Page 112 of Seduced By You

“I actually feel sorry for her. I might have scars to remind me of what happened, but Fenella is the one who will have to live with the consequences, even if Daddy fixes it for her. Deep down, I don’t think she’s a bad person. I think she fell in love and discovered that the man she thought loved her, too, didn’t. And not because he was in love with me, as she thought, but because Benedict is incapable of loving anyone but himself. In the end, living with the guilt will be Fenella’s punishment.”

I nodded. Yep. I knew what that felt like. Torture. And while I’d finally recognized that the cause of my guilt was an accident, Fenella wouldn’t have the same luxury.

An idea I’d had for a few days, but quashed because Lee deserved all my attention, nudged me. Since meeting Samuel and discovering how he’d turned a dreadful situation into one where his experience benefited others, I had this idea that wouldn’t go away. An urge to play my part, too. A bit like Lee wanted to with her body positivity modeling agency.

“Can I run something past you?”

“Always.”

“I’ve been thinking about what happened to Samuel, and how sexual abuse happens in places that should be areas of safety, and men and women, boys and girls can become victims. It occurred to me that we might not change the world, but we could change things one tiny step at a time.”

Her brow furrowed. “How so?”

“I want to work with other businesses in the area to set up a scheme where, if it was a venue that served alcohol, we could, oh, I don’t know, have the drinks change color if someone drops a date-rape drug in it. Signs on the toilet doors to ask for “Julie” at the bar if you’re in danger or think you might be in danger. Sharing of information on known predators in the area, although the latter one might have to be done on the QT. Can’t see the gendarmerie being too pleased about that. It’s all running around in my head, and the details are sketchy, but—”

“I think it’s awonderfulidea.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Such a worthwhile venture.”

“And I was thinking of reaching out to the local schools and seeing if they’ll let me talk to the kids about the importance of speaking to an adult about anything that feels wrong.”

“Oh, Kadon.” She canted her head. “Samuel would be proud.”

My gut clenched. I smiled ruefully. “Might need to work on my French a bit before that.”

Her eyes sparkled and she gripped my forearm. “I could teach you. We’d have so much fun.”

I wrinkled my nose. “You have a warped idea of fun, Lee.”

“Is that so?” Her gaze dropped to my mouth, then to my groin. “Sure about that, Kingcaid?”

“You’re ill.”

“No. I’m horny.”

“Twelve days, Lee. Twelve days since you almost died.”

“Since webothalmost died. And isn’t that even more of a reason to live for today, to wring the most out of every moment?”

“And you want to do that by having sex?”

“At this moment, yes. Tomorrow, I might want to ride a horse or pilot a hot-air balloon, or go surfing.”

I laughed. “You, surf? As I recall, the last time I took you, some months ago now, you swallowed a bucketful of seawater and declared my beloved hobby a complete waste of time.”

“Oh, yeah.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’d kinda forgotten about that.”

“I haven’t.” I held a fist to my chest and made my eyes doleful. “It hurts me to this day.”

“You’re such an over-actor.”

She tugged down my zipper and freed my cock, gripping it firmly. I groaned, lifting my hips and pushing further into her hand. “We aren’t fucking, no matter how hard you pull on my dick. You’re not fully healed.”

She touched her tongue to her canine, a devilish sparkle in her eyes. When she let me go, I cursed my benevolence. Until she slithered out of her panties, swinging them around her forefinger.

“Sixty-nine?”

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