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“Oh ...” I say and hear the twinge of disappointment in voice.
He must hear it, too. His fingers stop on the second to last button, and he looks at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes, and he grins. “Unless of course, you’d like me to.”
“I always want you to, Graham,” I say honestly.
“Your wish is my command,” he says and starts toward me. I hold my hand up and scoot back from the edge of the bed.
“Don’t come any closer, Graham. You were going to show me something, and I want to see it. And the minute you touch me I forget my own name.”
He grins like a cat who got the cream and keeps walking until he’s standing at the edge of the bed.
“My stepfather punished me severely when he discovered I’d been reading by the lake.”
I wasn’t expecting that. My throat constricts, and tears prick the back of my eyes. We’ve never talked about this. I couldn’t find a way to bring it up, and he never did.
“I know you came that day. I don’t know what you saw before my mother hauled you off, but I know it was before he did his worst.” He purses his lips and takes a deep breath. “In that town, when someone was caught sinning, or at least sinning according to his law, they were branded.”
I cover my mouth in horror and stare up at him. “Did he do that to you?” He nods, and then, he turns around and pulls down his pants.
On his right buttock is a raised, pale scar in the shape of an S. And next to it is a tattoo in the shape of the sun, pierced by an arrow with a multitude of rays coming from the circle. I crawl to the edge of the bed and look closely at it.
“Oh Graham,” I whisper. He looks over his shoulder at me. “You okay?”
I nod, but really, I’m not. “Can I touch it?”
“I’ve been waiting for you to touch it since I got it.” My fingers tremble as I trace the scar and imagine the pain he went through. “Oh God, how could he do this?” I ask, my voice breaking.
“He thought he was punishing me. But for me, that S stood for Star,” he says, his voice not in the least bit sad. I blinked away my tears and cleared my throat.
“What about the tattoo? When did you get it? What does it mean?” I trace the outline of it.
“Now that is a different story.” He pulls his pants up, sits beside me on the bed, wraps his arm around me and hauls me into his lap. I rest my head on his chest and press a kiss to it. “I’m listening.”
“I got it on my birthday two years ago. It had been a rough month. I had just started filming the second season of my show, and I already hated it. To top it all off, I was spending my birthday without my very best friend.”
“Oh my God. Graham …”
“Shhh, listen.” He strokes my arm absently.
“Okay.”
“I missed you. I was fucking miserable, and I just wanted to feel close to you. So, I went to a tattoo parlor and had that sun put next to the S. Those arrows—it’s the same reason you have yours. I knew I’d never love anyone the way I love you. It made me feel better. My sun was next to her star. Even if it was just on my ass.” He chuckles.
I lean back to look at him, but there’s a lump in my throat, and I can’t speak. What did I do to deserve him?
“I know it was fucking weird, but it made me feel better,” he says, glancing away nervously.
“It’s not weird. It’s so beautiful. I love it. Thank you. I don’t know what to say. I’m just sorry you suffered like that.” I cup his strong jaw and press a kiss to his mouth. He kisses me back and presses me back into the mattress and then balances his weight on his forearms.
“I didn’t show you my ass to make you feel bad. I wanted you to know that you’ve always been it for me. No matter what it looked like, you are my sunshine. My world was dark while you were gone. Just like the day you fell into my life. You being here now makes everything feel like it’ll be okay. You’ve always made me feel that way. Like I was more,” he says, and my heart breaks a little.
“You shouldn’t need me to make you feel that way. Look at your life. Look at what you’ve achieved. Look at what you’ve been able to give your mother. Yourself. Me. Do you think the empire you’re building is all because you’re hot?” I ask with a raised eyebrow. “You’re smart. You work hard. You’re selfless. You love so completely.”
GRAHAM
“Hmmm, flattery will get you everywhere,” I tease her before I slide off the bed. I reach down and grab her by the waist and throw her over my shoulder.
“What are you doing?” she shrieks. I squeeze her ample ass cheeks and then swat it. “Ow, Graham,” she says but her voice is a purr now.
