Page 198 of Brutal Knight

Hewassaying what I thought he was saying.

"Mmm," was my only response, but inside, my mind lit up like a Christmas tree. A small, somewhat sick part of me had been happy when I'd figured out that Knight was killing the men who paid to fuck me.

It had given me strength to look people in the eyes, a confidence to my step, even when others around me looked down on me for being thewhoreof the island.

Knight Cadwell, the prince of the island, cared enough for me to kill for me.

I'd gotten my worth from him then, but now...now I had to get my worth from myself.

"Room ten," he whispered once more before shifting, somehow holding me as he pulled himself upwards, carrying me to his room, which happened to only be down the hallway from my own.

We showered together, his touch soft and gentle, caring and attentive.

I was exhausted by the time we crawled into bed, and he only kissed me softly, gently, then held me in his arms as my eyes drooped, the whispered words in my mind as I fell asleep. "It's okay if you're not here when I wake."

And, as I fell asleep, I knew exactly what I was going to do when I woke.

FORTY-SIX

Tellme when you hear my heart tremble. You're the only one who can hear it.

My head against a bare chest. Nimble fingers tangled in my hair. Silk sheets wrapped around us, cocooning us in a magical world all of our own making.Tell me when you hear my silence. The words I never speak.The patter of my heart, slow and steady, then racing, incited by the gentle brush of skin against mine.

These were the memories now filling my mind.

It beats for you. Only for you.

A soft wind blew my hair into my face, but I didn't brush it away, not wanting to disrupt the moment. The warm rumble of Knight's humming voice next to me, stirring a contentment inside me that felt almost too good to be real.

We sat atop a hill, staring at soft speckles of purple flowers that dotted an endless Italian countryside.

It was a quiet place, long forgotten by the tourists, who instead sought refuge in the busier beachside hotels.

While we would nevernothave something to talk about, sometimes, silence filled the gaps more than words.

My fingers traced the edges of my collarbone--Manuel's scorpion tattoo, now only scarred skin, a remnant of my tortured past--down to the clasp of the necklace around my neck--a black rock, I think I'd called it.

It was a literal star, found in the waters off the Gulf of Mexico near Havana, and had taken months for Knight's hired geologists to find it.

Just for me.

In honor of the night he professed he’d fallen in love with me.

His stardust.

And now, there was something about the silence between us that spoke of an intimacy, deeper than the lust and childishness of our youth.

It had been a long journey.

Years of pain and suffering.

Of healing, of releasing all the anger, sadness, and betrayal of my past. Of embracing all sides of myself – both the good things, as well as my faults.

Of knowing I was worth more than I believed.

Of looking in the mirror and loving the person staring back at me.

And, three years since Knight had found me in that Costa Rican cove and claimed me as his.

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