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When I make it into the bathroom, I watch him from the doorway. His body is lean, toned, and chiseled. I’ve never seen him naked, and the sight is beautiful, breathtaking. His tapered hips point down toward the thickness of him that hangs between his muscled thighs.
His abs tense and contract with the movements of his hands as he soaps his smooth, tanned skin. His shoulders are broad, his jaw set. He’s handsome. Beautifully so. I’m a lucky girl that a boy like him wants me, even after what I’ve been through.
It takes him a long moment to realize I’m standing here. His gaze locks on mine. He watches me with passion and affection, so much so that my breath is stolen when he turns fully toward me. His hands flat on the glass door of the shower.
He doesn’t speak. Neither do I. Tentatively, I take a step deeper into the room. The moment I reach the shower, I place my hands on his. On the glass. The heat of it warms me from the inside out.
I want to say something. To tell him, I love him. That we’ll be okay. But I can’t find the words. They’re stuck in my throat, choking me with their promise that I can’t give him just yet.
My heart thuds against my chest, my ribs aching from the attack. I lower my hands to the hemline of my top and slowly pull it up. When the material hits the floor, I push my shorts down and step out of them. I’m standing before him in a bra and panties. They’re not sexy lingerie, they’re basic cotton in a soft peach color, but I feel like a princess when his eyes hood with desire.
“Songbird,” he murmurs over the sound of the water. Nothing else matters. Not the shower nor the steam billowing from the doorway. It’s just us. Like it was always meant to be.
I shed the rest of my clothes, the underwear that hid me from him. Even though the bruises are all gone, and the cuts from the metal chains and cuffs they used on me are healed, I still have the scars on the inside. In my mind, in my soul, but the way JD is looking at me makes me feel like I’m flawless.
He pushes open the door. It’s an invite. He’s not demanding, not ordering me to get in with him. JD is allowing me to choose. And I do. When the water hits me, I can’t stop the gasp of surprise that falls from my mouth.
“You look beautiful,” he tells me. Affection searing me from those dark eyes. “I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to.” The rawness of his voice turns my stomach upside down, and it tingles all through me.
“I want to be here,” I tell him. Not meaning only in the shower, but in his life, in this apartment. He nods slowly but allows me to speak. “I am tired of being controlled by the past.” I breathe deeply and exhale as if I’m allowing the horrors to leave me. “I want to be with you, like . . .”
My cheeks heat with embarrassment, shyness taking hold of me. JD offers a hand to me, which I accept. His fingers lace with mine, and he pulls me closer. Our bodies are flush as we stare at each other. It’s as if we’re seeing the other for the first time.
Perhaps that’s it.
Maybe this is a new beginning.
Chapter Twenty-Four
JD
Her body feels like heaven. It feels like everything I ever wished and dreamed about. I’ve wanted to feel her for so long that, for a moment, I think I’m dreaming. But I’m not because her whimpers are far too real.
My hands trail over her body, over each curve and every dip. The smooth flesh under my fingertips makes my cock thicken. Autumn’s gasp when I reach her ass is music to my ears.
“You’re perfect,” I murmur. Even when she was bruised from her ordeal, she was perfect, I have never seen anything more exquisite. I hated seeing those blue and purple circles on her flesh, but it showed my girl is a survivor. And that’s what makes me want to love her more, hold her longer, and make sure she never has to go through anything like that again.
She’s been through hell and come out on the other side. The fact that she’s here, naked, inside the shower with me tells me that she’s trying. And that’s all I can ask of her. I meant what I told her, that I don’t want her to feel obligated to touch me, to allow me to touch her.
“Make me feel,” she pleads, looking up at me as the water sluices our naked bodies. Heat sizzles under my skin, desire and hunger for her taking hold of me, but I know I need to restrain myself.
