Page 129 of Exposé

She pulled her fingers out of her mouth one by one, leaving the middle one in as she glanced up at me and smiled. "You liked that?"

I gave her a nod as she turned toward me on her knees, grabbed my growing cock, and sucked it deep into her mouth, her tongue lapping at my tightening balls.

26

Ava

I'd told him everything. I'd foregone every ounce of self preservation and told a practical stranger—who I couldn't help but melt for—my entire story, right down to the nitty-gritty.

"You know, I think this is the closest I've been to someone since I was a kid." He gripped my fingers and interlaced them, my cheek pressed to his warm chest.

I chewed my bottom lip. "Really?"

"Yeah, after the death of my parents, I never let anyone get close. Especially in foster care."

"Me too. Sort of.” My heart compressed as my mother's image flooded my mind. "You were the first person I'd ever been to the festival with." The words blurted out of my mouth as if spontaneous word vomit was contagious. "Not even Darrel."

His other hand slid over my back, rubbing up and down in smooth, gentle caresses as though it would take the sour feeling of my past, the need to relate, burning deep.

"Really? Why?"

"My mother would always take me to the festival when I was little."

Nate shifted his body, turning his chest toward me, his arms swathed like a cocoon around me. "And you shared that with me?"

I nodded.

"And then I fucked it up by fucking you in a tent. Is that why you left so quickly that night?"

Inhaling a deep breath, I buried my head beneath his chin, my arms tucked between us. "You didn't ruin anything. I thought I could handle it. But getting that close to someone again, and especially there, had me tucking tail and running. I'm sorry."

"I get it. Really, I do." His fingers ran through my tousled hair. "Can I ask you something, though?"

I nodded.

"Why did you leave your ex?"

"Darrel?” She sighed. “We wanted different things. He was my high school sweetheart, and when my mom died, I morphed into someone different. The new me didn’t fit the old him anymore."

"How did your mom die?"

A sharp pain lanced across my chest, my fingers tugging gently on his chest hair. "She battled with years of depression, and she couldn't handle it anymore."

"Damn."

"Yeah." Her journal I'd read the night before she passed sat on my bookshelf as a stark reminder to always listen and give a voice to those who felt unheard, and never to ignore the outcries of the hurting and vulnerable.

"What about yours?"

"House fire."

"Oh God, Nate. I'm so sorry."

He wrapped his arms tighter around me and kissed my forehead. "I was five. I don't remember much of it, just thatmy dad carried me outside and went back in for my mom, but neither of them came out."

"That's awful."

"It was a long time ago."

---