Unleashing Sin - A. M. Wilson Page 0,59
get looked at. I know a doctor. He came and looked at you while you were unconscious those first couple of days. He might know someone with a private office or someone willing to make a house call. Even if it’s just for some painkillers, you need to be treated.”
“I don’t want painkillers. I don’t want to be on any sort of mind-altering drug.”
A tremble rocks through her body, so I pull her closer and tuck my thigh between both of hers.
Thinking back to the cravings I’ve experienced, I understand that feeling. It enrages me that she can’t even get something to help with the pain that those motherfuckers caused because they doped her in order to cause that pain, but I keep that locked down tight and to myself.
“Okay, baby,” I murmur into the top of her hair. “Sleep then, yeah? We’ll sort it tomorrow.”
She rolls her head onto my shoulder, tucked up tight, and nods. “Will you stay?”
A nonverbal squeeze is my reply as I brush the strands of hair off her face and place a kiss on the crown of her head.
Within minutes, the tension releases from her body, and her breathing evens. It isn’t much longer until my mind quiets, and I follow her into a dreamless sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
Shelby
Something is happening to me. My insides feel hot. There’s a fire raging in my blood, licking its way from my belly to my breasts. Whenever Sin’s near, it’s like I ignite for him, and I want to be touched. Ever since the night of my pain when he held me in his bed, this feeling has lingered. This desire. This desperation.
It scares me and frees me all at once.
I’m not familiar with the sensation, and I’m positive I’ve never felt it before, but this has to be normal. Feeling something that’s normal to most of the population has to mean I’m healing.
Which means I’m moving on.
Part of moving on is accepting and embracing these new feelings. I want to explore them and take them further. I want to push them to my limits and experience them for what they are. I’m nearly certain the heat I feel in my body is nothing other than arousal. Pure, simplistic, natural arousal. My body has recognized a man, and not just any man but the strong, possessive, virile man who is Alex, and it wants more. As I think back to each caress and kiss, I crave more.
I pause while folding one of Alex’s simple black tee shirts, hugging the still-warm cotton to my chest, and let the lingering scent of him invade my headspace. I can’t put my finger on why he’s different.
In the weeks I spent with Elias while Sin was being a total jerk, he made me feel safe and protected, maybe even a little cherished. He’d held me when I had a bad dream, so it can’t be simply about physical touch. Elias was a gentle man and took great care of me. I am so grateful for his tender care, but he never made me feel much of anything. I care for him—deeply—but that care stops at platonic love.
On the other hand, Alex’s touch is fire and ice, much like his personality. It can feel like the friendliest caress and turn to a heated stroke in an instant. I find myself pulled toward him whenever he’s near, whether it be sitting on the couch beside me or across the room. The fear I first felt at his quiet, frightening demeanor has melted away into understanding. So many facets make him the man he is, and it’s easy to judge him from the outside. Knowing what I now know about his life, it’s a wonder he isn’t already in prison or, worse, dead.
I shake out the black tee still clutched in my fingers and resume folding laundry. When Alex told me he was going to run errands today, I felt swift relief. The truth is I can’t tell if he feels for me what I’m feeling for him, and I’m afraid of spending more time with him and giving myself away. Rejection? Also something I’ve never experienced, and I don’t know where I’d go to quietly lick those wounds.
Before I do something stupid, like throw myself at him and beg him to let me worship his mouth, among other things, I need to figure out if my feelings are reciprocated. He’s seemed to enjoy kissing me just as much, and the time he placed my hand