Page 68

“Oh, sweet Jesus,” he moaned. “Don’t stop what you were doing. It feels incredibly good.”

She swept her hands across his belly, skimmed over his hips, and then moved lower to brush against his thick, hard shaft.

His dick jerked in response. Jacques’s breath caught and lodged in his throat as her fingers curled around him and squeezed gently.

He gritted his teeth and tried not to rise to the occasion too fast.

Danny was calling the shots, advancing the intimacy and owning what she wanted.

Jacques held his breath and prayed she’d see it through without hiding herself in some dark place where no one could hurt her, including him.

God, he’d never hurt her. She’d been through more than enough. Such a beautiful woman deserved to embrace her sexuality on her own terms, not because some bastard drugged her and raped her when she was most vulnerable.

A burst of anger made him want to turn and face the woman he’d come to care about. The woman who’d learned to take care of herself and didn’t wait for a knight in shining armor to rescue her. Danny didn’t need any man. She could take care of herself.

Jacques loved her for that.

His heart skipped several beats.

Love?

Sure, he admired her strength when she had to be strong. Yes, she’d retreated to dark corners to get over the trauma of having been drugged and raped, but she’d emerged later, gone back to work and proved she could weather any storm. What man could claim the same? Could he have gone through what Danny had experienced and found happiness?

Jacques turned in the shower’s spray and gathered Danny into his arms.

“You are an amazing woman,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, damp with the shower’s spray.

“Not really,” she said. “I have panic attacks that send me into a catatonic state I can’t break free of until it runs its course. That’s not sexy at all.”

“You’re a fighter,” he insisted. “You keep going, even after you’ve fallen into the worst cycle of a nightmare you can’t escape.” Jacques wrapped his arms around her and held her close, skin to skin, water sluicing over them, warm and welcoming.

“I want to feel normal again,” she whispered against him. “With you...I do.” She rested her hands on his chest and stared up into his eyes. “Not that I just feel normal... I feel.” She shook her head side to side. “I feel my nerve endings firing. I feel my heart beating wildly at your touch. I feel like life is worth living, no matter my past.”

Jacques gathered her closer, her breasts pressed to his chest, her hips brushing against his and his cock sliding across her belly.

“What do you want, Danny?” he whispered, ready to back off if he was moving too fast and willing to take it as slowly as she liked so their connection might last more than a moment. He wanted a lifetime.

The thought struck him square in the gut. Was he in a place in his life where he could commit to one woman? A woman who needed extra love and attention to work through issues she’d experienced when she’d been drugged and assaulted?

Whatever feeling this was, he didn’t want to give up on her now. Danny didn’t take bullshit from anyone. She also cared about the people around her. She wanted them to be happy even when she couldn’t find happiness herself.

“I want you,” Danny said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss that stole his breath away and brought his cock to full attention.

“I’m not taking anything you’re not willing to give freely,” he said. “What are you willing to give?”

“Everything,” Danny said. “I’d give you anything you want for a chance to be with you, no matter how long or short that time might be.”

“That’s a lot,” he said. “What do you want in return?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“I need to know what you want. I won’t take without giving in return. Relationships are a matter of give and take. You need to express what you want, what you need.”

Her lips curled. “I thought I had when I said I wanted you.”

Jacques buried his face in her mane of red hair. “All I need is to feel your body against mine. Skin to skin. Nothing in between.”

Danny rested her cheek against his chest. “For how long?” she whispered.