I cleared my throat. My voice still ended up sounding weak, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. “I like it when you’re the one doing it.” I grabbed his hand and moved it back around me.
His voice was husky as he said, “I can’t pretend I didn’t just see that.” I moved so I could roll over and look at his face. Tears shimmered in his beautiful grey eyes.
My tears were still flowing as I cupped his face in my hands. “David. That all happened a long time ago. I have tried my best to put it behind me, and for the most part I have. Occasionally, like just now, the memories escape to plague me, but I just gather them back up and lock them away again. It doesn’t define me, and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it from happening. I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to any of the other guys.”
Kait’s angry voice startled me from the door. “Princess, you can’t just hide these things from us.”
I groaned and wiped at the tears. “It’s not something I want to think about much less talk about. I worked through it on my own and it doesn’t really bother me most of the time. I only thought about it because David asked a question that triggered a memory. I want to move on, and the only way to do that is to make new memories.”
Kait stared at me. I laid my mind open for him, and for David, showing them how I had dealt with it, as well as how the guys made me feel. How they made me want to put all that behind me so I could experience physical expressions of love as it should be.
“I know I will struggle with it sometimes, but I don’t want it to affect our relationship. You all can’t be holding yourself back just because I had a lot of bad experiences.” I forced a laugh. “I am depending on you guys to show me what all the fuss is about.” My voice got quiet as I added, “I never cared about it before. You make me care.”
Kait’s face softened, but his voice was still angry as he said, “Okay. I’ll leave you be, then.” Kait came over and lightly hugged me and kissed my cheek. I could feel Kait trembling. I grabbed his arms as he went to pull away, and stared into his eyes. I could see the hurt and anger there.
“Kait. I’m fine. The guy that did it is dead. He died in an industrial accident about a year and a half after it started.”
“You’re sure?”
“Dad told me he did, so, yeah. I’m sure.”
“Okay.” I could see he was not convinced, so in my mind, I showed him what the guy looked like and gave him a name. The tension drained out of his arms, so I released him. He kissed my cheek again and left the room.
David’s eyes still shone with tears. I leaned forward and placed a light kiss on his lips. He groaned while pulling me closer to him. He deepened the kiss, lightly running his tongue over my lips, asking for entry. I opened for him, and we gently explored each other, until I desperately needed to breathe. I pulled away, and looked into David’s eyes, which were now dark with need. I could feel his body’s reaction pressing against me. He kissed my nose, which made me smile.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” David’s voice was still husky, but from the look in his eye, it was for an entirely different reason.
“Oh, I think I’m better than okay.”
His arms tightened around me, and he buried his face in my hair. “I don’t know how you do it. How can you just go on like none of that happened?”
I sighed. “I’ve had a long time to come to terms with it, David. The monster that did those things is gone and he can never bother me again.” I yawned.
David chuckled. “Come on, roll back over. My sugar needs her sleep.” I rolled away as I thought about David’s reaction. I had a feeling he wasn’t going to let this go, but the glow from the tender kiss overrode my fears. His arms tightened around me as he snuggled up against me. Just like the night before, I fell asleep quickly and if I dreamed, I didn’t remember in the morning.
When I woke up, I stretched, reaching for David as I did, but his side of the bed was empty. It was cold as well, which meant he had been out of bed for a while. I shook my head and gathered my supplies. I don’t know how they can be up and moving so early, even if it’s slowly. I headed for the bathroom and got ready for the day. Once done, I found my guys in the living room, having what looked to be a serious discussion. I bypassed them and went into the kitchen. It was too early to deal with drama.
Arms wrapped around me from behind, and Travis's foresty scent surrounded me. I leaned back against him, enjoying the feel of him against me. He kissed my neck, and that same thrill went through me. “Morning, Beautiful. How did you sleep?”
“Wonderful. How about you?” I spun in his arms so I could look into his gorgeous eyes, which were crinkled with amusement at me.
“I’m hurt. You were supposed to say, ‘not as good as when you are there’.” He pouted at me. The amusement in his eyes told me after a
