Page 23 of Justice for Daesha

“Then stay right there. I’ll be right back.” Amos ran to the bedroom and rummaged around in a drawer, then found what he was looking for and ran back. “Close your eyes. I’ve got to put this on you.”

She looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “A blindfold? I don’t think so.”

“I thought you trusted me.”

“I do, but… Okay. Go ahead.” Amos tied it behind her head. “Why do I need to be blindfolded?”

“Because… I’ll explain in a minute. Come on. Wrap your arm around my neck. Gotcha.” He lifted her, and he was surprised at how light she seemed. Her weight felt perfect in his arms, but he wasn’t really surprised. Everything about her was perfect.

Striding into the bedroom, he placed her gently on the bed. “Lie back. Head on the pillow. And clasp your hands above your head.” When she pulled her arms up and wove her fingers together, he smiled. “Yeah. Just like that. Keep them there. And don’t be scared. I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to. If I cross a line, you tell me. Okay?” She nodded. “Okay. I don’t want you to think, babe. Just feel. Concentrate on the sensation. Wait?hang on.” He reached over to the nightstand, turned on his Bluetooth speaker, and set his phone to ambient music. “There. That’s better. Okay. Here we go.”

Amos kissed her forehead and stroked her hair, then stroked down her face. When his fingers reached her chin, he kissed her, not a deep kiss, but a sweet one. He traced her lips with one finger and ran it down her chin, down her neck, and between her breasts but on top of her shirt. Using both hands, he brushed his fingers around and around her breasts, but never touched her nipples. Then he dragged them downward and brushed them back and forth across her belly, listening to her gasp. As he swept them down the outsides of her hips, he kissed her just above her navel and listened to her gasp again. Using the index and middle finger of each hand, he moved from the outsides of her hips to stroke down her groin and the insides of her thighs, and she squirmed and let out a little squeak, but he kept going. “How does that feel?” he asked.

“Hot.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh-huh.”

A little rumble came from his chest, almost a growl, and he felt powerful and masculine. It occurred to him that he was making love to a woman without using sex, and that made him feel even more powerful. He stroked down the top of her right leg to her knee, then wrapped his hands gently around her upper thigh and stroked all the way down to her ankle. When he got there, he pressed a palm to the sole of her foot and applied gentle pressure, stroking the tops of her toes with the other hand. He knew she thought he was through.

He was not.

When he moved his hands away from her foot, he traced a finger down the top of her other leg to her stump. Then he wrapped his hands around that thigh and stroked downward until he reached the terminus of that limb.

His hands were warm and soft when he stroked her scar, and he felt her tense up at first. He’d expected that. Then he did the one thing he knew she wouldn’t expect.

Leaning down, he lifted her leg and kissed her scar over and over, traced it with his tongue, and then cupped both hands over it and held it, his palms pressed against the end. Still holding it, he whispered up to her, “You’re beautiful, Daesha, every part of you.”

She wailed, and Amos let her. It was the sound of a broken heart, years of loneliness, and too much time to think about all the horrible things that had happened. He just sat there and held her leg, letting her release all that aching and burning inside. When she began to quiet just a little, he released it and moved up to lie beside her, then took her in his arms.

Daesha tucked her head under his chin and pressed herself against him. She was still crying, but it was a quiet thing, almost like she was washing away anything left over from her sorrow. Amos just wanted to hold her all night. All he could think about was the bird in his arms, the one with the broken wing, the one he wanted to see fly again. It would be his greatest accomplishment, teaching her to love who she was in all her perfection and imperfection. He didn’t hesitate when he asked her, “Now, do you feel loved and cherished.”

“Uh-huh,” she mumbled against his neck.

“That’s because you are.” The little kiss he placed on the crown of her head was more of a promise.

She reached up and pulled the blindfold off, then gazed into his eyes with her green watercolor ones. “Thank you. Nobody’s ever treated me this way.”

“This is what you’ll have when you’re with me. I’d like to worship you, but you’d have to acknowledge that you were a queen first.”

“I’m no queen.”

“You know, I don’t think you are. You know what you are?” She shook her head. “You’re a warrior princess. You’ve slayed all the dragons that have come for you, and you’ve lived to tell. That’s quite an accomplishment, warrior princess.” She giggled. “Still want me to come to your house?”

“Oh, I want you to come to my house even more now,” she said and kissed his chin.

“Then I guess we’d better get going. You’re going to have to get to bed soon, and I want to be there with you.”

“I want you there with me. Who are you, AmosFletcher, and where did you come from? Where have you been until now?”

“I think,” he said and kissed the tip of her nose, “I was looking for you.”

Chapter 4

They pulledup in her drive and the garage door opened. When she pulled her little car in, he could see her through the back windshield, motioning for him to pull his in too, so he parked it beside hers and she hit the button to close the door. By the time he got out of his Jeep, she already had her keys out and had opened the door from the garage to the house.

She was disarming the alarm system when he stepped inside and closed the door. “Want something to drink?” she asked as she opened the refrigerator door.

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