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She centered me.
By willingly giving herself to me, she brought me back.
Steadier than I was, I shift my weight off Val, slipping free from her heat and dropping onto my back beside her with a groan.
“Are you okay?” Val pushes up onto her elbows to look at me.
I know she’s asking about more than my pounding heart.
“Yeah, Angel.” I reach out and drag her up and over me, her bare-naked body against mine.
“Dom!”
She tries to roll off, but I hold her in place.
Her struggle is short lived before she relaxes against me, letting her legs part, dropping her knees on either side of my thighs.
“I’m a mess,” she mumbles against my neck.
I pat her on the ass, knowing she’s talking about the stickiness between her thighs. “Yeah, but you’re my mess.”
She shakes her head, and I imagine her rolling her eyes at me.
“Thank you,” I tell her, patting her ass once more.
“You’re welcome.” Her fingertip traces over the letters of her name across my neck. “For what?”
I wrap my arms around her, not wanting her to get cold as the air settles around us.
I close my eyes as I answer her. “For just being you.”
Her fingers still against my skin.
I stroke a palm up her spine. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“Haven’t forgotten what?” she asks me.
“That I don’t deserve your affection.” I flatten my hands against her back, wanting to touch as much of her as possible. “But I appreciate you giving it to me all the same.”
Her back expands with a big breath, and I expect her to push away, but she doesn’t. “What you did was shitty. But it’s hardly the worst thing that’s happened to me.”
I clench my jaw and hold her a little tighter.
I don’t like being compared to all the horrible things from her past, even if I deserve it. And I hate that me drugging her and tricking her into marriage isn’t the worst thing she’s been through.
Val surprises me when she continues. “Doing something shitty doesn’t mean you don’t deserve affection, Dominic.”
Too stunned to say anything, I lie still while her finger starts to trace theVof Valentine again.
“I’ve always wanted a tattoo,” Valentine admits quietly.
I open my eyes and look down at the top of her head. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She traces the next letter. “I told myself a hundred times that I’d do it. But I always backed out before I could even make the appointment.”
“Why’s that?”
Her fingertip goes back to theV. “I was afraid of the pain.”
