Series: Shame On You Series by Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 51495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51495 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 257(@200wpm)___ 206(@250wpm)___ 172(@300wpm)
Declan strokes a lock of my hair away from my face with a gentleness I’ve never known from him. He murmurs in a pained voice, “Don’t ever do that again.”
Whatever emotion he was trying to hide before isn’t hidden anymore. His voice is rough, as if he’s been shouting. I ask in a cracked voice though I already know what he means, “Which part?”
“The part where you tried to take yourself from me.”
Declan’s serious expression falters, and the corners of his mouth turn down. His glassy eyes warn me that he’s going to cry. That look on his face makes it even harder to breathe. I open my mouth, but Declan swallows hard and continues speaking before I can say a word.
“I don’t care how bad it gets. I love you, and it's never too late. You hear me? It’s never too late, and I can always fix it. I’ll fix this.” He tells me words I could only dream of. The ones I’ve been praying to hear. Promises that break every wall I’ve built, no matter how shittily they were cemented together.
Tears make my throat close. I’ve wanted this to be fixed for so long, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll ever be possible. I ask the unspeakable, “How?”
“I’m still working that out.” He swallows so loud I can hear it. “Just stay here with me.”
He nudges my nose and even though that piece of us is mending, the lies and what drove me to the edge are screaming for me to say something. To do something, right now. And not to wait.
It would be easier just to go along with it, but I can’t. I’ll never forget how I felt at the police station when I realized what Declan had done. He sent people to pretend to be detectives. He set up a test for me. So whatever he says now about loving me and fixing things, he can’t be trusted.
“You lied to me.”
His face falls and his forehead leans down to touch mine. It only lasts for a second and he picks his head back up to look into my eyes. “I lie to myself sometimes, too.”
“I don’t—”
Declan silences me with a kiss. It’s a deep, desperate kiss, and it contains all the emotion from his voice.
If I were a stronger woman, I’d shove him away. But I need this as much as he does. I realize that’s where the tension was coming from. It’s taken him over, and it took me over, too. I put my hand to his chin to feel his rough stubble and kiss him back with the same desperate need.
I kiss him like I trust him again. I know I shouldn’t do that. I should keep looking for a way out. A way to fix this myself. I know better than most that you can’t rely on anyone else in life, no matter how much you want to.
For now, though, I can’t do anything but press myself closer to him and kiss him harder. My back arches and I brush myself against him, needing to feel him.
I need this. I need him.
Declan makes a low noise into my mouth and pulls back, breath catching. “I’m going to fix this.” The tone of his voice is so serious that I know he means this as a promise. “I will never hurt you…even if you leave me. Even if you don’t love me, Braelynn, I love you.” He murmurs his promises into the crook of my neck between opened mouth kisses and I fall. I fall for every word, for everything that this man is.
Before I can say it back, his mouth is on mine. Declan’s body moves and I spread my thighs so he can get between them. I would have missed this so much if they’d kept me in jail. I would have missed losing myself in the sensation of pleasure that just touching him brings me.
He kneels up between my thighs and strips off his boxers. I don’t see where they land because all I care about is bringing his body back to mine. He leaves a little room between our hips so he can reach down and stroke me.
He groans, “I need you,” in a deep masculine throaty sound that makes me all the more ready for his touch.
I don’t even make an attempt to say it back. I show him by wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down to me. He grips my hip and angles me up so he can take me with one powerful stroke. Which he does effortlessly and my head falls back, my mouth falling open. He doesn’t stop, he kisses me all the while with every needy stroke.
That’s when the tears come. I bury my face in his shoulder and work my hips against his. All I want is our pleasure. There’s still so much to face outside this room. I don’t want to think about any of it. I can’t. I’m too tired and needed this too much. I needed him to say what he said.