Page 41 of Summer Ride

“Please, Carter. I need… I need you inside me.”

With one quick motion, he embedded himself deep inside her.

For a split second, she was thankful that their relationship had moved beyond the need for barriers years ago. They’d both gone in together and had been tested when she’d signed up for birth control. After her history, she’d been thankful for the clean bill of health.

He hadn’t been her first… pleasurable experience after being free. But Carter had without a doubt been the best. And the longest relationship that she’d had.

The feeling of his skin on hers was so much greater than anything she’d felt with anyone before.

He was… well, everything.

Chapter Twelve

When they finally returned downstairs, Kara put her mother’s letter back in the envelope with the cashier’s check, which neither of them had looked at yet.

Then she tossed them both into the junk drawer by the back door.

While he cooked, she asked him questions about his day, and he filled her in on all the animals she’d helped rescue.

They ate dinner on the sofa as they watched one of their favorite shows. He wasn’t surprised when she fell asleep against his chest halfway through the first episode.

He carried her upstairs for the second time that night and crawled into bed with her. He fell into a deep sleep.

He woke to the sounds of Kara’s screams.

Her body was still wrapped around his, but she was drenched in sweat and her muscles were so tense, she was stiff like a board.

“Hey.” He gently nudged her, pulling her closer to his chest. Instead of relaxing or waking up, she jerked and screamed louder. “Kara!” he practically shouted, this time succeeding in waking her.

He flipped on the low light and sat up as she lay there, staring at the ceiling.

“Are you okay?” he asked after a moment.

He knew better than to touch her when she had a dream like this. She didn’t need the contact. Didn’t want it. She nodded slowly. “Need some water?” he asked. She blinked a few times then nodded again.

He retrieved a glass of water and sat on the edge of the bed as she drank the entire thing down. She’d sat up slowly and leaned against the headboard, still staring into space like a zombie. Her skin was pale, her eyes wide open and unblinking, her hair a tangled mess. Honestly, she should have looked bad, but she didn’t. He supposed it was his love and worry for her that blinded him to everything.

She looked smaller and more scared than she’d ever looked before.

“It was a bad one this time,” he said softly. “Your brother’s visit brought it on?”

She shrugged and set the empty glass down on her nightstand.

“It was… from after I had been found.” She took her hand in his. “When they rejected me. I… had forgotten some details until now.”

He knew better than to probe further. When she was ready, she’d tell him what she wanted to. Now he sat back and waited, wanting to hold her but keeping his distance.

“Somewhere in my mind, I’d grouped my mother with my father and my brother. For years I assumed she’d turned me away just as viciously as they had.”

She grew quiet.

“I heard an earful from your brother about how we were living in sin and going to hell while we waited for you to get home,” he told her. “After he sucker punched me in the grocery store, he followed me around as I bought our dinner. Then he practically begged me to let him see you. He was only here about two minutes before you walked in the door, but in that short time, I was so ready to kick the man to the curb.”

She sighed and seemed to relax. “Yeah, I did mention that my family was extremely religious?” She closed her eyes. “I heard it all after I was… found. At first, they didn’t come to the hospital where I had been recovering for a few nights. But then I had a court date, and they were required to be there, as my legal guardians. We met in a small, overheated room off the courtroom.” She closed her eyes. “My father spent more than an hour trying to convince me that I’d taken off on my own. That somehow, I’d known Axel from before.” She blinked and then she looked at him. “I had no clue my parents had hired him to redo our floors. I don’t even remember that.” She closed her eyes. “Then I heard it all again, how I was a sinner, by my brother when I was released from juvie.”

“They didn’t try to help you?” he asked, wanting to know more details. She’d been vague with him before. It had taken him a year with her to realize that she didn’t do well when pressured for details. So he’d been patient. Even now, he sat and waited as she determined how much she wanted to tell him and found the words.

A part of him struggled with the knowledge that she didn’t trust him with all of the story. But he’d had enough conversations with other people who had gone through abuse in their past and understood that it wasn’t about him. This was about her. What she wanted to admit or open up to him about didn’t reflect on their relationship at all. It had nothing to do with how she felt about him; it was about her feelings.