Page 123 of Property of Stone
His daughter definitely needed a fighting chance. It was easy to see Sunny was afraid to be happy. Or at least show it. Maybe because her happiness kept getting ripped away.
Taryn didn’t know the reason, or even the answer to how to help her. Taryn wasn’t a therapist, she was a mother. Unfortunately, she often questioned if she was a good one herself.
She could only do her best and hope it was good enough. Stone needed to do the same.
She had to remember if she gave up on Stone, she’d be giving up on Sunny, too. Despite her attitude, Taryn had no doubt Sunny was either a hurt or scared little girl deep inside.
Damn him for tugging on her heartstrings. For using his daughter as an excuse to keep her there. But he was right, not only should she stay for Wren’s sake, but for Sunny’s as well. His daughter needed a better female influence. One who wasn’t a sweet butt or a woman in prison, even if that woman gave birth to her.
“So, about the bed situation...”
“No discussion needed. Already decided.”
“I didn’t have a say.”
He put his lips to her ears. “Sayin’ you don’t want me slippin’ between your thighs later?”
A ribbon of heat wove its way through her, landing between her legs.
“Don’t want my tongue flickin’ your clit?”
Her eyes slid shut with that memory. She squeezed her thighs together to stem the ache his words caused.
“Don’t want me makin’ you come so fuckin’ hard you claw my back and scream my name?”
The only time she screamed out his name was when the kids weren’t asleep down the short hallway. When they were, she contained it in her head. Too many times to count.
“Pussy got your tongue?”
Her eyes opened when she rolled them.
Was she going to let him back in the bed? Did she really want to continue a relationship with someone like him? Because them sleeping together, having those intimate moments,wasa relationship. It might not be a serious one, but was one none-the-less.
She could deny it.
Stone could deny it.
But they’d both be lying.
Another worry was: if she stayed, she’d only fall harder.
Did that scare her?Hell yes.
She pushed at him hard enough to give her enough space to escape. But before she could slip out of his reach, he clamped a hand on her arm, stopping her.
She stared at his hand but he didn’t remove it. Instead, he spun her to face him again. “Had enough time to get the fuck over it, Taryn.”
“You killed one of those men. And badly hurt the others.” She was having a hard time wiping the gaping throat of one of the Twisted Souls from her mind. He lost his life just for being on the wrong patch of Earth.
“I didn’t kill the fucker.”
Semantics.
She lifted a palm. “You had a part in it. You also didn’t do anything to stop it.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“No shit.There’s a reason for that.”
