Page 41 of Mended Fences

“What do you need from me, Sweetness?”

I reached out a hand and ran it through the silky strands of hair at her temple. Her eyes fell shut and her entire frame relaxed by a fraction, but I saw it. She seemed almost touch starved.

She all but confirmed it with her next whispered words.

“Kiss me.”

Who was I to deny her? I’d comply with her every demand.

Chapter Twelve

ELENA

Then, January 2024

Oh my god,I can’t believe I just said that.

Was I really doing this? Having an affair? This hadn’t been part of the plan, but things were moving too slowly, and I needed out of that house. I needed a break in a place I felt safe and cared for. With a person whomade mefeel safe and cared for.

I didn’t know how it happened so quickly, but the first person I’d thought of was Chase. Yes, I could have gone to Tessa, but she had so much on her plate right now, “fake” husband and all. She also didn’t have what Ineeded.

But Chase did.

The man standing in front of me now was nothing like the fuckboy I’d met at the bar weeks ago. He was kind, and caring,and considerate. He was asking what I needed, like he existed only to fulfill my every desire.

What I craved most in this moment was safe, gentle affection. The physical intimacy of a lover.

Perhaps it was an odd reaction to enduring nearly a year of physical abuse at the hands of the person who was supposed to cherish me above all others. But being touched is not the same as being cared for. It’s a painful paradox, still longing for warmth and connection but safe touch feeling so foreign, dangerous, unattainable.

If the physical sensation I experienced from simply his hand in my hair was any indication, Chase wasexactlywhat I needed.

And perhaps by choosing this, by making the conscious effort to take what I needed from the man in front of me, it would give me back some of the power Peter had slowly stripped me of.

My thoughts came to a stuttering halt when Chase pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. It was gentle, sweet. And nothing like what I needed.

I pulled back and glared up at him. “I told you to kiss me, Chase. You will not break me.”

The mangrowledat me before his mouth crashed against mine with bruising force, stealing my breath. The contrast between his last gentle kiss and this raw hunger made my head spin. My fingers curled into his shirt, pulling him closer as his tongue swept across my bottom lip.

Chase’s hands tangled in my hair, tugging just hard enough to make goosebumps break out across my skin. I gasped against his mouth, and he took full advantage, deepening the kiss until I was dizzy with need.

I should stop this before it goes further. But I won’t.

“More,” I breathed between kisses. “Please.”

He moaned, the sound vibrating through my chest where we were pressed together. His hands slid down my sides, and I groaned. He read it as pleasure, but it was surely pain. There’d be no hiding it if we continued in the direction we were headed.

He gripped my hips and pulled me flush against him. The hard length of him pressed against my stomach, and heat pooled low in my belly.

“Tell me what you need,” Chase murmured against my neck, his breath hot on my skin. His teeth grazed my pulse point, and my knees went weak.

“Touch me,” I whispered. “Make me forget everything but this.”

His hands slipped under my scrub top, calloused fingers tracing patterns on my bare skin. Each touch sent sparks of electricity through my body, awakening nerve endings I’d forgotten existed. When his thumb brushed the underside of my breast, I arched into him with a gasp.

“Like this?” he asked, his voice rough with desire as he palmed my breast through my bra. I reached down for the hem of my top to pull it over my head. He needed to see what he was working with, what spots to avoid.

He pulled back just enough to peruse my torso as I stood in only a black lace bra and scrub pants. When his eyes reached the left side of my ribs, he froze.