Page 21 of Force of Nature

The searching look he gave me made my chest hurt. Was he afraid his confession would change my opinion of him? I wouldn’t so much as flinch if he told me he’d killed all of them with his bare hands. Whatever he did was undoubtedly more merciful than what they planned to do to us come morning.

“Good,” I said.

Whatever he saw in my eyes seemed to reassure him.

“Yeah.” He exhaled, gingerly touching his head wound. Suddenly, I remembered the first aid kit I’d found in the cabinet.

“Wait, I’ve got something.” I dashed to the cabinet and back, praying there was still something useful left in the kit. Inside, I found gauze, single-dose painkiller packets, alcohol wipes, tweezers, and some small bandages.

I did my best cleaning and dressing his head and face wounds and then used an alcohol wipe to cleanse some of the dried blood from his face. He didn’t say anything the whole time I tended to him, and neither did I.

Finally, I said, “I don’t think you should sleep until we see a doctor. You might have a concussion.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t be sleeping while those guys are still out there looking for us.”

The reminder sent a cold ripple down my spine.

“Do you think they’ll find us?”

“I don’t know. But I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep you safe. Like I should have done…”

The regret in his voice made my eyes sting. “You did everything you could’ve done for me. None of this was your fault, Dad.”

“None of it?” he said curtly. “Are you forgetting what I did to you?” He was angry, but I knew his anger wasn’t directed at me.

I reached for his hand. “You did what you had to do to keep us alive. Webothdid.”

My dad closed his eyes. He had to be thinking the same thing that was going through my mind. Performing the mechanical act of sex was one thing. But we’d both come, which meant on some level that we enjoyed it. Despite that fact, I refused to let him carry all the guilt for harm that neither of us had willingly caused.

“You don’t have to let me off the hook,” he said bitterly, sliding his hand out from under mine. “You have every right to hate me.”

“Hey,” I croaked, my voice thick with emotion. “I could never hate you.” What I couldn’t handle was my dad pulling away from me. I needed his care and his closeness, now more than ever, to help me survive the night. “I love you.”

He looked directly at me for the first time since he’d arrived. I held his gaze, begging him to recognize the truth in my eyes. He must have felt something because he immediately pulled me close. We sat facing each other on the cot with my arms around his waist and my head buried in the crook of his neck and shoulder. He ran his hands up and down my back in a soothing gesture.

“I love you, too, Willow, and I’ll make sure those bastards never touch you again.”

“I know, Dad. I know you’ll keep me safe.”

His arms tightened around me. I inhaled his familiar scent, and whether it was from muscle memory or a biological tic, I felt a flicker of desire in my belly.

I pressed a kiss to his neck in the spot where my lips were already resting.

Tension pooled between my legs. I was sure my dad could feel my heart beating faster against his chest. He had to know that I didn’t blame him for what had happened to me, not even the acts he’d participated in, and that I still loved him with my whole heart. I needed him to know this, to understand that I wasn’t angry with him.

I kissed his neck again.

His breathing stuttered. I felt his lips on my shoulder where the oversized T-shirt’s neckline had slipped down. The gentle touch and his warm breath made me shiver. The memory of his lips between my legs was suddenly all I could think about. He kissed my shoulder again, a spot closer to my neck, then followed the kiss with the gentle graze of his teeth.

I gasped. He drew back to look at my face in the moonlight. The uncertainty was clear in his gaze, but there was something else there too. I saw my own need reflected back at me, a longing for reassurance and the comfort of each other’s touch.

Were we crazy enough to do this on our own without threats or weapons forcing us? Under normal circumstances, it would be unthinkable. Even now, it was still wrong, but our bodies disagreed. His big, warm hand slid down my side as he trailed kisses up my neck. I tilted my head to grant him better access to the sensitive skin on my jaw.

I gasped. He froze for a moment, seemingly worried about my reaction.

“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t stop.”

Gazing into my eyes, he cupped the side of my face.

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