Make Me - Tessa Bailey Page 0,58

she’d done to him. He wanted to mark her, brand her in a way that she might not understand or might find confusing, but as he pulled out of her still-convulsing body, tore off the condom, and expelled his pleasure on her tits, his brain registered it as something beautiful. Seeing Abby wearing the evidence of how much he’d wanted her for so long, how much he’d want her forever.

After that, his muscles would no longer support him. He went down on an elbow beside Abby, kissing her shoulder until she turned on her side. His eyes searched in the darkness for something to clean her, making out a stack of towels just over their heads. He grabbed the terry-cloth material and ran it down Abby’s front, neck to belly, all the while rubbing his lips over her heated skin.

“Russell?” Her sweet voice glittered in the darkness.

He draped the towel over her body. “What is it, angel?”

For long moment, he could only count her breaths. “We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

His pulse tripped as he pulled her close, curved his body around her smaller one. I’m going to sleep with my girl next to me. “Yeah. I guess we do.”

Understatement of the year. The list of things they needed to discuss seemed endless. The status of their relationship. Why he’d been pushing her away. How he planned to stop doing that and never let her go. Ever. There was also the nature of their sexual attraction, how they acted on it. He felt an urgency to ensure that his need to . . . dominate Abby was always done safely, because if he hurt her—

No. He would never hurt her again.

Not if he could help it.

Chapter 15

ABBY WOKE UP feeling a little sticky. And a lot amazing.

She lay still without opening her eyes for long minutes, trapping all the sounds and sensations inside a net of coveted recollections. Russell warmed her back, one heavy arm thrown over her hips. Of course, he snored. Like his having chest hair, snoring seemed like something she should have known. But hadn’t she always been the one to fall asleep on him? Maybe she snored and didn’t even know it. She’d have to ask him when he woke up.

Anticipation purred in her bloodstream at the idea of talking to Russell while they were both naked. Hearing what his voice sounded like upon waking.

The smell of ocean and suntan lotion filled her nose as the events of last night projected themselves on the backs of her eyelids. Each image was sharp, their outlines carved out with a box cutter. And each one had the subtitle, I love Russell. She did. She’d loved him in different ways for a long time. But acknowledging it—defining what she’d been harboring for him all along—made the feeling expand like a fleet of balloons. Big, colorful ones with the ability to carry her across the beach and ocean . . . anywhere she wanted to go.

Abby pressed her fingers against her lips, felt the smile there. Her mouth parted on an intake of breath when the sensitivity between her thighs registered. Finally, her eyes opened and immediately fell upon the light bruises circling her wrists. Why did seeing the shaded marks send a feather tickling down the center of her belly? No, she knew now. Knew the reason imagining gentle, straightforward sex had never excited her. Why she’d always felt safer with her confusing fantasies of being taken hard. Restrained. They weren’t confusing anymore. At least, they were beginning to define themselves with every experience between her and Russell.

Were his sexual preferences the reason he’d been keeping her at a distance? Abby brushed her lips over a thumb-sized bruise on her wrist. Of course, this man who spent an inordinate amount of time worrying for her safety would hate the idea of being aggressive with her. Or, hate the idea that he liked it, more accurately. Abby let out a relieved breath. Now that she knew what he’d been battling, she could play defense.

Testing her well-used muscles, Abby felt a flush infuse her neck as she encountered the sticky feeling once again. Another, larger feather licked down her middle. Russell looming above her, growling as he marked her. She couldn’t wait to do it again. Today. This morning. Now.

She lifted Russell’s arm off her body and sat up, noticing traces of blood on her inner thighs. Before they talked or touched each other again, she needed a