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SHE SHOULD HAVE slept the night and the morning away. By the time Micah stripped the beautiful silk dress from her and tucked her beneath the blankets, she was exhausted from her weeping.
She was aware of him undressing, and when he slid naked into the bed, she couldn’t help but curl against him.
“My mother once told me that when a woman sheds tears, the angels bring her strength,” he whispered into the darkness as he held Risa against him. “You’re not weak, Risa. And I have never pitied you. Not even once. I have always been in awe of your courage and your tenacity to survive.”
“I’ve hidden,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Yes, you hid.” He sighed. “From yourself. From the beauty that shines from inside you and fills the gentle curves of your face. You’ve hidden from a past that no one can blame you for not wanting to remember. And you’ve hidden from yourself, Risa. But you didn’t hide from life, and you didn’t hide from the knowledge of events you wanted to forget. You’ve always handled that with grace.”
“I’m tired.” She let her eyes close. “I just want to forget for a little while, Micah.”
His hand smoothed down her back before he tucked the sheet and comforter closer to her neck.
“Sleep, love. I’ll be right here.”
She was silent for long moments, staring into the darkness.
“I didn’t want you to see those pictures,” she said then. “I wanted to forget they existed.”
She felt his arms tighten around her and realized in that moment that she had never been held when she had cried. She had never been held, period, other than the few times her grandmother had hugged her.
“They won’t exist much longer,” he promised her. “The video was destroyed, though, years before. Jordan made certain that all the videos that were confiscated were destroyed. There’s no video out there, Risa. And I promise you, there won’t be any pictures much longer.”
She nodded, her lashes drifting over her eyes.
Sleep came over her swiftly. She should have slept for hours. She slept dreamlessly at least. There were no nightmares plaguing her as they had in the past nights. She slept, warm and comfortable against Micah’s chest, and came awake as morning light filtered through the bedroom curtains.
She was warm, cuddled close against his chest, her leg thrown over one of his as he wrapped himself around her.
Protecting her.
Her hand rested against his heart, just below her cheek. The slow, steady beat soothed her, relaxed her.
She had always wondered what it would be like to have someone to awaken to every morning. It should have cut at her, knowing he wouldn’t be there any longer than it took to catch a killer, and the pain was there. But it resided with weary acceptance.
Yes, he would be gone, but she knew now what it meant to love. She might not know what it meant to be loved, but loving was almost as good.
And loving meant wanting.
She could feel her body, each nerve ending awake and pulsing for his touch. Hunger gnawed at her senses, the memory of his possession heating her until her clit became swollen, her pussy wet and aching.
“You’re awake.” Micah’s voice wasn’t in the least drowsy. It was dark and hot with need. His cock was a thick wedge of flesh pressed against her stomach, throbbing with the same heady pace as his heartbeat.
Was that what had awakened her? The knowledge that he was waiting for her, hard and ready to pleasure her?
“I broke the mirror,” she whispered, horrified that she had done such a thing. “Grandmother is going to cry. She gave me that mirror when I was a little girl.”
As she spoke, she couldn’t help but rub her fingertips against his flexing abs, to feel the strength and the power that resided there.
“We don’t need the mirror.”
The sheet shimmied over her flesh, dragged carelessly from her body. A shudder rushed through her.
She couldn’t resist his touch, not when she needed it so desperately. When the pain and humiliation, the lies and the fears, twisted in her stomach like a feverish fist.
“Ahuvati,” he whispered, the desert-dark heat of his voice stroking over her as his palm caressed her stomach to her swollen breast. “My Risa. How I hunger for you.”
He rose over her, his head tilting, his lips settling over hers in a butterfly kiss that sent waves of heat shuttling through her body.
