His hands roamed up the back of her shirt, and she longed to feel them against her skin. Feel the roughness of his calluses against the smoothness of her flesh. He would be gentle with her. He wouldn’t rush her. He hadn’t rushed her to do anything more than the kissing they’d done during the time he’d been staying with her. They hadn’t kissed every night, and her heart swelled at the sweetness of his actions toward her.
The need for more consumed her, and she ground herself against him, wanting to get even closer than she was.
Dalton pulled away, his breath rough, like hers. “Steff?”
How could her name be a weighted question, but that was what it was. There was so much he was asking simply by saying her name.
She touched his face again. “You don’t scare me, Dalton, in anything you do. You would never hurt me. Or force me.”
“I wouldn’t,” his response was quick and vehement. “You’re in charge here, Steff. The control is all yours. I’ll follow your lead. Do what you want. When you want.”
This man was more than she ever thought she’d have. Especially after what she’d been through. He didn’t know all the details of what happened to her. Her instincts, as lax as they were, were telling her that he didn’t want to know.
One day she might tell him, but not tonight.
Dalton looked at her as though she was precious, and not spoiled goods. He’d never looked at her with pity. Concern, yes, but never pity.
He’d given her the power to take what was growing between them in any direction she wanted.
Steff wasn’t sure she was ready to get totally naked with him, not yet anyway, but she wanted to feel his hands on her, and she wanted to touch him too.
“I want to touch you,” she blurted her thought out loud and then dipped her head as her cheeks flamed with embarrassment.
Dalton hooked a finger beneath her chin and lifted it so she had no option but to look at him. Affection burned in the depths of his blue eyes. “I would love for you to touch me.”
A small laugh huffed out of her. “I’m sorry for sounding so gauche.”
“I think I’ve already said you don’t need to apologize with me. You can ask me anything. I’ll need you to wiggle back a little.” Confusion hit for a second before she worked out why he was asking.
“Oh, right.” She retreated a bit, conscious of his firm thighs beneath her butt. In a fluid movement, he had his shirt off and he was on display.
Her mouth dried at the sight of his bare chest, there was a light smattering of hair, but it was the ridges that took her breath away. Reaching out, she trailed a finger down over the six pack. She’d rested her head against him many times and had felt the hardness of him beneath her cheek. Touching it, though, was completely different. His skin was warm, and the muscles jumped beneath her fingertips.
Feeling a little braver, she flattened her hands as the tips of her fingers brushed over his nipples, and they hardened at the touch.
Her eyes drifted shut as she explored his body, the loss of her sight heightened all the other senses. His inhalations seemed sharper. His fingers dug into her waist a little deeper. She expected him to want to take her shirt off, but he hadn’t made a move to do so.
She moved her hands up, and suddenly it wasn’t Dalton’s hard chest she was touching, but rough fabric as she fought off the person who’d walked into her dark prison.
No, she didn’t want this. She pushed against the man, but all he did was laugh and tell her in an accented voice that she was going to love what he had planned for her.
Steff whimpered. “No. No. No,” she whispered.
“Steff? Honey. Fuck.”
That voice wasn’t accented. The hands on her weren’t ripping her dirty underwear away. They weren’t holding her down.
“Breathe Steff. Come on, hon. Breathe. You’re safe. No one’s going to hurt you.”
She wanted to believe that voice. She really did, but she’d been lied to before. Told that they just wanted to talk. To give herfood. But everything always came with conditions, and she never got her food unless she gave them what they wanted.
This man was like all the others. He was lying to her.
“No. You’re lying!” she screamed.
“I know where you are Steff. It’s a dark place, but you’re not there. You’re with me, Dalton. In your apartment. I’m going to move you now.”
Lies.
