Page 110 of Bitter Heat

The nurse patted her back. “It’s gonna be okay.”

She reached for her father to touch him one last time. Her fingers landed on warm, muscled flesh. She opened her eyes and stared up at Roth.

He stroked her wet cheek. “Wake up, princess.”

She stared at him as her heart broke all over again. “He never heard the end of the story,” she said raggedly.

“It’s okay, Jasmine.”

She shook her head as she gulped down tears.

“I miss him so much. I don’t have anyone,” she whispered forlornly.

“You have me,” he murmured as he brushed kisses over her face.

“I never had you.”

His kissed the corner of her mouth. She gripped his hair and held him still as she kissed him, pouring her sorrow into him. He let her set the pace as she gorged on him. When she pushed against his shoulders, he tipped on his side. She shoved him onto his back. There was no need to undress him since he was naked. She closed her mouth around his penis. He hissed, and his limbs jerked.

“Jasmine.”

She ignored him as she worked him the way she should have done in the shower. He would have fucked her into a dreamless sleep, and she wouldn’t have relived that memory. She didn’t want to think, didn’t want to dwell on the pain. When he was ready for her, she yanked off her pants and crawled up his body until she was straddling his face. She didn’t need to tell him what to do. He ate her as she yanked off her top, popping off buttons in her haste to get it off her. She grabbed the headboard as she rode him. When she needed cock, she slid down his body and slipped him inside her.

He bared his teeth as she moved, eyes glittering as he let her use him. The sound of her low moans filled the room as she reached for ecstasy. A hand wrapped in her hair and yanked her down. His mouth closed over hers. The kiss was carnal and disrupted her rhythm. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t allow it. A heavy hand flattened her over him as he began to thrust. She thought she was in control because she was on top, but it was just an illusion he allowed her to believe. He surged beneath her, slamming into her with eye-rolling force. His arms banded around her waist, keeping her in place.

“Roth,” she panted.

“You with me?” he asked roughly.

“I’m always with you, even when I don’t want to be,” she said as she stared at his face, half of which was cast in darkness.

“This is where you belong.”

He whispered filthy things in her ear. It didn’t take long for either of them. He roared loud enough to make her ears ring when he climaxed. When she collapsed on top of him, he patted her ass.

“You have me,” he declared.

When she didn’t answer, he clutched her ass hard enough to make her moan.

“You hear me?”

He sounded like a pissed-off drill sergeant instead of a man comforting his distraught lover.

“Yes,” she murmured as she listened to his rapid heartbeat.

“Say it,” he ordered.

“I have you.”

He swept his hand up her spine and clasped the back of her neck. “You always did.”

Chapter 19

She woke with a weight on her chest. Literally. Roth slept facedown with her partially buried beneath him. The remnants of yesterday’s grief hung over her head along with a feeling of impending doom. She felt like Meredith Grey in thatGrey’s Anatomyepisode where she doesn’t want to go to work.“I need a reason to go on, I need some hope. And in the absence of hope, I need to stay in bed and feel like I might die today.”That was how she felt. Of course, unlike Meredith, when she went into work (the kitchen), she wouldn’t be in danger of being blown up.

But she couldn’t stay in bed and block out the world. She had shit to write. She examined what she could see of Roth’s face. Even in slumber, he looked angry. She tried to think back to when they were married. He had never been one to snuggle. If she remembered correctly, he made it clear that he liked his space and had always been quick to disengage after sex. So what was with this spooning shit?

He didn’t stir when she slipped out from under him. She showered and patted on cream for her swollen eyes before she dressed. She brewed fresh coffee and leaned against the counter as she watched the dark drops trickle into the pot. Despite the bucket of tears she shed yesterday, she still didn’t feel right. The midnight fuck and Roth’s attempts to comfort her weren’t a magic elixir that banished the melancholy. The pain was going to linger, and she was going to have to deal with that.

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