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The intensity of the evening, the rush of adrenaline from the pain, his wanting to save me from it, the circumstances that trapped us both—
I grabbed desperately for his face and kissed him.
He was surprised by it. I could tell in the way it took a moment for him to respond. But then respond he did.
His arms tightened around me and his mouth sealed over mine. It looked like I wasn’t the only one with some pent-up feeling and emotion from the evening.
Everything he hadn’t been able to say all evening he said in his kiss. He was sorry for my pain. He valued and cherished me.
The pain in my hip was suddenly overshadowed by the euphoria of being in his arms. I buried my hands in his hair, dragging my nails down his scalp. He groaned and shifted beneath me.
“Grace,” he moaned low, shifting me in his lap and pulling his lips away to press his forehead against mine. “I need to put the ointment on your burn. I hate the thought of it hurting.”
I shook my head and tried to kiss him again, but he just laughed. “Lay back.”
I groaned in disappointment, but I did flop back on the bed like he asked.
He went about administering the ointment, applying it with the gentlest fingers. I opened my mouth and then clenched my teeth against the pain, but then moments later the most wonderful thing happened. The burning was replaced by a cool, soothing, numb feeling over the whole area of the brand.
I let out a long breath of relief and flopped my arms over my head. “Can we kiss some more now?”
Montgomery just shook his head at me, wide-eyed. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”
I snorted. “That, I believe.”
But Montgomery wasn’t laughing. He was looking at me with that dark-eyed intensity I was coming to know well. “In fact, I think you deserve a reward for tonight.”
And then he crawled on the bed in between my legs and started massaging my thighs. My inner thighs. Upwards toward my—
But he paused before he got anywhere interesting and looked up at me. “Feel free to tell me if I’m out of line.”
I just tightly shook my head, barely daring to breathe. “Oh,” I managed in a breathy little gasp. “You’re fine.”
He didn’t wait or second-guess himself. He dove face-first into my sex, and I was soon learning that he had talents with his tongue I never even could have guessed.
And a night that started in the worst pain of my life ended in the sweetest ecstasy.
15
Montgomery
Time…
Grace had to be feeling as if the walls were closing in on her. I sure as hell was. Enough time had passed that I lost count of what day we were on in this self-imposed exile from society. Her branding was healing nicely, thanks to whatever ointment Mrs. H kept giving us to apply. My tattoo was all but healed as well, and for the most part, Grace and I tried to forget that we had a forever mark on our bodies.
Time…
I had never actually spent so much time with one woman unless you counted my mother growing up.
And yet, regardless of how many hours and days Grace and I spent together, the girl was still very much a stranger. A bizarre fact when you considered that we had fucked several times, been far more intimate than I’d ever truly been with anyone else, and we were on this crazy journey together operating as one.
We were teammates, on the same side, and yet, our side was very silent. We didn’t have a battle plan because we were going into war blind.
Time…
Long enough to start getting comfortable with each other and the situation, but also each passing day grew more tedious. I was anxious to get back to my life, my business... or what would soon be my business, and to see friends and family again.
I wanted normal not only for me, but for Grace as well. And after the branding, I worried just how much more of this Initiation both Grace and I could endure.
When Mrs. H entered the room with the boxes that would reveal what our night had in store, I could see something different in the way Mrs. H carried her weight and posture.
“You seem tired,” I said, grabbing the boxes from her. “When’s the last time you had a day off? You need some rest.”
She smiled and patted my arm. “Stop your worrying, laddie. I’ll rest when one of my boys isn’t in the manor going through what you’re going through. I owe it to your mother to be here looking after you during all this, and I wouldn’t be anywhere else. My place is here at The Oleander, and it always will be.”
For the first time since we began the Initiation, Mrs. H actually looked at Grace and gave her a light nod and a weak smile. Grace’s wide eyes revealed she also noticed and found the small act of civility surprising.
