Page 14 of Sleigh My Name
“What?” I pull her into my arms, leaning against the bedframe as I hold her. “Why would I think you’re dirty? Dirty because he didn’t understand you? Didn’t appreciate you for who you are and what you need? Charley, that asshole had no idea what he was doing when it came to fulfilling your needs.”
Charley buries her head in my chest and weeps. My heart shatters at her vulnerability as her body shakes in my arms. I would give anything to wipe away her past.
“It was right after my parents died, and I was emotionally raw,” she confesses in a whisper. “I did things I shouldn’t have done. I was so fuckin’ selfish. For six months, Penny was in foster care. I fuckin’ left her with strangers so I could go off and drink and have sex.”
I grip her face, forcing her eyes to mine, and wipe away her tears. “You were nineteen and your parents died, leaving you in charge of a toddler. None of that was your fault. You were a kid yourself.”
Charley chuckles softly. “I was selfish when I didn’t get her right away. I was selfish when I took her from the sweet couple who wanted to adopt her. They were good people. She was a teacher, and he was a pediatrician. They had a delightful house, with a picket fence, and a cute golden retriever. Penny could’ve had a family. Stability. Money. I couldn’t give her that. But her having a family meant I wouldn’t have any. I fuckin’ ruined her life after I ruined mine. One bad decision after another.”
“Did you decide to raise Penny because you didn’t want her to have a family?”
She pushes against my chest and sits up. “No. Of course not. I want Penny to have everything. To be happy, healthy, and secure. I love her more than anything and didn’t want to spend my life without her. She’s a part of me, and our parents are a part of her. She belongs with me.”
Charley is my obsession and deepest desire. She’s captivated me in a way that no one else ever has. My chest throbs with a deep sense of sorrow that someone forced this angel to suffer. I resent myself for not protecting her from heartbreak and struggle. For not knowing about all the sacrifices she’s made.
Tracing her lips, I finally understand what it means to be in God’s image; Charley is a masterpiece, her beauty created by the divine. She’s a masterpiece that should be shared with the world rather than hoarded in a private collection.
My love for her is a vibrant, unstoppable force that could ravage the world, burn it to ashes.
Slowly, deliberately, I lean closer, my gaze fixed on the delicate pink lips I crave. I want my tongue to be the brushstrokes that illuminate her shade. I want my love to be the reason that color saturates her monochrome world.
Leaning down, I place a kiss on her lips, longing to be closer to her. The kiss is chaste and simple, but my heart is full of irrevocable love. The air crackles between us with the rise of unspoken tension. My body aches with hunger, a primal need to possess her. To mark her. To use my body to wipe away our pasts. The thought of her beneath me, moaning my name, floods my senses.
But her words linger heavy in the air. I can’t shake off her story. I’m scared that if I don’t tread lightly, I’ll risk our future.
Charley’s grip tightens on my shirt, anchoring me to her. “Kiss me like you mean it,” she urges, her voice a soft plea.
“I don’t think you’re ready for that,” I reply.
She stares into my eyes. “I’m ready.”
“No, Charley, you aren’t. I can’t be gentle. It’s been too long, and I’m too ravenous for you.”
“Please don’t treat me like I’m broken. I trust you. I know you won’t hurt me. I-I feel safe with you. Wash away the past with your touch, Liam. Show me what it’s supposed to be like.”
“You know I love you,” I say in earnest.
She nods.
“No, Charley. Use your words. I need to hear you say it. I need to know that you understand I won’t hurt you. That this is a game. That when I fuck you like you’re a worthless piece of meat, I don’t mean it. Acknowledge that you know I fuckin’ love you.”
“Yes.”
My hands tangle in her hair, and I tilt her head back. “Tell me your safe word again.”
“Evergreen,” she whispers.
My fingers circle her throat, and I slam her onto the mattress. “If you can’t breathe or talk or you want it to stop, tap my arm three times.”
I loosen my grip so she can speak.
Charley smiles at me sweetly. “I got it.”
“Good girl.”
My gaze locks with hers as I tighten my hold on her throat and kiss my way down her body until my lips find her breasts. I suck her nipple deep into my mouth while her back arches and she moans in pleasure. My dick is hard as a rock, and I’m not sure I can last long enough to fuck her cunt. No one has ever driven me as wild as this woman. I’ve never wanted someone so badly that I fall apart for them. Desperate for her touch, her skin, her heart, her fuckin’ soul.
“You’re a needy little slut, aren’t you, Charley?” I move one hand to her other breast, kneading as I tug her nipple between myteeth. “Look at you. Look how easy it was to get you on my bed, with your legs wide open for me. You’re a disgusting whore.”
