Page 52 of Broken: Taylor

“Yes.” Allison nodded, more interested in the man than a scar. She understood how important it was for him. Men after all were visual in nature. He could reveal his intestines hanging out and it would not diminish her attraction. Okay so that was a bit gross.

For her, what was important was the strong heart beating in his chest and the soul of the man.

He lowered the left side and shame on her, but instead of looking at the scar, her eyes shot to the trail of dusting of hair that went down from his belly button.

Finally, she dragged her gaze from that point to where the laparoscope had dug into his body. Three deep circles puckered the skin in a large triangle through jagged scarred skin.

Fresh and older scars intermingled creating something like she’d seen on burn victims. Although not attractive in the least, it wasn’t as bad as she’d imagined.

“Can I touch you?”

Taylor nodded and held his breath. “Yeah.”

With tentative fingers, she brushed over the skin. It was warm, soft and not any different than normal skin, other than the dips and ridges.”

When her hand slid over where the holes had been stitched, Taylor tensed. Allison pulled her hand back. “I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

“No.” He frowned. “It feels good actually. The itching is pretty bad.”

He turned to his right so she could get a better look and the sight made her want to cry. Where the bullets exited they’d caused a lot of damage. The surgeons had pulled the skin tight to close up the wounds, which caused puckering and deformity. A patch of sorts had been added and still the skin tugged up from his hip to the side.

“They tried to fix it, but Eric said it looks worse.”

Although he spoke in a casual tone, it was obvious by the hesitancy of each word, that he was nervous about her reaction. This time she didn’t ask permission, and touched the skin. “I’m glad it’s not as painful as it looks. I caught a glimpse of your back when you were at my place. I have to agree with Eric. Why did they go back in?”

His wide shoulders lifted and lowered. “My pain had gotten bad. The bones did not heal properly. They had to do some bone smoothing so while they were in there...” He let out a breath. “Doc said it would help with the tightness of the earlier surgery. It does feel better.”

It was not just the scarring that caused Taylor to hesitate when it came to a relationship. Allison was sure something else happened. With most of the surgery concentrated on his hip, his movements were no doubt impeded.

Walking around so to stand before him, she smiled up at him. “You know there are many ways to be intimate. Whatever is going on right now...it won’t stop me from wanting to be with you.”

“I know. It’s just that, eventually it will bother you.”

“Is it not supposed to get better? Are we talking about your hip or something else?” It occurred to her that perhaps something had gone wrong during surgery and he’d been rendered without the ability to become erect. No that wasn’t it. Just moments earlier on the couch...

His eyes grew round as he figured out where her thoughts went. “No. Yeah, I still can. Shit Allison, let’s figure this out. Show me what you mean.”

“What? Now? Here?”

“I’m being an idiot. I don’t want to lose you.” He took her hand and placed it just below the waistband of his pants. His top buttons were undone and there was an obvious bulge just below. “Show me.”

And queue the fish out of water mouth opening and closing. Not only because of being caught off guard but the sudden faster heart beat.

Pulse racing, her breathing hitched and Allison couldn’t wait to show him exactly what she’d been daydreaming of doing to him.