Page 110 of Ruined Vows

“And you didn’t want that?”

“I can’t remember if I said no or not.”

She sobs again, and I bring her closer, holding her as fiercely as I can. I’m trying to also hold her in a way that she feels like she can escape easily if she needs to.

Jesus, all I want to do is hold her. I’ve seen this shit happen to far too many foster sisters throughout the years. Then sisters in the military. I protected who I could, where I could. Some guys seemed to think because they were bigger, it gave them the right to take whatever they wanted from anyone smaller. I always figured because I was bigger still, it meant I was supposed to even the odds if I could.

But you can never protect everyone all the time. The evil in this fucking world was always ready to crush your soul around the next corner.

“None of that was your fault and it doesn’t matter if you said no out loud or not,” I whisper. “You were crying. It was a violation. That wasn’t consensual sex. Consent has to be enthusiastic, and you were fucking crying.”

She laughs through her next sob. “I love that you know all that, old man.”

“Exactly. I’m the old one here. Aren’t they teaching that shit in sex ed by now?”

She leans against my chest and sighs. “It’s still Texas. Sex ed is basically just abstinence-only. So maybe he didn’t know any better.”

My teeth grind. Bullshit, he didn’t know better. Any man who’s paying attention and checking in with his woman knows if she’s eager or not about the sex you’re having.

But this asshole got Kira believing all sorts of stories to keep the wool over her eyes. Enough so she could later justify getting engaged to her rapist. I’ll call it what it is, even if she won’t or can’t.

This piece of shit has used her since the day he met her, then raped her, probably because he got pissed he couldn’t keep it up, and was gonna keep on using her for the rest of her life. Suckling off the sweet teat of her family’s money to launch his own political career. Just like daddy. He’d absolutely destroy Kira in the process.

Definitely a knife to the balls for him. Then maybe a few accidental slugs through his skull. I don’t care if his daddy is a senator.

He thinks he can get away with anything? I’m happy to prove to him that he’s just a man who’ll bleed like any other.

I’m so busy planning the gruesome and exacting manner of his death that I must miss whatever calculation is happening in Kira’s brain.

Because suddenly she’s kissing me. I can’t help but kiss her back, cradling her face even if I wonder if it’s the right thing to be doing. After everything she just told me, am I being the asshole now? Taking advantage of her when she’s vulnerable?—

Her hand drops to the button of my pants.

“Whoa, whoa,” I say, grabbing her fingers.

She stops, then looks up at me. “Oh. God. Oh my god.”

Her hands leap to cover her face. “Oh my god, I’m so embarrassed. I just said all that shit and I’m all fucked up and you must?—”

I grab her hands. “No. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but no. I’m trying to be the good guy here. But I’m whatever you need. If that’s to listen, I’m a listening guy. If you tear your clothes off, believe me, I’ll be that guy. And if you need a shut-up-and-leave-you-alone guy, that’s me, too. I’m all those things and whatever else you need me to be because I?—”

Fucking love you.

Oh shit. It would be really fucked up to tell her that right now. Especially since I just realized it myself. But I’m trying to be the good guy, not laying too much on her when she’s vulnerable.

“Really?” she says, peeking out between her fingers, then dropping one hand to reach for a tissue for her nose. “You feel all those different types of ways about me?”

I nod.

“All at once?”

I nod again.

She blinks up at me, this fucking gorgeous redhead with the most luminescent pale skin and a dusting of freckles that makes me want to lick each one individually. She sniffles, then says, “I’ll take the sexy one, then,” like she’s ordering off the menu. Her tongue peeks out between her teeth, and she lunges for me.

I open my arms to welcome her home.

Except I realize only when she dives past me, she wasn’t lunging for me at all. Her breasts press against my chest through her thin shirt as she reaches for my seat lever, dropping my seat back. Then she climbs on top of me.

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