“I got thirsty. I got up to run to the creek and nearly fell down the stairs in the dark. I thought I was still the wolf.”
“No more injuries,” she uttered, tracing his deep scar on his face.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand from him, then looked away.
“Hey, what was that?” she asked, confused.
He inhaled deeply and shook his head, staring at the stairs. “I don’t like it.”
“When I touch you?”
“No, I don’t like the scar. I don’t like seeing it in the mirror.” He winced and closed his eyes.
“Flashbacks?” she guessed.
“I guess.”
“What’s it like?”
“Seeing the barrel of the gun and the sound.” He squeezed his eyes tighter closed. “The sound of it hitting.”
She could see the gooseflesh lifting the fine hairs on his arms in the light of Earline’s cage.
“That’ll go away in time,” she said low.
“How do you know?” he asked.
“Because I know,” she whispered, straddling his lap. “I believe.”
He sat up and slid the hem of the oversized T-shirt up her thighs, gripped her legs there and asked her a question that drew her heart into her throat. “How can you stand to look at it?”
Lyric pushed the shaggy hair out of his face. He needed a haircut and a shave, but truth be told, she liked him looking scruffy and manly. Gently, she touched his scar. He flinched away again, but she cupped his cheek and brought him back. “Let me fall in love with it,” she whispered.
His eyes were so raw as he lifted his gaze to hers. He nodded.
Leaning forward, Lyric pressed her lips gently on the start of the scar, near his hairline. She rolled her hips against his and kissed down half an inch lower. Slow and steady, gently, she kissed down the length of his scar, moving against him as she did until he was gripping her hips and rocking with her.
Just the feeling of his erection against her was enough to make her wet for him.
“Can you listen to the truth in my voice?” she asked softly.
“Yes.” There was a grit and growl to his tone now.
“I love everything about you. This?” she asked, tracing the scar. “This means you are with me. You are here. You are breathing. You are alive. This means someday, me and you might get a few more hamsters. Maybe go on a hundred dates or so. It means we get to take showers together, and decorate this place together, if you want to. It means someday, if you want, maybe we can have a couple of little babies running around here. This,” she whispered emotionally, “means you are still with me. It means you healed. It is one of my favorite things about you.”
“Yeah?” He tilted his chin back higher. “What’s your all-time favorite thing about me?”
“Your dick,” she joked without missing a beat.
“Atta girl,” he said through a chuckle and gripped her hips, dragging her against him again. This time he slid into her, and she gasped at how good the stretch felt.
He eased back and then pushed deeper into her. Rolling her eyes closed, Lyric draped her arms around his neck and pressed against him.
“Mmm, I need to feel your skin,” he murmured against her throat, then laid a kiss there.
She smiled at the ceiling and then peeled the shirt she’d borrowed from him over her head. His arms went around her back and he pulled her tight against his strong chest, and God he felt good against her.
Lyric’s sensitive nipples tingled where her tits pressed against his chest, and her entire body buzzed as he thrusted into her.
