Page 97 of The Price of Mercy
He immediately pulls out, and the suddenlackstings. I hiss as he rolls off of me and pulls my thighs apart to check me out down there, frowning with concern as he scans my pussy. “You look okay. I don’t see any bleeding.”
I cover my face with my hands. “I don’t know, I just hurt. Deep. Like, like you were hitting my—” I bite my lip. “Cervix,” I whisper, my face flaming with embarrassment. “I don’t think I’ve ever, um, felt that before.”
Kane slides his gaze up my body, the hunger in his eyes lingering like a fire that won’t go out despite a downpour. “You’re bruised.” He bends at the waist and kisses my hip, then the bottom rung of my ribs, the very top of my breast, until finally, he licks a stripe along the curve of my neck. With a groan, he slides his fingers into my hair. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Tears pool in my eyes. “I know.”
That isn’t an apology.
Still hiding, I clear my throat. “I want to keep going, but…” My body trembles as he teases the underside of my breast. “I don’t know if I can. I—” I bite my lip. “I think I’m not made for this?”
A smile curves on Kane’s handsome face. “Oh, baby, you are. I promise. I’m impressed that we made it this far, honestly.” He kisses my forehead and trails his fingertips along the curve of my cheek. “I’m really glad that you spoke up, or I could have hurt you more than I did. A lot of people grit their teeth and bear it without telling me, so I don’t always realize that their screams are from pain.” He nips my jaw. “Rather than pleasure.”
I blow out a breath. “You have to be kidding. There’s no way anyone can withstand that.” A thread of insecurity wraps around my heart. “But, um, if they did, I’m sure you enjoyed it.”
“Actually, no.” Tilting my chin up, Kane meets my eyes. “I might come, Mercy, but that isn’t the goal. Sex is supposed to be fun.Free.It clears the mind until all that’s left is the weight ofyour body and the beat of your heart.” He presses his open palm to my chest and taps his fingertips to my heartbeat.
It’s like everything I’ve learned about sex in school is wrong.
Frowning, I purse my lips as he smiles down at me with the patience of a saint—more than I thought he could ever have, honestly. “But Zane and Sam always come. It’s like they chase it.” I reach out and grasp the air beside Kane’s head. “Don’t you do the same thing?”
He shakes his head. “I’m built differently. The same rules don’t apply.” He presses a gentle kiss to my lips before sitting up. “Let me clean you up, and we can cuddle all you want.” He kisses my knee and pushes himself to his feet, his hard cock bouncing with each step he takes, its shaft shiny, the tip leaking.
If he was close to coming, he stopped because I asked him to.
My heart skips a beat as I watch him grab a pack of sanitary wipes and two bottles of water. “Kane,” I call out, smiling as he looks over at me. “I love you.”
The warmth in his eyes rivals that of the sun. He drops everything on the floor beside me and falls to his knees, quickly sweeping me into a searing kiss. “Keep saying that, and I might have to eat you out again.”
“Please, no,” I beg, already feeling my pussy twinge at the thought. “I can’t take it.”
“Mmm,” he muses, teasing the seam of my lips with his tongue. “You think too little of yourself—and your pussy. She’s a fighter.” He curls his arm around my waist and smiles. “Someday, I’ll prove it to you.”
My final semester of college passes by in the blink of an eye. Kane doesn’t drop out despite failing our fall painting class fornot submitting a final project, and he walks behind me across the stage despite not receiving a diploma. I think he just wanted to check out my ass in high heels, a gift from my older sister that I don’t think I’ll ever wear again.
Still, she’s right.
I look damn good when I dress up.
The curls in my hair have flattened into waves by the time the ceremony is over. A moth flutters nearby, and I hold out my hand to give it a place to land. My classmates either smile politely at me or completely ignore me, the few of them who know about the party from last semester being in the latter category. Sam hasn’t returned to campus despite being reenrolled once he petitioned his father’s meddling in his affairs. I think he was only enrolled as a distraction from his home life, and now that he lives with me, he has no reason to continue.
My father is all too happy to hand him and Kane the keys to the family business, degree or not.
I walk arm-in-arm with my brother Malachi as the boys bicker about what to eat for dinner behind us. “You know, you could enroll. It’s notthatbad of a school.”
He’s quiet as he contemplates. Actually, he’s been quiet ever since the new year, like he’s stuck in his head about something. “I might apply,” he says after a moment. “But I don’t think my grades are good enough to get in.”
“Anyone can get in.” I nudge his ribs with my elbow and glance back at Kane. “Case in point…”
My blonde boyfriend catches my eye and winks, a slow grin spreading across his face as he lifts an eyebrow and looks me up and down. “Hot,” he mouths, the corner of his lips curving into a smirk.
Zane catches him in the act and rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe you walked across the stage.” Still, he smiles when Kane pressesa kiss to his cheek and laughs when Kane grabs his chin and smushes their faces together.
“You’re just jealous that I got to flick off the Dean.”
My father’s waiting for us at the gate with a bouquet of white lilies in his hands. When he sees us, his shoulders droop as he relaxes, the smile on his face becoming genuine. I think he worries about Malachi adjusting to life with the family plus three, the knuckleheads I love breathing new life into our home. It’s a little chaotic when someone eats Zane’s leftovers—usually Kane—or Sam decides to join us in the chapel for a sleepover, but it’s a good kind of chaos.
It’s what we’ve been missing over the past few years.
