumbly. “But you can’t.”

Rue reaches forward…then flicks me hard right between the eyes. I flinch back, rubbing at the spot when it aches. “What was that for?”

“For being an idiot,” she says primly, glaring daggers at me.

I drag my palms against the stubble along my jaw, my eyes dropping to the robe in her lap. “The last person I told I loved them died on me.”

“Your sister, Maggie.” Her hand comes to rest right over my heart, and a yearning to feel her silky smooth touch everywhere has my skin prickling. “After we’re safe, we’ll contact her, and she can tell you that you’re being an idiot too.”

“Indubitably.” I snort at the very likely truth in her words and hope bubbles through my chest. “Are you sure it’s safe to contact her?”

The last thing I want is to put either of them in danger.

“You might be surprised.” Rue lifts her chin, a single brow raised. “I’ve had nothing but time on my hands the last few months—plenty of time to practice my abilities.”

A bark of laughter escapes me, and pride fills me. “Oh, I have no doubt you can do anything you put your mind to.”

“Anything but you,” she says bluntly, and my eyes drop away from her too perceptive gaze.

“I need more time,” I admit with reluctance. “As much as I crave your touch, I haven’t earned your forgiveness yet. I want everything to be perfect between us.

“I’m used to fucking girls, the sex with them rough and dirty. I’m not sure I can be gentle when I take you. I won’t risk hurting you. I need to learn some control first.” I lean forward, forcing her backward until she’s sprawled across the bed, the robe dropping forgotten to the floor. “But if you need my touch, it would be my honor to pleasure you.”

I don’t even wait for her permission, just nudge her legs farther apart. The scent of her arousal goes straight to my head…and cock. Licking my lips, I lean down and devour her pussy.

Rue whimpers and begs as I feast, and I drown in the delicious taste of her. I use my lips and tongue to torture her clit until her back bows, then I double down as her orgasm sweeps over her. Before she even comes down, I reach up and torment her breasts and start all over again. It’s not until her third orgasm that I finally release her, leaving her a trembling mess on the bed.

I wipe her juices from my chin and lick them from my fingers, unwilling to waste even the smallest bit of her desire for me. I don’t even feel bad that I rubbed my cock against the mattress, humping the damned thing, and came in my shorts like some randy teenager. Who fucking wouldn’t at the taste of her? Not surprisingly, I’m already hard again. I suspect that will always happen whenever she casts a sultry look in my direction.

“You’re forgiven,” Rue says, her voice husky from screaming. She peers up at me, seemingly unconcerned that her legs are splayed open, her pussy on display. “You were forgiven theinstant you came for me at the asylum. The orgasms were just the icing on the cake.”

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