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Her eyes searched mine for a long moment before she dropped her gaze. “You kept yourself from me.” Hearing the pain in her voice gutted me.
“Which will never happen again,” I vowed, combing my fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp. With a sigh, she leaned into my touch, her eyes drifting closed. “I can’t be without you anymore, wildfire. I regret even trying to keep distance between us.”
“You hurt me,” she whispered, pressing her forehead into my throat. “I missed you. Every day. There were nights I didn’t want to go to sleep because I knew that I’d wake up alone and aching without you.”
Swallowing hard to clear the sudden lump from my throat, I tried to rein in my anger at myself, along with the fear that I would lose her if I wasn’t careful. “I’m sorry, zhizn moya. So very sorry. Hurting you is the last thing I want to do. From the moment I first saw you, all I’ve wanted is to protect and love you.”
Abi stayed quiet for so long, my heart sank. Tugging her hair to pull her head back, I found her eyes unfocused, deep in thought. “Tell me what you’re thinking, my sweet girl.”
Her eyes met mine for a few moments, but I couldn’t read what she was thinking before she blinked and shook her head. “I should be scared of you. Of all of this. You stalked me—and not just a little. There are true crime documentaries that start out just like this. ‘The naive college freshman went missing after crushing too hard on her much older, mysterious, but indecently hot professor.’”
“Don’t be afraid of me,” I choked out, desperation clawing inside my mind, shouting demands that I lock her away before she could run—leave me.
I couldn’t survive that. I’d die without her.
“Please, zhizn moya.”
“That’s the thing, though. I’m not afraid of you.” Almost shyly, she kissed my chin, muting the noise in my head for a moment. Precious. She was so damned precious to me. “My mind says I should get as far away from you as possible. But my heart refuses to listen. Hayat and I have always been more of the ‘follow your heart’ kind of people.”
Grasping the back of her neck, I slammed my mouth down on hers in relief. She curled her fingers around the back of my neck, kissing me back without hesitation. When I lifted my head, her lips were swollen, her baby blues dazed. I was seconds away from flipping her onto her back and fucking her until we were both seeing stars.
Looking down, I saw the smear of blood on her inner thighs and stood with her in my arms. With a squeal, she held on to my shoulders. “What are you doing?” she laughed.
“As much as I like the sight of you covered in my come, seeing blood on you makes the noise in my head too loud to concentrate.”
Walking into the bathroom, I carried her over to the toilet and carefully sat her down before opening the shower stall. Every room was compact, with only the bare necessities. The bathroom was barely big enough for me to turn around comfortably, but it was all I’d needed. I was able to hold her hand as I turned the knob to let the water warm up.
Shutting the glass door to trap the heat, I knelt down and helped her pull off her shirt and bra. When her tits spilled free, I was helpless to keep my hands to myself. Cupping each globe in my hands, I buried my face between them.
“Vaughn,” she whimpered when I sucked on a nipple, steadily adding more and more pressure until she was clutching my head to her.
Breathing hard, I forced myself to pull away and straightened. She licked her lips as she watched me check the water temperature. Taking her hand, I tugged her to her feet and into the shower with me.
She shyly trailed her fingers up my stomach, tracing my abs until she reached a scar on my right side. A knife wound from when I was twelve. It had sliced through me like butter, a skilled hand driving it between two ribs and puncturing my lung. I’d walked home that night coughing up blood, but I’d survived the test Daria had set up for me.
Concern darkened Abi’s eyes when she lifted them to mine. “How—”
I stopped her question with a thumb pressed to her bottom lip. “A story for another time, wildfire. Come here. Let me love you.”
She swallowed hard, her gaze going back to the scar and then finding the one on my left shoulder. A bullet from a thug who had been aiming for my heart. I’d been thirteen. He’d missed by several inches. I had a bigger scar on my back from the bullet’s exit.
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back. Stepping into me, she kissed the old scar. A ragged breath left my lungs, a burning in my chest that had nothing to do with the remembered pain of being shot.
Combing my fingers through her hair, I cupped the back of her head and guided her beneath the spray. She allowed me the privilege of washing her hair, of tending to her needs, showing her the gentle care I’d been craving to give her.
After rinsing the shampoo from her hair, I worked conditioner through the long tresses. It was the same brand I’d seen in her private bathroom at the dorm, but she didn’t question it as the fragrant floral scent filled the air. Keeping her eyes closed, she held on to my waist while I washed her body.
“You’re very good at this,” she murmured. “Have you…had a lot of practice?”
“I’ve never done this before.”
Her brows pulled up. “You never showered with a woman, or never washed her?”
Touching my lips to the fading mark on her shoulder, I smiled against her skin. “Never anything with a woman. Until you.”
“Oh…” she whispered. I could see she had more questions she wanted to ask me, but the loud trill of one of my alarms coming from my phone in the bedroom startled her.
Recognizing it as the notification for when someone was trying to hack my system, I kissed her and stepped back. “Let me check on that and make you something to eat while you finish up.”
