Page 159 of Give In

Worshipping me.

Lovingme.

Spent, my legs dropped to the side, though Damien stayed planted between them. Tears stung my eyes, though I wasn’t sure if it was from the profoundness of what’d happened, the pain of my tender ass, or the feeling of protection that came from his body surrounding mine so completely.

Likely, it was all three.

Mindful of the second one, Damien slid free and moved off me. Pulling me into his lap, he carefully positioned me with my ass cheeks between his spread thighs. The smell of vanilla filled the air as he applied the cream, soothing the burn. His cock twitched and jerked against me.

“You’re insane,” I whispered, burrowing closer.

“And you love it.”

“I really do.”

We stayed like that for a while, my mind still floating somewhere beyond self-deprecation, judgement, and doubt. Beyond the voices of reason and ridicule.

I’m free.

The thought hit me out of nowhere, and I inhaled. Easily. Deeply.

Unburdened by the layers of stress, guilt, and lies. There was no more deceit, even to myself.

Especiallynot to myself.

I didn’t have to deny the dark desires that’d lurked in my mind, coming out only in my reading and my fantasies.

As time passed, I may have reached that same point on my own. I’d been working hard to give myself a good life, it stood to reason that it would include me eventually becoming more comfortable and confident with what I enjoyed.

Or maybe not.

There was no reason to dwell on the what-ifs and could’ve beens because they didn’t matter.

I didn’t need to go it alone anymore.

Bolting up, I pushed Damien’s shouldershard. I was pretty certain he only went back because he was curious, not because I’d actually overpowered him. I straddled him and grinned. “Why don’t you want me to count?”

“It makes you think, taking you out of it. When you don’t, your mind quiets.” He smirked. “For once.”

“I love you.”

His smirk grew to a beautiful smile as he reached up to curl his hand along the side of my neck, his thumb stroking my jaw. “I love you, too.”

“How’d you take the job for us?”

He hesitated before pointing out, “Even once this semester ends, we’d have had to keep things quiet. If you go for your masters—which you should—you’d be in one of my classes again.”

I’d focused so much on just getting through the semester, I hadn’t stopped to really think beyond that.

“I’m sick of sneaking around, angel,” he said. “I don’t give a shit about anyone’s opinion, but you do. Two years is too damn long to waste pretending, so I accepted the campaign manager position Dave’s been begging me to take. It’s not really my thing, but he wants me and has refused to hire anyone else. If he wins, I’ll stay on as Chief of Staff, whichismy thing.”

“You didn’t get me the internship?”

He kissed my palm and then pressed it to his chest. “Swear it. Dave’s been planning this run since he was kid. I might not have cared about student council, but he lived and breathed it. He wouldn’t have hired you if you weren’t right for it.”

“You know him,” I surmised by his familiarity.

He gave me an unreadable look. “We were college roommates.” His expression made more sense when he continued. “That first night at Sinners, I was there for his bachelor party.”