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12
“Ithink that was a mistake,” muttered June. When Tristan grew tense, she folded her body over his and kissed his chest. “Because I’m pretty sure you ruined me for other men.”
Relaxing once more, he lazily chucked. “I could say the same to you.”
“I ruined you for other men too?” she teased.
He reached down to pinch her side. She yelped, retaliating by gently nipping his nipple. When he rolled over to trap her under him once more, she giggled, loving his weight on top of her. Her humor quickly died when he took her lips in a punishing kiss that had her body stirring, even after he’d given her how many toe-curling orgasms?
“Little witch. Your greedy little body took everything I have. For the first time I’ll need a minute to recover.” He flopped to his back, hooking his arm around her and pulling her into his side, and roughly cupped her backside with one large hand.
His manhandling made her want to purr. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should.”
Resting her head on his peck, she sighed and let her eyes fall closed. Her muscles were deliciously sore and his musky scent wafted through her nostrils, lulling her. She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, but she was a bit groggy when he asked, “Do you have a steady lover back on Earth?”
“Hmm? Oh. No, not currently.”
“Why not?”
“Just hard to meet someone I wanted to waste my time on. I’ve been told my standards are too high.”
“How so?”
“Well, I guess it’s because I see red flags everywhere.”
“Red flags? I don’t get your meaning.”
“Red flag. Like when someone does something that you think could lead to destructive behavior down the road. Like cheating or abuse or dysfunctionality. Things like that.”
“You can tell all that with a red flag?”
She smiled, understanding he was from a different culture. “Not a literal flag. It’s a figure of speech. Sometimes it can be like a sixth sense,”—at his look, she elaborated—“Like when something doesn’t feel right, but you can’t always put your finger on it. Other times it’s something more obvious, if you know what to look for.”
“And you know what to look for?”
“Better than most.”
“Can I get a for instance?”
She glanced up at him. “You’re not tired? Most men would pass out after the performance you gave.”
He grinned. Oh, he liked the veiled compliment. “I’m not most men.” After a beat, he added, “Besides, I like your voice.”
That was surprisingly sweet. “Well, let’s see. At the start of any relationship, everyone is trying to show their best selves, but our fundamental natures will always peek through the cracks. If a man is a cheater, you might catch him ogling a woman’s body longer than is socially acceptable. That’s a red flag to pay closer attention to his behavior. Also, he might make lewd comments to his friends when he thinks you can’t hear. If a man brings you to a bar and is on a first name basis with the regulars, you might need to consider if he’s an alcoholic.
“Or if a man is abusive…he might be quick to anger, or he might snap at you for no reason, or he might make offhanded comments to undermine your confidence. Stay with him long enough and it’s only a matter of time before he’s slapping you around and convincing you it’s your fault. I guess it’s easier for me to spot that sort of thing, though.”
“How so?”
She decided for brutal honesty here. Having forged this part of her history in her work as a counselor, she was used to talking about it. “Because I grew up with it.”
He went silent, his body humming with a new kind of tension. She could tell he was dying to ask, but wasn’t sure if he should.
“It was my father,” she admitted. “He gambled and drank, and when he came home after losing his paycheck, he’d beat on whoever made the first wrong comment. My mother, my brother, me. Spoiler alert, he was bad at gambling. I never understood it. If you keep losing, why go back week after week?” She sighed. “I guess it was an addiction thing, but it’s also idiotic.”
“Ask me and I will kill him for you.” Tristan’s tone had turned deadly, his fingers digging into her hip. It wasn’t painful, just…intense. When his words sank in, the memory of that last horrid night flashed in her mind. Blood everywhere. Her mother’s screams in her ear. The body lying motionless on the threadbare carpet in their living room….
