Free Out of Darkness by Laramie Briscoe

she wanted him inside her, but she knew it’d be a mistake. Using her knees to walk over to him, she pressed them together so that the tip of him rubbed against her belly. She wasn’t sure how this would feel, but she knew she wanted to feel him. As much of him as she could, regardless of the feelings it brought to the surface.
    She leaned down, running her tongue around his nipple, much in the same manner as he’d done with her. The hiss that left his mouth gave her encouragement to do it again, this time using her teeth to nip at the tight skin.
    “Goddamn,” he mumbled, his hand moving faster along his length.
    Remembering what he’d said to her and how hot it’d made her, she stood up on her knees and put her lips to his ear. “Give it to me, Tyler,” she whispered, letting her teeth run along his earlobe.
    His whole body tightened, and he growled as she felt the heat of his release splatter against her belly. Surprisingly, it didn’t disgust her, it didn’t make her feel cheap. It made her feel hot, it turned her on again.
    Leaning back, she looked up into his eyes and smiled as he heaved deep breathes, trying to regulate himself back to normal.
    “For someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing when it comes to sex, baby, you’ve rocked my world, and we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet.”
    A feeling of accomplishment washed over her. Maybe she wasn’t so bad at any of this. Maybe she’d just needed someone to pull it out of her.
    “What do you say we go take a shower?” she asked, hopping off the bed, not even bothering to wipe herself off.
    He ran a hand over his eyes. “Shower? Sounds good.” He seemed a bit out of it, and that was the best gift of all.

Chapter Fourteen

    I took back a major part of myself today. The part of myself that had been missing. I let Tyler touch me in ways that I’ve never let a human being touch me before. Both physical and emotional. It feels like a part of me has healed. That gaping hole that was once in my stomach – causing all those jitters – it’s gone. I’m happy and ready. Ready to move on. Ready to find my rapist. I just need to figure out how to tell other people. What if they try to talk me out of it?
    “You warm enough?”
    His deep voice caused so many feelings in her now. He wasn’t just the man who protected her now. He was her lover and it felt so right. The mere fact that she was writing in her journal – in his arms – and trusting him not to be nosey, said an awful lot about how far she had come.
    “Sure am,” she assured him lazily.
    It had started raining, and she told him how much she loved the rain in the country and how it sounded against the tin of his roof. He’d suggested they go out back where he had a covered porch and a swing. He’d given her a pair of his sweats and a sweatshirt, and he’d grabbed a blanket for them to snuggle under. She now lay, cuddled against his lap as he used his toe to swing them back and forth.
    “I can’t believe you have this back here, I never pictured you as the type.”
    He shrugged and threw his arm along the back of the swing. “All my life I’ve strived for normal because I never had it growing up. I always wanted a porch swing growing up, so this was the first thing I did. I’ve never been out here with anyone else before.”
    There was the opening she’d been looking for. “You mean never been out here on the swing with anybody else or had anybody else here in general.”
    “Both, kind of” he clarified for her. “The guys don’t really come into my private sanctuary. Liam’s helped me with some of the remodeling, but nobody else cares to come here. You see how scared of the cup they are,” he grinned.
    “I think you should be honest about the cup, at least with me,” she huffed.
    He made the motion of zipping his lips and throwing away the key. “I’ll never tell.”
    “Is it okay for us to be here for this long? I know you’ve been doing stuff for the club