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There was a brief, shocked silence Then Jason started to laugh

"Don’t you dare laugh at h" A fury rose inside Charlotte, one that had been years in theback She threw herself at hi, before he had a chance to react

He caught her by the wrists "Charlotte…I wasn’t laughing at you"

She barely heard his words, not that it mattered She twisted and bucked in his hold He twisted, too, and with the ether on the bed He was sprawled over her upper body, his thigh across her legs, holding her down

Her chest was heaving, her shoulders jerking upward in an effort to escape

"Charlotte, for heaven’s sake, I wasn’t laughing at you," he said again

She gritted her teeth, refusing to answer hi, before you destroy any chance of h the fight hadn’t completely left her

"Now let ony inside her, too many insecurities to be soothed aith a few sio"

"In a minute Then if you still want ht?"

She twisted her head away fro to answer

"I love you, Charlotte I realized e first started seeing each other that you’d been badly hurt by your ex-husband I didn’t understand the extent of it until now, but in so was for the best It would have intih her throat

"The first time we kissed…I wish I kne to explain it, but I knew you were different Thatyou was so good"

Charlotte didn’t respond, but she kneas right Their kisses had been good Very good

"It got even better, didn’t it?"

She nodded, although only slightly

"You’re not frigid, or whatever terists prefer now Not even close What you are, itimate reason You’ve been sexually abused"

"I’ed Forever"

"No, not forever In tiether" He said it with such conviction, as though they faced only a sger than even their love

"But it isn’t you who…can’t make love," she sobbed "It’s me You’re not the one who has to heal…and I don’t know if I can"

"We’re in this together, Charlotte Whatever it takes"

"There isn’t any reason you should--"

"We can’t heal," he interrupted, "unless we try We can’t sweep this under the carpet and ignore it I’m not so stupid as to believe that all the pain and all the o away siood as our kisses have been"

"I…don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forget"

Jason rolled away fros He stood and raked his hand through his hair "The decision is yours, and I’ll abide by whatever you want I’ to force you to be my wife I’ve made some mistakes in this relationship and just noas one of them I’m sure I’ll make more You should know that"

"I don’t understand what you’re saying" She sat up and wiped the tears fro Jason hadout the

"Like I said, the decision is yours If you want eet us off this island as quickly as possible As soon as I can, I’ll take care of all the legalities In a few days there won’t be anything to bind us together--if that’s what you want"

"I see" Her heart filled withyou should understand, Charlotte If you decide you want to give thisback"

She did understand, and the thought filled her with panic

"I’e, but I’ll need the sa to have to want to heal Itfor you, for us both We both have to be willing to do whatever it takes"

"I don’t know if I could…ever tell anyone else about e to Tom"

"That’s your decision, too If you want to stay my wife, you have to realize that the time will come ill make love--but only when you’re ready And e do, it’ll be good, Charlotte…I promise you that"