sweetness to bathe me in it. I enjoy being lathered in the soap of his love. That sounds dirty.
“Just truthful things,” he says, slipping the sheet from around my shoulder.
I decide it is now or never to show him before I have to show a stranger. “Just … don’t be surprised or shocked. Don’t go on a rampage. I know you’ll want to,” I say as I look over the curve of my shoulder as I sit on the edge of the bed.
“I already want to go on a rampage, baby. He kept you from me. That’s all I need to charge into his damn castle and overrule him.”
“There you go again, saying the right things.” I dip my head down and kiss his chest and run my hand down his chest. “It gets me worked up.”
“Well, take your workmanship out on me. I’m ready. Do with me as you please.” He lays starfish on the bed, waiting for me to jump him.
“You’re ridiculous,” I chuckle and stand, keeping the sheet wrapped around me.
He turns to his side and watches me, eyeing me up and down. “You have no idea how good you look in just a sheet. It’s hard for me to not pull you back into this bed with what I know is underneath, waiting for me.”
My cheeks blaze. “Sebastian.”
“What? It’s true.”
It is a silly thought, but I know once I drop the sheet, things could change. He might have seen glimpses of my back over the last few days, or even felt the scars as he rubbed his hands against me, but he has never seen the full view.
“You’re seducing me right now, and you have no idea. Your oblivion to it makes it that much sexier.”
“You’re just saying that because you have to. You’re biased.”
“I am not. I just know what the hell I have standing in front of me. A fucking temptress. Sexy. Fuck, I’m getting worked up just looking at you.”
“You’re trying to get my mind off the scars and what I have to do today.” I kneel on the bed, and he doesn’t hesitate to reach out and rub his palms over my hips. He leans in and presses a kiss to either side.
“Is it working? If not, I’ll gladly dive under these covers and eat my breakfast.”
“Sebastian.” I mean to scald him a bit, but his name comes out too breathy. I like the sound of being his breakfast.
His lunch, dinner, and dessert too.
If he keeps sidetracking me like this, his hunger will be satisfied.
“I’m losing my nerve,” I say on a sharp intake of breath as his hand finds the sensitive skin of my inner thigh, and his thumb grazes so close to the heat between my legs, I think I might burn him.
He lifts the sheet and groans when he sees me, then lowers it. “Okay, I’m sorry. You’re so distracting.” I try to pull away from him, but he tugs me by the hand and stops me. “I love you anyway. No matter, no matter in which way, no matter the marks on your skin. I love you.” He kisses my knuckles and releases me.
I turn around and grab the sheet tucked under my arm. I unravel it with jerky movements, and the sheet falls the ground, pooling around my feet as I expose myself to Sebastian for the first time.
Well, exposing the ugly side of me.
I expect something, a curse, uncontrollable anger, something, but all I hear is silence, and that scares me more. I shuffle my weight on my feet and almost turn around to see what he is doing, but I stop.
Something dark cloaks over me, and it is fear. I am so vulnerable right now, giving a man my back when the last one terrorized it. I start to shake, and I place my palms on the wall to stabilize me. I know what he sees. Long pink scars, some newer, some old and faded, lashing crisscross all over my back.
The bed dips and the heat radiating off him soaks into my back as he stands behind me, another shadow falling over me, but this one is different. It isn’t fear. It us Sebastian, wrapping me in the safety I want so much.
I gasp when his hand falls to the lower curve of my ass and his fingers are timid as he brushes them over one scar. My eyes water as he explores the devastation Kendrick caused. He brings up his other hand and traces