Page 26 of You Can Make Me

“I don’t deserve you.”

“You don’t deserve what happened to you.”

I sucked in a breath and looked up at him.“Iwantto deserve you.”

Denny brushed my hair back from my face, and I winced involuntarily.

“No, baby,” he whispered. He bent down and kissed my forehead, right where my scar was. The skin tingled, but it didn’t hurt much anymore. I was surprisingly okay with him kissing me there.

“Denny.”

“You areeverythingto me, Cooper. Why do you think I’m here, despite you trying to get rid of me every day for the past four and a half months?”

I huffed out a laugh to cover the thickness in my throat.His everything?“An overdeveloped sense of duty?”

“Don’t.”

I pulled my hands from his and looked away, but he grabbed my chin, firm but not rough. He forced me to look at him.

“Don’t dismiss me. Don’t try to play this off or act like I’m the one holdingyouat arm’s length. I only stay at arm’s length because I don’t want to cross a line you’re not ready for me to cross.”

He wasn’t mad, and he wasn’t pleading. His voice was so calm. How did he stay socalm?

“I… I’m not dismissing you. I won’t. I should, but I can’t.”

That calm cracked before my very eyes.“Cooper, please.”

I pushed myself to standing, only wobbling a little. I used to feel on equal footing with him, mostly, because I was taller and I could nearly hold my own with him when we wrestled. But my body had been through so much, I’d lost so much weight, he seemed so muchmorethan me.

I cradled his jaw and mustered as much strength as I possibly could in that moment.

“What if I want you, too? Can you forgive me? Can you see past this weak, ugly body and think of me as a whole man?”

He gripped my towel and pulled me to him in such a rush, I nearly lost my balance.

“I swear to God, Cooper, I’m going to disavow you of all that bullshit. Youarewhole. There’s not a weak bone in your body, nor anything even remotely ugly about you. There’s nothing to forgive, unless you don’t want me to kiss you right now, because I’m gonna.”

I sucked in a breath to protest, and he laid one on me, somehow managing to devour me yet not press too hard on the tender part of my lip. I had to wrap my arms around his neck to stay on my feet, as much from the intensity of his actions as the force of emotion behind them.

Denny had always been an assertive if not aggressive lover, but never in a domineering way. For a man who kept his emotions under wraps for a living, he certainly understood the importance of safe release, and our tryst, while new andsurprising for him at the time, had been safe. Always safe. He knew I would take care of him, and that he could tell me anything.

Now, he was there to support me, one hand on my back, the other gripping my hip.

I’d assumed I’d never be kissed again, much less with so much need, and Dennyneeded.He’d been holding back so much to try to be good to me, but once unleashed, his hunger consumed us both.

My towel slipped off, and he groaned. He adjusted his hold, probably to avoid grabbing the scars on my ass. I tried not to think about all the places I was damaged. When he pulled away, my hand immediately went up to cover my mouth. He’d overwhelmed me so thoroughly that I hadn’t had time to think about how kissing my scar would feel to him.

“Did I hurt you?” His eyes were wide.

“No, I’m…trying not to think about how I must look to you.”

“You have no idea how beautiful you are.”

I tried to look away but he gently guided my gaze back to his and kissed me again.

“I don’t know how you can believe that.”

“Believe it. What Ican’tbelieve is that you chose this moment to have this conversation,” he whispered in a harsh voice. “I’ve tried so hard to tamp it all down, but fuck, Cooper. I’ve missed you. I want you so fucking bad.”