Page 233 of Sorrow & Strangers

He pinches my jaw. “Say it,” he growls down at me.

The anger burns inside me. “Kiss whoever you want. Fuck her if you want,” I say, and the words are acidic and lined with venom. They make my stomach churn as I choke them out.

“You know what you want to say. What do you want to ask?” he demands, digging his fingers in harder.

I snarl at him again.

He leans in closer, his lips just hovering over mine. “Ask me not to kiss anyone. Touch anyone. Fuck anyone.”

“Why?” I ask, though I still don’t fight back beneath him like I used to.

“So I can hear you say it,” he says. There is a gruffness, a danger in his voice that makes my core heat. I desperately try to hold back, but the freedom of speaking my truth is too liberating to resist, and every bit of my resistance is crumbling before him.

“Don’t . . .” I start, but the words lodge in my throat.

“Don’t what?” he whispers against my lips.

“Don’t . . . kiss anyone else.”

“I won’t,” he says, and while I’m expecting to hear that maddening smugness, there is only relief.

I should stop here, but I don’t. “Or touch anyone else.” Even the thought of it makes me murderous, the darkness roiling inside me.

He nuzzles into the crook of my neck. “I won’t.”

“Or fuck anyone,” I say.

“I won’t,” he says, and I can feel his smile against my skin. “Nor have I.”

“What?” I ask, closing my eyes.

“Since I first saw you, first inhaled the whisper of you, there has been no one else. There never will be.”

I groan. “You can’t be on top of me right now.”

He presses a kiss to my neck and then rolls off me reluctantly.

I exhale heavily. “Thanks.” Disappointment lines my voice, even though he was only following my wishes and respecting my boundaries. Why the fuck start now, Stranger? But then he pulls me on top of him, his hard body beneath me.

“Better?” he asks. Obviously, he didn’t like the distance between us either.

“A little.”

“I’m no longer on top of you,” he says with a smirk.

“No, but I can still feel every ridge of your hard, muscled body beneath me.” I try to move off him, to make this easier on both of us, but he tightens his arms around me. I am somewhat relieved by his pushback at the edge of the boundaries. It feels normal. It feels safe for some reason, and it makes me feel wanted.

“I like you jealous.”

“I like you naked,” I say, the words slipping past my lips before I can stop them, and my cheeks heat immediately.

He chuckles, the sound heavy with surprise.

“Fuck, I’m so horny.” I groan.

His moan is so low and desperate that the shockwave of desire it sends through me is almost painful. I roll off him, and this time, when he lets me, I bury my face in my pillow.

“You have to go,” I say, my voice muffled.