Page 35 of Beautifully Reckless

Shifting my fingers from under her chin, I graze them slowly down the front of her throat, before gently, wrapping my hand around it.

She stiffens.

Her breath hitches.

Her eyes flare wide in panic.

I completely fucking expected it.

I bet those fuckersdid this when they raped her. They probably choked her not even knowing the safe way to do it. Or, they knew and didn’t care if they asphyxiated her to death.

Staring into her eyes, I hold the connection, and ignore the way her breathing picks up, and how there’s a slight quiver in her body.

She’s scared of me, but also she isn’t. Which is probably what is actually scaring her.

I bet she’s asking herself why she’s so drawn to me.

How can she be attracted to someone like me?

I know she likes what she sees. I remember the sear of her hungry gaze in the privacy of my shitty room at the Western. I remember the feel of her hand wrapped around my cock as she jerked me off in fascination.

I remember the way she used my fingers to make herself come.

Fuuuck, I’ll never forget that.

Never forget how fucking wet she was… or how she tasted on my fingers.

So yeah, she’s confused.

I’m not the type of guy she should go for. And fuck, I know I’m probably not the type of man that’ll get down on one knee, propose to her, give her a house with a white picket fence, three kids, and two fucking dogs.

I let myself believe I could have that once too, but people like me, we don’t get the easy life. We don’t get the big family dinners with everyone talking over each other, laughing as food is passed around.

We don’t get the sweet woman who sees all our scars and fucking worships us anyway. We don’t get the arms that hold us each night, or the morning kisses that keep us sane.

Fuck.

I want that.

But crims like me. We don’t get that.

We live a ruthless life, and die a ruthless death.

Shaking the truth of my reality from my thoughts, I focus on my Angel in front of me.

“Why did you fucking run?” I ask her again, needing to understand what was going through her head. “Why didn’t you wait and see what the fuck was happening? Did you really think I was going to hurt you?”

Something in her shifts and I see the warrior in her rise to the surface.

Her chin lifts, stretching her neck as she leans into my hand, even as her eyes turn glassy.

“I didn’t understand what was happening,” she admits, her voice quiet yet strong. “I’d been lying to you. I kept the pregnancy from you and everyone else.”

My grip tightens slightly, but this time she doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t react.

“I was biding my time until I could figure out what to do, because the truth of it is, I don’t know who the father is. However, Idoknow the father is a vile human, but it could be any of the six arseholes that…”

She trails off, her throat bobbing against the press of my hand as she swallows hard.

---