Page 62 of Corrupted Lies

“So?” he asked when she stopped coughing and he’d resumed his spot beside her, reaching out to take his own fish from the flames.

“Have I somehow slipped into a parallel universe? If that’s what you're asking then yes, yes I have.”

Chuckling he reached over and ruffled her hair, making her swat at his hand. “Sometimes you're adorable.”

Great. He thought she was cute. Just what every woman wanted to hear from a man who had just offered to make them come.

“Why don’t you let me try. I'm sure that you can come with the right person.”

Why did those words make her wish that Jake was the right person?

Never before had she thought or felt about this man the way she was beginning to. He’d always been her best friend, her protector, her favorite person, but there had never been anything romantic about it.

Until now.

Now things were changing, and while for Jake this might just be about trying to apologize for the actions of people he had no control over, for her she was afraid this would take these fledgling little feelings and make them into something more.

Something too big for her to come back from.

“Come on, what harm could it do to try?” Jake asked and she wondered why he was being so persistent. This wasn't like her Jake at all. Did he not get that doing this would change things between them?

Nibbling on her fish, Alannah tried to choose her words carefully. She appreciated that he was trying to make things upto her even if she didn't think he needed to, but she wasn't prepared to lose Jake from her life. Besides, she’d lived all the way to thirty-two without an orgasm, she was pretty sure she could live out the remainder of her years never getting what the hype was about.

“I can't come, Jake,” she told him. “Can't. As in there’s something wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” he growled, making her smile despite the nerves dancing in her stomach.

“I think there is.”

“Then that’s your problem. You need to stop seeing yourself as broken, unlovable. Damn your parents for doing this to you,” he snarled.

“My parents?” Honestly, she’d never thought about it that way before. Theydidmake her feel unlovable, and because of them and their inability to love her she had been left feeling broken.

Was it possible they were the reason she couldn’t orgasm?

That their neglect had put some sort of block in her mind that she hadn't been able to find her way around?

A tiny ray of hope shone down upon her, maybe she wasn't broken after all. But that ray was quickly snuffed out. Even if it was her parents’ neglect that had caused her problem, she’d still tried to come on her own and with partners and nothing had ever worked. Maybe her parents were the cause but that didn't mean the damage they had done could be undone.

“Give me a chance, sunshine. Let me prove to you that you aren't broken, you're beautiful and bright and everything good in the world.”

“You really want to do this?”

“Absolutely.”

“Why?”

“Because you're my sunshine and I won't have anything dimming your light.”

“But what if it …”

“What if it what?”

“What if it changes things between us?” she asked, unable to meet Jake’s gaze. He was being so sweet, so tender, so soft for what she as used to with her grumpypants, but how could he not see that this would change everything, good intentions or not?

“It can't change anything if we don’t let it,” Jake replied confidently.

“You really think it’s that simple?”

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