AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, you are.” He should have resisted. Instead, he lifted both hands and cupped her smooth jawline with his palms.
She glanced at his biceps, then met his gaze. Her pulse raced like mad in her throat.
“You don’t have to hug me if you don’t want to. You could slug me in the gut right now. Do some fabulous damage.” He wanted to kiss her, not just hug her. She’d be smart to hit him.
She shook her head. “I don’t want to hurt you, and with abs like that, I might break my hand.”
Brad smiled. He needed to retreat. He had hurt her; he knew he had. She’d had the hugest crush on him when they were young, and he’d loved her like a favorite younger sidekick, always there, fun and cute. He had finally seen her for the beautiful woman she was on that fateful night. He’d clung to her, kissed her, knew she was the perfect match for him, and then he had disappeared rather than face her, Levi, and his own failings.
Brad released her and stepped back. She came with him, wrapping her arms around his back and moving in to hug him tightly.
As her hands ran along his flesh, she jumped and yelped, “Brad!”
“No, don’t,” he begged as she pulled away and tried to come around behind him. He held on to both of her hands, tugged her in tight to his chest, and clasped her there, releasing her hands and holding her tightly with his arms around her back.
“You’re scarred. Horribly,” she whispered, staring up at him, her teal eyes full of compassion and concern. She was quite a bit shorter than him without her heels on. She looked vulnerable, beautiful, innocent, perfect truly.
“It’s all right,” he reassured her, remembering too late why he should’ve gone and gotten a shirt. Instead, he’d stupidly teased her to hug him.
“It’s not all right. It’s awful. Who did that to you?”
“I was captured by the wrong side a time or two.”
“And theywhippedyou?” she choked out. “That’s what those scars are?” Tears crested her lids and rolled down her silken cheeks.
“Ah, Ari. Angel Ari. Please, don’t cry. It was years ago, and my people came for me. I lived.” It was better than he could say for a lot of his friends. The whippings had killed several of his closest buddies, heroic and unselfish men who had only wanted to protect their wives, children, and homes.
In this beautiful, magical castle and close to Arianna, it felt like another world. He missed those people, but the constant battle had drained him emotionally and physically. Spiritually, he was stronger than ever. Giving everything for others had brought him that gift.
“I’m so sorry.” She leaned into him, her hands and arms cradled between them. “So sorry.”
He held her, savoring the experience, knowing he didn’t deserve it, wondering if he’d ever get the chance again. He hadn’t felt anything this incredible in the eight years apart from her.
Arianna flattened her palms on the bare skin of chest, and his pulse raced. His skin seemed to tingle. He wanted her to touch him like that every day for the rest of his life.
This was not a good idea.
Glancing up at him, her tears had dried but her eyes were still bright. “Are you embarrassed by your scars?”
“No.” He wasn’t embarrassed, but he didn’t flaunt them either. They were sacred to him. His valiant friends had died next to him from the same wounds.
“Can I touch them?”
She was fearless. Always had been.
Brad didn’t know what to say. He simply nodded.
Arianna held his gaze as she slid her palms down his sides and around to his back. His body reacted far too strongly to her touch. He swallowed hard and forced himself not to move his own hands from the middle of her back, or capture her lips in a kiss. If he did either, he’d be lost.
Lost to her. It sounded incredible.
She ran her fingers and palms across the ridged scars that ran up and down his back. He knew scar tissue didn’t have much sensation, but the skin next to it certainly did.
Brad begged heaven for help and tightened his muscles to stay in control. He couldn’t kiss her and see if it was every bit as incredible as his memory of their one kiss eight years ago.
He couldn’t. Not until she knew the truth. And he didn’t know when he’d be brave enough to let it all out.
Had he leaned closer? Had she?
