I'd braced myself for anger, or accusations. A message
from Kira or my mom wouldn't have bothered him. It had
to have been from Eric, though I hadn't told him to send
me anything.
'I have to ask you, Paige. Is that what you want?' He
gestured at the phone, but since I didn't know what the
message had been, I couldn't answer.
I refused to look now. 'You'd better leave.'
Austin shook his head. 'Answer me first. I think I deserve
an answer.'
'I don't owe you—anything.' My voice tore on the last
word and I shut my mouth tight to keep from breaking
totaly.
'Is that what you want?' he asked again, lower now.
To my horror, I saw he wasn't angry. Austin was close to
tears. I'd never seen him cry, not even when the dog he'd
had since toddlerhood had died. I'd watched him bury that
dog without a tear. But now…now, he was almost
weeping.
I had done this to him.
I had done this to him.
I didn't need to beat his ass with a belt to hurt him.
I felt like the worst kind of bitch.
'Is it what you like? Is it what you need?' He looked
helplessly at the headboard, where his hands had left no
marks. I looked, too. We didn't need scratches in the
wood to remember how he'd clutched it.
'I…think…I don't want to talk about this,' I gasped out
around tears of my own.
Austin had seen me cry plenty of times. If my tears moved
him, he didn't show it. 'Talk about it to me. I want to
know.'
He paused, moved forward. Reached for me, though I
backed away.
'Please,' he said.
I shook my head and covered my face with my hands, so I
didn't see him getting on his knees in front of me. I only felt
the thud as he hit the floor and the warmth of his hands as
he grabbed my hips. I couldn't look, not even when he
he grabbed my hips. I couldn't look, not even when he
pressed his face to my pussy and whispered my name, his
breath hot through the cotton. I didn't want to feel the wet
of tears against my skin. I wouldn't look, not even when he
inched the fabric of my nightgown into his fists and kissed
my bely, then my thighs.
'Tel me,' Austin said. 'Is this where you want me?'
A strangled sound launched itself from my throat. I tried to
take a step back, but his hands held me in place. He
kissed me again, slow and lingering. Heat and wet against
my cunt. Heat and wet against my thigh as he turned his
