Page 52 of Monster

There was a slight pause on his end. I was almost tempted to open my eyes and read his face. Not that it would tell me much about what the man was thinking.

“Emmy.”

My skin tingled at the sound of my name in his voice. I had never reacted so strongly to my own name.

“Emmy,” he said, and I felt him shift closer to me. The heat of his body radiated toward me, making me uncomfortably warm underneath the covers. My cheeks flushed, and I was sure he could tell.

My eyes sprang open when I felt a callused finger run up and down my cheek.

I looked up into mesmerizing blue eyes.

The color reminded me of the ocean. Of hope and freedom and beauty.

It reminded me of everything he took from me.

I turned away from him, only for my eyes to come upon an expanse of bare skin.

Fuck.

I sucked in a sharp breath, my eyes tracking down all the tattoo colors, from the floral design that decorated his right bicep down to his elbow, to the kneeling angel on his right pec. My eyes took in the angel, wondering if it was the trick of the light or if that angel really look as tortured as I was making her out to be.

I swallowed and settled my gaze on the other ones, just as beautiful, from the realistic feather on the side of his left forearm to a broken old-fashioned pocket watch on the opposite side.

My lips felt dry.

I had always been fascinated with men’s forearms, and Dominic had nice ones. Veiny and tan, and I was hot. Too hot.

The man was built like a tank. A huge, muscular tank, with defined muscles that told me he did more than spend a few hours at the gym every week.

No, this body was a work of art that took decades of training to achieve—and how well he achieved it.

His shoulders were broad, his neck thick—the only place on his upper body that wasn’t covered in ink—and he had massive arms that were wider than my thighs, a hard stomach that housed an eight-pack, and a happy trail that led down into the towel that covered his lower half.

Even like this, I could tell he was big.

Fuck, but he was big.

Too big.

And getting bigger.

My gaze jumped to his and was met with a light amusement on his face.

I pulled the covers up further to hide the bottom half of my face.

I couldn’t believe he had just caught me ogling him.

I couldn’t believeIwasogling him.

He threw his head back and let out a deep laugh that vibrated deep within my skin.

If I wasn’t blushing before, I was sure my entire face and ears were now red.

He bent down until his face was mere inches from mine.

Like this, I could make out the individual golden flecks in the blue of his eyes.

“Do you like what you see, Emmy?”

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