Part 38 (2/2)
”If he did that to me, he could do other things. That was why I ran away, that and... the other.” She raised her head. ”I mean his taking me to his bed and... forcing me to serve him.”
”Raping you!”
”A slave woman never uses that word.”
He gritted his teeth, then spoke very slowly and distinctly. ”Forget about the word 'slave.' It will never apply to you again. In this world, you are free to be anything you want.”
She licked her lips. ”It's hard to change a lifetime of thinking-so quickly.”
”I think I can help you change your vision of who you are.” He searched her eyes. ”If you let me.”
”I want to,” she answered in a small voice. ”But I don't know how.”
”You can free yourself. Starting with what he did to you in bed. I know you've had a long time to think about it. But you and I can make the memory into something that doesn't rule your life.”
She hardly believed him. Yet he looked at her with such hope that she knew she had to try-for him as much as for herself.
He must have seen agreement in her eyes, because he went on. ”He made it so you're afraid to trust another man. But I'm nothing like him. And I'd like to prove it to you. Will you trust me enough to let me touch you and kiss you-just that? Just things that feel good to you-nothing more.”
She licked suddenly dry lips. ”I want to. The whole time you were sleeping, I was thinking how much I wanted to be with you again.”
”Good. At the house, I asked you to be in charge of what we were doing.”
She looked uncertain.
”I want to do things that will please you. But you'll still be in charge, because if I do something you don't like, tell me, and I'll stop.”
When she took her bottom lip between her teeth, he said, ”All you have to do is tell me, and I'll follow your orders,” He reached for her hand and pressed his fingers over hers. ”Do you believe that?”
”I think so,” she answered, because she wanted it to be true. So much.
He rolled to his side, looking down at her, stroking a lock of dark hair back from her face.
”You are so beautiful.”
”I'm not!”
He laughed. ”I think you're no judge of women's looks. So don't argue with me about it.”
He leaned down to nuzzle his face against her cheek, her neck, turning his head so that he could nibble at her jaw, then her collarbone.
”I can feel your tension,” he whispered. ”I know you're afraid, and I know you're very brave to stay with me-in bed.”
”I'm not brave.”
”Of course you are! You're brave enough to let me change your tension to something good.”
<script>