Page 73 of Tempt

Suddenly, I’m in a hurry.

He pushes me lightly on the bed and follows me down.

I’m propped on my elbows when the tie on my robe loosens, then falls away.

The room—my room—is quiet and dark. All I can hear is my heart hammering and our mingled breath.

He shifts back and parts the fabric of my robe.

The soft material drags across my skin, making my nipples harden and my thighs tingle.

He sinks to his knees in front of the bed. When he does, a shaft of light from the hallway falls on my body.

He stops when he sees the scars on my stomach.

The lines are faded, but I remember each of those surgeries.

Talking to my parents on the phone, grappling with my fear and loneliness. Trying to understand why they were too busy with work or my brother to be there in person.

His finger skims across the small black script on my hip.

I got the word ‘Goodbye’ tattooed over the first scar as a joke the day I graduated high school. It was supposed to be a farewell to part of me I never needed.

Maybe the joke was on me.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.”

The way Daniel says the wordbeautifulmakes me tremble.

His touch skims across the other scars and up to cup my breast.

Then he’s shifting forward, taking me in his mouth.

I arch under him, fisting his hair with impatient fingers. He alternates licking and sucking, his hips pinning the rest of me in place.

When he switches to the other breast, I moan.

His lips skim down across my stomach, slow and deliberate.

I’m arching off the bed before his thumbs stroke the insides of my thighs.

“You don’t talk about yourself, so I notice things.”

His touch skims higher, and my thighs shake.

“You have this smile that’s a defense mechanism, like if you pretend you’re happy, no one will look too close.”

His lips graze my stomach, tracing familiar lines.

“The genuine one’s for when you’re caught off guard. Your eyes light up. You blush. I’d give everything to see that one.”

In the light from the hallway, my body is on display for him.

I arch toward his mouth, needing him already. The words and his touch are making me come undone.

When he brushes between my thighs, desire explodes inside me. My hips snap toward him.

When he leans in to blow across my clit, pleasure washes over me.

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