Page 24 of Kiss Away Your Pain (Wounded Hearts 2)

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Enzo

“I’m not wearing a bra,” she says. I’d already noticed that and I’ve been focusing all night on keeping my arousal under control.

“Here, you put on my shirt,” I say, unbuttoning it, taking it off, and handing it to her. “I’ll go in the water and turn around, then you can take off your pretty top and put on my shirt.”

She takes it from me and I strip off my jeans then walk into the cool water, gentle waves splash against my skin. When I turn to look at her, she’s standing there, watching me.

“Ready? I’m going to turn around and you let me know when I can look again.” I turn and wait, watching the moon as it hangs suspended against the darkening sky, anticipation simmering inside.

After a few minutes, her steps drop into the water, filling my ears with small sloshes. She’s by my side, fermenting my energy.

“Can I look now?”

“Yes.” Her voice is quiet, almost timid. “The water’s colder than I thought.”

“Do you want to get out?” I ask, turning toward her. I catch a glimpse of her sumptuous breasts and hard nipples as the water splashes against them just before she dips them below the surface.

“No, not yet.”

“Come here. I’ve got you.” I hold my arms out, not sure she’ll come.

She steps toward me and I squat, giving her a place to sit. She wraps her legs around my waist and her arms loosely around my neck. Her breasts touch my chest through the wet fabric.

Her gaze moves slowly from my eyes down to my silver “S” emblem necklace and back up.

“Superman, huh? Was he your favorite superhero growing up?” Her eyes shift back and forth between mine as she awaits my answer.

Grief hooks into me, resurfacing from a place I try not to visit. No one’s ever asked about my necklace before. Am I ready to share this with her? The way she looks at me makes me want to tell her. To share with her. Totrusther.

“I had a few I liked.” I pause, the salt air stealing my breath. “My dad gave this to me when my mom left us. I was nine and it hit me pretty hard.” The words break the air like brittle as they leave my mouth. A crinkle forms between her brows, her eyes coalescing with my pain as memories engulf me. “He always told me that I was a hero. That I was brave and could do anything. That I was strong, but it was still okay to cry and feel hurt at the same time. Really, he wasmyhero. When my mom left, he became our dadandour mom. He sacrificed a lot and gave us everything he could, even through his own heartache.” I shake my head slightly, my heart pinches. “He loved her. I don’t think he ever stopped.”

She listens intently as the waves lap against us. Her silence holding me with grace.

“To this day, my sister and I don’t know what happened, why she left. But he never said one bad word about her. He tried to hold it together in front of us, but sometimes I’d hear him crying if I woke up late at night.”

“I’m so sorry. He certainly sounds like a hero.” She drapes me in her soothing tenderness. “If you’re curious, would you ever ask him what happened? Or would that be too painful?”

“It would’ve been too painful and I never wanted to put him through that. Plus, I’d convinced myself it didn’t matter. He was all we needed.” I pause to take a breath. I’ve never shared this with a woman. Her curiosity and compassion compel me to continue. “He passed away a few years ago. I swear sometimes I wonder if it was heartbreak that finally took him.” I swallow, trying to push down the lump pressing into my throat. “And I have no idea how to be a hero like him. I’m still trying to figure that out. But my necklace makes me feel like I have a small piece of him with me, giving me courage and strength.”

“That’s a lot of loss,” she says with a tinge of melancholy, like she knows the pain of grieving.

“It looks like you keep someone close to your heart too.” I look down at the ring on the chain around her neck and back into her eyes.

“I do.” It’s all she says. Nothing more.

Time moves fractionally as we stare at each other, sharing unspoken pain. Nothing exists outside us. Our souls connect through our eyes and the beating of our hearts.

A small swell of water splashes between us, breaking the moment.

“Ooo.” She shivers in my arms. “I’m ready to go in.”

“Come on, let’s go,” I say and start walking us toward the shore.

She unwraps from around me and we run out of the water to where our clothes are on the sand. I can’t fucking stop myself from looking at her beautiful breasts and hard nipples behind my wet dress shirt that’s clinging to every curve of her body. She’s so damn sexy.

We scoop up our clothes and run back to the house. Destiny and Nicco are inside and have cleaned up around the fire pit. We grab the towels on the large porch swing and wipe the sand from our legs and feet before going inside.

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