Crushed - Pamela Ann Page 0,54

sought to cup my breast, clutching it, massaging it for more pleasure to go with his sweet torture.

“Who owns this body, Amber?”

I was so out of my depth with him. “You…” It was a bittersweet surrender, but it was the damn, bold truth. “You know it’s you … It’s always been you.”

My response earned me a coarse growl. “No more men. Promise me, no more men.”

Wait.

“What?” Instantly, my eyes opened, staring wildly at him as I pondered what he’d just said. “Why? Why!” I rushed out saying.

He seemed unperturbed about my reaction. “I hate the thought of Carter or any other guy taking what’s always been mine. I knew I was fucked up all these years, but it’s time I stake a claim on what’s mine. Do you hear me? No more playing hide and seek, no more one-night stands, no more games. The games stops right here, right now.”

“Brody, you’re asking for too much.”

“I want you. I want you like I have never felt before. It’s like I’m possessed, because I can’t stop thinking about you and what I want to do to you when I have you to myself. And, quite frankly, the thought of sharing you like before doesn’t sit well with me anymore.”

Well, fuck. Of all the times to throw demands and shit, did it have to be when I have my legs open while begging to be fucked? Jesus me, what timing!

“You can’t just trap me this way. I don’t know…” I sighed out. “You have to give me time.”

Brody had stated what he wanted from me, but I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to head down the route he had in mind. Sex with him was one thing, but to be solely his? I wasn’t sure. What if he needed a quick remedy, a rebound yet again because of Lindsey? As much as I loved him, I didn’t want to be used like that again. It was just too much to handle.

“Time…” he voiced out skeptically.

“Yes, time,” I reiterated, unwavering from my prior decision.

“Don’t you think the past decade was enough time?” he shot back like I had just slapped him with an insult.

“That’s not fair—”

“It isn’t, but I know what I want now, and I’m going for it. I want you. I need you in my life, Amber. I can’t bear it if you shut me out of your life, too. Just give me a chance. I want this. I really fucking want you,” he declared, giving me a glimpse of what I could have with him, because I knew, with every fiber in me, he meant every single word.

Brody wanted to be with me.

Me…

Amber Harrison.

How bizarre was this? After all this time, after all the heartache, the pain, the suffering, years of cursing his name in vain as I vowed never to let him in my life, in my body, and in my heart as he broke it time and time again, each time he looked at Lindsey with those openly adoring eyes that screamed how much he loved her...

Tears suddenly sprouted out of nowhere. “You have no idea how long I have wished for this, and now that I’m actually hearing it coming out of your lips, I’m not sure what to do. So much has happened, Brody … I don’t know how we can just move on as if the past didn’t bring us to where we are now.”

My heart had run out of thread to patch all the heartache it had suffered. For years, my heart had been consistently stabbed with a needle as I tried to mend the trail of tiny wounds. I just couldn’t do it anymore. There could be no more patching up, no more excuses for him. He had to know there were repercussions after what he had put me through. I couldn’t simply drop my guard and trust him with my heart again after years of abuse. He had to earn it if I did ever decide to give him this chance that he was desperately seeking.

“Don’t cry.” His thumb wiped the rogue tear that streamed down the side of my face. “I don’t ever want to see you cry from now on. After all that you’ve gone through, I only want to see you smile. It fucks me up when I see you hurt. You have no idea what it does to me.”

He was saying the most perfect things, and for the very first time, I felt exposed, not because of the