Page 11 of Savage Hearts

I felt him smile against my skin.

“Let’s get you naked first,” he said.

Blood rushed to my ears, and I heard nothing after he uttered those words. I felt lightheaded as he skimmed his fingers down, reaching the hem of my shirt. I didn’t fight him when he lifted the shirt up and off me.

I tensed and waited for his reaction.

I’d been naked with him before, and he had touched the scars, but this was the first time he was seeing them in their entirety.

Even I had trouble looking at myself naked in the mirror sometimes. I wondered how I looked through the eyes of someone else.

Deformed.

Hideous.

Pitiful.

I heard him suck in a sharp breath, and I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

No. There was no such thing as agood thingwhen it came to the Tiernan brothers. I kept my eyes closed when I felt his rough fingers moving up and down my spine.

His fingers seemed to slow over every scar he came upon, his touch surprisingly gentle.

“Who the fuck did this to you?” he asked, his voice tinged with anger and darkness.

“Why? Are you upset that your new property isn’t as flawless as you wanted?” I asked bitterly. “You knew what you were getting.”

“Mila.” There was an unmistakable hardness to his voice.

“Why does it matter?” I asked. I wished he would let me put my shirt back on. Wished he would stop staring at the scars that had been my shame for so long.

His fingers found the newest of the batch. Just weeks old, it was still healing.

“The fucker took a fucking whip to you, didn’t he?” he asked quietly, calmly.

I wasn’t fooled. He was just moments away from losing control, and I did not want to be here when that happened. I was so sick of violent men losing control in front of me, or worse, taking it out on me.

“It’s still not too late to let me go. You were expecting someone flawless. What is it you call me?Angel?” I laughed, the sound hollow.

He leaned down, and I tensed when I felt his tongue peeking out. He was… licking my scar.

What the hell?

“What are you doing?”

“You look perfect to me,” he said, his voice gruff. I could feel my brows pulling together in a small frown. There was something seriously wrong with him. He went down farther, stopping at all the scars that scattered along my back.

I had long ago lost count of how many I had. I had long ago lost count of how many times the whip had bitten into my flesh over some imaginary slight I might have given Dad.

“You taste flawless to me,angel,” he continued, and I didn’t know why tears were burning my eyes. I did not live for the approval of Silas Tiernan.

I should have hoped they all found me as repulsive as I found myself.

But fuck, why was I reacting to this? To him?

I felt him stand to his full height. I held my breath when he let his finger slide over all the raised skin.

“I should have prolonged his death when I had the chance,” he said.

---