Page 24 of Declan

Over the months, I’d had Autumn in a variety of ways, none of them gentle. Never soft. My eyes went from watching my hands to her lips. Beautiful, plump lips that looked delicious, yet I’d never tasted them. I’d kissed, sucked, licked every other part of her body, but never her mouth.

Impersonal.

That had been us.

That would no longer be the case.

“Baby?”

“Huh?”

“Look at me, Autumn.”

“I can’t.”

She kept her eyes averted but hadn’t pulled away.

“Baby, I need your eyes,” I pleaded.

I hadn’t realized my mistake until her glossy green eyes came to mine. That’s when reality crashed over me. Aching need turned into hazardous necessity. It was wrong to want her as badly as I did. Wrong to want to soothe her pain. My heart slammed into my ribs and when I heard Autumn suck in oxygen, I knew, fucking knew with certainty, she was feeling the same thing.

“I’m gonna kiss you,” I warned. She shook her head and panic filled her eyes. “Yeah, honey, nice and slow.”

“Declan.”

Fucking hell. My name falling from her lips in a heavy sigh. Beautiful.

I’d heard her moan my name, scream it, chant it. But never had she breathed out my name.

Christ. Exquisite.

“I don’t…I never…I can’t.”

“Can’t what, Autumn?”

“Kiss,” she whispered.

Between the sound of the water sluicing over us and the buzzing in my ears, I must’ve heard her wrong.

“I don’t understand.”

I slowly pulled her closer to me, ignoring the fact that she was naked and how easy it would be for me to change our positions so her back was against the shower wall. It wouldn’t take but a few minutes for me to make her body catch fire and sink balls deep. I knew from experience it would be rough, hot, and fantastic. She was a walking, talking fantasy come to life.

All of her gorgeous.

But right then, I wasn’t going to take us there. We’d had that—anger-fueled fucking that left us both empty after the deed was done. Momentary pleasure we’d used to relieve the pain.

We were going to try something new—something that would mend rather than degrade.

“I’ve never kissed a man.”

My chest swelled and the steam billowing around us filled my lungs in a single deep inhale. How was that possible? She’d been held captive. Violated in the worst ways. Fucking Christ. I tamped down that line of thinking—I couldn’t change the past. I couldn’t erase what had been done or make her forget, but I could give her something she’d never had. Something good and gentle.

Fuck, did I even remember how? I’d only had clean and soft once in my life before it was taken.

For Autumn, I’d try.

For Autumn, I’d walk through fire and burn until she found a slice of peace.