Page 128 of Coerced

“Stand still,” Rome murmured near my ear. “He’s okay if he’s doing the touching. Regardless, I won’t let him hurt you again.”

Kerry raised his head and his eyes flicked to Rome, then back at me. His hand was gentle on my arm and no sparks of power bled from him, but fury flared in his eyes.

“Who did this to you?” He looked as if he honestly intended to find - and end - the one who’d hurt me.

“I did it to myself. And I know you saw my back. I’m not overjoyed to have them, but my scars show I survived what shoulda killed me.”

He took a deep breath and released me.

“Rome and I are the only ones here.” I raised my eyebrows. “So unless you’re worried about him—”

“He’s already seen it.”

“So strip down.”

“It’s okay, Kerry.” Rome took a step back. “It’s just your shirt and only friends are in the room. Think of it as a safe time to test yourself.”

I wondered what that was about, but shrugged it off. A guy possessed for ten years probably had more issues than I did. And, lordy, I had plenty.

“Trust me, you want this armor.” Rome nodded. “It’s top quality. Mira, you could show the Sanctuary smiths a thing or two, and some of them have been around for centuries.”

“Thankyou,” I purred. “Just for that, I’ll add a little something extra to yours.”

While we were bantering, Kerry fingered the hem of his shirt, so I figured keeping the attention off of him might help.

And it was fun to tease Rome.

“Oh, goodie,” he deadpanned. “I wonder what?”

“It’ll be aspecialsurprise.” I looked up at him from under my lashes.

“Anicespecial surprise?”

“I’ll make sure it’s something that gets your complete attention.”

He laughed, a rich and warm sound that made my heart pound a little faster. To save myself, I glanced at Kerry and saw he’d slid out of his t-shirt. Now, he stood there with a look in his eyes that shocked me, and not because I feared he was about to become violent again.

He looked like he was prepared for pain - or humiliation - and it broke my heart.

Yeah, he was fierce and brave and tough, but he was also fragile. In a very dangerous way. I was wrong earlier. He wasn’t a shotgun on a hair-trigger. He was a landmine rigged to explode under the weight of a feather.

Rome moved to stand fully in front of me, and I cut my eyes back to his.

“I can’t believe you finished something of such high quality so quickly.”

He obviously wants me to look away from Kerry, so, okay. Can do, especially when the scenery is so amazing over here.

“I can be fast or I can be good, and every once in a while, I can be fastandgood.”

“Ha ha ha, but I’m serious. This really is great work.”

“Then thank you more seriously this time, Sir S—”

He put his hand over my mouth, but it didn’t stop me from laughing.

“Um, so, what do I gotta do, Boots?”

As I’d hoped, the banter had diverted Kerry’s attention from baring his scars. And he was right. He had a lot. I couldn’t help but notice them as I told him how to slide into the body armor.

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