Page 28 of The Space Between
I shift my hips,slowly pulling out, and she lets out a small sound—half protest, half aftershock. Her hand slides down my stomach and lands on my thigh, her fingers twitching.
I want to kiss her. Ialmostdo. But I stop myself and roll to my side, brushing her dark hair off her face.
“You okay?” I ask, voice like gravel.
She nods, blinking up at the canopy of cypress and oak trees above us. “More than.”
“I didn’t hurt you?”
“No.” She turns her head, looking at me with the softest look on her face. It’s a look I never expected to see again… from any woman. “Youhealedsomething I didn’t know could be touched, Gruene.”
That lands like a fucking bullet. I close my eyes for a second because I didn’t set out to fix her. I shouldn’t be able to fix anyone. I’m so broken… but maybe we just healed in the same place.
We cleanup as best we can beside the river.
She slips into the shallows with a soft laugh, water swirling around her thighs, hair sticking to her back. I follow, watching her wash away remnants of me from between her legs, over her stomach, and between her breasts. My creamy cum coats her hand as she cleans herself and floats on the water. It doesn’t make me feel possessive. It makes me feelundone.
This isn’t casual. It never was.
It’s dangerous.
Because if I let myself want Blakelyn, really want her,then I have something to lose… again.
I promised myself I’d never risk that.
I promised their graves I’d never replace them.
But Blakelyn isn’t replacing anyone.
She’s just Blakelyn and… she matters.
We don’t talkon the mile walk back. I carry the tube.
She walks barefoot beside me—she said she lost her flip flops in the water—her wet shorts back on and wearing my shirt because somehow, I tore hers removing it.
My shirt swallows her whole. And I swear I’d burn down the fucking world if anyone ever tried to take her from me now.
When we reach the edge of the cabins, she stops and looks up at me.
“I told you something back there. My name.”
I nod.
She lifts her chin and sighs. “No one knows where I am. I haven’t used my actual name in years. Even though we weren’t married, I used Tyler’s. He made me. It was another way to own me. When I left him… I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my sister. I just—I needed to disappear. No one believed me… about him. Everyone thinks he’s this amazing guy, you know. Grandma Nan was the only person who saw through him. She saw it before I did.”
“You don’t owe me?—”
“Iwantyou to know.”
I exhale, pressing my thumb to her jaw. “I’ll keep you hidden, Blakelyn. If that’s what you need.”
Her eyes flash and I can read her thoughts. I shake my head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I’ll keep you hidden from whatever you need to hide from. But I won’t lie and say I want to keep this quiet. Whatever it is… I don’t want to hide it. I’m not ready to broadcast it… but you aren’t a secret either.”
I pause. So does she. She just stares at me, then, she whispers, “Neither do I.”
Something shifts.
This isn’t about hiding anymore.
