Page 69 of Missing Justice

“Okay. You’re exhausted and what? Finish what you were going to say.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because it hurts. Is that what you want to hear?”

“If it’s the truth, yes.”

“Damn you.”

He closed the distance between them. When she didn’t argue or shove him away, he perched on the edge of the bed and set one hand on the comforter covering her thighs. Twisting her fingers together, she refused to look at him so he tucked his finger under her chin and nudged it up. “You’re exhausted and what? Tell me.”

Tears filled her eyes and she swiped at them, digging her palms into her eye sockets before furiously circling her hands in front of her chest. “I don’t know what to do with all this…this…crap…inside me. It’s like…”

She balled her hands until her knuckles popped, slamming them onto the bed and kicking at the blanket until her legs came free. Before he could stop her, she slipped out of bed and paced the room, stopped at the wall, came back and did it again, her feet slamming against the carpet.

“It’s a monster,” she said. “A mean, rabid dog, caged inside me and if I open that door, that fucking, goddamn door that has kept the monster away, I’ll go crazy. I’ll… I’ll… I don’t know!” She spun back to him, waved her fists. “But you know that, which is why you called me out on drinking. So, what do you want? You want me weak, humiliated, and unsure? Gotta tell ya’, that’snotme.”

Slowly, he got to his feet, but didn’t move toward her. As keyed up as she was, getting close to her right now might land him on his ass.

“No. That’s not what I want. Admitting you’re hurting doesn’t make you weak, Taylor. It makes you human.”

“Then I guess I’m human because this sucks.” She growled at him, literally baring her teeth. The monster at work. “Feelingvulnerablesucks.”

“Sometimes, yes. Right now, I think it’s okay. I’m hoping you allowing yourself to be vulnerable with me means you trust me with it. That’s an amazing gift.”

Their eyes connected for a few long seconds, but she remained quiet, looking at him with those green eyes that had, in the last few minutes, softened. Finally, he’d broken through the wall that kept Taylor emotionally distant.

After shutting her down a few minutes earlier, he walked over to her. She stood vulnerable, still naked except for a pair of white lace underwear.

“I’m sorry I upset you,” he said. “I just…want you. All of you. We understand each other. If you’d let me, we could be great together. And not just the sex. All of it.”

“I don’t know how to do that, Matt. I don’t. I’mempty.”

“Honey, you are far from empty.”

He slid his arms around her, his hands settling on the upper curve of her ass as a shot of cold zipped up his fingers. “You’re freezing.”

“I know. I’ve been cold a lot the last few days.”

He pulled her into him, felt the press of her breasts against his shirt and all thoughts of her getting rest flew right out of his mind. Rest? What rest?

Yeah, he was a pig. Somehow, he didn’t think she’d mind.

“Matt, you confuse me. I thought you said…”

“I’m an idiot.”

She grinned. “Most men are.”

That tore it. The woman was irresistible. He kissed her, long and slow, tentatively touching his tongue to hers, waiting for her to respond and then, there it was, her yielding, the stubbornness giving way and she arched into him, took the kiss up a notch as their tongues played tag.

He eased her backward, toward the bed, gently lowering her, determined to make this go slow. No slam-bang. No random guy she needed to unleash her rage on. This time, it had to be different.Hewanted to be different.

He rolled beside her, dragging his hands over her hips, thighs, ass, and finally her tits where he pressed his thumb over one of her nipples. She hissed at him, drawing a hard breath and he clamped his mouth over her other one, drawing it into his mouth, sucking until she arched her hips up.

She wanted him.