Page 85 of The Rough Rider

And he hadn’t had all that many pieces left.

“Gus,” she sobbed, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder.

And he rolled over onto his back, holding her limp, petite body against him, waiting for remorse to hit him.

It took him a moment to realize it was there. Because it always was. But not as powerful as the pleasure that was still coursing through his body.

Then he realized she was shaking. Crying.

Panic lanced through him.

“Alaina, I didn’t...”

“I should’ve waited for that,” she said, tears on her face. “I should’ve waited forthis.”

No. He rejected that. Immediately. Even in his sensual haze. Because his Alaina was perfect. His Alaina shouldn’t have any shame. She was his, and she was everything, and they were here because of what had gone on before.

“We would never have been here,” he rasped. “Without that. We would never have been here.”

She looked up at him, touched his face. “You believe that?”

“Shit has to happen sometimes, I guess. To get you where you...never really thought you’d be.”

“Gus I... I didn’t...”

“You’re perfect,” he said. “That was perfect.”

“It’s just that with him...”

He blanched. “Let’s resist the urge to talk about other men while you’re in my bed.”

She pushed herself up, her hair spilling over her shoulders. “But I want to say it. I didn’t have an orgasm with him.”

He let his head fall back against the pillow, and absurdly, his lips curved into a smile. “You had a lot with me.”

“You are an asshole,” she said, smacking his shoulder.

“Well documented, Alaina. You’re the one that said I was sweet. I never was. I never have been. That’s your bad.” But he smiled. Because he felt like smiling.

She curled up beside him, her body soft against his, her hand on his chest a dream he didn’t want to wake up from.

“Gus, why did you pretend you didn’t want me?” she asked, her voice small.

“Icouldn’twant you,” he said. “Because I needed to keep distance between you and me. I’m kind of a mess.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” she said.

“Because you don’t know me.”

“What don’t I know?”

“You don’t know everything I’ve done. What I said about those other women... It was true. I wasn’t just being mean. That’s the kind of person I am.”

“You’re also the kind of person who married me to protect me. And you can say whatever you want about how that wasn’t part of it, but it was.”

“I’ve always wanted to protect you.”

“From myself.”

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