slowed to a stop and just stayed buried inside her, still convulsing through the pulses. I didn’t want to ever leave where I was. How could I? Time stilled and we breathed. The simplest task of taking in oxygen was all consuming. I could feel her heart pounding beneath my chest and the little spasms of pleasure being drawn out to the last around my cock from the tight walls of her quim. So fucking good . When I could bear to pull my mouth away from her skin, I hovered over her face, searching her eyes for something good. I was afraid for what I might see. The last time we’d been like this together, very bad things happened in the next moments. She told you to get off her and walked out the door . “I do love you.” I whispered the words barely audible just inches away from her face and watched her eyes grow luminous and then wet. She started to cry. Not really the reaction I’d hoped for. I pulled out of her body and felt the gush of wet between us. But Brynne surprised me yet again. Instead of distancing herself, she burrowed right up against my chest, held on to me and sobbed quietly. She wept but wasn’t trying to get away from me. She was seeking comfort. I realized I would never understand a woman’s mind. “Tell me everything will be okay…even if it won’t…” she said between sobs. “It will be, baby. I’ll make sure.” I wanted a Djarum so bad I could taste it. Instead I held her against me and stroked over her hair, twining my fingers through its silkiness over and over again until she stopped crying. “Why?” she asked after a while. “Why what?” I kissed her forehead. “Why do you love me?” Her voice was low but the question very clearly heard. “I can’t change how I feel or know why , Brynne. I just know you’re my girl and I’ve had to follow my heart.” She still couldn’t tell me the same. I knew she cared for me but I think she was more convinced that she was undeserving of love more than anything. Either giving or receiving. “I haven’t told you the rest of the story yet, Ethan.” Bingo . “What are you afraid of?” She stiffened in my arms. “Tell me what frightens you, baby.” “That you’ll stop.” “Stop loving you? No. I won’t.” “But when you know everything? I’m a mess, Ethan.” She looked up at me with her eyes sparking different colors again. “Hmmm.” I kissed the end of her nose. “I know enough already and it changes nothing about how I feel. You can’t be any worse than me. I command you to stop worrying. And you’re right. You are a mess down here, and I made you that way.” I snaked my hand down between her legs and slid my fingers all along the center of her and felt what I’d put there. The caveman in me loved the idea of all that cum I’d put inside her, but she probably didn’t. “Take a bath with me and we can talk some more.” Her eyes widened from my touch but she nodded her head and said, “That sounds nice.” I rolled off the bed and went in to start the bath water. Her eyes tracked me, looking over my back. I knew she was staring at the scars. I knew she’d ask me about them soon too. And I would have to share my fucked up train wreck of a past. I didn’t want to. The thought of bringing her into that cluster fuck went against every instinct I possessed, but still, I wouldn’t ever keep the truth from her again. That wasn’t an option with Brynne and I’d learned my lesson. I poured in some bath bubbles and adjusted the temperature. I looked up at the sight of her walking into the bathroom. Naked and beautiful and coming toward me, she took my breath away even if she’d gotten too slim. I found myself thinking about another round of prehistoric shagging but forced it down so the rational part of my brain could function. We really needed to talk through some things and sex had a way of pushing to the front of the queue and overshadowing everything else. The greedy bastard . So I took her hand