Page 54 of My Rose

“Because I never do.” I pulled out a blanket from the closet and made my way to where she was sitting.

“Because of your dad?” I tossed the blanket over her and then sat beside her in the other large reclining theater chair. “I’m sor—” She stopped on the word before I had a chance to stop her.My good girl was learning.“I just…I have a lot of questions.” She gathered the blanket up by her neck.

“Ask whatever you want.” I tapped on the leather armrest that divided us. “But to answer your question—some of it is him, some of it is just…this house doesn’t feel like my home. It hasn’t in a long time.” She looked me over, probably holding back on more questions. “Is it my turn to ask a question?”

Rose licked her bottom lip and nodded, still holding the blanket up. “Yeah, I guess we can do it that way. It’s only fair, right?”

“Right.” I grinned back at her as I searched for the movie she requested. “What’s on your mind right now?”

She blinked in apparent surprise. I pressed play on the remote and put it down. She was still silent but blushing now. Against the white fluffy blanket I threw over her, she looked just as red as she had in the shower.

“Do I have to answer truthfully?” she all but whispered through the blanket that now covered her lips.

“Well, now I’m even more curious.” I raised my brows and leaned over the armrest. “What’s on your mind, babe?”

“The shower.” She kept her voice low, still covering her lips. I pulled the blanket down from her face, watching as her bottom lip caught onto the fabric.

“What about the shower, Rose?”

Her gaze darted down to my lap, then back up to my face. “Everything.”

“No, I think there is something particular you’re thinking in there.” I reached over to cup her face in my hand, then dragged my thumb across her bottom lip. She leaned into my touch, fueling me further. “Tell me.”

“I just…don’t you want something in return?”

“Fuck,” I muttered as I let my eyes roll up to the ceiling. I didn’t expectthatto be her question.

“For, you know…what you did. In the shower. To me.” She lowered the blanket to her lap, her fingers playing with the fabric. She looked at the movie, then shimmied in her chair. “I want to learn what makes you feel good, too. And it’s not like we can go anywhere right now.”

“Are you saying you want me to teach you how to please me?” A slight smirk toyed at the edge of my lips.

“Yeah. I mean—” She rolled her shoulders back, not paying any attention to the opening of the movie she picked. “Yes. Yes, that’s what I want.”

Most men would jump at that, but my girl had to learn what words to say. And I had a feeling I was going to be the perfect teacher—the only one she’d ever have or need. If Rose wanted to know how to please me, it was going to start with freeing her from the strict confines of the walls she learned to put up. Telling me off was no issue for Rose, but words of praise, of desire and lust? She was about to dive headfirst into a world I knew she’d thrive so well in.

Chapter 21

Rose

"And he sets his mind to unknown arts.” ? Ovid

Icouldn’t even say the words, but I knew I wanted Briggs in a way that was making me ache. Everywhere. His gaze lingered over where I was exposing my thighs, and when I put my hand on the hem and started inching it up slowly, I saw that muscle in his jaw work.

But then he leaned over more, and instead of catching my lips with his, he reached down for the blanket and lifted it back up to my waist. My lips turned from ready for a kiss to an intense pout. When he turned away to start watching the movie, anger boiled to the surface.

“So you can put your hands on me, but when I want to touch you, I’m not allowed?” His smirk,his damn smirk, made me angrier. “You think it’s funny that I want to touch you? That I want to know what makes you…finish?” I folded my arms across my chest, not missing how his head turned to take in the way my shirt shifted beneath my arms. Or maybe it was the word I used.

“What is it you want me to do, Rose?Finishthis movie?” I pushed my tongue into my cheek, scowling back at him. “You want me tofinishasking you more questions?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t think I do.” He mimicked my pose, crossing his arms over his chest. I watched as his muscles shifted with the movement, the unobstructed view of his chest making me weaker. His brows raised as he waited for me to say words I wasn’t sure I knew how to say without sounding more ignorant than I already felt.

“Finish. You know. Like what you did to me in the shower,” I said, exasperated.

“Let’s talk about what I did to you. What you begged me for. You wanted me to touch you, yes?” I nodded. “You wanted me to push my fingers inside your perfect little cunt? To rub your clit until you came for me like the good girl I knew you’d be?” My cheeks heated, but I nodded again as I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t noticethat I started to raise the blanket to cover myself more until I felt it yanked from my body.

“What was that for?!” I shouted at him, then remembered Rhonda was somewhere in his massive house, so I repeated it in a softer tone as if she hadn’t heard me moaning Briggs’ name earlier, nearly singing it from the rooftops.

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