Butterflies attack my chest, and I reach out, cupping his nape and pulling his face toward mine for a kiss. “Thank you,” I murmur against his lips.
“Don’t thank me yet. I said I’ll consider it, but not in our home. This is where I want you to feel safe, and if it doesn’t work, I don’t want you to associate it with what you went through. I need to research it myself first and make sure it’s the right decision. And if it is, then I’ll figure out the specifics … when and where.”
“Okay, I understand.” Just the fact that he’s considering it means the world to me.
“Now, tell me what happened. Every detail you can handle.”
While I relay the second-worst night of my life, Kane holds me tightly and listens to everything I say. Without telling him who raped me—because I’m not ready to admit that it was his flesh and blood—I give him all the details I can recall.
“I was studying for my accounting exam when he broke into my apartment and cornered me on my bed. He yelled at me, calling me a slut and a tease, as I fought back the best I could. He pinned me down and then raped me as I cried and begged him to stop. And once he was done with me, he spit in my face and told me I’d gotten what I deserved.”
When I’m done, Kane runs his knuckles down my cheek, wiping the tears I didn’t know had fallen, and then lifts the back of my head, bringing my mouth up to his for a sweet kiss.
“Thank you for telling me. For trusting me with your horrid past.”
His sweet words are like a balm to my soul.
“I want you,” I whisper against his mouth, wanting to replace the raw memories with ones filled with Kane.
It’s been a week since I’ve felt Kane between my legs. After I was attacked in the cargo container, he refused to do anything more than hold me.
“Not now, baby.” He shakes his head. “Not after what you just shared with me.”
“Kane, please,” I beg, shifting so I’m straddling his thighs. “I can’t help what happened to me, but this is my life, and I want to be with my husband. Don’t turn me away, please.”
“Fuck, Bri,” he groans, “when you say shit like that, you know I can’t say no.”
I pull my nightie over my head, exposing my bare breasts, and Kane’s eyes light up with need.
“Then don’t say no.”
I reach between us and pull his hard shaft out of its confines.
Then, without any foreplay, I push my panties to the side and guide him inside me, moaning as he fills me perfectly.
His hands palm my breasts, his thumbs and forefingers pinching and pulling my pebbled nipples. And as I ride my husband, I think about what he said about his sperm being so strong that it breaks through the barrier of my birth control.
And for the first time, a part of me wishes that would happen.
Because the thought of having Kane’s baby doesn’t seem so bad anymore.
“I’m soglad we’re doing Sunday brunch,” Mom says, giving me a two-cheek kiss, when we walk into Dominick and Peyton’s house. “Your brother told me what happened with those assholes at the port. How are you doing?” she asks softly.
“I’m okay,” I tell her honestly. “Kane has been amazing.”
Nobody knows about my nightmares, including my mom. I don’t know if it’s because I feel like it’s a sign of weakness to let what Anthony and Andrey did get to me, but I’ve never told anyone … until Kane.
“Good. He seems like a decent man,” she says. “I was thinking since Walter and I are home for a little while, you should show me this Pilates studio you love so much that you bought it.”
“Mom, you’re going to do Pilates?” I laugh.
“All this traveling has me putting on a few pounds. And nobody can deny how gorgeous and fit your body is.” She waggles her brows.
“I agree.” Kane comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me, leaning over and kissing the sensitive area below my ear. “My wife has a banging body. I’ve asked her for a private session several times, but she’s yet to give it to me.”
“Oh my God. Stop!” I playfully slap his shoulder.
“We should all do it,” Dani says, joining us with her precious daughter in her arms. “I doubt Pilates will turn this body”—she waves down her front—“into that”—she nods toward my body—“but it can’t hurt, right?”
