Page 105 of Lesson In Forgiveness

She saw them just fine, she thought in confusion. He had a nice body, but those eyes were—in her opinion—his best feature. The dumbstruck moment didn’t last long, though; she cottoned on to the fact he was asking if she wanted him to maintain eye contact while he fucked her.

Did she?

What would he see other than fear? If there was revulsion for the act itself, would he think it was directed at him? He saw too much already—he plucked thoughts from her head with just a glance; what the hell would he learn if she gave him unfettered access at her most vulnerable moment?

Worrying her lip, she shook her head slowly. Remembering he liked an honorific, she said, “No, Sir.”

“All right.” He slid his hand under the pillows, retrieving a condom. As his deft fingers ripped open the square package, he lifted his chin. “If you change your mind, all you have to do is ask. Roll away onto your side, Tabby.”

“Fuck fuckity fuck, said the rabbit to the buck,” she whispered. The taste of bile rose in her throat as her mouth filled with saliva. Swallowing it down, she forced herself not to throw up and make a fool of herself. “Chin up, the buck told the rabbit, or else getting fucked is gonna be a habit.”

She trembled as the cool sheets pressed against her side. Staring at the white wall in front of her, her heart picked up speed until her pulse resembled one of the eccentric dance tunes she’d heard in an underground club in Germany.

The mattress shifted behind her, depressing under his weight. The trembling escalated until her body erupted in a full-length shudder when his chest pressed against her back, his cock to her ass. Her teeth snicked together painfully, her jaw tightening until it locked.

“Relax, little tiger.” Grit’s left arm slid beneath the pillow, raising it so her neck and head were firmly supported. His other hand caught her hair, sweeping it aside to leave her bare from jawline to shoulder, followed by several gentle kisses along the exposed skin. “We’ll go slow. This pretty pussy is tight so there’ll be some discomfort, but you tell me if there’s pain.”

That pretty pussy was an utter whorebag, she thought in dismay. It was reacting to his proximity like a mare in heat, waiting to be mounted. As his hand stroked down her side to her hip, then along her thigh to nudge it forward, her sex squeezed on emptiness.

“Remember to breathe,” he murmured, nibbling on the sensitive spot beneath her ear. He hummed softly in reassurance when she went rigid beneath the touch of his hand covering her pussy. “Breathe, little tiger. Just need to make sure you’re wet.”

Two fingertips toyed with her clit, gently rubbing in light circles. Her inner muscles clamped down on nothingness, her hips rocking subtly into the caress. She sucked in a shocked breath, not quite as he’d ordered, when those fingers parted her labia and teased her entrance, gliding through the slickness and into her.

“Grit!”

“Beautiful,” he crooned in response to her panicked cry. “This pussy is beautiful, Tabby. She needs some attention, doesn’t she? She’s been used and abused, but she’s worth so much more.” Thrusting carefully, twisting his digits inside her, he continued to assault her neck and shoulder with his mouth. “I value a woman far more than what she offers between her legs, Tabitha. As perfect as this pussy is, you are an even greater treasure. I love you, little tiger.”

Head swimming in hormones and his voice, she didn’t flinch when he removed his hand. There was only slight resistance offered as he stroked down her hip to her thigh, cupping the back and guiding her leg forward, exposing her.

Neck arching in response to his mouth sucking on the most amazing spot in the curve of her shoulder, she closed her eyes on a quiet moan, basking in the tingles of pleasure emanating from that blessed place.

The arm beneath her neck flexed, curling around her upper chest, settling just above her breasts. Warning alarms bleated like claxons in her head, screaming at her to move, to run fast and far away before calamity rained down on her.

Drugged by her own system, her body went lax, her muscles softening to languid mush. Grit’s voice in her ear was so calm, not even a hint of tension, as it whispered in her ear. The words didn’t register, but the tone wound through her brain, trying to silence her internal distress.

His knuckles skimmed her lower back, then her ass, when he gripped his cock in his fist. Her skin twitched at the touch, the accidental caress triggering a quiver that shook her to the core.

“Easy, little tiger.” Grit’s hips shifted; the arm over her chest tightened just a fraction in restraint. “You’ll feel some pressure. No pain, okay? Remember who you’re with, listen to my voice, feel my touch. It’s just me.”

Legs tensing, hips hunching, she dropped out of the relaxed state faster than a stone plummeting down a well. Like that stone hitting the water at the bottom, she smacked into panic with a force that stole her breath and set her bones shaking.

The head of his cock, wide and round, ran up and down her slit lightly, coating the latex covering in her wetness before it notched against her entrance and tested her resolve.

Fuck, she couldn’t do this. It wasn’t him—he’d done everything he could to make every sexual experience tolerable at the least, enjoyable for the most part. But the terror ran so deep inside her, it consumed all she was as though she was brittle wood in a wildfire. The scars Dominic left behind cut beyond skin and flesh and bone; they scored her psyche, her soul.

As if thinking his name summoned the monster, Tabitha recoiled from the visage of her father’s face in front of her. He leered at her from the white, white wall, his eyes glowing with the heated lust she’d associated with pain and horror since being a fucking child.

“Tabitha, stay with me. Here with me, baby.”

The voice drowned out in a chorus of strange noise she couldn’t identify. High, keening whines. Babbling whimpers and unintelligible words. All of it tumbling together into a mess of confusion and unmistakable anguish.

Dominic’s face spun and blurred, those hated blue eyes losing their hold on her.

She found herself flat on her back, pinned to the sheets by warm, heavy weight. Her gaze bounced frantically, searching for the monster, but when it finally locked in one place, she tumbled into the safety of concerned hazel eyes.

“Little tiger,” he murmured sadly. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Swamped with relief, she threw her limp arms around his neck, clinging to him in a way she’d never shown affection with anyone else. As her body erupted in shudders, she pressed her face to his skin, breathing in his scent until Dominic—dead, mutilated Dominic—was only a memory once more.

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