“Are you ready for me, Honey?”
Her breath stutters in her throat.Her hands are fisting in the sheets.
“W-what about c-condoms?”she asks.
Instead of irritation at being stopped, I feel something unexpected.
Pride.
She’s thinking.She’s not just surrendering blindly.
She’s protecting herself.
Good.
But I know what I want.
And what I don’t want.
Fact is, I’m not wearing a condom when I fuck her.Not now.Not ever.
I can’t bear the thought of a single thing separating us.
“I’m clean, Kelly,” I tell her evenly.“Haven’t been with anyone in two years.And I know you’re clean.”
Her brows pull together.
“How do you know?”
“Because a woman like you is responsible,” I say without hesitation.“Accountable.The second you found out that lowlife cheated, you went and got checked.”
Her eyes widen.
“It’s true,” she admits quietly.“But I didn’t need to.Mike hasn’t touched me in going on three years.”
Something ugly flashes through me.
Three years?
Three years of him withholding.
Dismissing.
Breaking her confidence piece by piece.
“I knew he was a piece of shit,” I mutter darkly.“Didn’t realize he was a stupid fuck, too.”
Anger surges—not possessive rage at her, but fury at him.
At what he made her doubt about herself.
Her lips curve slightly, but she doesn’t laugh.
And then she says something that nearly levels me.
“It’s, well, he always said I wasn’t very good at this part.I thought you should know that, J.T.”
For a second, I don’t understand.
